By Chester Gould
Original Publication 1931-1933
Current Collection Published 2006
IDW Publishing
For those whose knowledge of Dick Tracy begins and ends at the Warren Beatty movie (a group that formally included this writer,) IDW's recent publication of Chester Gould's original strips will prove to be an absolute surprise. As has been the lucky happenstance of the last few years, Mr. Gould's creation has joined the ranks of Krazy Kat, Gasoline Alley, Popeye and (of course) Peanuts in the hardcover reprint circuit. Like those books, Dick Tracy covers an area sorely ignored by history, that of the classic American newspaper strip. With the exception of Peanuts and Krazy Kat, recent years have done a considerable amount of damage to the memory of these homegrown icons--although the already sold-out first edition of this Volume 1 doesn't indicate that. (Don't worry, a second edition has already shipped to stores.)
Dick Tracy isn't anything like one might imagine--it's far removed from the crazed color schemes of Warren Beatty's film, and it's quite unlike the square-jawed strip of recent years--if anything, the closest comparison to current police procedurals is more that of NYPD Blue mixed with a Shield style attitude. Tracy, as we see in the beginning of the book, becomes a policeman solely to revenge the slaughter of his girlfriends father (and he becomes one a few hours after the body is still cold,) and then proceeds to punch or shoot his way through whatever criminal gets in his way. Death (albeit a bloodless death) haunts the book: many fall under Tracy's gun, and even more find themselves victims of bludgeoning. While the book is mired under storylines that stretch a little too long, racist depictions of blacks and mexicans and totally devoid of any halfway reasonable women, Gould's strip is (like Gasoline Alley) far more involving than anything currently souring the funny pages.
It won't be long before the reprint circuit starts delving too deep (God-fearing individuals should start praying that nobody tries this out on Beetle Bailey or Hagar,) but Dick Tracy deserves to get a chance at showing where he came from--especially because so many only know what he's become.
-Tucker Stone, 2007
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