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The Celebrated Cases of Dick Tracy, 1931-1951
I clearly remember when this was first published. I snapped it up and devoured it. This was the first time I had ever had access to these legendary pre-1950s Dick Tracy comic strips, and I kept hoping that more books like this would come. As it turned out, one did follow a decade later, covering the first two years of Dick Tracy (The Thirties, etc.), but none followed that one until the current comprehensive series of books. I'm now going on age 65, and I guess it was worth the wait, but boy! That was some wait!There has always been a real downside with this book, and now that the complete strips are being published, this book is definitely obsolete. That downside is the fact that none of the Sunday strips is included in it. Therefore, there are major continuity gaps in the story, with the reader feeling frustrated about missing something every six strips. In fact, some of the stories end prematurely, e.g. The Brow appears to be heading off to jail in this book, whereas his real end comes when he becomes impaled on a flagpole (American flag flying from it -- very symbolic and graphic!). It's nice that the daily strips about The Blank have been colored in this edition, but once again lack of continuity ruins it for me.My suggestion is to buy the current series of the complete strips and forget this relic. Starting with the upcoming Volume 7, the very best of the Dick Tracy strips will be published. These editions suffer from lack of color and small images for the Sunday strips, but they are complete!
The Celebrated Cases of Dick Tracy, 1931-1951
I searched high and low for this book until I found it for sale on line through Amazon. I first read this collection of Dick Tracy comic books at the age of 10 and have been hooked ever since. Reading through it a second time was even better because I now had a historical context to enjoy some of the references and greater awareness of some of the unfortunate racial stereo-types sometimes depicted. The cases include criminal minds like Flat Top, Pear Shape, Gravel Gerty & BO Plenty, The Blank, 88 Keys, Jerome Trohs & Mamma, Little Face Finny, The Mole, The Brow, Breathless Mahoney and Mumbles. Some color pages. This is a must read and must have for all Tracy fans and fans to be.
The Celebrated Cases of Dick Tracy, 1931-1951
In its prime, there never was a strip like Dick Tracy. With rare skill and inventiveness driven by a personal fire, this comic blazed a new trail in subject matter. This book contains some of the greatest stories of what mystery luminary Dashal Hammit called the first modern police procedural stories.In this book, you will enjoy classic tales like Tracy's first story as well as his cases against great villains like The Blank, 88 Keys, The Brow, Mumbles and Flattop. However, I have to mention that since the sunday strips were not included in this reprint, stories in the strip's prime have gaping holes that those colour ones were supposed to cover. It is not fatal, but it hurts the collection.Otherwise, if you want to see what this strip at its best was like, then this can be a good example for you. But if you want complete stories, then Dick Tracy Casebook: Favorite Adventures, 1931-1990 could be more for you.
The Celebrated Cases of Dick Tracy, 1931-1951
If you recall the introduction of the intrepid detective on October 4, 1931 in the Detroit Mirror then you are a lot longer in the tooth than I. I came into the world in May 1938 and by the time I can recall getting hooked on the exploits of Dick, his partner Pat Patton, girlfriend Tess Trueheart the aging ham actor Vitamin Flintheart, one-time criminal and later friend of Tracy, B.O. Plenty, his wife Gravel Gertie, and their daughter Sparkle Plenty, not to mention all the assorted hoods (Flattop, The Brow, The Summer Sisters, The Mole, B.B. Eyes, The Blank (no face), Breathless Mahoney - played by Madonna in the later film - 88 Keyes, Larceny Lu, and many many more), they were entering about their 17th year.Now, thanks to this great book, edited by Herb Galewitz, with an introduction by Ellery Queen and a 19-page interview with creator Chester Gould, I am able to go right back to the roots of this long-running newspaper strip. Combined with another great volume titled The Dick Tracy Casebook - Favorite Adventures 1931 - 1990, the 99-issue comic reprints by Blackthorne Publishing (Dick Tracy Monthly - issues 1 to 25 then Weekly - issues 26 to 99) which got under way in June 1986, augmented by the 4-issue series "The Unprinted Stories", the 4-issue "Special" including one dealing with "The Early Years," the one-shot Dick Tracy in 3-D, and the one-shot issue from Gladstone "The Original Dick Tracy - vs Mrs. Pruneface" - I pretty much have my fix of the most famous newspaper strip detective ever.
The Celebrated Cases of Dick Tracy, 1931-1951
I too was a long-time fan of Dick Tracy ,who at age 18 got a copy of Celebrated Cases...for Christmas. Previously available through Harvey Comics reprints,the availability had long since disappeared to the average fan. After my initial excitement,I quickly realized that the Sunday strips were missing from nearly every story!! On top of that,the editor ended not one but two of the greatest sequences (Brow and Flattop) prior to their actual conclusion.Each continuity went on to have a slam bang ending that the reader does not get to see. Money would be better spent on IDW Publishing of "The Complete Dick Tracy".
The Celebrated Cases of Dick Tracy, 1931-1951
Contrary to what several reviewers have stated this collection does have the Sunday pages for the last few segments. The early Sunday pages couldn't be reproduced due to technical difficulties at the time of publication. Monday dailies usually gave a summary of what happened on Sunday. This was done as some newspapers did not have Sunday comics.