One of my favorite things about Dick Tracy research is shining a light on lesser known film, radio and stories. Today I want to shine that spotlight on the Big Little Book, Dick Tracy Encounters Facey. Big Little Books began in 1932 and were published through 1950. After a seventeen year break, Whitman Publishing attempted to revive the series and produced 35 more books between 1967 and 1969. The first book of this new “2000” series was Dick Tracy Encounters Facey, the only Tracy story in the 35 book collection.

Like the BLB’s of earlier decades, the Facey book is small in size so that it can be easily handled by young readers. Selling for 39 cents, it was printed in three runs, each currently valued in the $4/$8/$16 range for Fair/Near Mint/Mint condition. This book is by far the most common Dick Tracy BLB to be found by collectors. Inside is a brand new ten chapter adventure, written by Paul S. Newman and copyrighted by the Chicago Tribune. Accompanying each page of the youth novel is a color Dick Tracy panel. The story itself is accurate to Gould’s 60’s era Tracy cast and has well done and accurate illustrations.

The case begins inside the Jeffers Jewlery store where a very generic looking man named Facey Fredericks quietly knocks out a jewelry clerk with a gas pen.  Names in this book will follow this repetitive naming technique throughout and is mildly distracting.  Facey hides the unconscious man and then visits the store bathroom to apply make-up to perfectly match the clerk. The store owner is showing a necklace to Mrs. Gould fails to notice the switch and treats the disguised man as his employee. The two return the Gould necklace to the vault where Facey uses a karate strike to subdue the jeweler and steal close to a million dollars in bling.

The poor unfortunate clerk, Bob Crockton is accused by the owner of the robbery and Dick Tracy and Sam Catchem handle the interrogation. The clerk requests and passes a lie detector test but because of an eye-witness is still booked for the crime. Tracy and Sam both believe there is more to the case, but Tracy plays his cards close to his chest and doesn’t voice to his suspicions to Chief Patton.

Police procedure seems to be followed fairly closely as Sam and Dick return to Jeffers that same day to check for fingerprints and recreate the crime. Meanwhile, Facey strikes again. This time the criminal poses as an investor seeking a loan, gases and then doubles the Metropolitan Bank president, J. Dillingworth. Forging the president’s signature on release papers, Facey and a masked accomplice steal an armored car with $1.2 million in cash.

Dick and Sam note the case similarities and investigate the bank site and while they soon determine the bank president’s signature is a forgery, they find no other clues. Despite federal pressure on Chief Patton to book Dillingworth, the president is released and we move on to Facey’s activities.  The make-up artist and a trio of mobsters are dividing their ill-gotten loot and planning their next crime.  Showing us Facey’s dealings with the mob reveal his motives (money) but are perhaps detrimental to the story as there is very little mystery as to Facey’s methods, associates and capabilities.

The loot divided, Facey retires for the day and realizes in horror that he left his gas pen on the bank president’s desk. Knowing it contained his prints, he decides to return for it the next day, making himself up as Dillingworth and entering the bank just after the president leaves for lunch the next day. Mr. Fredericks quickly finds his pen among the other pens on Dillingworth’s desk but is surprised by the lobby guard who noticed the change in suit colors. Facey attempts to use his pen but the security guard avoids the gas and the two wrestle for a drawn pistol which discharges into the guard. After the noisy fight, Facey escapes out the office fire escape and the guards only words before falling unconscious are, “It was Dillingworth.”

The bank president is arrested and Tracy and Sam escalate their detective work. Using an Ultraviolet Shadow Scope Lantern developed by Diet Smith, they reveal all the footprints on the carpet of Dillingworth’s office. Comparing those shoe patterns to all employes they find one extra set of shoe prints. Tracy calls Junior with his two-way wrist radio and asks the skilled police sketch artist to sketch what the shoe might have looked like. When Junior finishes they determine the villain was wearing shoes with specialized heels.

In a buffoon move a bit reminiscent of his earlier detective days, Chief Patton reveals to the press the shoe print clue after he gets tired of their hounding. Facey reads about this news in the late edition of the paper and arrives early at the station the next day disguised as Dick Tracy. He enters into the evidence room and removes everything that can implicate him. While not recognizing the disguise, Sam tries to stop his friend from removing evidence and is knocked unconscious by Facey.

With their evidence gone, Dick and Sam start over trying to identify their foe and reach out to Junior once again. Using each face the criminal has doubled, Junior sketches a guess as to what Facey looks like and with a few tweaks both Dillingworth and Crockton agree the drawing is accurate. Using Junior’s work, Tracy finds a movie mogul who recognizes the man and identifies him as Freddy “Facey” Fredericks, a man well-known for his make-up skills.

The unnamed gangsters who have previously hired Facey for his skills have big plans and the story approaches its climax. A city-greeter named David Davis is tranquilized at home and Facey doubles as the man so that the gang can kidnap Princess Faida, a young woman who comes from a generic oil rich country. The kidnapping is almost movie worthy, armored cars crashing into police escorts, gun battles and a surprise gunman (Facey) in the limousine. One would think the gang could have come up with a better plan, but this was more exciting to be sure.

The gang demands a $5 million dollar ransom from the foreign country, deeply embarrassing the United States and Tracy’s team turn David Davis’s home upside down searching for evidence. They find sand with a high silicon concentration on the carpet and determine this sand matches that of sand in Crator Canyon outside of town.

Still, with a high-value hostage the police can’t risk a raid and instead Tracy and Sam parachute down into the Canyon the next night. Together they find a large cavern in the canyon, well lit with a dozen armed men inside. Tracy we are surprised to learn, has arrived disguised as Facey Fredericks and casually walks into the cavern. Luckily for Tracy, his double is not in the cave and the gang members fall for his impersonation and ask him to help get the defiant Princess Faida to eat something.

Tracy approaches the princess, whispers his identity and begins to move her towards the exit when the real Facey arrives. Tracy thinks fast and declares the newcomer an impostor. A dozen men swarm Facey and Dick and Faida escape out of the cave and race towards a hovering police helicopter. Sam covers their escape with a smoke bomb and trades fire with the gang members before the escaping trio are lifted away. With the hostage safe, the main body of the police force roll in, exchange fire and tear gas the canyon. When the smoke clears, the gang is arrested and Facey is not to be found. This causes a small amount of police concern until Tracy uses a steam bath to reveal that Facey has disguised himself as a gang member to escape identification. With that, the case is closed.

I must say I enjoyed Dick Tracy Encounters Facey more than I thought I would. It easily surpasses two Big Little Books, Voodoo Island and Ghost Ship, which I have previously reviewed. The historian in me appreciated that the author (Paul Newman) was identified on the title page and he seems to have done an acceptable job using police procedure and terms cirque 1967. It included most major characters from the Dick Tracy comic strip in the roles they held at the time, with the noted exception of any member of the female persuasion. There are no mentions made to Tess, Lizz or Moon Maid who was also active in 1967. Moon Maid’s science fiction themes would of course not fit with this type of story but Lizz could have made a useful addition.  The book is not an adult book of course, it was obviously written for a juvenile reader and focuses more on action and events than actual dialog, a style I’ve seem before in youth books.

I liked Facey Fredericks as a multi-talented foe who seemed skilled enough to evade capture for the duration of the book. Facey’s impersonation powers were more believable than other doppelgänger creations, like Putty Puss. The story could have done with a good final boss fight between Tracy and the karate trained Facey and the final confrontation felt rushed with to much of the story spent on Facey’s various crimes. As I’ve said before, this is the easiest of the Dick Tracy BLB’s to find. My wife has seen random copies in an antique store and they cheaply available on either eBay or Amazon.

Until next time,
Jeremy @ the Depot

The post Dick Tracy Encounters Facey (1967) appeared first on Dick Tracy Depot.

Each and every Sunday the first Hall of Fame or Crimestoppers panel of the Dick Tracy comic strip comes courtesy of Jim Doherty.  We were surprised to learn Jim’s last official day with the Tracy team was December 31st and want to thank give a big thank you and wish him well in the future.  In addition to the weekly Crimestoppers panel, Doherty has served as the police technical adviser for the strip since the start of the Curtis/Staton era in the spring of 2011.

A former officer, Jim has served in law enforcement at local, state and federal levels and is more recently an author of several novels.  Jim contributed to the now defunct PLAINCLOTHES website that unexpectedly served as a Dick Tracy audition for Mike Curtis and Joe Staton.  During his time with Team Tracy, Sgt. Doherty has been part of winning three Harvey Awards.

On a more personal level, Jim kindly emailed me emailed me shortly after the Dick Tracy Depot began to gain some legs and was more than happy to converse and share some of his Dick Tracy prose.  He has penned a pair of historical Dick Tracy articles I was excited to re-post and am still honored to include.  His very knowledgeable comments on police procedure and hierarchy on the go-comics forums invariably clarify things for all of us readers.  I am informed he is a contributor to the ever-growing Dick Tracy Wikia website, where you can read a far better bio.

While Jim’s time with the Dick Tracy comic has come to an end, there have been enough Crimestoppers submissions to keep his Railroad Police autograph on the Sunday panel for sometime.  On behalf of the Dick Tracy Depot, thank you Jim!

The post Thank you Jim Doherty! appeared first on Dick Tracy Depot.

Teaser poster by Shane Fisher, courtesy of Mike Curtis. (Facebook)

He’s been copied honored by Vera Alldid as Dick Tracy parody J Straightedge Trustworthy.  He’s been mentioned in passing once twice probably at least three times by struggling comic strip writer Vera Alldid.  To many, or Mr. Alldid at least, he’s great in ways that Dick Tracy could only wish.  Now, straight from the crossover loving mind of the man himself (Mr. Curtis), the one and only Fearless Fosdick is on his way this summer!

Alldid better have his autograph book.  We can’t wait to see how this plays out.

Wait, what’s a Fosdick?  Time to drop a little Fearless knowledge.

Al Capp, well-known creator of Li’L Abner and all around hilarious satirist created the famous Dick Tracy parody, Fearless Fosdick roughly 74 years ago as Li’l Abner’s favorite comic crime fighter and “ideel” role model.  Fosdick first appeared in 1942 and was promptly shot. Fosdick could not be bothered by “mere scratches” however, and reported back to his corrupt Chief and over the next decade went on to battle an absurd succession of Dick Tracy-esque enemies like Rattop, Bombface, the Chippendale Chair and Sidney the Crooked Parrot.

In addition to battling villains, Fosdick maintained a rich love life with a perpetual 17 year engagement to his very own Tess Trueheart, here named Prudence Pimpleton.  Unlike Tracy, Fosdick would never marry. Fosdick’s crime-fighting style was incredibly violent, excessive and dedicated to the extreme. Drawn wearing suit and cap with a razor-sharp jawbone, Fosdick was according to his creator, “pure, underpaid, purposeful” and of notorious bad aim.  “When Fosdick is after a law-breaker, there is no escape for the miscreant,” Capp wrote in 1956.  “There is, however, a fighting chance to escape for hundreds of innocent bystanders who happen to be in the neighborhood – but only a fighting chance.  Fosdick’s duty, as he sees it, is not so much to maintain safety as to destroy crime.”  A prime example of this is “The Case of the Poisoned Beans”, wherein Fearless Fosdick proceeds to slaughter dozens of citizens to protect them from consuming tainted beans.  You can read 20 full pages of the Poisoned Bean case here.

Of course while Fosdick started as a direct parody of Dick Tracy, Capp could not help but develop the character into a complex satire of American society. With Fearless Fosdick, Al Capp could comment on the treatment and nature of our public servants and the unpredictable attitudes of Americans towards them. Ten years after creation and possibly owing to his increased exposure as the spokesman for Wildroot Cream-Oil, Fearless Fosdick branched out into television with a 13 episode NBC-TV puppet show. The puppet show was honestly a bit creepy with the outlandish characters and violent plots and it’s no surprise the show ended after 13 episodes. Granted, this opinion might have more to do modern perceptions of puppets, which saw frequent use in 1950’s television. Once thought lost, rare episode recordings have begun to show up on Youtube and other sites.

Fearless Fosdick was almost certainly one of Harvey (of the Harvey Awards) Kurtzman’s inspirations for creating his Mad Magazine, which began in 1952 as a comic book parodying other comic books and strips in a similar style.  By this time Capp would have been doing Fearless Fosdick for a decade and the parallels are everywhere.  It’s also noteworthy that Kurtzman resisted parodying either Li’l Abner or Dick Tracy despite their prominence of the time.

As a bonus, some of you might be aware the Depot has been collecting old film in a quest to get our hands on all old black and white Dick Tracy series, movies and television episodes that are now in the public domain. We come across a lot of other interesting pieces, including this here 1940’s or 50’s Amateur film titled Fearless Fosdick and The Case of Smuggler’s Cove.  The black and white film runs about 8 minutes with only mood music for audio but it is an interesting (yet awful) relic from the Fosdick’s past.

The post When Chins Collide! appeared first on Dick Tracy Depot.

Ned Wever on left while at Princeton

Born 117 years ago today and regarded as one of the great voices during the Golden Age of Radio, Ned Wever was the recognizable voice of both heroes, villains in side kicks including the solid and dependable detective, Dick Tracy.  In addition to his decades of radio work, Ned was also a noted lyricist in his early years and a television and movie actor in his latter. While many radio historians know of Mr. Wever, and we here at the Depot are familiar with his radio role as Dick Tracy, very few know him in any great detail.  I spent some time digging into the man behind the voice and thought his birthday would be a good day to pass it on.

Early Life

Known as Ned Wever for most of his life, Edward Hooper Wever was born in New York city on April 27, 1899, to Daniel and Grace Wever.  Ned lived the first three decades of his life in his parents home with his younger brother George.  His father made decent money as a general lawyer and in 1918 Ned was enlisted as an Apprentice Seaman in the Navy and attended Princeton University as part of a Naval Training Unit.  He never saw deployment and while at Princeton Ned was chosen President of the Triangle Club, a historic theatrical troupe still active today.  He was the primary force behind the club’s “They Never Come Back” production in 1920, writing dialogue, most of the song lyrics and playing the role of Englishman Sir Rollover Doyle.

After graduating Princeton in 1922, Wever sought work as a lyricist and actor in New York while he officially remained living with his parents in nearby Greenwich, Connecticut.  There are few records of Ned’s activities through the 1920’s but he kept active with roles in small budget plays as evidenced by his performance and musical credits in the New York Globe Theatre production of “The Grab Bag” in 1924 and 1925.  In September of 1930 he appeared on Broadway in the cast of “The Second Little Show” a short-lived 63 show performance at New York’s Royale Theatre.  Although signature song, “Sing Something Simple” went on to sweep the nation, the Second Little Show was not well received and at the conclusion of the Broadway show in October, Wever began to direct his energy towards radio drama while continuing to work as a lyricist and composer.

Musical Success

Becoming a member of the music licensing firm “The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers”, Ned is credited with a number of popular 1930’s songs, including,

• Sing a New Song – Recordings by Art Kassel; Bennie Krueger; The Coon-Sanders Nighthawks
• Trouble in Paradise – Recordings by Ted Weems; Freddy Martin
• Trust in Me – Recordings by Mildred Bailey; Etta James; Beyonce
• Sweet Stranger – Recordings by Mildred Bailey; Wayne King; Abe Lyman; Eddie Fisher; Roy Rogers; Patti Page; Etta James
• I Can’t Resist You – Recordings by Benny Goodman; Hal Kemp; Ted Steele

Radio Voice Pioneer

Radio found Ned’s romantic 30 year old voice at the dawn of the radio soap opera.  He was often cast as a love interest of long-suffering heroines and played the romantic lead in silent movie star Irene Rich’s “The Love Story Hour” in 1931 and 1932. Wever expanded his soap opera credentials as a cast member on the “Betty and Bob” show, which followed the lives of a Secretary (Betty) who falls in love and marries her Boss, Bob Drake. Of interesting note, Betty was played by Edith Davis who’s teenage daughter Nancy would later go on to marry a man named Ronald Reagan.

Ned also found love while working in New York and married 25-year-old Carla Scheuer in 1935. Now living in New York, with Carla’s mother (her father having passed) the married couple welcomed their first daughter in 1938.

Wever’s rich clear voice kept the radio roles coming and in addition to his frequent romantic roles he would soon play the speaking voice of Conrad Thibault in the variety/melodrama Showboat (1934), which was based on a the book and movies of the same name. Much like B and C movies of today, radio was quick to produce a show in copy of a popular movie or book and Wever benefited from this again in the radio drama, Twenty Thousand Years in Sing-Sing (1933-37).

Ned Wever, Dick Tracy Atmosphere Shot

In 1938 the seven-year old Dick Tracy comic strip by Chester Gould had gained enough popularity to warrant its second 15 episode movie serial and of course a Dick Tracy radio show was bound to be a sure fire hit.  Ned was ready for action and took on the title role of Tracy. The adventurous Tracy has a long history in radio and the Ned Wever years on the air are regarded as some of the best.  Heroes and crime fighters were becoming more popular and Wever also joined the cast of the Shadow (1938) with Orson Welles and ushered in 1940 with the role of Kryptonian Jor-L and the villains the Shark and the Wolf in The Adventures of Superman.

Wever continued to appear semi-regularly in Superman and also become a regular in the 1945 “Atom Man” serial, where he played the chuckling fat man and side-kick, Sidney. With World War II in full swing, he worked to keep the home front entertained, playing British detective Bulldog Drummond (1943-1944) in one of the most well regarded radio mysteries of the time. Due to the war, most roles of the 1940’s were of a crime fighting, heroic or war themed, such as his role on Treasure Star Parade as an American Pilot downed in China.

Movie, Television and Retirement

As radio drama began to die off in the 1950s, Wever transitioned to on-camera character roles and often portrayed doctors and judges. Now in his fifties, Ned rarely was given a starring role but he can often be seen as a doctor or judge in a supporting role on films like The Shaggy Dog and Anatomy of a Murder. Moving to Santa Monica, California around 1960 he also played smaller screen roles and made appearances on Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Bonaza, Perry Mason and Petticoat Junction.  By the end of the 60’s Wever officially retired from acting, his last recorded role in a 1968 episode of Get Smart as the judge marrying Maxwell Smart and Agent 99.

With a rich life and long retirement behind him, Ned Wever died in 1984 of a failing heart in Laguna Hills, California. A life long entertainer Mr. Wever’s accolades have only been touched on and sampled here and many more can be found on his IMDB page and in radio and music collections around the web.

The post Happy Birthday Ned Wever appeared first on Dick Tracy Depot.

We’re back!  So server upgrades can be tricky and you may or may not have noticed the Depot was up and down for about a month following a painful and worrying failure of the aforementioned upgrade by a hosting service once represented by Danica Patrick.  But, finally, the worst is past, and if we can keep Matty Squared out of our system we should be sailing smooth now, giving us time to talk about IDW’s latest Dick Tracy book.

Volume 20 of IDW’s professional hard cover Complete Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy series is has at long last been released and is for sale and shipping now. Even though 20 hardcovers on a shelf take up a lot of space, we love IDW’s Dick Tracy collections and this volume, which reprints strips between February 20, 1961 and August 26, 1962 passes the 30 year milestone of Chester Gould strips.

In this edition, Dick Tracy embarks on an epic manhunt to track down the Brush (featured on the cover) and a million-dollar sack of cash―but with his foe on the lam without his trademark face wig, Tracy doesn’t even know what the murderer looks like!  The dauntless detective also encounters killer chimps and deadly panthers, protects Little Boy Beard from a deadly revenge plot, investigates a shady surgeon named Keip Choppin, and finds himself immersed in a forty-year-old cold case suddenly turned very hot. The strip enters its fourth decade as Chester Gould also presents a poignant story that rivals the “Model” narrative, when Tracy protects Junior from disturbing news about an important figure from the boy’s past.

Honestly, my favorite parts of these collections are the additional content at the beginning, and this one includes a look at the Dick Tracy television show and one of my favorite black and white actors, Ralph Byrd.  With only a few months in 1962 left, we are staring at a pivotal volume 21 that should kick off the Dick Tracy space period with the arrival of Moon Maid at the end of 1963.  It might be a hot seller and we’ll let you know when it goes on pre-sale.

The post Dick Tracy Volume 20 Released appeared first on Dick Tracy Depot.

Good luck and congratulations for the fourth year in a row to Mike Curtis and Joe Staton who have been nominated for the 2016 Harvey Award for Best Syndicated Strip or Panel. Team Tracy has won the award for each of the last three years (2013-2015) are in the running to be the only comic strip other than Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes) to have won four consecutive years in a row.

The Harvey Awards are a leading comic award that is presented each year at the Baltimore Comic-Com and recognizes outstanding work in comics and sequential art in honor of the late Harvey Kurtzman (1924-1993). Nominations are chosen by and voted on by other comic book professions (i.e. those who write, draw, ink, letter, color, edit and otherwise create), meaning the honors are given out by peers in the industry.

This year there are seven nominees, a couple more than normal.  The full list of nominees for “best Syndicated Strip or Panel” are,

1. Dick Tracy, Joe Staton and Mike Curtis, Tribune Media Services
2. Bizarro, Dan Piraro, King Features Syndicate
3. Bloom County, Berkeley Breathed, Universal Uclick
4. Pearls Before Swine, Stephan Pastis, Universal Uclick
5. Mutts, Patrick McDonnell, King Features Syndicate
6. Phoebe and Her Unicorn, Dana Simpson, Universal Uclick
7. Zippy and the Pinhead, Bill Griffith, King Features Syndicate

Competition looks fierce this year with some fresh challengers and balloting will continue until August 8th.  As is tradition, all Harvey awards will be presented at the Baltimore Comic-Con taking place September 2nd-4th. I have not heard one way or another but in previous years Mike and Joe have both been in attendance and would expect the tradition to continue.

The post 2016 Harvey Awards Nominees Announced appeared first on Dick Tracy Depot.

The Baltimore Comic-Con has come and gone, leaving us excitedly looking ahead to the next Dick Tracy crossover!  With all four members in attendance (handing this out!), the Dick Tracy creative team unveiled the awesome poster to the left, teasing an incredible future meeting with The Spirit!  Coordinating and getting permissions for these crossovers is no doubt a exhaustive effort and credit to Mike for making these things happen!

“So”, some of you might be asking, “I know the name, but who is the Spirit?”  The Spirit was created by Will Eisner at the behest of newspapers looking to get in on the emerging comic book market in 1940.  Eisner’s new crime fighter was a 7-8 page comic insert inside of newspapers called “The Spirit Section”.  The artwork and writing for these comics was top notch but due to specialized printing requirements and costs, the Spirit was only carried by a select group of newspapers.

The Spirit himself was a young detective by name of Danny Colt who was presumed killed in the first pages of the premiere story but awakens from suspended animation (for reasons) in the Wildwood Cemetery where he establishes a base and begins fighting crime while wearing a small domino mask and fedora hat.

Originating but not tied to his home city, the Spirit’s adventures took him around the globe where he met all manner of upper and lower class citizens, bringing his own form of justice to all of them.  The story style and tone frequently changed as Eisner’s interests led him to explore different genres but certain themes remained constant: the love between him and Ellen, the annual “Christmas Spirit” stories and his arch-nemesis, the Octopus, a criminal master of disguise.  According to Eisner,

“When I created The Spirit, I never had any intention of creating a superhero. I never felt The Spirit would dominate the feature. He served as a sort of an identity for the strip. The stories were what I was interested in.”

The Spirit slid away into the night around 1952 although comic reprints are common.  In any case, I’ll stop regurgitating Spirit information you can probably find on Wikipedia.  The exciting part is the Spirit and Dick Tracy will be meeting this coming January!  It will be very interesting to see what foe (foes?) the pair will match wits with and how deep the crossover goes.  Will we get a Fearless Fosdick style mini-story or a full on Little Orphan Annie length crossover?  I’d wager somewhere in between, but we’ll find out together!

The post Dick Tracy to meet the Spirit appeared first on Dick Tracy Depot.

Just a quick Tracy news item to pass along.  Russ Burlingame of Comicbook.com caught up with Joe Staton at the New York Comic Con last weekend and talked at length about the upcoming Dick Tracy / the Spirit crossover and also dropped some exciting news for fans of his and Nicola Cuti’s E-Man series.  I encourage getting the heck out of here and checking it out!

The post Joe Staton Speaks with Comicbook.com appeared first on Dick Tracy Depot.

We here at the Depot would like to wish all our veterans a wonderful Veterans Day and thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all that you do or have done.  Thank you!

Detective Tracy and creator Chester Gould have long had a special affection for those in the military and this was never more apparent than during World War II.  While the top cop battled Nazi forces like Pruneface stateside, he transcended the newspapers to sell war bonds, take part in Armed Forces Radio, and frequently make his way to the battle-front by way of postcards, operation names and dropping bombs.  Browse a quick Veterans gallery of pictures and video below, to see what we’re talking about.

In addition to our best Veterans day wishes, the Depot would like to congratulate Mike Curtis and Joe Staton for winning the 2016 Akron Comiccon Excellence Award for their work on Dick Tracy.  The duo was presented with the award while at their Nov 6th panel in Akron.  Well done gentlemen!

The post Happy Veterans Day appeared first on Dick Tracy Depot.

The post Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! appeared first on Dick Tracy Depot.

Forgive me for some mercantilism, but Dick Tracy comic collectors can get a look at the next volume (22) of IDW’s Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy collection now available for pre-order on amazon with a scheduled release date of June 17th.  Volume #22 includes years April 13th, 1964 to December 26th, 1965.  Active readers following the ongoing exploits of mastermind Mr. Bribery and the computer A.I. Matty Squared may be excited to buy this volume for the original Matty Squared and Mr. Bribery cases from 1965.    Also included will be Moon Maid’s first foray’s into vigilantism, Chester Gould’s own parody of himself, Chet Jade, and the mystery of Lita Flite.

Also, I would be remiss to mention that the Moon Maid graced volume #21 of this collection was due out last month but delays have pushed its release date to the end of January.  The price on that one has dropped as it approaches the release date and now may be the right price to pick it up if you are waiting for a deal.

In other Tracy news, Chris Sims at the Comics Alliance is written a great article on the current Dick Tracy / Spirit crossover.  If you have time I suggest you give it a read!

The post Dick Tracy Volume 22 on Pre-Order appeared first on Dick Tracy Depot.

Nick Caputo writes comic articles and essays and is the author of the blog, Marvel Mysteries and Comics Minutiae.   Nick’s latest work is a loving article about growing up reading the Dick Tracy comic strip during the space age era.  Like many who started reading Tracy during the moon period, these stories were not strange and contrary to the gritty 30’s and 40’s crime capers that their parents grew up with but were exciting introductions to a detective who could go to the Moon and back to solve a crime.  If you have the time, head on over to Nick’s blog for a read!

The post When Chester Gould Ruled appeared first on Dick Tracy Depot.

The Spirit and Dick Tracy crossover wrapped up last week and Joe Staton is taking a well deserved break from Tracy artwork to catch up on other work.  In his absence Shelley Pleger, who already does the inks, letters, and punches up the occasional dialog, will be taking the art reigns!  This is not the first time Shelley has stepped up with both the art, check out her contributions in a pinch back in 2015.

Shelley’s first task in our new story is reviving the look and feel of old Tribune comic, Harold Teen.  Harold Teen is a comic strip about adolescence written and drawn by Carl Ed that ran from 1919 to 1959.  Tracy writer Mike Curtis has described Harold Teen as his favorite comic strip and one of long standing goals has been to bring Harold, in this case briefly, back to the funnies.  Make no assumptions on Mr. Curtis’s age there, I believe he was reading this adolescent story at quite the young age!  There should be plenty of fun and amusement in the coming story, crime at a cosplay convention with real life guest star, Svengoolie in attendance.  

We can’t wait for all this to play out and the Depot is excited to see Shelley’s rendition of our yellow coated crime fighter.

The post Shelley Pleger and Mike Curtis bring back Harold Teen appeared first on Dick Tracy Depot.

I have some sad news to pass on today, I’m afraid. Long time Dick Tracy artist, writer and comic strip shepherd Dick Locher passed away due to complications from Parkinson’s disease at the age of 88. Starting as an inker for Chester Gould in 1957, Mr. Locher was a talented editorial cartoonist for the Tribune who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1983 for his work on Ronald Reagan. That same year he came back to draw Dick Tracy after the death of artist Rick Fletcher. Dick Locher’s dedicated work on Tracy expanded to include story writing and he kept the strip in crime fighting shape for nearly three decades before his retirement in 2011.

His obituary can be read here on the Chicago Tribune.

The post Dick Locher Passes appeared first on Dick Tracy Depot.

Sawtooth by Joe Staton

Mike Curtis dropped me a line today to tease a new villain coming this December.  Say hello to Sawtooth, drawn by Joe Staton.  

I can’t give you any more detail, but Sawtooth looks like a classic Tracy foe to me.  Dick might be in for a good brawl.  Can’t wait for December!

The post December Teaser! appeared first on Dick Tracy Depot.

In the 1950’s Harvey Comics reprinted the Chester Gould comic strip in comic book form. The Tracy comics also utilized a filler called MINIT MYSTERIES.  In them, Tracy or another fictional detective would solve a crime on one page, while the reader tried to guess who was guilty first.

On Sunday November 19, we present our first DICK TRACY MINIT MYSTERY, as the reader is given the same clues as Tracy and has one week to solve the crime.  And each Minit Mystery features the work of a guest artist.

CHARLES ETTINGER is out first Minit Mystery Guest Artist.  He has ghosted work at DC, Marvel and Dark Horse, and is currently working on a Superhero parody comic called THE TOWN OF SKYWARD.

Our first Minit Mystery takes place in DICK TRACY from Sunday November 19 through Sunday November 26.  The next Minit Mystery will take place in Spring 2018. 

-Mike Curtis

…we at the Depot are excited about this fun idea.  To give you a taste of the the original Minute Mysteries, here’s a sample from Dick Tracy #25, March 1950.

The post Minit Mysteries to Return to Dick Tracy appeared first on Dick Tracy Depot.

Exciting news for yellow fedora hat lovers, Hollywood Reporter’s Heat Vision broke news today that Archie Comics will begin publishing an all-new Dick Tracy monthly comic in April 2018.  Writers Alex Segura and Michael Moreci will join artist Thomas Pitilli and colorist Dee Cunniffe in producing the new comic which goes back to the golden age of Dick Tracy, just after the second world war.   Segura (who is also the Archie Comics’ Co-President) and Moreci will begin with a year one debut, allowing readers to see Dick Tracy at the start of his detective career and how some of the most famous rogues in his gallery met their match.  

I’m dying to drop the details and awesome new Tracy look on the Depot, but instead I encourage you to read how it went down at the Hollywood Reporter and then pop over and get a first glimpse of Pitilli’s Dick Tracy at Newsarama.  Dick Tracy #1 will be on sale both April 11th!

The post Dick Tracy Returns to Monthly Comics in 2018 appeared first on Dick Tracy Depot.

I thought this 1966 Dick Tracy Christmas was rather timely. Merry Christmas everyone!

The post Merry Christmas Dick Tracy Fans appeared first on Dick Tracy Depot.

Hi everyone! We’re announcing the second MINIT MYSTERY to appear in DICK TRACY. It runs from April 1 through the 8th. The guest artist is JOHN LUCAS, who has drawn DEADPOOL, SUPERMAN, BATMAN, X MEN, CONAN and SPIDER-MAN plus lots more. The plot involves an actor who plays a superhero on TV dying in an apparent suicide.

– Mike Curtis

The post Second Minit Mystery on the Way! appeared first on Dick Tracy Depot.

Mike Curtis and Joe Staton have graciously leaked promotional artwork for the 2018 Dick Tracy crossover and we couldn’t be more ecstatic to announce that Tracy will be meeting The Green Hornet!  

Born as an adventuresome radio drama in 1936, masked crime fighter, The Green Hornet has a rise to fame very similar to Tracy himself.  From “birth” the Hornet franchise branched out from radio to comic books, serials, movies and television.   While the various incarnations of the Green Hornet change in details, in most versions the Green Hornet is the alter ego of Britt Reid, wealthy young publisher of the Daily Sentinel newspaper by day. But by night, clad in a long green overcoat, gloves, green fedora hat and green mask, Reid fights crime as the a mysterious vigilante and is often accompanied by his masked partner and confidant, Kato, who drives their technologically advanced car, the “Black Beauty”.  

Unlike previous “team-up” crossovers (see Annie and The Spirit), the artwork is quick to point out that this is not a team up!  What that means could be open to a lot of fun interpretation.  Will Tracy and the Hornet be at odds?  Or is Mike simply saying that the crossover will be fairly short?   Regardless of the answer, we will say, Curtis and Staton handle these crossovers masterfully, no matter the length.  They seem to effortlessly merge these different comic entities into the Tracy universe with engrossing writing and skillful artwork that stays true to both comics.  We can’t wait for April!

The post 2018 Dick Tracy / Green Hornet Crossover! appeared first on Dick Tracy Depot.