Dick Tracy: America's Most Famous Detective

Dick Tracy was "born" in 1931 and while his appearance has not changed much over the years, what he uses in his job has. For a period in the sixties, the strip was as much science fiction as it was about law enforcement. The Diet Smith company invented many devices, the most widely used was the two-way wrist radio followed by the two-way wrist television/camera. This is one device that has essentially been invented. The latest cell phones have that capability, the only difference is that they are worn on a belt clip rather than on the wrist. However, some of the other science fiction aspects, such as an alien civilization on the moon and the character Moon Maid were too far out. Once Chester Gould, the creator of Dick Tracy, retired, these aspects of the strip were quietly phased out. This book is a recapitulation of the strip and most of the main characters that appeared in it. Being Dick Tracy, the emphasis is on law and order and how the law "restricts" the police when carrying out their duties. However, with the exception of the main law enforcement people, the Tracy strip contained some of the most colorful characters ever to appear in comic strips. Even the "good guys", such as B. O. Plenty, Diet Smith and Vitamin Flintheart are original. Gould also occasionally used cheesecake and sex in the strip. On page 204 there is a strip where policewoman Lizz and policeman Groovy Grove are drinking coffee and talking at the station. Lizz is wearing a very short skirt and her body language is strongly coming on to Groovy. If Groovy had had the sense to turn around and pay attention to her, the color of her underwear would no longer have been an unknown. When I was young, I always read the comics in the order from what I liked least to my favorites. This meant that I was constantly flipping the pages, but that was part of the fun. Dick Tracy was read second to last, right before "Mandrake the Magician." Therefore, I really enjoyed the many pages of excerpts from the strip included in this book.

This book is superb way of learning about one of the best, and easily the most violent, adventure strips ever made. This book highlights the complete history of the strip with its major stories, characters and the context in which the stories were told.Best of all, although the author admires the strip, he is still honest enough to show the strip's decline as the creator, Chester Gould's artistic instincts abruptly abandoned him in the 1960's. To that end, the author does talk about Gould's stupid moon period and his ossified "damn the rights of the accused" stance that turned the strip into predominately rightwing ranting forum.All in all, an excellent book.