1) "Dick Tracy" is a comic strip created by Chester Gould in the early 1930's. It is the story of a rough and tough cop named Dick Tracy that is not afraid to get his hands dirty in order to solve a case. The first comic strip debuted on October 4, 1931, in the Detroit Mirror.
Gould used his imagination in many ways to keep Dick Tracy on many relentless pursuits of the criminals that he is tirelessly tracking down. The action and his use of wit are what always kept the fans coming back to read more, and the fact that most of Tracy's cases ended in a shootout or a brawl. Though Tracy is very appealing to read about, his counterpart is even more appealing for most readers... the villains. Gould takes these everyday murder mystery's and turns them into something much more intriguing by adding a story and a background to every villain, and to the majority of them he adds some type of deformity to point out that they are evil. A few examples of these villains are Pruneface, Bomb Face and Flattop Jones. For years the "Dick Tracy" comics were criticized for being too right-winged and overly supportive of the police, arguing that it has its own political agenda. This didn't seem to faze many people because Dick Tracy was so popular that it appeared on the front page of the New York Daily News for 45 consecutive years, and it was seen in 27 foreign papers.
A few Characters you might know:
Dick Tracy - Good Guy
Tess Trueheart - Good Guys Wife
Junior Tracy - Good Boy
B.O. Plenty - Villain
Chin Chillar - Villain
Cueball - Villain
Littleface Finny - Villain
The Mole - Villain
2) Chester Gould was a brilliant man. He was an American Cartoonist that drew Dick Tracy from 1931 to 1977, and was known exclusively for creating the amazing villains that I was talking about above. Gould was born and raised in Oklahoma, but later moved to Chicago. In 1924 he was hired by Hearst at the Chicago Evening American, and produced 2 comic strips, Radio Catts and Fillum Fables. After years of trying to develop the perfect cartoon strip, Gould finally displayed Dick Tracy and it was an instant sensation. Gould passed away in 1985, but his legacy will go on forever through his work.
3) In the Dick Tracy comics, Gould used his art and word usage very nicely. I would have to say that overall they are equal in importance, but when he wants you to focus on the imagery he will push the characters forward and make them of importance while making the word bubble smaller and of less importance. There is a time and place for everything, and he displays that. For example in the comic strip above; the mans face in the bottom right corner is made to be the main focal point but yet the word bubble nearly chops off half of his head. Then there is the 2nd box in the 2nd row where the action shot is meant to be the focus and the work bubble almost wraps around the men. It is very interesting and exciting to read these comics because his use of image and text is so vastly different from frame to frame, but yet they all have a synchronizing feeling.
4) I personally feel that everything Chester Gould did with the "Dick Tracy" comics worked perfectly. Tracy is a hard-nosed man that knows he has to do anything to solve a case, even if that means beating up a guy that has burn marks on his face and is evil as death himself. Gould portrayed Tracy as a man that kids can look up to because even though he has his own way of doing things, he still gets the job done.
5) Dick Tracy will go down in History as one of the best action/cop/badass/murder comics of all time. His story lines and use of character has been translated into many movies and into many ideas that other artists used for there superheroes. Now Im not saying that Dick Tracy is a superhero, but how is he really any different than batman. Besides the black mask, cape, and gadgets, they are just two men trying to serve justice, and give an ass-whooping in the process. So overall I do believe that Tracy made a huge impact on the generations before me, and I wonder how many young boys grew up to become Cops because of this comic.
I am very interested in the character Dick Tracy. He seems to be a major inspiration for the modern day, tough superhero.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with David, Dick Tracy is definitely a modern day superhero. He "saves" people in a more realistic way that we can relate to our every day life. Seems like a great read based on content and the artwork.
ReplyDelete"Dick Tracy" is indeed a great read, and one of my favorite adventure strips-particularly its 1940's run. Greg, I think this report would've benefited from focusing on one story arc-each volume in the IDW series reprints them in chronological order and carries at least one (if not two) entire stories. I would've like to see you explore Gould's narrative style, his plotting devices, the violence and darkness in his stories--how is it that the strip rises above the cliche(though his plots are frequently derived from cliche detective mysteries)? The artwork is highly idiosyncratic, and as dark as the narratives. Gould is a natural storyteller, once you start one of his stories-it's hard to put it down. And yes, "Dick Tracy" was one of the models for "Batman"-it's apparent in Batman's villains(Joker,Penguin) --and in the 1940's-50's Batman's square jaw.
ReplyDeleteI like how Tracy is just a regular guy trying to make a difference in the world. It is interesting to consider that he apprehended all of his villains with violence and not by outwitting them. Everyone is capable of violence, but it is only Tracy that hangs in there to get the job done. He is no smarter than anyone, or stronger, but he is definitely tougher and more determined.
ReplyDeleteI remembered from class that the villains have deformities and are therefore inherently evil. This idea was carried through all of our upbringings (of course Cinderella's step sisters were ugly!). Mean Girls is the movie that broke this mode of thinking. Regina George is beautiful but she is a horrible person- pretty people can be evil. Mean Girls is a great movie, just saying