Complete Chester Gould's Dick Tracy Volume 18

Here we are with Dick Tracy v 18, toward the end of the 50s. As many note, the end of the "golden era" of Tracy, but still some interesting villains to come. I do look forward to the "Moon era" mainly because I recall some as a kid, and want to (re)read that period.We have several longish stories in this one.First off, we get an interesting mystery to solve. Junior gets kidnapped by masked criminals and made to draw the portrait of someone and let go. The gang then gets Pantsy to go get him. The target has a record, one of 3, which contains clues to a million dollar treasure left behind by a criminal who is now in jail for life. Strangely, none of the others in the gang is ever named. Tracy and co. get the other 2 records, and are able to get the treasure, then allow the records to drop in the hands of the gang to catch them trying to get the treasure. Kind of a neat little tail.The next story is pretty long and complicated. We start at Sunny Dale Acres when the Plentys find a fighting cock. This soon brings in the owner, Mrs Egghead, a Cuban criminal. This also bring in Wunbrow, a Cuban detective who Tracy will work with. The story soon takes Tracy to Cuba for a run in with Mrs Egghead and some other criminals (Chicory and Dropper) who strand Tracy on a desert island to die. But a hurricane soon hits Cuba, so will the criminals get away in the confusion? And is Tracy rescued? (well the last of course!)Then another long story with several players. We get Headache, who is allowing his factory to be used to build gambling machine. His business gets bought out by Mary Jane (Mommie), who brings along her daughter, Popsie, who loves lollipops. But Popsie convents her Mom to break away from the Syndicate that is behind her. Her mistake, as she is picked up by the 4 leaders and is killed. They soon grab Headache as well and you'll have to see what happens. But Tracy is now on their trail. We soon learn that the Syndicate are the four Hardly Brothers, working for their crooked father. They get their just deserts.We then get a silly and a little too long sequence with their relative, E. Kent Hardly, who inherits the money from the Hardly: over a million in pennies, dimes, nickles, and quarters. Which he keeps (thanks to his dominating wife) in coins in a basement. You'll have to read it to see how it all turns out.But, this story does introduce the next villain: Rhodent. We'll see the rest of his story in the next volume!Overall, a pretty decent volume. Was not aware of any of these storylines before this, so this volumes was all new for me.

Dick Tracy Volume 18 1957-59On the cover is Miss Egghead, an unusual villain even for Guild but not the threat of the great Tracey Villains.Of note is Wunbrow, you might be able to picture one feature of this fellow, who turns out to be a Cuban Police officer that Tracy works with. Even some action in Cuba and if you think about what was going on in Cuba at that time, it is an interesting bit of history. Headache is aptly named as everything goes against him, even the young girl Popsie, who loves lollypops and giving him loving lolly flavored smacks/kisses. Was this influenced by Lolita? The text pages give some answers to that. Both characters have hard times at the hands of the syndicate crime group. The Hardleys make an unusual couple, her large size and staring power over her small husband, at least sometimes, adds some humor to the strip. Rhodent’s story is only half told in this volume and we will see him brought to justice in the next I assume. With his head and face like those of a rat, how great a detective did Tracy need to be to capture him?This volume does not hold quite the thrill and excitement of others, nor the cutting edge criminology that previous volumes do but it is still enjoyable and moves at a good pace. The text pages, sketch work and pictures included in the volume are all very good, just as they have been in previous volumes and in most IDW works. I hope one day to own the entire series but have no idea on how long it will be until the last volume comes out. Waiting for Volume 19 and the 60’s for some Space Age stories, those were closer to when I started reading the strip as a boy. More good work by Gould!

This issue has some great cases that play out for many months each. The characters are interesting, the locales exotic, and the artwork becomes more crisp and bold as Gould plunges into his pop art years. I began following the strip in 1979 during the Fletcher/Collins era. At the age of ten I stumbled upon a 1967 newspaper in my grandmothers basement. What?! Dick Tracy on the moon?! What a discovery! I had to do some detective work myself just to find out what had transpired between the decades. Fascinating evolution of a comic strip!

I'm a terrific Dick Tracy fan. I liked the story segment where Dick and a Scotland Yard officer survive nearly a month on an island. I want to get all the Dick Tracy books from IDW.

You can tell Gould is starting to slip slightly in writing and characters but it is still good "Dick Tracy" for us lovers of the strip and characters who have followed it from the beginning--- just not the stuff of Flattop, Mumbles, Shaky, The Mole, Pruneface etc. But still read and enjoy!!

In fairness...I love most old comic strips. The books being published by IDW, Hermes, Dark Horse, Fantagraphics, etc. are just terrific. This one is no different. Just adding the next volume. Comes with some histroy and then the strips. I love this stuff. The artwork, the storytelling...A+.

great love it

excellent book