Complete Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy Volume 6 Hardcover – January 29, 2009

Now we have the beginning of the "Space Phase" of Dick Tracy. Now, while am sure many purists hate this phase, as an SF fan who grew up reading Tracy during this phase, I liked it. I even had a plastic model kit of the Space Coupe I made (wonder what happened to it?)As noted, we are introduced to the latest invention of Diet Smith Industries- the atomic powered Space Coupe, which uses magnetism ("he who controls magnetism, controls the world!") to propel itself, even into space.However, after showing off the Space Coupe to Tracy, the Coupe and its inventor/pilot are kidnapped by a sinister group of individuals, who are all hooded! They soon force the Space Coupe to dump a body into orbit and soon use it to go after other international foes of crime. We soon learn that the gang is the international syndicate known as the the 52 Gang, as all the members are noted by cards, and all wear black hoods that entirely cover the heads and upper bodies.Retreating to their lair on the top of a mesa, the plot new crimes, but Tracy is working to find them. Soon discovered, Tracy drops in by parachute and replaces a gang member and works to undermine the group. He succeeds in grabbing the ringleader, "Ace of Spades" and takes off in the Space Coupe. They soon are able to return to clean up the gang, but things don't turn out well for the gang.Next up is another story that more focuses on Junior. He is being targeted by Uncle Punky and his niece Thistle Dew, as Junior's sketch of Thistle's father send him to the chair. They use a bizarre woman to get his picture, then have Thistle try to seduce Junior, which seems to work, before kidnapping him. Before they can kill him, he escapes and they are on the lamb and must contact an underworld lawyer thru a raven for help!The Space Coupe is back as Diet Smith takes BO and family on a trip back to BO's old stomping ground near a place called "Slingshot Mountain". But Sparkle is kidnapped and they find a false tomb in the nearby cemetery. They soon learn the Sparkle has been kidnapped by a chimp (or ape) named "Li'l Dropout" owned by a pair of artist painters named the Palette Twins. They are residing in the hollowed out mountain, which has a secret entrance in the cemetery! We later learn it was hollowed out as a fort/prison during the Civil War, and further that there is more to these artists then meets the eye! (strangely, "Li'l Dropout" will wind up in the hands of the police, making up a kind of strange menagerie of animals they picked up over the next couple of volumes)A bizarre package found in a bus locker containing a still living human heart kicks off the next story, which deals with illicit operations and organ snatching.And the Moon Maid is introduced! On a mission to the Moon, she stowed away aboard the Space Coupe. She is childlike, with horns and had thermal and laser powers. She does help save a mother and her newborn child. She doesn't know English. Yet. And Junior is smitten with her.What will happen next with these 2? I happen to know, but look forward to seeing it turn out. Its a big part of the next volume!Clearly we will have more of the Moon, the Space Coupe, as well as more down to earth villains in the next volume. Well, as down to earth as any Tracy grotesque villain can be.

I wrote in my review of volume 5 that it had my favorite stories yet. Now I have to say the volume 6 features my least favorite. The late 1930’s and early 1940’s represent a transitional period for Chester Gould as the era of the classic gangster was waning in the United States and Gould responded by creating villains that were less realistic and more bizarre. Unfortunately too many of the villains came off as ridiculous. Yogee Yamma was some kind of Indian mystic with a gas that could control people. Deafy Sweetfellow ran a highly organized gang of bicycle thieves. And when I say bicycles I’m referring to children’s bicycles. His gang murder commits murder and attempted murder all to steal and resell kids bikes. Ouch. However, the worst had to be the international arms dealer, Black Pearl. Not only did this story not make a bit of sense but it showed acutely that Chester Gould was making the stories up as he went because the plot was all over the place.In the first story there is an obvious mistake that again points to Gould not having planned out stories in advance. A crook who tries to marry Tess Trueheart to gain an inheritance is pegged as a murderer because he’s a lefty. The problem is that the smooth talking crook is actually shown throwing a ball with his right hand at the beginning of the story. After revealing that the crime was committed by a lefty the criminal is shown using his left hand but it’s clear that Gould had not planned on the story taking the turn it did. If someone read these stories in daily installments as intended these mistakes would not be obvious but reading entire storylines in one sitting makes the mistake clearly evident. In the Black Pearl story Dick Tracy stumbles upon the dangerous female when a bomb explodes that inexplicably contains unique and easily traceable shrapnel. Once Dick Tracy finds Black Pearl the bomb is completely forgotten about and no explanation is given as to its purpose.In one of Gould’s worst stories Tess seems to completely lose her mind following her near disastrous marriage to a murderer and ends up dating a different man who openly and unapologetically tried to kill her. As if the bicycle thieves weren’t low rent enough this guy steals dogs and ransoms them back. Tess finds out and starts returning the dogs rather than go to the police and ends up getting into a lethal fight with the guy where she ends up accused of his murder. This story is poorly done on a ton of levels but mostly it makes Tess look like a complete moron and nutjob although she’s never been particularly brilliant in the past. Modern readers will cringe seeing Tess prostrating herself before Dick Tracy begging for him to accept her back. Painful.I assume this volume is an aberration and better stories are coming and certainly better stories have been produced in the past. I definitely did not hate this volume but it just is not up to the storytelling standards of previous volumes. I get the feeling Gould was doing a lot of experimenting with stories during this period and a lot of his experiments were ending in failure. On the other hand the art continues to improve. This volume has not put me off the least in wanting to read all the Dick Tracy stories but if you’re wanting to read some Dick Tracy and you’re not collecting them in order this is one you might want to put lower on your must have list.

This has the entrance of the Moon Maid on January 1, 1964. To introduce an alien and space travel in the strip with his iconic cop detective was very daring for Chester Gould, who was quite accustomed to taking chances, and had full confidence when doing so. His "tried and true" fans and followers were indignant. They wanted their Dick Tracy, who was at times an inhuman jerk. So Chester Gould, whose politics were - well, earlier in this volume without a qualm Tracy napalms a plateaued bluff, leaving the many on it to burn or jump to their dooms. That's the kind of material I think those who disliked Moon Maid had no problem with. But this pixieish, young woman, who did save a mother and baby from a blizzard, with powers like electric blasts from her tiny horns, was more than they could take. In fact, she signals that in 1963 Mr.Gould was on a new track, and as often previously, very prescient. Moon Maid's powers really do foreshadow the powers of super heroes coming in the decades of comics after this. We do have space travel, at least to the moon, introduced in 1962, with a mobster meeting Tracy's justice by being dumped to float in orbit forever. Also, this volume has some of Gould's freakiest stories, with Punky going to the zoo to talk with Stoolie, a cigarette-smoking crow. I don't think anyone else could get away with these kinds of situations and stories in the Sunday comics, which was still a mass medium during those years. As is well known, Moon Maid finds a soft spot in Junior's heart, the same Junior who tangled with a woman villain earlier in the volume and defeated her by tearing out her hair with his teeth. A major change is coming for Tracy as well in the next volume, all heralded by the 1964 visit from an alien - what fun.

Sesto volume del famoso detective di Chester Gould. La casa californiana IDW sta ristampando tutte ma proprio tutte le striscie dalle origini in poi. Tutti i volumi sono completati da aneddoti e curiosità varie legate all'epoca di cui tratta il volume in questione, la rilegatura è sontuosa ed è completata da un segnalibro in raso. Unico svantaggio per gli italiani è la lingua che è rigorosamente in originale, però con un piccolo sforzo si riescono a seguire le storie e a valutare la traduzione che fece la Milano Libri negli anni 60/70 quando pubblicò numerose storie del personaggio e lo fece conoscere qui da noi. For fans only.