The following originally ran in the Weekly Planet 9/19/18.
In a market stuffed to the gills with superhero comics and heartbreaking comic epics, the importance and impact of newspaper strips is so often left out of the conversation about comic history. For many, these bite-sized exposures to sequential art were the beginnings of a great love or a lifelong obsession. Loads of us asked our parents for “the funnies.” It wasn’t Superman or The Avengers that got us into comics. It was Calvin & Hobbes, Mark Trail, and Dick Tracy.
And Dick Tracy is FINALLY BACK!
The All-American detective in the iconic yellow coat makes his long-awaited return in DICK TRACY: DEAD OR ALIVE #1. He’s just nabbed the biggest collar of his career. And all it cost him was his job. Now Tracy’s a man without a home but with a sense of justice that won’t let go. The “city by the lake” better watch out because here comes Dick Tracy!
Our man Dick is getting updated slightly with this reboot but not losing what made him such an enduring character in the first place. Included in that is his classic look. Not just the immediately recognizable yellow duds. With Dick Tracy comes a certain pop art sensibility that can’t really be removed. Enter Rich Tommaso. Tommaso, the pen behind the likes of Dry County, Spy Seal,
and She Wolf is perhaps the most perfect man for the job. He has a classic old school sensibility that more than stands up to other more “modern” styles.
These series has covers from and is being co-written by Michael Allred. Along with his brother Lee Allred (Bug), the man who brought us Silver Surfer, Batman ’66, and iZombie is bringing his own deep love of pop art and old school comics to DICK TRACY: DEAD OR ALIVE. If they can bring even a sliver of the imagination and storytelling that we saw in Red Rocket 7 or Bug: The Adventures of Forager to this reinvigorated property from yesteryear, then Dick Tracy may indeed have a long life to come.
Be sure not to miss out on DICK TRACY: DEAD OR ALIVE #1 as it hits stands this week! Now if only I could convince them to bring back Mark Trail…
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