Calling DICK TRACY! Six Decades of Dick Tracy

Back in the 1980s, before the days of the Internet, there were books published about retro pop culture that were a feast for folks like myself. Often with historical documentation, these books were heavily illustrated and covered all of the topics they could from collectibles to comic books. As as child in the 1980s, I found them to be a treasure trove of information. Our local library had a couple about The Three Stooges and I digested every piece of trivia from them.

Earlier this week I came across one of those books while wandering a comic con. This one, written by James Van Hise, focuses on the character of Dick Tracy. The book covers the history of the newspaper strip, comic books, television series, Republic Pictures serials, RKO movies, and collectibles. Even more intriguing is an interview with Chester Gould that was never in print until the publication of this book. 

While many books exhaust their tomes with lengthy plot summaries, this one covers all the basics. A great starting point for knowing the facts about Dick Tracy and his incarnations. I spent the past day or two enjoying the content in the pages of this book. Perhaps this post bring up memories of those same types of publications you had way back when: The Marx Brothers, John Wayne, Batman, and so on. Perhaps you still have one or two of them in your collection?