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Book Cover for: Dick Tracy: Colorful Cases of the 1930s, Chester Gould

Dick Tracy: Colorful Cases of the 1930s

Chester Gould

WINNER: Will Eisner Award, 2017: Best Archival Collection/Project--Strips

In the early 1930s, Chester Gould dramatically altered the comics landscape with a new style of gritty realism torn from Chicago's headlines and fueled by the hard-hitting gangster films of the era. And with this new kind of storytelling came a new way of coloring comics, with strong, solid blacks and primary colors, a style as bold and vibrant as the stories themselves. Now, to fully appreciate Chester Gould's incredible artwork and storytelling, Sunday Press has reprinted these comics for the first time in the original colors, fully restored and in full tabloid size.

This selection of Dick Tracy Sunday pages from 1931 to 1939 features Gould's most infamous villains of the decade, with four complete stories, plus forty more fabulous Sundays highlighting the villains and heroes not seen in the featured cases. Each of these sections features detailed commentary by Tracy historian Garyn G. Roberts. The high-quality, hardbound volume was produced in collaboration with the Chester Gould-Dick Tracy Museum.

Book Details

  • Publisher: Fantagraphics Sunday Press Books
  • Publish Date: Oct 4th, 2016
  • Pages: 168
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 15.20in - 11.20in - 0.90in - 3.90lb
  • EAN: 9780983550433
  • Categories: Crime & MysteryMedia Tie-In

About the Author

Gould, Chester: - Chester Gould (1900-1985) was born in Pawnee, Oklahoma, the son of a newspaperman and grandson of a circuit-riding preacher. He attended Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State University) before transferring to Northwestern University in Chicago, from which he graduated in 1923. He produced the minor comic strips Fillum Fables and The Radio Catts before striking it big with Dick Tracy in 1931. Originally titled Plainclothes Tracy, the rechristened strip became one of the most successful and lauded comic strips of all time, as well as a media and merchandising sensation. He was twice accorded the "Cartoonist of the Year" Reuben Award by his peers. Gould continued to write and illustrate Dick Tracy until his retirement in 1977.
Kersten, Jeff: - Jeff Kersten ?is a writer and Dick Tracy historian and is president and founding member of The Chester Gould/Dick Tracy Museum.
Roberts, Garyn G.: - Garyn G. Roberts ?is the author of numerous essays and books, including the Edgar Award finalist book, Dick Tracy and American Culture.
Maresca, Peter: - Peter Maresca is the multiple Eisner and Harvey Award-winning publisher of high-quality, full-sized collections of classic American newspaper strips. His Sunday Press books represent a high-water mark in the reproduction and preservation of American comic strips. Maresca changed the concept of comic reprints in 2005 with his original-sized Little Nemo in Slumberland: So Many Splendid Sundays, Winsor McCay's groundbreaking strip. He continued with Sundays with Walt & Skeezix (Frank King's Gasoline Alley), George Herriman's Krazy Kat, Chester Gould's Dick Tracy, and a dozen others. Maresca lives a relatively non-virtual life in Palo Alto, CA.

Praise for this book

The stunning new collection from the esteemed Sunday Press, Dick Tracy: Colorful Cases of the 1930s, explores Gould's first decade of four-color powder burn nightmares. Reprinted for the first time in their original sizes and colors, these impeccably restored pages brand into the brain unforgettable images.--Paul Tumey "The Comics Journal"