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REVIEW: DICK TRACY #1
3.75/5.0 Stars
Rating if the Book Were a Movie: PG13 / R
Creative Team
Writer: Alex Segura, Michael Moreci
Art: Geraldo Borges
Colors: Mark Englert
Letters: Jim Campbell
Cover: Geraldo Borges
Editor: Chas! Pangburn
Publisher: Mad Cave
Ratings
Story: 3.9 Stars
Interior Artwork: 3.9 Stars
Cover Artwork: 3.7 Stars
Dialogue: 3.8 Stars
Mechanics: 3.2 stars
Editing: 3.2 Stars
About the Book:
Dick Tracy #1 establishes the story of Dick Tracy the legendary detective. Initially a speculation among the force, his police work makes him a threat to the gang and now they want to remove him.
Reviewer’s Notes:
Dick Tracy started in comic strips before other well known characters did. In the 1930’s comics offered a way of escapism from the Great Depression. It offered a hero character that everyone could look up to and be inspired by.
The fancy watch didn’t hurt anything either, making Dick Tracy the first to wear a smartwatch per say. That said a lot of people want to be like their heros, and while I have not read the original comics, in this first book it is established that Dick Tracy is a war veteran. An established year of 1947 that makes Dick Tracy a veteran of the Second World War. The horrors of war can change a person, and World War 2 was no exception. If you went to war and came back alive, that tended to automatically give you hero status, and while that was not always the case, World War Two either made you or role you as the atrocities that came out of that war showed that people were fighting for things that mattered at that time.
This first book covers that, starting off in a diner we see a reporter talking to a city official with hints of a corrupt city government, and since the 1930’s to the 1950’s were essentially the golden age of the mob. It is not a story that is unbelievable. Ultimately the diner is attacked in a mob hit and the two individuals are singled out during the attack to make sure that there is nothing to report and Dick Tracy comes in to investigate, and this is where his veteran status is mentioned.
As his investigation continues he quickly establishes himself as a thorn in the side of the mob and has a hit put out on him. In all the stories I have read I have never encountered a hero who has not wanted the bad guys put him on ice and make him go away, and this story is no exception.
The story itself is a little gritty but it fits well within the established universe of the characters. It also never mentions what city they are in, but if you know anything about mob history as well as look at the visuals presented the two real choices are New York or Chicago. As those are the places where the mobs were the strongest at the time of the golden age of the mob. This story also really takes the reader on a sense of what is going on during the established timeframe of the book and how much people are still trying to rebuild in the aftermath of World War Two.
The artwork itself matches the story, showing the same grittiness and determination that is befitting the character. Making the visual match the story makes the story feel like you’re getting lost in the words on the page and feeling what the characters are feeling. Bringing the reader to a put where they want to invest in the characters and follow along to see what happens next.
If you happen to enjoy Detective comics, then this is a series worth following. It may not star what some consider to be “The World’s Greatest Detective” but Dick Tracy I feel did lay the groundwork for the basis of the aforementioned character. Which very well might make Dick Tracy stand shoulder to shoulder in terms of detection ability. But only time will tell!
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May the historical documents of the imagination always inspire! Thanks for reading!
