This last volume in the series completes the iconic comic series by Chester Gould. The adventures of this iconic square-jawed detective fighting a menagerie of grotesque villains remains one of the highlights in the history of not just comics but crime fiction in general.
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.
“Chester Gould introduced a new hard-hitting type of realism [that]
marked a radical and historic departure: the comics were no longer
just funny." --Jerry Robinson, The Comics
"Chester Gould's paragon of avenging normalcy was not your average,
tough-guy detective. A unique combination of brawn and brains, he
prefigured a whole new breed of scientific sleuths, whose recourse
to technical innovations in criminology gave them the edge on
grifters and hoods." --Robert Storr, Dean, Yale University School
of Art (from Masters of American Comics)
"This black and white morality play of Good vs. Evil was famously
haunted by its gallery of grotesque and aptly named villains like
Mumbles, the Brow and Flattop. Each of their faces was literally a
"map," a map of hell, indicated by the most peculiar configuration
of lines the artist could manage. What great cartooning...it's time
to build new bookshelves to welcome one of America's singular
artistic achievements." --Art Spiegelman
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