Complete Chester Gould's Dick Tracy

The adventures of this iconic square-jawed detective fighting a menagerie of grotesque villains remain one of the highlights in the history of not just comics but crime fiction in general. The series is ripe to introduce to crime prose readers who haven't previously ventured into comics.

Dick Tracy closes out the 1960s by moonlighting--literally! The master sleuth takes a part-time second job as Head of Security and Law Enforcement for Diet Smith's operations based on the moon. Soon Tracy learns that an international crime syndicate, the Apparatus, has infiltrated Smith's organization on the lunar surface. Determined to expand its nefarious empire, the Apparatus snares Dick and Tess Tracy, leaving them caught in one of the most frightening death traps in the history of the series. In the aftermath Dick Tracy is left blind, with the killers still after him! Tracy then meets Tinky, a young blind girl who will play a key role throughout the 1970s.

Two other major characters are also introduced. First is cartoonist Vera Alldid, who comes looking for his step-uncle B.O. Plenty and instead finds himself enamored with B.O. and Gravel Gertie's daughter Sparkle. Is there such a thing as "kissin' step-cousins?" The second is Groovy Grove, fresh from prison after serving twelve years for a crime he didn't commit. Groovy joins the police force and not only has to defend himself against a blackmail scheme from his former cellmate, Diamonds, and his accomplice the Doll...he has to rescue kidnapped little Tinky! All this and more in these classic Chester Gould comic strips, from April 3, 1969 to December 23, 1970.

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.