Book Review: The Complete Chester Gould's Dick Tracy Volume 6: 1939-1941 (2008)

 

Cover of The Complete Chester Gould's Dick Tracy Volume 6: 1939-1941, published by IDW Publishing in 2008.

The 6^th volume of The Complete Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy covers the period from July of 1939 to January of 1941. It’s an improvement on the weak volume 5, with hints of even stronger work to come. As usual, Chester Gould’s artwork is fantastic, with every panel full of interesting visual detail and startling images. The stories are somewhat uneven, but the strongest ones rank with some of Gould’s best work.

The main thing you’ll notice in Volume 6 is all the backwards names. This was a trademark of Gould’s for a while, and he really goes overboard with it in Volume 6. Ye Gods, even minor characters have backwards names! Here’s a list of the backwards names in Volume 6:

Edward Nuremoh=home run
John Lavir=rival
Nat Natnus=suntan
Professor Emirc=crime
Jimmy Epod=dope
Rudy Seton=notes
Kress Kroywen=New York
Junky Doolb=blood
Jerome Trohs=short
Roloc Bard=drab color
Toirtap=patriot (Mr. Toirtap is the publisher of a foreign language newspaper)
Johnny Naem=mean
Johnny Lennut=tunnel This character only appeared alive for one day!
Jerry Lesihc=chisel
Even Black Pearl’s real name is Pearl Erad=dare spelled backwards

 

I like how cool some of these names sound, like Nuremoh and Toirtap. Maybe I’ll use those as aliases the next time I need a fake name, or a junk email account. Hopefully edwardnuremoh at gmail isn’t taken yet. I’ll recap the storylines in Volume 6, and I’ll rank them on a scale of 1-5.

 

Tess Trueheart and her fiancee, Edward Nuremoh, July 22, 1939.

Edward Nuremoh/Tess: Tess Trueheart didn’t figure in much of the action in Volume 5, and as Volume 6 begins, it turns out that she has a new boyfriend: former major league baseball player Edward Nuremoh. The Nuremoh family are quite wealthy and live in a Gothic mansion near a clifftop. (Remember, Chester Gould hates inherited wealth!) Edward needs to find a bride that meets with the family’s approval so he can claim his share of the inheritance before Aunt Margot shuffles off her mortal coil. Tess and Edward get married, but, sadly, someone shot poor Aunt Margot in the heart. It’s up to Tess to do some detective work of her own, as Tracy is on the sidelines for this story. When Tess puts the pieces together and figures out that Edward killed Aunt Margot, he chases Tess to the top of a cliff, intent on murdering her as well. As Edward pulls out his gun and fires, his girlfriend Lola jumps out of the bushes and takes the bullet for Tess. (The family never approved of Lola.) Insane with grief as he realizes he has killed the woman he truly loves; Edward picks up Lola’s dead body in his arms and walks over the cliff to his death. It’s a haunting tableau. The Gothic romance element of the story is an interesting change of pace for the strip. 5 stars. (Tess’s marriage to Nuremoh was legally annulled in the October 1, 1939 strip.)

 

Tess Trueheart's not crazy! No way! She's totally sane! Maybe you're the one who's crazy! Tess and John Lavir, September 2, 1939.

John Lavir/Tess: Before the bodies of Edward and Lola have grown cold, Lola’s brother John drives up to the Nuremoh mansion and attempts to kill Tess by forcing her car off the road, as he blames Tess for Lola’s death. Even though Lavir quickly announces his murderous intentions, Tess declines to press charges against him, takes a shine to him, and the two drive off together. Lavir’s real gig is stealing dogs and then training them to be guard dogs for wealthy families. I know, yet another riff on that old con? (That was sarcasm.) Tess is fooled into thinking it’s a legitimate operation and becomes an investor. Once again, she figures out that he’s no good. Very weak plot and character motivations all the way through hamper this storyline from becoming anything more than filler. 2 stars.

 

Nat the Fur King: A very minor storyline, Nat only appears for about a month. His thing is stealing furs from farms and reselling them. Meh. 1 star.

 

In this striking panel, Stooge Viller has spilled alcohol on his daughter's photograph, December 22, 1939.

Stooge Viller: Gould rarely used villains more than once, but he used Viller in several storylines during 1933. At the time, Viller was one of the strongest villains Gould had yet created for his young strip. In Volume 6, Viller is released from prison, and vows revenge on Dick Tracy. He pairs up with Professor Emirc. (Crime spelled backwards!) Emirc is a true grotesque, and he spends his time inventing all sorts of nefarious devices. Emirc is more typical of the types of villains Tracy will encounter during the classic years of the strip, but he was clearly something of an afterthought, as Gould pivots the storyline to focus on Viller’s determination to reconcile with his young daughter. Emirc kicks Viller out of the gang and is never seen again. The storyline about Viller and his daughter is interesting, if perhaps too melodramatic for some tastes. Gould ends up killing off Viller on January 7, 1940, and it seems symbolic that the strip enters a new decade by firmly closing the door on one of its key villains from the first decade. 4 stars.

 

Baby in the suitcase/Kroywen family: After the strong Viller continuity comes this clunker, about a baby Tracy finds abandoned in a suitcase. The baby is connected to the wealthy Kroywen family, and it turns out that the baby’s mother is none other than Toby Townley, last seen in Volume 3. This continuity fits with the melodramatic tone of the previous storylines in Volume 6, but it’s not that interesting. 2 stars.

 

Tracy channels Columbo for a moment, playing dumb with Mr. Mason, April 2, 1940.

Mary X: A beautiful woman wakes up in the back seat of Dick Tracy’s car with amnesia. It turns out she has a beautiful singing voice and gets a gig with bandleader Rudy Seton—a caricature of Benny Goodman. Eventually Mary leads the cops to a body that was dumped in a swamp, and it turns out she’s witnessed a murder. There’s not a strong villain, but it’s an interesting story. 4 stars.

 

Junky Doolb buys the farm, April 24, 1940. Back when you could show bullets going straight through someone's head on the comics page.

Jerome Trohs and Mamma, April 27, 1940.

Jerome Trohs/Mamma: Here’s where things start picking up. Jerome Trohs is a midget, and he enters the strip bringing his Saint Bernard into the police station. He claims he’s a lawyer and wants to see his client in lockup. The cops oblige, and the hoodlum who’s been arrested gets a gun that’s been hidden in the dog’s mouth. But the joke is on the hood, as Trohs slipped him a gun with no bullets in it, and his escape is quickly derailed as he gets shot in the head. Trohs rides away on his dog, cackling manically over his treachery.

 

Trohs’ girlfriend is named Mamma, and she’s everything he’s not: tall and plump. Jerome and Mamma’s story runs nearly three months, and it’s by far the best one in Volume 6. This storyline is like a blast of cold water in the face compared to what’s come before it. It’s like a switch has been turned on in Gould’s brain. In this continuity we see Gould leaning into his sense of humor and the absurd, and his sadistic imagination. He’s really letting it all fly here. There’s much more narrative tension and drive, coupled with two truly memorable villains. Gould is figuring out the things that make his comic strip different from other adventure serials. In contrast to some of the other stories in this book that are over before they’ve begun, Gould spins the story of Jerome and Mamma out longer—he’s not afraid to let his imagination and plotting run wild. He takes Jerome on the run, lets Mamma break out of jail, and just watches what happens. The twists and turns of the narrative would become a trademark of Gould’s most famous stories. While Gould’s improvisational approach to storytelling meant that things might not always be tied up in a neat package, it meant that his stories were full of narrative drive, and the reader had no way of guessing where a storyline might go next.

 

The pursuit of the criminal would become Gould’s obsession, and we see more of that in this story, as we follow Jerome on the run. We also see Gould indulging his whims by focusing more on minor characters in this continuity. He’s able to make them fully realized characters—the rodeo chief who signs Jerome up to do trick riding, the couple who own the cabins that Jerome buys—these are real people, even if they’re not in the strip for very long.

 

While Jerome is being pursued by the law, he’s also being pursued by Mamma, who is incensed that he left her behind when he made his getaway from the cops. It’s just a matter of who will catch up with him first. It turns out to be Mamma, and Gould devises an extremely unpleasant death for Jerome: Mamma scalds him to death in a shower! 5 stars.

 

Yogee Yamma's wife provides a bit of cheesecake for the funnies, July 17, 1940.

Yogee Yamma: A fraudulent mystic who bends people to his will with the aid of a nerve gas. The gas is a creation of “the Professor,” (real name: Roloc Bard) whom Yogee keeps chained up in an abandoned subway tunnel. Yogee comes to a dramatic end, as he neglects to keep the nerve gas refrigerated, so it explodes and burns him to death in his hotel room. 5 stars.

 

Pat Patton and Dick Tracy provide some beefcake while testing Black Pearl's tank/submarine/airplane, October 11, 1940.

Black Pearl: Black Pearl is a female villain, or villainess, if you prefer, who is making a tank that can go underwater and also fly. She’s hoping to sell it to a foreign power. Tracy and Pat Patton are captured by Black Pearl and must test out the machine for her. They’re saved by G-Man Jim Trailer, making his last appearance while Gould drew the strip. It’s an interesting story, with hints of Gould’s sci-fi obsession that would blossom during the 1960’s. Too short of a storyline to really be a classic. 3 stars.

 

Deafy: Okay, so this villain’s nickname is decidedly un-PC. Very low-stakes story of bicycle thieves that sees Junior Tracy at the forefront of the action. Junior hadn’t been very visible in Volume 6, so perhaps Gould felt he owed Junior a storyline? 2 stars.

 

Krome begs for his life, January 16, 1941. Kitty is not amused. That hand looks bad, Krome, it'll probably have to come off.

Krome: This storyline carries over into Volume 7. Krome is a ruthless killer for hire. At the end of Volume 6, Krome’s girlfriend Kitty shoots him in the arm and intends to turn him over to the cops. As she’s phoning the police, Krome savagely kicks her, knocking the gun out of her hands. He ties her to a chair and electrocutes her. Oh, and Krome won’t have his bleeding hand too much longer. This is a great example of Gould’s pursuit tales. 5 stars.

 

Overall, Volume 6 is an improvement over the dullness of Volume 5, and the strip is just getting stronger. There’s more greatness to come in Volume 7, as Tracy will battle Littleface, the Mole, and BB Eyes, among others.

Book Review: The Complete Chester Gould's Dick Tracy Volume 2: 1933-1935, by Chester Gould (2007)

Cover of The Complete Chester Gould's Dick Tracy Volume 2: 1933-1935, published by IDW Publishing in 2007.

Volume 2 of The Complete Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy covers the period from May 1933 to January 1935. I reviewed Volume 1 of The Complete Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy here. As Volume 2 begins, Stooge Viller and Steve the Tramp are both in jail. But not for long, as they make a daring escape and go on the lam. Stooge and Steve are both bent on getting revenge on Dick Tracy and his adopted son, Junior. 

Dick Tracy flattens Stooge Viller,and perhaps coins a famous phrase, September 6, 1933.

There were no sacred cows in Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy, and Junior’s father, the blind prospector Hank Steele, is one of the many innocents who meet their end at the hands of ruthless criminals. Stooge Viller shoots Hank when he has a chance encounter with Junior and Hank in Canada. It was probably inevitable that something was going to happen to Hank, so Junior would be able to live with Dick Tracy again. By September of 1933, Steve and Stooge are once again back in jail. And not a moment too soon, because their storyline went on a little too long for me. By the end, it seemed like even Gould was losing interest in the storyline. 

Jean Penfield fixes her huge eyes on Dick Tracy, January 22, 1934.

Jean Penfield, relaxing at home, and inviting Dick Tracy over, January 28, 1934. Jean was an interesting character, and obviously a way for Gould to work a cute female into his strip.

The next six months of the strip concerns racketeers and political corruption. Many villains are introduced, and it’s the most complicated storyline Gould had yet attempted. There are some strong moments throughout the story arc. The strip gets an infusion of energy in January of 1934, with the introduction of the character of Jean Penfield, an aspiring author. Penfield’s subject is gangsters, and the political corruption in Tracy’s city. Jean is a young brunette with large eyes, and she becomes a romantic rival for Tess Trueheart, Tracy’s on-again, off-again fiancée. Tracy is even seen kissing Jean, which she takes to mean that they’re engaged. When Jean plants a story about their engagement in the newspapers, Tracy is outraged. So is Tess Trueheart, and when the women encounter each other on the street, they get into a hair-pulling fight. 

Jean Penfield and Tess Trueheart fight over Dick Tracy, March 31, 1934.

Corrupt lawyer Spaldoni hears about Tess and Jean’s fight, and he writes letters to each of them, purporting to be from the other woman. He hopes to escalate their hatred, and as Tess and Jean fight again, Spaldoni shoots Jean with a gun he has planted Tess’ fingerprints on. Tess is arrested for Jean’s murder. But Tracy knows there’s more to the story, and Spaldoni makes a deathbed confession after being wounded by Tracy. And then, just as this excellent, months-long storyline wraps up with Spaldoni’s death and Tess’ exoneration, the strip goes seriously off the rails.

J. Scotland Bumpsted, May 13, 1934. It's never a good sign when other characters in the comic strip make fun of your name.

Spaldoni’s mother appears at his deathbed. It turns out that she’s British, and her last name is Bumpsted, which Spaldoni changed when he entered his life of crime. She also has another son, one who has become a famous European detective. Okay, that’s cheesy enough right there. But wait until you hear the name of her other son: J. Scotland Bumpsted. Even the other characters in the strip think he’s ridiculous. J. Scotland Bumpsted wears a monocle, calls his mother “mumsy,” and is a parody of a British detective. Then Steve the Tramp breaks out of jail again, and he teams up with Larceny Lu, a female villain who was first introduced in 1932. It feels as though Gould had used up all his creative energy on the racketeers storyline, and when that wrapped up, he had no idea what to do.

Pat Patton uncovers a "clew," October 10, 1934. Gould used this spelling variation for years. According to a blog post, the Chicago Tribune, the home of Gould's syndicate, used odd spellings like this from the 1930's until the 1970's. This was at the behest of publisher Robert McCormick, cousin of Joseph Medill Patterson, who accepted Chester Gould's submission of Plainclothes Tracy in 1931.

When Steve the Tramp breaks out of jail for the second time in 1934, I was just done with him. He was a great villain when he was introduced in 1932, but to use him in a third storyline was just too much. When Steve is on the lam in 1934, he’s seriously wounded, which results in his left leg being amputated—an early example of Gould’s obsession with amputees. After Steve goes back to jail, he doesn’t reappear in the strip until 1941, when he has reformed and is released from prison. 

Chester Gould's narration asks one of the oddest questions in the history of the strip, December 6, 1934. Why, no, I never have seen the inside of a nitroglycerine plant!

Larceny Lu isn’t a very exciting villain, but she does introduce us to Mary Steele, Junior’s mother. Mary was married to Junior’s father, Hank Steele, but she left him for Steve the Tramp, who was cruel and abusive to her. Steve then left Mary and took Junior with him. Larceny Lu plays off Mary’s maternal feelings and attempts to blackmail her into claiming half of Junior’s inheritance from Hank Steele. Mary meets Dick Tracy and Junior, and while Tracy learns her real identity, she asks that he not tell Junior that she is his mother. As Volume 2 ends, Junior still doesn’t know who Mary Steele is, but he’ll figure it out in Volume 3. 

Pat Patton threatens a hoodlum, December 8, 1933. Needless to say, panels like this haven't aged very well.

The last villain in Volume 2 is Boris Arson. Despite his name, he doesn’t go around setting fires. He’s the leader of a group that was planning on blowing up six major banks in the U.S. at the same time. Arson’s political goals are never clearly stated, but he seems like an anarchist type. Tracy works for the federal government during the Arson case, and sidekick Pat Patton gets to show off his skills as he apprehends one of Arson’s gang and recovers the stolen nitroglycerine that was going to be used to blow up the banks. At the end of Volume 2, Arson is about to be apprehended again, but, spoiler alert, it won’t last for long. 

Volume 2 of Dick Tracy has its ups and downs, but at its best it demonstrates Chester Gould’s trademark mix of scientific police work and tense action sequences.