The Dick Tracy Casebook: Favorite Adventures, 1931-1990

by Max Allan Collins, Chester Gould, Dick Locher

A representative collection of Dick Tracy adventures from the popular comic strip includes "The Hotel Murders" from the 1930s, "Putty Puss" from the 1980s, and other favorite cases

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels Comics, Crime, Fiction, Mystery, Graphic Novels, Pulp

273 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Received the Shamus Award, "The Eye" (Lifetime achievment award) in 2006.

He has also published under the name Patrick Culhane. He and his wife, Barbara Collins, have written several books together. Some of them are published under the name Barbara Allan.

Book Awards
Shamus Awards Best Novel winner (1984) : True Detective
Shamus Awards Best Novel winner (1992) : Stolen Away
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (1995) : Carnal Hours
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (1997) : Damned in Paradise
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (1999) : Flying Blind: A Novel about Amelia Earhart
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (2002) : Angel in Black

Japanese: マックス・アラン・コリンズ
or マックス・アラン コリンズ

Reviews

[Jean-Pierre Vidrine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A less clever, but more descriptive, title for this would have been Dick Tracy Through the Years. This collection of comic strips gives readers a great overview of complete storylines from the earliest pre-War strips to the post-Gould years when Max Allan Collins took over the writing chores. Each storyline is prefaced with a text piece by Collins giving an overview of the following story as well as a little peak into what was going on with Gould and his strip in that decade. Collins pulls no punches. For all the due praise he heaps on Gould, he's quick to point out where Gould went wrong in the sixties, mostly with the whole Moon Maid business. Because this collection is supposed to be something of a "Best of," that story is mercifully left out. Besides the stated mission of the editors, the book serves another purpose: getting the reader interested in reading more Dick Tracy. In this sense, the book is less a "Best of" collection and more of a teaser. So, why not a full 5 stars? It would have been, but for one little detail. The final story in the book, wonderful as the writing was, suffered from one artistic glitch. Dick Locher's artwork is great and his style definitely fits the Dick Tracy strip. I just would have loved to see his work had he been locked in a room with no Xerox machine. I've seen the use of repeated panels before, usually in humor strips and comic books. But, Locher's use of it in a serious crime strip was so odd (and seemingly more frequent as the story progressed) that is became a distraction. Maybe it's just me. Forgetting that little flaw, this book is a must read.

[Brendan Hough · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eye read 2025
7.5/10 stories were more gritty than i thought they would be. Summarizes dick tracy over several decades. Characters and art for the most part good to ok. Later stories had noticeable repeating panels and some mistakes between drawings. The character names were stoopid, and not colour. Those were only reasons i gave down to 7.5/10. I am content with leaving dick tracy there. I could read another dick tracy collection someday, but i’m in no rush.

[Read1000books · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorite still-running continuity strip by creator Chester Gould's successor, Max Allan Collins.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Worth reading.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good collection of Dick Tracy strips spanning nearly 60 years. Things got really weird in the '70s.