The Complete Dick Tracy Volume 22: 1964-1965

The Complete Dick Tracy #22

by Chester Gould

Two worlds are in turmoil when the inter-species romance between Junior and Moon Maid heats up. Can the twinkling of little antennae be too far in the future? Back on Earth, Diet Smith introduces the Two-Way Wrist Television fifty years before the Apple Watch, while Moon Maid turns vigilante and a series of events reveal a mob plot to kill both her and Dick Tracy. The clues eventually lead to Mr. Bribery, who proudly displays his collection of shrunken heads of the people who have crossed him. Volume 22 includes the complete comic strips from April 13, 1964 through December 26, 1965.

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Comic Strips, Graphic Novels, Comics, Science Fiction, Adventure

288 pages, Hardcover

First published June 13, 2017

About the author

Chester Gould was a U.S. cartoonist and the creator of the Dick Tracy comic strip, which he wrote and drew from 1931 to 1977. Gould was known for his use of colorful, often monstrous, villains.

Reviews

[Stewart Tame · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, first of all, that's an absolutely brilliant cliffhanger. It's just a truly evil place to end the volume … Obviously we’re not done with Mr. Bribery and company.

On the whole, this volume is a little more lackluster than most. Mr. Bribery is a fine Gouldian villain, and the storyline involving the Sawdust Boys starts off well with the skeleton in the tree, although the resolution doesn't really live up to the macabre imagery of the beginning.

Part of my dissatisfaction likely stems from all of the stories revolving around the Moon people. Despite some of Gould's more outlandish gadgetry over the years, Dick Tracy is primarily a detective strip, and the outright science fiction doesn't really mesh well. Gould was famous for making up his stories on the fly, rather than plotting them out ahead of time--he reasoned that, if he didn't know what was going to happen next, then neither would the readers. It mostly served him well throughout the years, but it's an approach that doesn't work well with science fiction, which demands a bit more planning and logical consistency. Points to Gould for imagination, I suppose, but this was really a case where someone probably should have told him, “No.” Much of what the Moon people brought to the strip could just as easily have been accomplished through Diet Smith’s various inventions instead.

Also rising more to the forefront of the strip is Gould's strong conservative streak, which, as the 60's progressed, served to alienate more and more of the younger generation reading the comics pages. As one who tends more to the liberal side of things myself, Gould's jabs at criminals whining about their constitutional rights grate on my nerves just a bit. Given the current events of the time, and the general outlook of the Dick Tracy strip over the years, though, it's perfectly understandable. If you're trying to avoid conservative viewpoints, reading Dick Tracy probably isn't a good idea in the first place.

Even if the stories pale compared to the strip’s glory days, Gould's art is as strong as ever. His use of solid black areas and a mixture of thick and thin lines gave the Tracy strip a look like no other. That and his continual inventiveness are good reasons to keep going. Although this probably isn't the best volume of the series to start with--the 40’s and 50's were the strip’s glory days--I’ll go ahead and recommend it anyway.

[Carl Waluconis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't quite figure out those who want Chester Gould to only do hard-boiled detective. Love between those from different planets is fairly daring for newspaper strips. Is it to much for the detective fans? I enjoy the hard-boiled Tracy as much as the next person - I have the entire collection up to this book. But Gould does a lot of other new things here. Moon Maid has super-hero powers - she generates heat and fires electric blasts from her fingers that can kill. She is totally vigilante, taking the law into her own hands. Tracy approves, but I guess that's not hard-boiled enough for many. Even Max Allan Collins, who writes all the introductions to these collections, weighs in on Tracy's controversial departing from his norm - everything from portrayal of the moon's cultural benefits to the hot-tempered governor. So suddenly we want realism from Tracy? In the meantime, the crooks here are straight-out caricature, hilarious and one of the ways Gould keeps me entertained. Matty Square may be one of the most incapable crooks ever. In his bumbling, he kills his own gang and even loses his cigar smoking cat to Mr. Bribery, whose clients by the way seem to lose all ability to detect Mr.Bribery blatantly picking money from their pockets. The only criminal success Marry Square has had is accumulating stacks of appliances and groceries, and we don't know how he did that. These wacky criminals are the things I like Tracy for as he had to keep pushing his own crazed envelope. Moon Maid was in many ways more original than his peculiar rogue's gallery. Tracy's winking at her crimes - well she is his daughter-in-law - is in keeping with his character and views. The "scientific" things such as magnetism being the key to interstellar travel, were things readers took as seriously as believing that criminals looked and acted like Mr. Larceny, who spends much of his time babbling to a rose and has a sister whose eyes are always covered by her hair named Ugly Christine. It is all a part of Chester Gould's mad universe, which he got away with in the then straight-laced world of newspaper strips. A moon person, a murderer with little electric horns and super blasts coming from her hands, marries and has a baby with a man who physically seems to be a different species. These were my favorite Tracy adventures so far. My complaint is that the reproduction of the artwork, always fantastic in the books in the early volumes, is again spotty here.

[🐴 🍖]

moon maid rules, giant escargot rule, c. gould's attitude of "oh those wacky criminals, always insisting upon their constitutional right to due process" does not rule. if anyone better versed in dick tracy can lmk which other volumes are highest prio i'd be obliged

[Woody Chandler · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume marks the first time that I have read most of these strips! It also encompasses the date of my birth in 1965, which was kind of a neat experience. I grew up in the era leading up to Gould's retirement in 1977, plus Tracy ran in the afternoon paper, while we subscribed to the morning & Sunday, so I missed out on quite a bit. He did appear in the combined Sunday Comics section, so I have some memories of Tracy as a kid, but nothing substantial.

Because I had some exposure during his Moon Phase, I did not mind the subplot as much as some other reviewers, but I concede their point. Tracy had always been a law & order strip & now it was veering off into outer space. I get it.

I liked the villain Bribery & his sister, Ugly Christine & I look forward to Volume 23, which will bring me current in the series.

[Yosef Shapiro · Rating 2 out of 5]

This volume is during the height of Gould's moon obsession . To me, Tracy was always a classic hard boiled detective, not a sci fi strip. I for one don't like these stories . The only redeeming factors in this collection are the two stories that are classically Tracy. They are a dead body in a tree as well as the Amelia Earhart knock off.

[Michael Malice · Rating 1 out of 5]

torture. gould has clearly run out of creativity.

[Susan Molloy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot say much more than I have always enjoyed Dick Tracy comics, at least until Chester Gould passed away.

[LobsterQuadrille · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

I innocently jumped right into Dick Tracy's weirdest era with no previous context... this was quite the adventure: exceedingly weird, unexpectedly graphic, yet oddly charming at times. The art is lively and appealing, except that most of the women are afflicted with Same Face Syndrome. The villain designs are usually great, and Ugly Christine absolutely rocks the turtleneck.