Great show, fellas! Had to find me that Treasury Edition on ebay after seeing how much fun you were having going thru it. Btw, another of my favorite Flattop appearances is as a one-shot joke in Bob Clampett's WW2 Looney Tunes cartoon, THE GREAT PIGGY BANK ROBBERY (starring Daffy Duck as "Duck Twacy"), showing Navy planes taking off from the top of Flattop's head...
I'm struck by how presented in this format the story resembles in structure and length a Tintin book of the same era: 60+ pages of four tier pages. And like you said, at a time when American comic book stories were very short.
Great video, as always. I was hooked on Dick Tracy in 1976 after buying a Fawcett paperback reprint of the Pruneface story. Decades later I bought a Sunday colour insert at a flea market for a quarter, without checking the comics inside. It was the 1942 strip that started the Pruneface run. The very first Big Little Book in 1932 was a Dick Tracy story. Many were stories from the newspaper strip, with the written story on the left side and a newspaper strip panel on the right.
Man, I could listen to you guys talk about Gould and Dick Tracy all day lol. Though Gould was never high on my radar, when I first got interested in classic syndicated adventure strips as a kid, I read a bunch of Gould in the 1970s-through a collection of the Great Syndicated Comic Strips of the Chicago Tribune-Daily News that I got for a Christmas present and a huge hard cover Dick Tracy collection that came out around the same period. I never got the latter book, but read pretty much the whole thing serially every time I went to the bookstore lol.
Another great video that hits close to my heart! I discovered Dick Tracy about 10 years ago and I'm just blown away how good it is and how well it still holds up...even with all the corniness and comedic bits. You guys really nail everything that still makes this a great strip and I'm thankful I picked up the DC treasury last year before the kayfabe effect. =)
I had this very Treasury edition as a kid. I enjoyed the episodic story and how Gould would point things out to the reader, like how he stressed the panels showing Flattop stuck in the chiminey were a CROSS CUT OUT SECTION. Now that kid and the foreshadowing of his fate with the skates.. I liked that, it made it more ironic and ominous. Plus, I think Gould wanted to point out to the reader, you engage in crime, you WILL pay a penalty! What gets me is that the kids drowning was used to help Tracy track down Flattop and most of all, to me, That even KIDS in Dick Tracy could die! I agree, some of the characters looked comical, but damn, this was a SERIOUS WORLD where some weird looking villian was doing henious things. Vitamin was hilarious, Flattop, like most of Tracy's Rogue gallery ended up dead, making me wonder if he ever brought in a bad guy alive.😂 Two lines stand out to me in that storyline, one where Tracy says " Three you dirty dogs!" Grabs a gun and starts shooting the bad guys. And the guy in the subway trying to clean Flattops suit up, at one point he recognizes ol FT and says that this is now a showdown between them, like hes some kind of legendary crime boss or something. Lol When I found out he lost I chuckled and thought, "I guess he lost that duel!"
I have that DC Limited Collectors Edition Dick Tracy and I just got the oversized hardcover Celebrated Cases of Dick Tracy, 1931-1951. I love Chester Gould the crimes and deaths are pretty brutal for a newspaper strip .
38:29 My Dad's guy was Bing Crosby. He hated rock & roll and teenagers, but mutton chops snuck out in the 70s. "Short-haired" people had curlies coming out from behind their ears and neck back then. It was hideous.
I remember years before the Movie, which I love but HATE the Madonna parts of the movie. I usually Fast Forward her parts of the movie. But especially the Flat Top guy it's brilliant.
Great show, fellas! Had to find me that Treasury Edition on ebay after seeing how much fun you were having going thru it. Btw, another of my favorite Flattop appearances is as a one-shot joke in Bob Clampett's WW2 Looney Tunes cartoon, THE GREAT PIGGY BANK ROBBERY (starring Daffy Duck as "Duck Twacy"), showing Navy planes taking off from the top of Flattop's head...
I had to look that up. Found it here. ua-cam.com/video/9ly35NQfZw8/v-deo.html
I remember seeing ads for this book back in the day and was never able to get my hands on it. Glad you guys review it. Great stuff!
I read up on Chester and discovered he mostly worked from home, and had a large amount of control over his creation for the time.
I thought he had an office in the Chicago Tribune Building...?
I'm struck by how presented in this format the story resembles in structure and length a Tintin book of the same era: 60+ pages of four tier pages. And like you said, at a time when American comic book stories were very short.
Great video, as always. I was hooked on Dick Tracy in 1976 after buying a Fawcett paperback reprint of the Pruneface story. Decades later I bought a Sunday colour insert at a flea market for a quarter, without checking the comics inside. It was the 1942 strip that started the Pruneface run. The very first Big Little Book in 1932 was a Dick Tracy story. Many were stories from the newspaper strip, with the written story on the left side and a newspaper strip panel on the right.
“Charge it, old boy! Charge it!” Vitamin was an equally fun character introduced during the Flattop arc!
Man, I could listen to you guys talk about Gould and Dick Tracy all day lol. Though Gould was never high on my radar, when I first got interested in classic syndicated adventure strips as a kid, I read a bunch of Gould in the 1970s-through a collection of the Great Syndicated Comic Strips of the Chicago Tribune-Daily News that I got for a Christmas present and a huge hard cover Dick Tracy collection that came out around the same period. I never got the latter book, but read pretty much the whole thing serially every time I went to the bookstore lol.
Marvel's Hammer Head created by Gerry Conway seems to be modeled after Flat top too!
There was a park in my hometown (Caracas, Venezuela) where there was a Santa María replica that you can go in
I’m usually a fan of fewer, bigger panels, but in this treasury size format these 12 panel (give or take) grids, combined with the color, really work.
Another great video that hits close to my heart! I discovered Dick Tracy about 10 years ago and I'm just blown away how good it is and how well it still holds up...even with all the corniness and comedic bits. You guys really nail everything that still makes this a great strip and I'm thankful I picked up the DC treasury last year before the kayfabe effect. =)
Great stuff -- I love Tracy. If only you guys could cover the gruesome death of The Brow!
I had this very Treasury edition as a kid.
I enjoyed the episodic story and how Gould would point things out to the reader, like how he stressed the panels showing Flattop stuck in the chiminey were a CROSS CUT OUT SECTION.
Now that kid and the foreshadowing of his fate with the skates.. I liked that, it made it more ironic and ominous.
Plus, I think Gould wanted to point out to the reader, you engage in crime, you WILL pay a penalty!
What gets me is that the kids drowning was used to help Tracy track down Flattop and most of all, to me,
That even KIDS in Dick Tracy could die! I agree, some of the characters looked comical, but damn, this was a SERIOUS WORLD where some weird looking villian was doing henious things.
Vitamin was hilarious, Flattop, like most of Tracy's Rogue gallery ended up dead, making me wonder if he ever brought in a bad guy alive.😂
Two lines stand out to me in that storyline,
one where Tracy says " Three you dirty dogs!" Grabs a gun and starts shooting the bad guys.
And the guy in the subway trying to clean Flattops suit up,
at one point he recognizes ol FT and says that this is now a showdown between them, like hes some kind of legendary crime boss or something. Lol
When I found out he lost I chuckled and thought, "I guess he lost that duel!"
I have that DC Limited Collectors Edition Dick Tracy and I just got the oversized hardcover Celebrated Cases of Dick Tracy, 1931-1951. I love Chester Gould the crimes and deaths are pretty brutal for a newspaper strip .
Great video, love Chester Gould.
38:29 My Dad's guy was Bing Crosby. He hated rock & roll and teenagers, but mutton chops snuck out in the 70s. "Short-haired" people had curlies coming out from behind their ears and neck back then. It was hideous.
I remember years before the Movie, which I love but HATE the Madonna parts of the movie. I usually Fast Forward her parts of the movie. But especially the Flat Top guy it's brilliant.