Complete Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy Volume 13 Hardcover – May 29, 2012

Here we have the latest Dick Tracy volume. This one covers the years 1950-51. For me, the only sequence I had already read was the Crewy Lou story-line, only the first half is in this volume, and knew about another event that is covered here. This volume is important, as it starts the 1950s. Some feel this decade isn't as good as the past, as it didn't have the standout 'grotesques', but I have to agree with the forward by Max Allan Collins that the writing of the stories in this and the next volume far overwhelms what was in the past. A lot of good stories and villains are still to come in the 50s (Flattop, jr, the story of Junior's love interest- in the next volume, and more), as well as several big changes in several of the characters.This volume gives us several great stories:First up is Blowtop, the brother of Flatop trying to enact revenge against Tracy. Blowtop's shtick is that little things (tapping fingers, etc) upsets him. He and his 2 associates made a big score in a robbery, but can't spend the nearly 1 million, as it's marked money. Blowtop is distracted by his attempt at revenge against Tracy that leads to him bombing Tracy's new home and nearly killing Junior. He associates leave him, but they come up short.Blowtop encounters Vitamin Flintheart (whom we learn from a throw away line that his wife Snowflake has passed away), and pulls him in. But thanks to Flintheart's purchase of a shrunken head, it all ends for Blowtop.I was surprised by the return of Vitamin Flintheart in this story and the next, and that he would not reappear until Max Allan Collins brought him back. I did not know that, knowing him only from reprints of his early appearances and his appearances in Collins period, so I assumed he returned now and then in between.Before the next big story, we have a return of the Plenties. Sparkles is turning 3, and is now a musical prodigy, playing a ukulele. Flintheart tries to be her agent.This leads to the next villain: TV Wiggles. His scam is a protection racket, built around tv's in public places like bars and the like (we need to remember the time). Bar owners must pay protection, or one of Wiggle's thugs will spray corn syrup in the tv set, burning it out. Wiggle decides to horn in on Flintheart and Sparkle, revealing a sinister streak. We get a long sequence of Tracy and Sam trying to track down Wiggle in an industrial plant. Then Wiggle seems to loose it. He encounters a former associate, a lady wrestler he tries to demand help from, who rebuffs him. He takes his revenge on his enemies by assassinating the wrestler, then kidnaps Sparkle and locks her in a cello case, which is dumped in the trash! Sparkle is rescued, but BO Plenty is out for revenge. In a confrontation, Plenty is left on death's door and Wiggles is no more.We then get a short sequence of the recovery of BO Plenty, including Tracy praying for his survival!The year ends with the Tracys in their new home, rebuilt on the old location. And they are introduced to the next villain: Dr. Plain. Dr. Plain is a one-armed surgeon. There are several mysterious attacks, some of which affects the family of a rich widow known to Dr. Plain. We learn that Dr. Plain is behind them, all to get a nitrate mine in Chile. He bumps off the widow's son and daughter-in-law with a torch replacing his arm, then kills the widow with a nicotine-infused mud pack. But it all turns out tragically for Dr. Plain!Next up is Empty Williams, the villain with a hole in his head. He is the head of a hijack ring who steal a truck of furs, but it really has diapers! So they try to sell it to make some money, but things go off. Empty bugs out, going to his female barber who is making a headpiece to hid his hole. Sam finds them, but is almost killed in the exchange, as Empty and the barber leave. They get married, but then Empty bumps her off. A long chase ensures and Williams is found and it all ends for him.The last story has Crewy Lou and the Sphinx, in a story that also introduces the next NEW character of the strip: Bonnie Braids, the daughter of Tracy and Tess (and we didn't even know that Tess was pregnant!) Also in this story is another criminal, "The King". Crewy Lou is a photographer, who uses this to get into the home of rich people to rob them. But they make the mistake of robbing a linchpin in a crime syndicate lead by "The King", also married when the wife kills the linchpin. The Sphinx run afoul of the crime syndicate, and Crewy is grabbed by her brother. So it ends with Crewy on the lam in Tess's car. We will see in the next volume how it ends.Can't wait!!

We’ve passed the period of the most recognizable Dick Tracy villains but Blowtop is one of my favorite from the past few years. The brother of classic Tracy villain Flattop, Blowtop’s defining characteristic is his explosive temper. He also seeks revenge against Dick Tracy for the death of his brother, at least for a time and then that’s forgotten about. This leads to one of the most unintentionally hilarious scenes in Dick Tracy history when Blowtop sets off a bomb at Tracy’s house. In the resulting fire Dick Tracy rushes around with his hair literally ablaze. Priceless. Vitamin Flintheart returns and gets tied up with Blowtop for a significant part of the story but strangely enough Gould never capitalizes on the fact the Flintheart was involved in the death of Flattop.The second villain, T.V. Wiggles, is one of the weirdest villains ever and not in a good way. He’s a shakedown artist who demands money from bars with television sets or he’ll spray corn syrup in the back to ruining them. He is also an ex pro-wrestler (although he looks nothing like one) who knows a pressure point capable putting someone in a comatose state until he undoes the paralyzing effect. As if all the wasn’t goofy enough his scheme is to shakedown Vitamin Flintheart who is acting as the agent of Sparkle Plenty who is discovered to have such phenomenal singing talents that she can command a salary of ten grand A WEEK! Everything about this story is ludicrous and cringe worthy. The ending is also one of the sappiest in Dick Tracy history and that’s an achievement.Following T.V. Wiggles is a shorter than normal storyline involving the villainous Dr. Plain. I liked this one because Gould diverged somewhat from his typical formula and kept the story very tight and compact. Dr. Plain’s gimmick was a missing hand replaced by a flame thrower which he used to immolate people. He had a very specific plan and carried it through. We also don’t get the obligatory chase the villain ending. After Dr. Plain, Gould gave his readers ‘Empty’ Williams, a villain who’s defining characteristic is that he says, ‘as a matter ‘a fact’ with nearly every sentence. Empty may be the most inept villain Gould had yet to create but I don’t get the impression Gould intended for him to be such a buffoon. His gang accidently steals a truckload of 120,000 diapers and then try to sell them for $5000. When that deal goes sour they kill the buyer and just take the money which they could have simply done without the diapers. Everything Empty does is moronic except his ability to escape and extend this overlong storyline.The writer of the introduction stated that his all-time favorite storyline was the one with Crewy Lou and on this rare occasion I actually agree. This biggest asset to this story is that Gould diverges from his very tight formula. Crewy Lou not only finds herself trying to avoid capture, she also finds herself in a war with another criminal named ‘the King’ as well as her own brother who intends to kill her for bringing shame to the family. I found myself sympathetic to Crewy Lou as she escaped from one deadly situation after another. Everything seems to work in the story from the plot to the characterization. My only complaint is the sudden birth of Dick Tracy’s daughter, Bonny Braids. This is as strong of evidence as there is that Gould did almost no long term planning in his plots since there is absolutely no indication that Tess was even pregnant. Bonnie Braids is an annoyingly precious little girl that I could have done without.As far as I’m concerned Blowtop and Crewy Lou are the stars of volume 13 with Dr. Plain coming in third due to his uniqueness and a decently well thought out (if overly complex) plan. Crewy Lou headlines volume 14 but most of her story is here. T.V. Wiggles was just weird and Empty was a total dud. We’ll see if the Crewy Lou storyline is a portent of greater stories to come or if it was a single alignment of stars.