(I originally read these comics in early March 2016)
Finally acquired a copy of Dick Tracy # 3 last week, after years looking for it. The first two issues are a prequel to the Warren Beatty movie about the tough, gun-toting police detective by John Francis Moore, the third an adaptation by Len Wein. It's good stuff and all the famous baddies - Flattop, Pruneface, etc, show up. The art's the big draw here, though. Kyle Baker does a typically great job and colours his work with what looks like ink, crayons and chalk. It's very loose and cartoony and might not be to all tastes, but I loved it.
Next up, two treats from DC in the shape of an 80-Page Giant and an 80-Page Giant by any other name, done in retro style. The Plastic Man one has the origin tales of "Plas" and sidekick Woozy Winks by creator Jack Cole, but is too weighted towards later, inferior material from the '60s onwards. I question the wisdom of including a crappy 'Dial H for Hero' strip in which the protagonist Robby Reed uses his "magic dial" to turn into Plastic Man for only the final four pages out of a sixteen-page story.
The Shazam one is better, with material dating from between 1942-'45 only. However, reading eighty pages of Golden Age fare in one stretch is a bit wearing as no matter how charming the material is, it's still very much kids' stuff. Still, it's head and shoulders above much GA stuff I've read and it's no wonder Captain Marvel was the wartime best seller, even over Superman.
Finally, the adaptation of the underrated 1989 Punisher flick I watched a few months back. It's lacklustre and looks like Brent Anderson knocked the art out in a week. Given that there's no effort made to match the actors' likenesses (least of all Dolph Lundgren's), I have to wonder if he'd even seen the film. Still, it does rectify one of the movie's missteps and has Frank Castle don the famous skull shirt before the end.
Dick Tracy (1990) # 1-3 are collected in:
Softcover:
