Announced this weekend at HeroesCon, Rich Tommaso dropped the biggest piece of news at the show: that he will be teaming up with Mike, Lee and Laura Allred to bring Chester Gould’s beloved gumshoe Dick Tracy to a comics shop near you.
While the pitch itself has yet to be announced, and should be forthcoming today from IDW, here’s what we know:
Lee will be scripting, Rich is providing pencils, Mike will ink, and Laura will color.
The story has an unspecified time period, but don’t expect any kind of attempt at modernizing the concept in terms of timeframe, as it will look 1940’s through and through, especially when it comes to cars, clothing, and airplanes…this is the Dick Tracy you know and love. Even down to the freakish looking bad guys. When Rick was showing me his original art for the project, I got a great look at his Big Boy and Flattop, and we are definitely in for a treat when the series begins this September.
This initial collaboration will be four issues in length. And you can get a look below at quick sneak peek from Tommaso’s Instagram announcement post:
Tommaso is doing some fascinating work at Image, especially in recent years with the horror comic She-Wolf, his European globe-trotting adventure Spy Seal, and the early 90’s-set crime story Dry County. To be frank, this is the book the man was born to draw, and after Lee, Mike and Laura’s incredibly fun Bug!: The Adventures of Forager over at DC’s Young Animal imprint (among every other amazing thing they’ve done in collaboration), their irreverent approach to the material should really give way to some of the fun, weirder elements of Tracy lore.
Oddly enough, this is the second Tracy series to see announcement this year, as back in January – Archie Comics had made plans to team up with Tribune Media for a series co-written by Alex Segura and Michael Moreci, with art by Thomas Pitilli. But due to a pre-existing licensing deal, that series was subsequently cancelled a week later. But it seems those issues are now worked out and what looks to be an incredibly thrilling revival is headed our way!
Wait, wasn’t there a Tracy graphic novel from another company announced a while back, after the Archie deal fell apart?
Yes. Hermes Press has announced one.
How does Hermès have the rights if IDW does?
Spy Seal is soooo good! And now with Mike Allred inking?? YES!
“How does Hermès have the rights if IDW does?”
Separate licenses for the newspaper strip vs. the comic-book rights?
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