You may remember the big announcement, and sudden retraction, that Archie Comics would release a new Dick Tracy series. While that story is one that everyone involved with intellectual properties can learn from, there is still one more twist to the story. Hermes Press – yes THAT Hermes Press is releasing their own Dick Tracy graphic novel in 2019.
According to Hermes Press, the story will take place in the 1940s and will be in the mold of the classic newspaper strips. The OGN will be written and illustrated by Richard Pietrzyk, who has consulted with Dick Tracy’s creator Chester Gould when Pietrzyk worked on the daily comic strip.
This reboot of the series will remain true to the origins of the character, and some of the ideas behind it stem from conversations Pietrzyk had with Gould.
“When I was working Dick Tracy, Chester Gould had retired from active service at that point, and I was working with his successor, artist Rick Fletcher, and I assisted Rick on lettering,” said Pietrzyk. “He also liked to talk about how the story would be interpreted when he drew it.”
“I would, however, meet with Chester every two weeks, to talk about what I was doing on the strip, and also to talk about how he created Dick Tracy, the characters, some of the mechanics of his art in the strip. How he drew snow, drew rain, and just about all the different ways he’d bring a character to life. I looked at him as my mentor, because I learned so much from meeting with him while I was working on Dick Tracy.
One his more unique styles was reflected in his way of drawing snow and rain. I recall him showing me how he did snow, and, very briefly, the thing with the rain. He would show the rain coming down over the character, and when he was done he’d take a razorblade and scrape it in the direction of the rain, over the character. He’d do that to give the scene compromised visibility. The first time I saw him do it with the razorblade, just scraping into artwork, I thought, “Oh my gosh! He’s ruining the art!” But looking at it, that technique really created a wonderful image.”
The Dick Tracy OGN is set to arrive in the late summer of 2019.
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Hermes Press is such an underrated publisher! I absolutely love their Phantom comics and have them on my permanent pull list. This will be on my pull list, too.