2026 PCGG Day Eleven: Dick Tracy Collected

Our final entry this week in The 2026 PopCult Gift Guide is a new series of collections of a classic comic strip that I first mentioned in our second-ever Gift Guide twenty years ago. Clover Press has created and curated an exciting new format to reprint the original Chester Gould Dick Tracy comic strips.

These are the perfect gift idea for fans of Detective Fiction, classic comic strips, or the esteemed Detective Tracy himself. I’ve been a fan for as long as I could read, and now you can find out why.

Dick Tracy Collection
by Chester Gould
published by Clover Press
eight volumes (so far) $29.99 each from the publisher
Bunbles of four volumes, $110
Also available from other booksellers and comic book shops.

Way back in 2006, when plugging an earlier reprint series, I wrote, “These are masterpieces of twisted fantasy police adventures, with gruesome villains and sharp detective work. One of the greatest comic strips of all time. ”

Now, Clover Press and The Library of American Comics’ have developed a new deluxe softcover slipcase series, collecting all of Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy newspaper strip.

Every volume collects a full year of newspaper strips, from January 1 through December 31. Each book is printed in an 11” x 8.5” landscape format softcover book that slides into a vertically oriented die-cut slipcase.

The books are easy on the eyes, and easy to handle. I love collections of comic strips, but when you get a hardcover collection with over 600 pages, it can be a physical chore to read. These new collections present the art in a very readable size. Sunday pages are included and you won’t pop a hernia trying to lift them. The slipcovers, with great art by contemporary artists and die-cut features, look great on a bookshelf, but the softcover books within are so easy to read and enjoy.

This series is not presenting the books in a strict chronological order. They’re releasing them in groups of four consecutive years at a time. Eventually the entire series will be collected, but this way they can jump around and draw in fans of different eras.

The first collection kicks off with every Dick Tracy strip published in 1941. That year began with a wintery chase that had Tracy hot on the trail of the murderous Krome. Elderly Mrs. Depool will do anything to keep the cops away from her criminal son, including taking on Tracy all by herself. Then, a crooked casino owner is on the lam after killing his girlfriend in a violent car crash. And finally, Little Face gets too close to the fuzz while trying to eliminate evidence of his delinquent activities. In the middle of all this, we get the return of Steve the Tramp.

That’s all just in one volume. Every book in this series is an action-packed gem with amazing action as Tracy matches wits with the greatest Rogues Gallery in comics (sorry, Batman).

Cover artists include Jerry Ordway, Stewart Kenneth Moore, John K. Snyder III, Juan José Ryp, Cat Staggs, Brent Schoonover, Daniel Hillyard and newly-minted Dick Tracy comic strip artist, Howie Noel.

The best thing about giving books from this series as gifts is that they’ll be coming out with new volumes for quite some time. If the gift is a hit, then you can just run on autopilot and get the new volumes as they come out.

You can order these books directly from Clover Press (who have lots of other great comic strip reprints and graphic novels in their catalog. Single volumes arre $29.99, but they have bundles were you can save a few bucks.

Clover has also reprinted the first six volumes of IDW’s Dick Tracy reprint series, in a new, larger format. These were the books I recommended 20 years ago.

You may also find these volumes, possibly discounted, at other booksellers, but you’ll get them faster if you buy them from Clover Press. I Kickstarted the second batch of four books, saved twenty bucks, and I already have them all, even though two aren’t officially published yet (but you can get them if you buy the bundle).

Get these and teach someone on your shopping list that crime doesn’t pay!