“Tracing Dick Tracy” Indiegogo Funding Project on the 84-year-old Comic Strip!

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“Tracing Dick Tracy” is an Indiegogo funding project; About the 84-year-old comic strip, Dick Tracy himself, his influence upon American Pop Culture and reflections on his history by celebs in the entertainment and comic book worlds!

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A person I have much adoration for is Mr. Chester Gould, the famed creator of Dick Tracy. The classic comic strip that has gone on to become comic books, cartoon, a major motion picture and video games as well. Chester Gould also grew up in my same hometown of Woodstock, IL. Born on November 20, 1900 – died on May 11, 1985. The creator, writer and artist of the classic comic book strip is well-known for his great creation, but I feel his impact in the comic book landscape is sadly way overlooked.

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Dick Tracy’s “rogues gallery” consist of mainly one-time villains who only showed up in one or two strips throughout the character’s history. No one can deny that without the vast creativity of Chester Gould we wouldn’t have nearly as many of the colorfully vile and dynamic villains that headline today’s most popular comic books and movies.

Chester created very unique characters and names with personalities that tied expertly to their physical features. Classics like Measels, Snowflake, Mrs. Pruneface, Pruneface, Flattop, and the Blank who all paved the way for multitudes of costumed criminals in both comic books and other works of fiction. On their own, they may not have the presence of villains found in today’s ranks of popular bad guys, but as a whole, Dick Tracy’s vast gallery of cleverly nicknamed, physically distinct and ruthless guise’d gangster thugs set the stage for decades of great reading. By following the new villains and their dastardly deeds, it was so much fun to catch each new episode in Chester’s fantastic strips.

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Chester’s visual storytelling was far ahead of its time and set standard that even future film makers were to follow. Dynamic, gritty, crime storytelling, film quality comic panels, elements of futuristic sci-fi with Dick Tracy’s radio/video watch (that Apple still can’t get right) and other clever gadgets he used to fight crime. Who can ever forget the fantastic visuals that broke the mold for comic strips of the time and propelled Dick Tracy as the coolest hero for decades. When Dick Tracy the movie came on-screen you could almost call that the first most successful comic book to movie adaptation since the 80’s Superman films.

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So anything that has to do with recognition to my hometown or Dick Tracy itself I absolutely jump on the chance to learn about. So when I hear about this Indiegogo project I had to help in any way possible.

What’s this film about?

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Tracing Dick Tracy – Is set to be about the 84-year-old comic strip, Dick Tracy, its influence upon and reflection of American culture and the intriguing perspective that popular artists have about the story, characters and artwork. Follow the Indiegogo link for a video of the project, more information on contribution prizes and contact info for the creators. Below is another project Ahoj Productions has made on Dick Tracy already.

Tracing Dick Tracy Indiegogo Funding Link

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Ahoj Productions – Family-owned production company led by Woodstock residents, father, Tom, and sons Steve and John Firak – have made a 56-minute television version called “Chester Gould, An American Original,” which originally aired on WTTW 11, Chicago’s PBS station in February of 2015. It can be seen here at the website for “The Dick Tracy Museum”:

http://www.dicktracymuseum.com/headquarters/gould-documentary/