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SYFY WIRE Comics

Exclusive: Dick Tracy transcends time in Michael Oeming's IDW comic revival

By Jeff Spry
Dick Tracy Hero

The legendary lantern-jawed gumshoe with the futuristic TV wristwatch is returning for another mysterious adventure when IDW Publishing recruits the Eisner Award-winning Michael Avon Oeming to write and draw a new Dick Tracy miniseries titled Dick Tracy Forever.

The indelible icon of justice, law, and order has been a fixture in American culture since Chester Gould invented him for daily newspaper strips back in 1931. Dick Tracy Forever strikes the pavement on April 24 and SYFY WIRE has an exclusive chat with Oeming and an intriguing look inside the premiere issue.

Dick Tracy Cover

Inside the plot of this adventurous new 4-issue crime series, Dick Tracy is portrayed as the proverbial Sisyphus, always pushing the burdensome law boulder up the mountain as he grapples for reason, clarity, and order in a world without any. His instinctive attempts at dispensing swift justice clash with crime and chaos in the guise of weird, nefarious villains. Oeming's Tracy will die trying, no matter the period or reinvention, even when his shocking new case defies all normal conventions of time and space.

Dick Tracy Slice 1

"I can't believe I get to write and draw the legendary Dick Tracy — it's like winning the comic book lottery, and getting to do this with my wife, Taki Soma, makes this one of the most exciting projects I've ever taken on," Oeming tells SYFY WIRE. 

"Our hopes with Dick Tracy Forever is to not only pay homage to classic Dick Tracy, but to show how he relatable he can be in any time, the past, present, and future. We'll see Dick before the watch and coat, we'll see how his use of his watch changes as times change around him, and hopefully prove that Dick Tracy is a lot more than his props. Each issue is in a different decade spanning 100 years of busting criminals and solving crimes along with the occasional puzzle and maze because comics should be fun!"

Oeming will be paired on the Dick Tracy Forever series with colorist Taki Soma. For the debut issue, Oeming provides the traditional main cover and a noir-inspired spot color variant, with celebrated illustrator Kyle Baker (Marvel Action: Black Panther) delivering a cover variant.

Dick Tracy Slice 2

“Michael Avon Oeming’s award-winning work in crime comics makes him the perfect creator to tackle one of the greatest crime-busters of all time,” adds Denton Tipton, Group Editor at IDW. “I promise you’ll never see Dick Tracy the same after reading this series… and I mean that in a good way, wisenheimer!”

Hit the streets and join America's true blue detective in our exclusive preview in the gallery below, and let us know if you'll add IDW's decades-shifting Dick Tracy Forever when the premiere issue arrives on April 24.