Dick Tracy Monthly #4

Dick Tracy Monthly #4 from Dell's 1948 lineup puts the square-jawed detective front and center in his trademark yellow trenchcoat and green fedora, coolly watching as a red car crashes spectacularly into an Oil Co. building in a cloud of smoke and debris. It's a wonderfully kinetic cover that captures the hard-boiled energy of Chester Gould's strip, freezing Tracy at the scene of what looks like a very bad day for somebody. At a dime a copy, this April 1948 issue delivered exactly the kind of crime-drenched drama fans had come to expect from America's favorite plainclothes detective.