Archie & April 2018 Solicitations Spoilers: Dick Tracey Gets Reboot In New Series!

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Archie and April 2018 Solicitations Spoilers follow.

The Hollywood Reporter broke some great news recently as per the below.

      Archie Comics Rebooting ‘Dick Tracy’ With New Series

      He’s on his way, starting in April 2018.

      …Archie Comics is bringing Dick Tracy back to comic books with a new series focusing on his early days as a detective, launching next April.

      The monthly series will be co-written by Archie Comics co-president Alex Segura and Michael Moreci, whose résumé includes Image Comics’ Roche Limit and Hoax Hunters and the upcoming novel Black Star Renegades, with art from New York-based illustrator Thomas Pitilli, who has previously worked on covers for Riverdale and The Archies.

      “The term ‘dream come true’ is a painful cliche, but also extremely accurate in this situation,” Segura tells Heat Vision. “I have vivid memories of being completely obsessed with Dick Tracy as a kid when the movie hit, and that sent me back to explore the amazing Chester Gould strips up through Max Allan Collins’ superb work and the current, excellent dailies by Mike Curtis and Joe Staton. In my eyes, Tracy is an iconic character on par with Batman and Superman, and it makes perfect sense for another 75-year- old, iconic brand in Archie to be bringing him back to monthly comics.”

      Moreci is equally stunned about the chance to work on the series. “I’m still pinching myself over this. I can’t believe this is really happening,” he says. “To have an opportunity to contribute to this tremendous legacy is an honor and a thrill, and I’m so lucky to be working with Alex, Tom and Archie. Alex is a friend and a great writer, and Tom is an artist of boundless talent. I think we’re doing something special here, and I can’t wait to take readers on a fun, wild ride for, hopefully, years to come.”

      First appearing in the Oct. 4, 1931, edition of the Detroit Mirror newspaper, the character was created by cartoonist Chester Gould, who would continue to draw the strip until 1977. (He was succeeded by Max Allan Collins and Rick Fletcher; the current creative team on the daily newspapers trip is Mike Curtis and Staton, who provides a variant cover to the first issue.) In addition to the newspaper strip, the character appeared in five movie serials from 1937 through 1941, six movies — most famously, 1990’s Warren Beatty vehicle — and three television series.

      Segura — who moonlights as a crime novelist (His fourth book in the Pete Fernandez series due in May from Polis Books) — says that the idea for the series started about six months ago. “I was thinking about Dick Tracy and how cool it would be to have him back in comic form,” he explains. “I shot Scott Cameron at Tribune [Content Agency] a quick email asking about the rights, not expecting it to go anywhere, but it turned out the Tribune guys were looking to get Tracy back into comics, so everything rolled from there.”

      A statement from Tribune says that the company is “so very excited to work with Archie Comics,” adding, “Dick Tracy is an iconic character, who still resonates with his fan base. The reboot of the franchise will keep Dick Tracy and his cast of rogue villains at the forefront of heroic characters in the battle of good and evil.”

      The first issue of the new series, which features a cover by Francesco Francavilla, will be available in comic book stores and digitally April 11.

John is a long-time pop culture fan, comics historian, and blogger. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief at Comics Nexus. Prior to being EIC he has produced several column series including DEMYTHIFY, NEAR MINT MEMORIES and the ONE FAN'S TRIALS at the Nexus plus a stint at Bleeding Cool producing the COMICS REALISM column. As BabosScribe, John is active on his twitter account, his facebook page, his instagram feed and welcomes any and all feedback. Bring it on!