Happy Wednesday, Geekly Gang! Today, our writers share what they’ve been reading over the past month. Feel free to share what you’ve been reading, because you’re part of the Geekly Gang, too. I’ll start our monthly reading post.
Kyra’s Comics
I reread a favorite graphic novel this past month, Dick Tracy: The Complete True Hearts and Tommy Guns Trilogy. Dick Tracy is a classic 90s graphic novel. The 1990 Dick Tracy film could’ve been so much better had Warren Beatty decided to start with the first of these three stories. Yes. Dick Tracy: The Complete True Hearts and Tommy Guns Trilogy concludes with what we now know as the 1990 Dick Tracy movie. Movie audiences lost so much by only getting the third installment. The Dick Tracy screenwriters planned on Dick Tracy being a trilogy, beginning with the first installment in this collection. Fortunately, those same writers decided to release the whole trilogy as a graphic novel.
After reading a Variety article about how 1990’s Dick Tracy served as a cautionary tale for comic book movies (specifically MCU films), I was enticed to reread Dick Tracy: The Complete True Hearts and Tommy Guns Trilogy. Needless to say, the Variety article got it wrong. The article’s writer suggests that Dick Tracy failed despite having every advantage (money, a heap of stars, etc.). One must have a great story. The sad thing is 1990’s Dick Tracy had a great story. The creative team had pulled a DCEU. (Think Batman V Superman; we’re behind the MCU, so let’s make the second DCEU movie feature Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Lex Luthor, and even Doomsday with some Darkseid and gang thrown in for funsies.) Back to Dick Tracy. TMNT and Batman had recently been released, so Dick Tracy skipped the first two parts of this great story to show the climactic end where everyone’s story converges.
If you read Dick Tracy: The Complete True Hearts and Tommy Guns Trilogy in its entirety, you’ll cheer as Big Boy puts Lips in the bath. Without the context of the previous two stories, viewers are left wondering who Lips is. A bad man. Lips abused Big Boy. We spend two movie-length stories watching Big Boy claw his way to the top with his buddy, Flattop. Breathless Mahoney’s background gets fleshed out. BB Eyes and Pruneface actually have personalities. Even Dick Tracy and Tess Trueheart’s relationship gets explored, so there’s more weight to them adopting The Kid. I highly recommend reading Dick Tracy: The Complete True Hearts and Tommy Guns Trilogy before watching–or rewatching–the 1990 film Dick Tracy. You’ll find a greater appreciation for what this film could’ve been.
Kyra’s Nonfiction
The Alcoholic Republic: An American Tradition is eye-opening. Prior to Prohibition, drinking was pervasive in the United States. Reading The Alcoholic Republic recontextualizes Prohibition. 1) Prohibition had to happen. Citizens of the United States drank far too much. We’re talking about a six-pack a day was considered extremely light. President Lincoln was assassinated because his guard was wasted. Vice President Johnson was spared because his would-be assassin had downed five bottles of whisky in one night. 2) Prohibition wasn’t a complete failure. I had been taught Prohibition failed on most–if not every–levels, but that may not be accurate. After Prohibition, most of the nation curtailed its drinking.
The Alcoholic Republic even explores gender roles. Men needed to work because if a man didn’t work, he’d drink himself stupid. This idea persisted decades after Prohibition. Even Ed Gein’s father was a drunken layabout. While I can’t say I “enjoyed” reading The Alcoholic Republic, I appreciated the history it told.
I’ve reread a handful of things–besides Dick Tracy: The Complete True Hearts and Tommy Guns Trilogy–over the past month, but let’s check in with Skye and see what she’s been reading.
Skye’s Fiction
I came across The Transit of Venus in Barnes & Noble a few months ago, but only now got around to reading it. So far, it’s proven to be a heavily layered story, which I love. The Transit of Venus follows the lives of two orphan sisters from Australia and the adventures they get into as they travel around the world. Considering the subject matter, The Transit of Venus can be depressing, but I keep reading in hopes that they overcome their struggles. After all, that’s what the title implies: all moments are fleeting, and time keeps ticking forward.
The Holy Bible
TL;DR: I was morbidly curious.
I’m intrigued by how each of the Bible’s stories fits together, since I’ve heard them referenced several times throughout my life but never read them. The biggest thing that stands out to me is the sheer number of names the Bible drops. For real, I’m only halfway through Genesis, and 50+ people have been named while only about 10 of them have done anything. Am I cramming for a test? I feel like God’s gonna give me a pop quiz at some point about who begets whom, and I’m gonna fail. I’m still reading.
No offense to God, but He should tighten His prose. There’s very little investment in these stories; they’re just dry. Surely the creation of man was more interesting.
Oh.
Kyra Kyle here again. I don’t know how to follow that. Lol
I’ve read the Bible multiple times growing up (my family was religious–pseudo Southern Baptist, as in they called themselves something else but behaved similarly to Southern Baptist), but I’ve never considered the Bible from a writing perspective. That piques my interest. 👀
Season is skipping Whatcha Reading this month. I’m sure she’ll return next month. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.
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