InsaneJournal

Working for the Brow
As a kid, DICK TRACY seemed more nightmarish to me than most outright horror comics. The art was so strange, flat and claustrophic. The villains WERE villains, not anti-heroes with a noble streak but just heartless human monsters who were usually physically deformed in some way. And the strip was violent. Tracy had no code against killing, he was not a masked avenger or secret operative or millionaire playboy investigating crimes. He was a cop. Period. When the shooting started, he usually sent a bullet tunneling through the crook's head (which left a neat little hole.. Chester Gould's art was weird). At the same time, even the likeable secondary characters wandering in and out were eccentric. It was an odd strip, but immensely popular in its day and influential. The grotesque bad guys with a visual gimmick were used by the pulps and later by Batman and other comics heroes.

In 1944, Dick Tracy took on the Brow. This charmer was a Nazi spy working the USA despite his conspicuous appearance. Both ears had been cut off in a knife fight and he had a high, deeply furrowed forehead. The Brow got hold of the Summer Sisters, May and June... these were a pair of unreliable would-be actresses who were not above picking pockets or pulling a con, making their way in the big city by their wits but they got in over their heads this time.