Review: ‘Dick Tracy St. Patrick’s Day Special’ Lucks Out
by Benjamin Hall
Summary
Detective Dick Tracy attempts to solve crimes with St. Patrick’s Day theming in this special. One case involves the killing of wealthy individuals. While the other involves a woman just wanting love and happiness. Yet, will either of these two cases end with good luck for anyone?
Overall
7/10Dick Tracy St. Patrick’s Day Special (2026) has holiday theming, yet it reads somewhat like an annual might — at least that is the case for this reviewer. The first story in the issue has a cliffhanger ending that, presumably, will see continuance in Dick Tracy (2024-present). Also: the theming sees application in a rather slapdash manner in both stories. The Irish elements are in the special, but they do not exist in the strongest sense. Each story arguably need a few more pages to flush out certain elements. On the plus side, one does get some strong dialogue and inner monologuing from writers Alex Segura, Michael Moreci, and Tim Seeley in their respective tales. There are some strong social messages in both narratives, too, even with Seeley being a bit more subtle about it.
Letterer Patrick Brosseau positions the text elements in a near perfect way. The font of the story title for the first tale could debatably be better in terms of the shade of green, as well as seem less like it will turn into ooze.
Artist Craig Cermak and colorist Mark Englert provide the visuals for the first story. While the second narrative’s visuals come from artist Rebekah Isaacs and colorist Marissa Louise. Both sets of visuals are high quality. They are also relatively similar in artistic style with the main difference being that Isaacs’s work is a little more cartoonish despite staying in the realm of realism. Additionally, the hues that Englert and Louise respectively use assist with differentiating the art styles while enhancing them.
Cover A is the creation of Englert and artist Geraldo Borges. It is arguably extremely high quality in spite of some weirdness that comes from the differing perspectives.
Artist Jacob Phillips juxtaposes the colors and inks to make Cover B’s design an eye-catching and atmospheric one. Philips is also seemingly attempting the idea of a cross between cartoonist Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy and artist Darwyn Cooke’s rendition of author Donald Westlake’s Parker (Richard Stark’s Parker: The Hunter [2009]).
The creative team for the initial story includes creative consultant Chantelle Aimée Osman. However, it is unclear if the consulting is to help Segura, Moreci, and Cermak or just Cermak.
Dick Tracy St. Patrick’s Day Special sees release from Madcave Studios on March 11th.
