THE ADVENTURES OF DICK TRACY, DETECTIVE (Big Little Book No. 707, December 1932)

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Filed under: a very very very very very good mail day: the first (in spite of the spine number) Big Little Book ever produced, December 1932, the product of a single print run testing out a new type of narrative delivery system amidst the throes of the Great Depression, featuring the object of my second obsession, the titular detective, is now in my hands (minus ten opening pages and a spine, but I don’t care: it’s lived a well-loved life and now I can give it a home):

To put its place in history into perspective: the titular character was only a year old; FDR had been elected in a landslide but had yet to be inaugurated (for the first time); and both of my grandfathers – whose influences sent me on the lifelong obsessions represented in this tiny package – were eight, quite possibly the same age I was when they collectively triggered this obsession.

I'll be writing more about this treasure, both its history and its creative (and personal) significance to me, in Sunday's newsletter but I wanted to record its date of arrival here.

Oh, this is a good day.

CASTE: THE ORIGINS OF OUR DISCONTENTS (Wilkerson, 2020)

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I've been reticent to write this one not because I'm cowed by the subject matter and my own lack of life experience in it (read: my middle-aged white-guy-ness), but because my own words are insufficient to extol the virtue of anything Wilkerson so powerfully (she is a staggeringly brilliant writer – between this and THE WARMTH OF OTHER SUNS, her voice is a gift to reading and undestanding) says; indeed, my bracketing system got a workout (!, especially) as Wilkerson tore off the blinders of a centuries-old systemic design to reveal the depths of this country's ongoing crimes against humanity.

Side note: intrigued to see what Ava DuVernay does with her film adaptation, especially since CASTE doesn't seem to be the most filmic of Wilkerson's two works (WARMTH OF OTHER SUNS – equally essential – takes that honor).

Anyhow: read it / absorb it / internalize it / do better; my complete reading list, from 2013 to the present, lives here.

lenticular power action punch gateway(?)

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While I haven't quite decided the exact moment my current action figure acquisition mania took hold, I've narrowed it down to two likely culprits, both thanks to McFarlane Toys (though Mego's new Universal Monsters line was, probably, just as complicit): first, the Superman / Batman hybrid figure from one of my favorite Elseworlds, SUPERMAN: SPEEDING BULLETS (which opened mine eyes to the beauty of McFarlane's line of DC Multiverse figures) and then their relaunch of the SUPER POWERS line; it was the latter, especially, that kicked me into what I can only describe as a synthesis of gotta-have-it frenzy and "pick it up if it intrigues me" self-curatorial methodology of mass-produced modern plastic sculpture (Daredevil and Spidey Marvel Legends; random Batman and Superman McFarlane variants – though I do have the entirety of the THREE JOKERS line; the Neca Universal Monsters line; and the occasional Mego purchase - '62 Herbert Lom Phantom being the latest) and vintage acquisitions of both the "I've missed you come back to me (in carded, beautiful form)" – original Super Powers Superman (and Supermobile!); an (incoming) trio of Mattel's '84 SECRET WARS figures (those lenticular shields still fascinate); Playmates's Dick Tracy line; etc – and "I've never had you and now I must" – vintage Dick Tracy toys, comics, books, and especially Big Little Books (including one which is on its way but that I'm not going to get too excited about until I hold it in my hands); Universal Monsters lobby cards; Shadow pulps and related ephemera; and movie serial memorabilia) varities: I need more shelves (and curtain rods).