February 6th, 2013

Tracy Twins original art

by Brian Walker, Greg Walker and Chance Browne

I always wanted to own an original pen-and-ink Tracy Twins page from Boys’ Life by Dik Browne.  His son, Chance, has a few examples and I know of one or two other collectors that have one, but they are extremely rare.

Gill Fox, a veteran cartoonist who worked with Dik at the Johnstone and Cushing art agency in the 1950s passed away on May 15, 2004.  Gill had two 1960 Tracy Twins pages in his collection which were sold by the family at Heritage Auctions on May 20, 2005. They went for $74.75 and $63.00.

About a year ago, I finally found a nice Tracy Twins page from 1959, although it was missing the logo.  I purchased it from the owner for about $100.

This is a fine example of Dik’s work on the feature in his peak period.  I particularly like the silhouetted figures in the third panel and the double-width action scene in the third tier.  These are typical design elements that he often used in Hi and Lois.

Here is a copy of the printed page in color from the July 1959 issue of Boys’ Life.

If any of our readers ever come across another original Tracy Twins page, please let us know.  We might be interested in purchasing it.

– Brian Walker