Everyone grows up with the goal of fulfilling a childhood dream, and for DuBoistown native Howie Noel, that dream has come true as Sunday marks the debut of a three-week run of an official Dick Tracy comic strip that he drew himself.

“My mother, Jean, was an artist, so art was always encouraged in my home, and I drew ever since I was born,” recalled Noel, who now resides in Florida.

“I started drawing Snoopy and Garfield, and I always loved redrawing the Dick Tracy strip,” he said.

“There was something about Dick Tracy being a serious detective strip in the ’80s,” he said.

Noel had a strong attachment to the character, relating him to his father, Howard.

“He’d go to work in New York City during the week as a salesman and come home on the weekends. He always wore a suit, trench coat and a fedora like Dick Tracy,” he said.

“So when I would redraw those strips, I would kind of put him in there as Dick Tracy,” Noel continued.

“My dad was always reading the newspaper, so I would get the comic page, and I always loved that format,” he said.

“I was going to be Dick Tracy for Halloween, and my dad sent me a postcard of Warren Beatty, and on the back, he wrote, ‘is there any truth to the rumor you’re going to impersonate me on Halloween.’ I still have it on my desk,” Noel reminisced, calling his dad, “the instant best audience you could have.”

“I had that positive reinforcement that I wish everybody could have. I got lucky there,” he said.

Noel’s father would get sick in 2019 at which time, Noel began an art project dedicated to him and the character.

Throughout the pandemic, Noel shared his drawings with his father, via text, before he passed away in late 2020. His mom would pass a year later.

“I’ve been able to continue, and it’s a way to honor them and also just keep going,” he explained.

In August 2023, Noel learned that current syndicate Tribune Content Agency allows for guest artists to draw for the strip and contacted them, voicing his interest in the spot. In May, he received confirmation that he was chosen.

Sweetening the deal for Noel, is the fact that his run comes during the month that saw the comic strip’s entrance, debuting Oct. 4, 1931.

At the time, Noel was working with Shelley Pledger, the first woman to draw Dick Tracy.

“She’s wonderful to work with. I learned a lot,” he said.

“That’s what I really wanted to do, because this is the official strip. I’ve done my own for fun, but I’ve never done a professional comic strip in the papers,” he explained.

“It’s a character everyone loves, so I wanted to do the best I could, honor everything, and I hope all the fans really enjoy it,” Noel said, referring to his interpretation as “a very classic one.”

“I try to keep him very much like Chester Gould, who created the strip,” he said, also citing Dick Locher and Rick Fletcher as inspirations.

“You can tell I’m inspired by them, but it’s also my own style. This is a culmination. I throw in little things from everybody that has worked on the strip,” Noel explained.

The storyline of the comic was penned by Matthew Manning, who has previously worked extensively with Batman, including penning an encyclopedia on the character.

“I actually worked with him at Barnes and Noble back in New York, so it is very strange how everything kind of works together,” Noel said.

“Matthew has written a beautiful story. He was great to work with, and I hope we get to work together many more times,” Noel said.

Also a fan of the 1990 film adaptation starring Warren Beatty, Noel got the opportunity to gift a mock-up movie poster of Beatty’s older interpretation from his Dick Tracy T.V. Specials, produced in order to keep his hold over the movie rights of the character.

“I really liked how he looked older in the suit, and I was able to create a movie poster as a gift for Warren, himself,” Noel explained.

“That was one of the best things I ever got to do, because I always was a fan of his, and my mom loved his sister, Shirley MacLaine,” he said.

Becoming a graphic novelist in 2008 with his original work, Mr. Scootles, he published his memoir, Float in 2016, and has had many career highlights outside of the realm of comics, including helming the official TAPS Paramagazine comic.

Noel was the colorist for the Brian Michael Bendis drawn Stan Lee obituary tribute published in the New York Times, following his death in 2018, and has created concert posters for musical acts including Noel Gallagher, the Pixies and Ryan Adams.

But for Noel, everything comes back to nurturing of his talent provided by his mother and father all those years ago, calling it a full circle moment.

“It’s great that somebody could read that as a little kid, like I was. This is a long road. They didn’t used to do guest strips,” he said.

“It’s a legacy character, he’s still around, and I got the chance to do it,” Noel marveled.

“If you just keep working and do something that remains true to what you are, good things will happen,” he said.

To learn more about Noel or to check out his original work, please visit his website at www.hcnoel.com or his Instagram, @howienoel.