I saw a commercial on TV last week where a person snapped his fingers together twice and their Smart Watch reacted with the kind of stuff that Smart Watches do. And it reminded me of Dick Tracy – the comic strip.
In 1931, Chester Gould inked his first Dick Tracy comic panel in theDetroit Mirror, distributed by the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate. Tracy was a plain-clothes cop, tough and intelligent. With his distinctive hawk-like nose, narrow eyes and pointed chin, Dick Tracy became the symbol of law and order as well as being one of the world’s most famous detectives.
Tracy, the title hero of the strip was supposedly born in 1909. In 1931, before even joining the police, he had captured his first villain, Pinkie the Stabber. While leading a posse against the Arsons and Cutie Diamond, Tracy is seen in a police uniform and not his regular plainclothes. He served as a Lieutenant in the US Navy Intelligence during World War II in the strip.
But in 1934, Gould gave Tracy his first Two-Way Wrist Radio. Readers at the time considered the watch to be a work of pure science fiction, impossible of course, but fun to read about. Little did we know then that Tracy’s watch would be the forerunner of cell phones and Smart Watches.
Comics were a vital part of newspapers throughout the 20th century. We called them “funnies” and some were – like Archie, Blondie, Beetle Bailey, Ferd’nand, Nancy, Henry, Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, Hazel and Pogo. But Tracy was a serious strip with characters like Tess (his beloved), Moon Maid, B.O. Plenty, Sparkle Plenty, Flattop Jones, Pruneface, Mumbles, Rhodent, Piggy Butcher and Flyface.
If you remember any of those names, you’re as old as dirt – like me. But thanks to Dick Tracy, at least we have cell phones.