Dick Tracy

Dick Tracy
Chester Gould's Dick Tracy vs. "The Blank" (January 2, 1938)
Author(s)	Chester Gould (original) Mike Curtis (current writer) Joe Staton (current artist)
Current status / schedule	Running
Launch date	October 4, 1931
Syndicate(s)	Tribune Media Services
Genre(s)	Action, adventure

Dick Tracy is an American comic strip featuring Dick Tracy (originally Plainclothes Tracy), a tough and intelligent police detective created by Chester Gould. The strip made its debut on October 4, 1931 in the Detroit Mirror. It was distributed by the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate. Gould wrote and drew the strip until 1977. Since that time, various artists and writers have continued the strip, which still runs in newspapers today. Dick Tracy has also been the hero in a number of films, notably one in which Warren Beatty played the crime fighter in 1990.

Tracy uses forensic science, advanced gadgetry, and wits, in an early example of the police procedural mystery story—although stories often end in gunfights just the same. Stories typically follow a criminal committing a crime and Tracy's relentless pursuit of the criminal. The strip's most popular villain was Flattop Jones, a freelance hitman hired by black marketeers to murder Tracy. When Flattop was killed, fans went into public mourning, and the Flattop Story was reprinted in DC's series of Oversize Comic Reprints in the 1970s. The villains' small crimes led to bigger, out of control situations, reflecting film noir. Similarly, innocent witnesses were frequently killed, and Tracy's paramour Tess Trueheart was often endangered by the villains. As the story progressed, Tracy adopted an orphan under the name Dick Tracy Jr., or "Junior" for short, who appeared in investigations until becoming a police forensic artist in his father's precinct. He also cultivated a professional partner, ex-steel worker Pat Patton, who gradually became a detective of skill and courage enough to satisfy Tracy's requirements.

Tracy characters were often caricatures of celebrities. There was Breathless Mahoney, modeled after Veronica Lake. Likewise, B.O. Plenty was inspired by George "Gabby" Hayes (with perhaps a nod to Al St. John also), Vitamin Flintheart by John Barrymore, and Spike Dyke by Spike Jones. Others include villains like Rughead (Robert Montgomery), Oodles (Jackie Gleason) and Mumbles (Bing Crosby). Gould even parodied himself as the out-of-shape Pear Shape.