I just LOVE Dick Tracy.

The hard-nosed detective with the pointy jaw made a decades-long career out of catching a bizarre array of villains. (Sounds like Batman, does it?) The cast of characters was as weird as they come. Here’s my favorite Dick Tracy panel of all time, featuring a new character named Brighton:

Of course, Tracy was also known for his advanced crime-fighting technology (say, that’s another Batman trait!) such as the two-way wrist radio (and later the wrist TV). If you have one of these beauties in your attic, I’m interested in buying it.

Dick Tracy even received his own postage stamp, back in the days when you could mail a letter for 32 cents.

The big fun for me in reading those old strips is never knowing where the story is headed. And I’m convinced that creator Chester Gould didn’t either! Based on my careful analysis of the stories (basically, by reading a lot of comic books) I have deduced that Gould didn’t plan ahead much. The outcome of the cases were just as surprising to him as they were to the readers!

To top it off, here’s another surprise! A song about Dick Tracy’s powerful fully-transistorized two-way wrist radio coincidentally titled “The Powerful Fully-Transistorized Dick Tracy Two-Way Wrist Radio.” The artist is a group called “Man or Astro-man?” and for good reason.

(if no bar appears please click here to listen)