I remember reading Dick Tracy in the comics when I was a boy. I wasn't really in to the continuing saga type comics, but I read it every week anyway just because the artwork always caught my eye. 


I think I liked it a lot because Silly Putty worked great on it too!

photo credit: Kevin Lawver

Some old comic related items definitely sell better than others. There were a couple of times when I first started selling on eBay that I bought boxes full of old comics thinking that I had hit the mother load, only to check out the individual items on eBay and be disappointed.  This is definitely a niche of collecting where you need to know your stuff.  Dick Tracy comics and related toys and collectibles are one of the more valuable finds I've come across if for no other reason than there are more than just comic books involved here.  Dick Tracy Big Little books, Dick Tracy chewing gum books, Dick Tracy Caramels cards, Dick Tracy squad cars and other assorted Dick Tracy toys like dolls and action figures have also been produced, and when they make their way out of storage and on to eBay, collectors tend to notice.

Collectors of comics and comic related memorabilia can be very particular about their investments. It makes sense though. Even the slightest flaw can significantly decrease the value of some of these items.

The Dick Tracy cartoons are part of the American culture. Whether you have ever read the comic or not, you probably know what it means when someone says, "Good job, Dick Tracy!". The name has become part of the vernacular and is now synonymous with being a detective.

Chester Gould wrote and drew the strip from 1931 all the way up until 1977. The strip was very popular but did go through some trying times as Gould experimented, sometimes unsuccessfully, with keeping Dick Tracy up with the times. Serious fans sometimes expressed their displeasure at changes they did not enjoy. Space missions, a groovy sidekick and an ill advised mustache grown by Dick Tracy are a few examples that made the natives restless.

One of the most memorable things for me from the cartoon series is the two-way wrist radio. That seems to be another item that is tied to the strip in the public's consciousness. It later became a TV, but I always think of it as a radio.

I found this Dick Tracy cartoon on YouTube, but I sort of think it lost something in the translation to animation.