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The Dick Tracy character was created by cartoonist Chester Gould (1900-1985) in
1931 and first appeared on October 4, 1931 in the Detroit Mirror. In the strip's
first week, Dick Tracy's girlfriend, Tess Trueheart, is kidnapped and Tess'
grocer father, Emil, is murdered. Nine days later, former commercial diver, Dick
Tracy is appointed to the plainclothes detective division as a detective to
track down the killers and rescue his girlfriend Tess. Dick Tracy then decides
to continue to work for the police. The Dick Tracy comic strip was distributed
by the Chicago Tribune Syndicate. The Dick Tracy character was named by the
Tribune's editor, Captain Joseph Patterson. Gould initially call him
"Plainclothes Tracy". Gould wrote and drew the strip until 1977. The Dick Tracy
comic strip reflected the violence of Chicago in the 1930s. Dick Tracy used
forensic science, futuristic and advanced gadgetry and police procedure to get
the bad guy. In January 1946, Dick Tracy's famous 2-Way Wrist Radio was
introduced as a communications device, worn as a wristwatch by Tracy and members
of the police force and was eventually upgraded to a 2-Way Wrist TV.
In 1986, the 2-Way Wrist TV evolved into the 2-Way Wrist Computer. Diet Smith was an
eccentric industrialist who financed the development of this device. Brilliant,
a blind inventor and son of Diet Smith, invented the 2-Way Wrist Radio and other
devices. Atomic powered high-tech gadgetry and devices included an atomic laser beam, a
miniature ring camera, a "voice-o-graph" to identify criminals by their
voiceprints, the Space Coupe, a spacecraft with a magnetic propulsion system,
air cars and flying cylindrical vehicles were developed by Diet Smith Industries by Brillant.
Dick Tracy had briefly working as a G-Man (Federal agent), as a
Lieutenant Second Grade in the Naval Reserve during World War II and for Naval
Intelligence as a plainclothes detective tracking down spies. In 1970, Dick
Tracy was temporarily blinded, but continued to work.
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