What in the world is the name of the city the fictional detective Dick Tracy operates in?
Damn.
I must admit, I have always presumed it was New York.
It’s Chicago.
Dick Tracy lives in a major metropolitan area in the Midwestern/Great Lakes region of the United States of America.
The City has several waterfront areas as well as a thriving theatrical and nightclub district.
The City has both a subway system and an elevated train system.
The City is prone to harsh winters with heavy snowfall.
The City is within driving distance to rural areas that include farmland.
Suburban areas around the City have been identified by names including Woodale and Homeville (see “The Chicago Connection” below).
The City is part of the mainland rather than an island or archipelago of islands.
The City is governed by a Mayor, of which there have been several shown in the strip.
The City is part of a larger County, rather than encompassing several different counties.
The City is said to be located at approximately “Mid-Continent.”
The City is clearly shown to be west of New York City, but east of Kansas City, Missouri.
The North Woods, the large stretch of forest land extending from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to the northern parts of Wisconsin and Minnesota, and across the Canadian border into Ontario, is a favorite vacation spot for residents of the City, and Tracy and his family have taken trips there on several occasions.
The Chicago ConnectionEdit
The City’s suburban communities have names (Woodstock, Homewood, Buffalo Grove, McHenry County, etc.) that correspond to the names of suburbs in the Chicago area.
Numerous buildings that are readily identifiable as Chicago landmarks, such as the Tribune Tower, the Wrigley Building, the Hancock Building, and corn-cob shaped twin towers of the Marina City, are all shown to be located in the City.
In his first appearance, Sam Catchem said he had worked in the Detective Bureau in Chicago, implying that he was now in a different city.
Tracy has stated that he gets his hats from a shop in Naperville, which is in Illinois. Themesong also acquired her yellow hats in Naperville.
During the case of Open-Mind Monty, Dick Tracy received a telegram in his office from Chicago, implying that he was not in that city.
The City is said to be a distance from the Pacific Coast of Northern California that is approximately equal to the distance from Chicago to San Francisco.
When Sparkle Plenty and Vera Alldid eloped, they sent a telegram to Sparkle’s parents informing them of the event. The telegram travelled through O’Hare Chicago Airport.
In a 2009 storyline, B.O. Plenty was abducted, driven an unspecified distance, and deposited outside Peosta, Iowa. Peosta is a small town on the border of Iowa and Illinois, approximately three-and-a-half hours driving distance from Chicago.
Brilliant! That’s playing “the game” to one-up the Baker Street boys!
Well, to give credit where credit is due, all I did was look up the Dick Tracy wiki.
Is Junior still married to the Moon Maid?
Sadly, Moon Maid was murdered in 1978. Happily, it’s comics world, so in April of this year, she was recreated by a cloning process which, apparently, included her memories since she’s looking forward to being reunited with her husband, Junior (who doesn’t know about the clone).
And who’s currently married to Sparkle Plenty, which will be a little awkward when Moon Maid finds him…
Wait… It’s still being written? The strip still exists? Way Cool! I had no idea!
Is there, like, an on-line version? (I’m an addict of Tank McNamara; gotta have my daily fix of Tank!)
Dick Tracy at GoComics.
And thier daily archives go back to 18 April 2001; Sundays go back a bit further.
Thanks for the info!
While you’re at it, check out The Phantom and Mandrake The Magician.
Thank you, jayjay! Yay!
I have to confess, I’ve never much liked either Mandrake or the Phantom. The art just isn’t quite up to snuff, and the writing is too wooden. They’re both good tries, but they just don’t have the magic. Tarzan, too, was too stilted, and the plots were too stereotyped.
I love old Alley Oop strips. The humor makes it all work. Same with Krazy Kat.
(Anybody else here a subscriber to Comics Revue?)
Possibly the worst strip I ever read was the Spider-Man daily, where panel 1 of each day’s strip was almost verbatim a copy of panel 3 of the previous day’s strip. The repetition was mind-bogglingly obnoxious. (Ruben Bolling, in “Tom, The Dancing Bug,” spoofed this with “Recap Man” who spent the entire strip recapping previous events. “So, let me get this straight…”)
Possibly the best was Peter O’Donnell’s “Modesty Blaise.” He avoided the recap problem elegantly: each segment of the strip was, in essence, a stand-alone adventure, with each of the sub-plots adding up to a whole story. You could come in partway through any given story, and be just fine! You didn’t need to be recapped. Brilliant.
Another very good plotter was Stan Lynde, of Rick O’Shay and Latigo. Same thing: he told complete stories, using story-arc fragments, each of which worked by themselves. And, of them all, his art was (arguably) the best.
(Buz Sawyer, too: excellent art. Magnificent use of half-tones for shading, and he did his research, too. When he drew an American Aircraft Carrier, it damn well looked right. The stories were a deft balance between serious and funny. Seriocomedy. A bit Cold-War preachy, but still superb.)
But, hey, we have Girl Genius! These are the good old days too!
nm