There was a thread, not too long ago, exploring what city Dick Tracy lived and worked in. There was a brilliant summary of the evidence for Chicago.
That got me started reading the strip on-line, and I’m absolutely loving it.
In two very recent strips, the cities of Metropolis and Star City were mentioned. Those are, of course, familiar to many of us comics fans as the homes of Superman and Green Arrow.
Was this an homage, a polite tip of the hat by the Dick Tracy writers to the DC universe? Or has DC/Warner bought Dick Tracy? Or could it just be a coincidence?
Yes. Joe Staton, the current Tracy artist, worked for DC for about, I’m estimating, 25 years. He’s best remembered there for his work on Green Lantern, the Justice Society of America, Wonder Woman, the Huntress, and Power Girl, but he’s also drawn Superman, Batman, and probably almost every other character they published in the '70s and '80s. I’m sure this is just his way of winking at his longtime fans.
That was Broadway Bates, an old-time Tracy villain who predated the Penguin. Longtime fans of both comics have commented on their resemblance, and speculated that Bob Kane may have been influenced by Chester Gould’s character.
Oh, and shortly before that storyline started, Tracy investigated the murder of an aquarium curator named Arthur Curry – which, as DC fans know, was Aquaman’s given name.
Unlikely, insofar as Bob Kane was responsible for virtually nothing about the character, except the name. Everything we associate with the character - the costume, the origin story, the gadgets, the cave, and the lion’s share of the villains - were created by Bill Finger.
Finger claimed to have been inspired in creating the character by “stuffy English gentlemen,” who reminded him of emperor penguins. Kane, fwiw, claimed to have been inspired by the mascot for Kool cigarettes, which was a penguin in a top hat..
And here’s a strip with Mr. Curry’s pic. It’s too bad his scaly shirt’s not orange, but that’s probably not Staton’s fault since most daily comics aren’t colored by the artist.
According to Wikipedia, Dick Tracy’s daily strips are still produced by Tribune, with Warren Beatty keeping his exploitation rights in any other media, so any reference to the DC universe is just an homage.
