Editing Dick Tracy (section)

===Evolution of the strip===
{{anchor|WristRadio}}
[[File:Dick Tracy and 2-Way Wrist Radio.jpg|thumb|upright|Dick Tracy and the famous 2-Way Wrist Radio.]]

On January 13, 1946,<ref>Garyn G. Roberts, ''Dick Tracy and American Culture: Morality and Mythology, Text and Context'' (McFarland, 2003), p. 38</ref> the two-Way Wrist Radio was introduced; it would become one of the strip's most immediately recognizable icons. This radio wristwatch, worn by Tracy and members of the police force, inspired [[Martin Cooper (inventor)|Martin Cooper]]'s invention of the mobile phone and may have inspired later [[smartwatch]]es.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/how-dick-tracy-invented-smartwatch-180954506/ |title=How Dick Tracy Invented the Smartwatch |date=March 9, 2015 |website=Smithsonian Magazine |publisher=The Smithsonian Institution}}</ref> The two-Way Wrist Radio was upgraded to a two-Way Wrist TV in 1964.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://infostory.com/2011/01/24/the-evolution-of-dick-tracys-wristwatch/|title = The Evolution of Dick Tracy's Wristwatch|date = January 24, 2011}}</ref> This development also led to the introduction of an important supporting character, Diet Smith, an eccentric industrialist who financed the development of this equipment.

In late 1948, with the death of Joseph Patterson, the strip through several revisions with the characters: a botched security detail personally overseen by Chief Brandon allowed the villain Big Frost (A caricature of Patterson) to murder the semi-regular character Brilliant, the [[Blindness|blind]] inventor of the Two-Way Wrist Radio (among other devices) whereupon Chief Brandon, Dick Tracy's superior on the police force and a presence in the strip since 1931, resigned in shame and Pat Patton (the ''o'' in this surname has since been replaced by an ''e'') was promoted to police chief in Brandon's place on Tracy's recommendation after declining promotion himself, previously having been Tracy's buffoonish partner. A new character was introduced in December of 1948 named Sam Catchem to take Patton's place as Tracy's sidekick.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Timeline |url=https://www.dicktracymuseum.com/timeline-1 |access-date=2024-07-13 |website=The Chester Gould Dick Tracy Museum |language=en-US}}</ref>