If you like to keep up with your tech trends, then no doubt you're aware of the ever-threatened rise of the smartwatch: everything your smartphone can do except on your wrist instead of your pocket! The appeal of these watches has its roots in the countless examples of gadget-laden wrist wear in pop culture over the years, but that phenomenon has its root in one particular cultural icon: Dick Tracy. Star of stage, screen, page and whatever is the equivalent for radio, besides his square jaw and conspicuous yellow trench coat the pulp police detective is best remembered for his two-way wrist radio (it probably helped that the comic strip pointed out and explained the watch every time Tracy used it). Introduced as just a radio in the forties, the sixties saw Dick leap into the future with a TV watch which would let him make video calls along with voice ones. All we need is for someone to dig up an old issue where he plays Angry Birds on it and Chester Gould is a bonafide soothsayer.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
