Tooday is the birthday of perhaps the most accomplished Oklahoma cartoonist of all time, Chester Gould.  The creator of Dick Tracy, Gould was born in Pawnee, Oklahoma on Nov. 20, 1900.  He died on May 11, 1985.

You can see impressive items from Chester Gould’s career at the Oklahoma History Center, where the Uncanny Adventures of Okie Cartoonists exhibit continues for about another month.

- Matt Price

As reported in the Washington Post and The Comics Reporter among others, “Dick Tracy” comic strip writer-artist Dick Locher will retire after 32 years.  Dick Tracy was created by Pawnee, Oklahoma’s Chester Gould.

“Dick Tracy” will continue under a new creative team, artist Joe Staton and writer Mike Curtis.

Locher, 81, will continue to draw editorial cartoons for Tribune Media Services.

Both the Post and the Comics Reporter point out that other legacy strips — Little Orphan Annie and Brenda Starr — were recently canceled.  The viability of “Dick Tracy” under a new creative team appears to reflect the strip still has either more subscribers or more visibility and viability as a continuing concern.

TMS executive Jam Guszynski tells the Washington Post that the decision to continue involved the economics of the strip.

- Matt Price

Bryan Painter of NewsOK reports on the Dick Tracy Birthday Celebration planned for this weekend in Pawnee, Oklahoma.

Painter writes:

It’s been 25 years since Chester Gould died at age 84 in Woodstock, Ill. But recognition of his work continues in Gould’s hometown of Pawnee.

On Saturday, Pawnee will be the site of the Dick Tracy 79th Birthday Celebration including a Dick Tracy Police Parade followed by a Dick Tracy Birthday Parade.

The Pawnee County Historical Society Museum has a section on Gould and Dick Tracy.  Gould was born in Pawnee in 1900 and began drawing “Dick Tracy” in 1931.   Check out the full story at NewsOK.  More information is at wimgo.com.

- Matt Price

Darrell Gambill in the Dick Tracy Headquarters in the Pawnee Historical Museum,

– Matt Price

The Chicago Tribune reports the Gould estate could no longer fund the museum, which opened in 1991, and it will close in June.   Family members plan to make an internet site highlighting some of Gould’s letters and strips as a more accessible replacement.

– Matt Price