Too Harsh in Putting Down Evil

The day after Robert Kennedy died by a bullet, another sort of shooting was taking place in the comics. Encapsulated in his crime-busting space ship, Dick Tracy was just about to let his enemy Intro have it with a laser ray gun. "This is not a no-win game like the sadists play," Tracy shouted at Intro, below him aboard an old-fashioned yacht. "We're out to vaporize you." The strip, carried in 800 newspapers, then concluded with a panel showing a spindly hand, labeled "under world," being bashed by a gold bar. Said the caption: "Violence is golden, when it's used to put down evil."

Such remarks are regular fare for Dick Tracy fans, but this one proved a bit too much for many readers who wrote to the papers to complain; some made the obvious point that Sirhan Sirhan probably thought that he was employing violence to "put down evil." Some editors reacted as strongly as readers. As soon as he got a glimpse of the offending Tracyism, Donald Brazier, assistant managing editor of the Seattle Times, had it chipped from the printing plate. The Los Angeles Times ran a sampling of some 100 letters it had received criticizing the strip, then added that it "joins in condemning any endorsement of the spirit of violence and any extra-legal act of violence."

The Greensboro (N.C.) News was angry enough to drop the strip for good, along with another strip where evildoers are casually obliterated without benefit of trial, Little Orphan Annie. Explained the paper on Page One: "We have been quick to criticize other communications media for exploiting and even glorifying violence. However, we have our own weaknesses in this field, and it is only right that we take the necessary steps to bring our practices into line with our editorial policy."

After drawing Dick Tracy for 37 years, Creator Chester Gould, 67, doesn't understand what all the fuss is about. "How do you think we defeated Hitler," he scoffs, "if it wasn't with violence? This is a war we're in, a battle against crime. We have to resort to violence to protect ourselves against evil." As if to underscore his point, Tracy continued merrily on his violent way. Having vaporized Intro in the Caribbean, he is asked by a late arrival where the enemy is. As the fumes rise from the placid waters, Tracy replies: "You're breathing him." "Beautiful afternoon," sighs the detective. "Sure is," agrees his sidekick.

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