Dick Tracy Monument

I’m giving you fair warning: Looks nothing like Warren Beatty.
And where’s Madonna? Blonde Ambition, yo!
Okay, okay… I’m only kidding. I realize Dick Tracy is more than a 1990 film flop, but I don’t know that it’s relevant enough to warrant a statue in this day and age. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a nice gesture behind the tribute, but I just… I just don’t know.
Maybe if the statue looked cooler, or had a better back story, but it really doesn’t. I guess that’s a pretty subjective thing to say, but here’s what I gathered on why the statue is here:
The city wanted more art along the Riverwalk and a guy who asissted the creator of Dick Tracy (Please note that he is not the creator of Dick Tracy) in drawing the cartoon in the comics for for 4-​years at the end of the 1950s lives in Naperville currently. That assistant to the creator came back as the the sole cartoonist for the comic strip after the creator died in the 80s. The assistant-​turned-​head-​cartoonist retired in 2009-​ish, and they dedicated this statue in 2010. Again, a really nice gesture. I’d love a statue dedicated to something I did if I ever live long enough to retire. Who wouldn’t? But it seems a little like giving a Tony award to an understudy, no?
Then again, I’m not the statue police, so what do I know? Maybe I’m just jealous I didn’t get a statue, but is there really that big of a Dick Tracy fan base out there today to warrant a statue dedication in a town that has very little to do with Dick Tracy? And for those who are still big fans– wouldn’t the Dick Tracy Museum in Woodstock, Il (
), where creator of Dick Tracy actually lived, be the bigger draw?
It is nice to have the benches around the statue to sit on, I’ll give them that, but I don’t know. I read an article that said it cost $ 130,500 to fund the Dick sculpture… that seems like a lot of dough to spend on a character that’s kind of been phased out in terms of pop culture relevance. I think the idea of having a bunch of different art along the Riverwalk is a rockin’ idea, but this one seems like a bit of stretch.