Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for September 18, 2010

I just started reading Dick Tracy a couple months ago. When the Blank storyline began . It hasn’t been what I expected. Very slow and boring. Small supporting cast.

I subscribe to a site called NEWSPAPERARCHIVE.COM I have been reading papers from 1965 with Dick Tracy. There are currently two story lines going. In one Tracy Sam and Liz are going after a guy called Mr. Bribery (don’t know his first name.) His henchman is Nah Tay. They appear to be in the dug business ad Liz found drugs while under cover. Sam and Dick were following here in Air Cars they got from the Moon King.

Meanwhile , Junior is living on the moon where the Moon Maiden is about to give birth. Strange, but more interesting than what is going on here.

Given Locher’s right-wing politics, I’m guessing the senator approved a tax break for the rich, which 3D is happy about, because it will surely trickle down to the poor.

Also, why is 3D fingering that cucumber in panel one?

What in the name of blueberries is the homeless guy (3D?) holding in the first panel? A Kindle Reader?

Dickie, ya think?

Let’s give Thick a big hand for noticing the obvious! But what makes Nutless Nodick think it’s connected to that murder he’s been investigating? Or is he reaching for any excuse to get out of the investigation?

Too bad he isn’t keeping an eye on that hundred million dollar withdrawal. All money trails lead to Homeless Guy.

Flight Suit, t’ain’t no cucumber! This is what happens to Homeless Guy when the little boy takes the money and runs!

It just dawned on me – those scenes with the homeless guy handing out money to boys. Art imitates life.

Those scenes are based on Locher secretly meeting Simon Penn in a back alleyway, paying Simon for each positive comment he posts here. Of course, Simon gets $10, not $1000.

You should hold out for more, Simon.

BTW, great job on the poetic justice, WW.

Do you know if Lois Lamebrain ever got herself back together? [G]

margueritem said:

“Dickie, ya think?”

Uh-oh. I hope that doesn’t get “Joe” Doty upset.

Dick Tracy: “A homeless person giving away money is bizarre.”

Sam Catchem: “SO?”

(See DT 9/15/10.)

At least the rich bum is finally doing something for himself. He ditched the hat from yesterday and got a replacement.

I’m still thinking that Homeless Guy is modelled after the Unabomber: a demented genius with a grudge against big business. As part of his revenge he’s redistributing the wealth by handing out money stolen from D’weeb Industries.

Sue Dorko could be his confederate; she would know all of D’eadguy’s Washington contacts, and could handle financial transactions for Homeless Guy.

Mrs. D’ullard could be involved, too; funny how she said she didn’t know anything about hubby’s business affairs, yet talked to his banker. I wonder which of them killed him.

I think it is not a cuke in his hand but a modern new blackberry he is calling up the Senator.

Hey Dick , it is also very bizarre to read the newspaper with your eyes closed !!!

Is this the Editorial Cartoonist side of Locher ‘peeping’ out through Dick Tracy ?

Is the representation of our freespending Beggar really a bizarre “lampoon” of Barack Obama high on SPENDING steroids ?

A comic strip world where a thousand bucks give away equates to a Trillion in a REAL WORLD redistribution of wealth ?

Is Mrs. D’B a stand in figure for the ‘old aged’ deprived of a big slice of their bucks for Medicare etc ?

Quick to tell us it’s‘only a ‘comic strip’ - when caught out, is this the right medium to slyly flog his political preferences ?

Sydney Phillips, if Locher is pushing any sort of agenda here, it won’t work. His storytelling is so inept that he’ll only make people laugh at him. Assuming he can actually get a message across, which he’s yet to do.

My opinion at the moment is that the beggar is a riff on the Unabomber; he’s got Sue Doko and perhaps Mrs. D. as accomplices, and that any character who knows what is going on will die before they can deliver an explanation.

At the end of Locher’s reign of error we’ll discover that Nutless Nodick and Testicle Chin are the vanguard of Plan Ten From Outer Space, in which the aliens are revealed to be bizarre creatures with extra, tiny hands and misplaced genitalia.

Dennis Willett, thanks for the memories. I had forgotten all about the Moon Maid episode! Makes me sad that the strip has come to this.

You’ll find that the comments made by the regulars here are so much more entertaining (and intelligent) than the current strip!

And another question–how will the money get to the senator? As a campaign contribution? As a contribution from a registered lobbyist? That’s going to limit how much Homeless Guy can give, and risk exposing him.

If it’s given illegally, then exposure could ruin the senator’s career and damage support for his cause. And who’s going to deliver the money? Sue Doko or Mrs. D? Even Thick might notice that activity.

This is just awful.

Yup. I always knew that Bo Duke had a hankerin’ for fingering cucumbers and bandying about large amounts of cash. Here’s the proof, folks.

Reward a Senator? For his vote? That can’t be! And for sure he’d better not try that in the House!

Aside from the humor, if he is thinking of influencing our Congressmen, that sack of $1G notes won’t get him far. They are a pretty greedy bunch! (Rangel, Dodd, Waters, et al). Now if this was a couple of years ago, when Blago was Naperville’s governor, ol’ 3D might just be the new Junior Senator from Illinois!

Tracy, ever the one with the watchful eye Finally notices the acts of the homeless guy A homeless guy passing out money isn’t so bizarre But doing it with thousand dollar bills certainly is by far A new wrinkle is presented to us today But can we believe what the bum does say Yesterday he said he was going to ground But today we find he is still sitting around He has no reason to seek others’ advice For in his hand he carries a high-tech device He checks the news, the scores and plays farmland too Amazing how he is wired while Tracy hasn’t a clue But poor Dick is falling farther behind the times Perhaps he should retire to sunnier climes Three and a half months more we must endure Knowing that Tracy has lost his allure But at least the comments are fresh and fun Otherwise this strip we would shun.

Panel-Panner and Tracyfan92, thank you.

What exactly is going on in this storyline? Locher continues to under whelm as a writer.

In panel one it appears like we have a new character - the Gorton’s Fish Stick guy. He will probably hand out huge fish sticks to little boys.

Waht? A politician doing something good for the people? Now I KNOW there’s no sense of reality in this strip.

A Dick Tracy fan site called Plainclothes.Com carries new stories more in the Chester Gould mode. The site also contains informative background articles on Dick Tracy over the years.

dennis w – i also subscribe to Newspaper Archive – mainly so i can read the glory days of tracy, pogo and lil abner.

what i do is go back to today’s date 50 years ago – tracy is battling spots.

in 1957 at this time it was the Tin Cup Joe case that was referred to yesterday by mr philips.

it really is is sad to see the dreadful depths that locher has taken this strip.

Simon Penn ! Where are you? You have got to be on your sixth pair of DT frillies today! Wash ‘em up and get ready for tomorrow! The colors will swoon you off your webbed feet! Get your red sweater out! We get a NEW PAGE for your notebook!

I wonder if there is an iPhone app for the homeless!!! How does he pay for his 3G service if he’s homeless???

Who said the homeless guy was homeless? A guy who can hand out thousand dollar bills to children isn’t hurting for money, so I would hazard a guess that he doesn’t get cold at night or wet in the rain that much. Now, say that the rest of us haven’t been told where this guy is hiding— yeah, I’ll buy that. But, he’s not homeless.

DT, on the other hand….. Well, it’s like this, see? One of Brewster’s zombie friends came over this way looking for brains— isn’t that what all zombies look for? and when he saw Dick Tracy he decided to look elsewhere.

Question: I gotta know, why haven’t the real Naperville police run Dick Tracy out of town by now? He’s an embarrassment to good cops and detectives everywhere. He oughta be arrested for impersonating a police detective— and doing a remarkably poor job of it.

Flight Suit said, “Also, why is 3D fingering that cucumber in panel one?”

I’m thinking that’s the iPhone that appeared on Dick and Tess’ credit card bill months ago.

Well said, Michael McMillan.

He’s called “Homeless Guy” because Locher used the homeless label. You’ve made some good additions to the list of things that don’t add up with this story.

If Locher bothers to explain anything, it’s going to amount to “Oh, he’s a genius, and people with brains do crazy things, so who can understand them?”