Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for September 22, 2010

That kid looks pretty shady.

The kid’s story is lame.

Why doesn’t Tracy confront the homeless man (3D?) and ask him directly?

Ever read “The Magic Christian”? Or see the movie?

Guy Grand is a deranged multimillionaire who spends small fortunes on a string of pointless jokes and pranks. He likes to humiliate people, whether they deserve it or not. Maybe D-cubed is a riff on Guy Grand, and is setting up the Nappingville PD for a fall. Come Halloween the dead guy will rise up and go “Boo!” after Thick arrests D’ingbat for his own murder.

Panel 2: Golly-gee, a cameo by Simon Penn.

So you did hold out for more, Simon, to write positive reviews here. But a guest shot in the worse comic strip in the world? You got screwed.

VistaBill said, 2 minutes ago

Why doesn’t Tracy confront the homeless man (3D?) and ask him directly?

Bill, that would make too much sense, and the story might actually reach a conclusion sooner than December.

Panel 2: Is it me or is Simon’s ear riding a little high? Then again the mailman his mother knows also has the same kind of ears.

VistaBill, that would require Thick to get out and do some detective work. Right now Doofus Travesty has never seen Homeless Guy and couldn’t prove that he’s Triple-Dork, or that “Homeless Guy” is only one person.

The kid should work with a sketch artist. By that I mean the kid should let the sketch artist hand him pencils and paper, because the kid is probably a better artist than whoever the Nappingville PD would hire.

VistaBill:

“Why doesn’t Tracy confront the homeless man (3D?) and ask him directly?”

You mean have Thick do some real POLICE WORK? Wouldn’t that be like sending Beetle Bailey into combat in Afghanistan?

Hey, something new! Compare today’s Police Hooters building with the one here:

http://www.gocomics.com/dicktracy/2010/09/13/

Two (count ‘em, two!) of the buildings in the background have different windows! (Or maybe they’re actually giant IBM punch cards that escaped from the museum during the slo-mo Stuka Shoot-out.) The differences are slight but detectable.

The j.d. is hauled before the fuzz They want to know “What is the buzz” “I was being a good kid” the punk replies Tracy can tell he’s lying by the look in his eyes “You rolled that bum, we know you did” “Don’t you deny it, you little snot nosed kid” “The money is evidence which we must now confiscate” “It might be returned to you, maybe sooner or late” “But the money is mine” the kid began to wail Tracy just looked at him, saying “Shut-up or you will go to jail” Now that he has the money, what will he do I’m thinking he hasn’t a single clue Oh look, the police building defies perspective Just like that dick, Tracy, it is defective It’s just more of the same that we have come to expect Watching as the strip slowly dies from TMS neglect.

Thank you, P.P. and Margueritem.

With that big sign on at night it would light up the whole town . During the day the sun’s rays would reflect in your eyes as long as you stayed on the south side of it.

There’s something fishy about that kid’s story. Ralph Malph would never help a guy with crutches across the street. That’s all, indeed.

And he showed me this big butterfly tattoo too

I wonder how many times we’ll hear the kid’s story. Bare minimum, Thick will have to repeat it to Liz, and to everyone on Sunday, and to Testicle Chin next Monday

If they have the wit to let a sketch artist work with the kid, it should take two weeks to decide whether or not Homeless Guy resembles D-cubed. I think that will get dragged out so we can have several looks at the astonishment on Thick’s face.

Panel-Panner said, about 7 hours ago Panel 2: Is it me or is Simon’s ear riding a little high? Then again the mailman his mother knows also has the same kind of ears.

I don’t think that’s his ear. I think he lost his ear in a tragic sculpting accident (when DL mistook him for the block of marble), and that’s actually a gold head ring.

any chance of car chase or shoot out anytime soon? how ‘bout a good dose of pyrotechnics?

Enough with the postman jokes-check it out-Simon’s freckles match Testicle Sam’s

Where does that mysterious man everyone assumes is homeless keep the rest of his money? It can’t all fit in that little briefcase. Could it be … in a piggy bank on wheels?

-Cougar :{)

CougarAllen you’re onto something! Homeless Guy must have been involved in The Great Piggy-Bank Caper! And if we’re lucky Eraserhead will appear, rub him out and replace him with a better drawing.

My opinion is that he keeps very little cash on his person, and from time to time he is visited by Sue Doko. This assumes that the times we’ve seen him receive a handout, he’s getting it from his secretary. As to whether he’s D-cubed or someone else, your guess is as good as mine, and probably better than Locher’s.

And all the time I thought the ‘kid’ was Measles’ son

For the BEST in comedy gold:

Random Dick — the Dick Tracy Continuity Randomizer:

Dick Tracy values continuity even less than the so-called Rights of the Accused. Can you find any differences between a regular Dick Tracy strip and a random collection of panels? Let’s find out!

http://joshreads.com/images/10/09/Random%20Dick/comic-scrambler.html

OK, it’s not completely random: strips are assembled from one randomly-selected “Dick Tracy” panel, one “Other Person” panel, and one “Building or Object” panel, and then presented in random order.

The first time in eight months Tracy has actually put the screws to anyone he’s investigating… and it’s a ten year old kid.

O.K.! - I believe Locher got VistaBill’s message and before the week is out Tracy will be out *on* the street looking for the beggar.

That’s the good news ! - Now the BAD NEWS - don’t expect NASCAR like PACING. It will be a real long time out there for anything of ‘consequence’ to happen.

It’s a ‘NOTHING’ YONSON style mini sequence. Come back this time ‘next month’, start reading then … and you’ll find you haven’t missed one -darned thing !

This was clrearly ‘inspired’ (partially copied) from the Claude and Elsa Crystal story (1957). When Gould wrote it Locher was his art assistant. He would know the details and characterizations very well *:

1) Missing Husband 2) Mourning Wife 2) Large sum of money withdrawn from bank 3) Prominent street beggar (Tin Cup Joe - drug dealer)

In that case Claude’s body was frozen and hidden in the wife’s Freezer Locker. Don’t be surprised if we find that the beggar is not 3-D and the original is frozen somewhere, and Locher is saving this as his BIG surprise at the end.

I think the kid’s Eddie Haskell, of Leave It To Beaver fame.

“Hello, Mr. Tracy, your detective work is looking keen today.”

Quit picking on police headquarters. If you had a dinky two-story building buried in the middle of skyscrapers, you’d want big lights on it too.

When did Sam morph into Randy Quaid?

i think tricksy spacy needs that huge police station sign in order to find it.

http://joshreads.com/images/10/09/Random%20Dick/comic-scrambler.html

I haven’t found any difference yet, but I’m still trying … in between rolling on the floor laughing….

-Cougar :{)

Macy’s decided he needs to help a few disadvantaged people on the street so HE can get a shot at getting a grand too!

He’s missing some quality time being away from Penny. If he could just get hold of those earflaps, he’d have enough material for some nice cowboy boots.

DL was the art assistant? The art work gets as much criticism here as the story arc. Have we ever seen a picture of 3D? That might be helpful, especially if he’s still alive somewhere.

I’ve found the answer myself. The picture was in the paper August 1.

I missed the last 2 days of this, but I see I didn’t miss anything after all.

Sydney Phillips, that’s one of my many guesses–that the widow is the killer and Homeless Guy isn’t D-cubed. Best bet in this scenario is that he’s some sort of radical activist like the Unabomber, with Sue Doko as his helper. They collaborated with the widow to get D’ummy out of the way, in a plan so complex that Locher will kill everyone involved, thereby escaping the need to explain this megillah. Of course Sue Doko will have to survive so Thick can make more bad jokes about her name.

Of course I’ve thrown so many darts at this particular target that one is bound to come close to the bull’s-eye–or in this case the bullsquat.

marvee, that 1 August “picture” of D-cubed is so crude that it could be almost anyone. I really can’t tell.

People, you have got to see this! It’s the DT random comic generator:

http://joshreads.com/images/10/09/Random%20Dick/comic-scrambler.html

Each time you refresh the page, different, random DT panels are thrown together. Note that the strip still makes as much sense, no matter what combination you get!

when did Police HQ move into a diner????

BillThompson said, about 19 hours ago

Ever read “The Magic Christian”? Or see the movie?

It this shakes out like the move, it will truly be offal!

comic scrambler needs a couple of other stories from previously thrown in the mishmosh

suddenly, a tiger appears! counter with casino hijinks

Thanks, guys, for the “Randomizer” link. Now I know how Locker and Brozman create the strip!

The only thing missing from the Randomizer is frames showing Tracy running away in fear.