Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for September 28, 2010

Such action! Such drama! And my hat’s off to whoever takes care of continuity!

Wow, Tracy really IS cruising!

I thought this was s’posed to be family oriented.

Tracy’s cruisin’ for a bruisin’…

Is that supposed to be Homeless Guy, he of the famous thousand-dollar handouts? No wonder Thick never bothers with real detective work. He’s got Locher to pull a rabbit out of his hat, and pull the hats as well.

Did Brenda Starr go to this town ? She is not in any strip the last two nights that I have checked.

I’m assuming that by dumb luck or bad writing Thick is speaking with the homeless man mentioned in the newspapers.

Thick should recognize Mr. D’B from photographs. I doubt Mr. D’B was a successful businessman who never had his photo taken, especially for a business news article or PR release. I doubt Mr. D’B’s features have changed that much since he hit the streets.

Whoever the homeless person is, he has to be dumber than a box of hammers not to recognize Thick’s mug.

This would be a great time for the “special forces” (that team is also on the case, remember?) to show up and confront Thick and the homeless man. When Thick reaches for his badge, special forces shoots both Thick and the homeless man in a hail of bullets, letting God sort out all the details later.

Don’t you like a logical, happy ending? (Compare it to what Locher pulls out of his backside when this story wraps up.)

We read today’s strip with some dismay Thick has lost his jaunty beret It was there only yesterday it must be said Covering up his little pointy head Oh what a cruel twist of fate There is no covering for his pate The sounds of his flatfeets Echo down those mean streets Thousand dollar bills he hopes to find He really is out of his mind Mingling with those less fortunate than he He seeks to end the good Samaritans’ spree His uses his razor-like wit to blaze a path Pity his efforts are effective only by half Cruising the streets dressed as a bum He hopes that he will finally get him some Clues that will help break this case But I think he’ll fall flat on his face.

You are welcome Bill T.

Panel-Panner, remember that Thick knows that D-cubed is dead and buried. After all, the widow identified Butterfly McCorpse as her husband, and why would someone who stood to inherit hundreds of millions of dollars lie to the cops?

Of course if Locher gives a flying fornication about continuity, some day he’ll have Thick announce that he figured it out ages ago, based on evidence the readers never saw. But with Locher, things like continuity, clues and logic are old hat.

WW:

I’ve never read a poem where the poet pointed out a continuity error. Where is that beret?

I really like the imagery in these lines:

“The sounds of his flatfeets “Echo down those mean streets”

Great job.

BillThompson:

Following up on a couple of comments from yesterday.

The “sideways” belief: I met an idiot who really believed such nonsense. He said to me: “Yeah, I know it’s true what they say,” and then demonstrated the difference with his hand flattened out, first moving it up and down, then sideways to show the difference. A virgin redneck.

I agree that Locher should avoid the Dragnet camp. Dragnet was made with the help of the LAPD but obviously the LAPD wanted to use the show to drive certain points across (marijuana leads to hard drugs). I don’t notice any blatant politics in Locher’s DT writing but I do see he doesn’t have any understanding of basic police work and the way people on the street speak. A writer should learn from experts or others in the know, even if they’re bums on the street.

When it comes to details in his scenes And the way real people chat Locher clearly doesn’t know beans– But keep that under your hat.

(with a tip of my hat to Wonder Warthog)

Panel-Panner, Locher is so murky that I can’t tell his politics from this strip, either. It’s possible to read almost anything into it. In some ways Bizarro Tracy is like a Rorschach test, which might explain the artwork.

So what’s next? Does Thick let out a pre-arranged signal to have Liz or the widow or somebody enter the scene and appear to need help, so Thick can help them and thereby con He-Who-Gives-Money into showing himself? Or do we go straight to the shoot-and-cower scene? That would be the perfect cap to the latest developments.

Resolved: That we need to chip in and buy Locher a clue. All in favor say “Aye!”

The resolution passes unanimously! Let’s get the collection going! Somebody pass the hat!

Can’t. Locher forgot to draw it.

Speaking of hats, where did Spacy’s go?

Van Dork, after racking up seven hat jokes here, I finally realized what happened. Just before Thick spoke he must have thought “If there’s an actual development of any sort today, I’ll eat my hat!”

Oh, and let’s give Locher a big hand for the transient’s mysteriously migrating shoulder strap.

But what’s the point in pointing out continuity errors to Locher and Brozman? All they’d say would be “Bah! Homburg!”

Hey BillThompson! Locher’s politics are about as far right as you can get, and every once in a while, it shows in the strip. If you drew a line connecting his age (80+) and the heyday of octogenarians (the 1950’s), that ought to explain a lot of details in this strip.

He’s trapped in a 1950’s time warp. Eisenhower Republican if I ever saw one!

Exceptionally good poem today, WW!

maybe Tracy needs to have a chat with Mary Worth

morrow, I’ve seen some of Locher’s editorial cartoons and his attitudes show there. But unless he throws his hat in the ring here, I want to keep my mouth shut and not provoke any arguments. That would distract everyone from the more important matter of laughing at the train wreck he’s made of Dick Tracy.

BT, agreed! Morrow

We should all respect Mr. Locher’s age, (unless we’re older than he is) but how about retiring Mr. Locher and bringing the old Dick Tracy series back for a new generation? We could start with Flat Top or even earlier.

GREAT Dick Tracy comic strip today. Solid drawings of America’s Favorite Detective!

The first panel’s a Home Run on the character and the homeless guy in the last panel shows wonderful emotion. Just love the strip today.

If you love today’s fantastic all-new Dick Tracy comic strip, CHECK IT OUT tomorrow for more great comics!

Great Stuff! CHECK OUT THE FUN!

Action? A little less conversation, a little more action … http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0vXxH1IEmQ

-Cougar :{)

“we’re pretty much on our own around here.” Congratualtions, Macy. You found some action!

Pannel-Panner, I’d have to say that your ‘take’ about - “Special Forces” showing up is really prescient, that is, if I’m to believe our ’Simon-Pentimento’ who I understand holds regular promotional STRATEGY meetings with Dicky L. in Naperville, and so, he should be in the know !

It will be a ‘Special’ force I’m told, but like all things in ‘modern’ Dick Tracy in will take a few more weeks of going (nowhere) in circles with Locher’s ‘pen’ before the BIG feature moment materializes.

@ Fusnr: Brenda is on comicskingdom.com in color.

morrow: “He [Locher]’s trapped in a 1950’s time warp. Eisenhower Republican if I ever saw one!”

Not so. If he were truly and Eisenhower Republican, he’d be way to the left of the current crop of R’s, and for that matter, most of the D’s. Don’t forget that Ike supported Social Security, maintained a maximum tax rate of over 90 percent for the extremely wealthy, started huge government-spending projects like the Interstate system, and warned against the military-industrial complex. Since the end of WWII, this nation has drifted (in the words of Ed Meese, Nixon’s attorney general) “so far to the right you won’t recognize it.”

Oh lord, now the door to politics has been opened.. Right here and now, I’m slamming it shut!

BillThompson said, about 6 hours ago

morrow, I’ve seen some of Locher’s editorial cartoons and his attitudes show there. But unless he throws his hat in the ring here, I want to keep my mouth shut and not provoke any arguments. That would distract everyone from the more important matter of laughing at the train wreck he’s made of Dick Tracy.

Flag

morrow said, about 6 hours ago

BT, agreed!

Morrow

I agree with Morrow and BT, NIX on the politics.

Now something else that we do dread Politics has reared its ugly head Doonesbury and Non Sequitur too Are oft mired in this witches brew No matter what Lochers views may be There is one thing on which we can agree Well except for Simple Simon Penn But about him, where does one begin The joy and exuberance he does exude Makes me wonder what they put in his food Now we return to the issue at hand Political talk should be canned Your pans and praises of the strip should suffice To fill the column with comments in a trice There I said it, now I’m done Time for me to go have some fun.

Panel-Panner, morrow, thank you very much. Bill T., thank you also, and you do it so much better.

And once again Simon Pinhead proves that he’ll repost the same old rubbish at the drop of a hat.

WW, wonderful as always!

SimonP - Thanks for you keen insight and for sharing all those wonderful ‘tips’ on the Dick Tracy strip which most readers here have difficulty seeing or finding each week.

Your posts remove the blinding scales from our eyes. Even today, you said “check it out”, take a second look - and BEHOLD, there it was in panel 2, the first ‘floating sidewalk’ ever - in the comic strip !

Keep it up ! Would have ‘missed’ it, if you hadn’t made me look again.

You were indeed the first to spot it, Tigger, with nothing but Locher’s two vague sketches of a homeless person and a headline. If only more of the clues had equal significance!

And what continuity errors await us tomorrow? Will Thick top himself? Will the transient continue to part his hair down the middle? Is he indeed D-cubed? Such thrills! Such anticipation! Hold onto your hats, everyone!