Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for November 14, 2010

No, he’s due for a rest. A nice, long rest. But beware, the sinister Police Hooters sign is laying low …

Locher’s probably never experienced this “texting” phenomenon firsthand, so he probably assumes it’s a major vector for identity thieves.

Is it finally over? she said hopefully.

No! No! No! Please don’t drag this out any longer! Can’t we get a mercy killing here?

Does anybody else miss “Annie”?

Their work here on Earth done, Tweedledee and Tweedledum are about to be beamed up to the Mothership…

I sure miss “Annie”, her stories were better than this! Does anyone know if her last story is ever going to be completed?

Except for that “Not quite, Tracy!” threat in the last panel. Are we going to have a cute li’l scene where Thick gets dry-shaved? Or does the Locher Mess Monster realize he has to tie up at least some of the loose ends?

At least Horn Hair got a trim. I wonder if Testicle Chin had anything removed, too?

LordD, I miss ‘Annie’ very much.

Captain Obvious here, reminding Thick that he should investigate their confessions, and validate that lame story about the funeral director, and account for all of that hundred million dollar withdrawal, and FIND THE FRELLING ACCOMPLICE who received those cellphone calls D’umdum placed. and hand over as evidence that thousand dollar bill he received.

Oh, and explain what crime the D’odo committed to start this wacky investigation.

Annie was one of the best things going in the comics. Sadly, she got canceled, and this travesty continues.

When confronted with a crime And you want to avoid doing time Shut your mouth, make a call Or else you’ll take a fall Never confess to what they want Even if you they should taunt The burden of proof is on the state The case against you they must create But there is one place to get caught Where you won’t become distraught Naperville is where you want to be Arrested by that defective dick Tracy The D.A. will look at his report And quite loudly he will snort Then saying as he always does “This is one lame-ass fuzz” “Every case that he has handled Is fraught with incompetence and with scandal” “All the evidence that he has gathered Is so tainted it makes me haggard” “Any case we bring is thrown out When it evolves this despicable lout’ “Tracy is a disgrace to his profession Just the thought of him causes depression” So another case is down the drain And it’s just a sad refrain In the swan song for a once respected cop Who has been allowed to become a flop.

Thank you, Wonder Warthog. Those words should be etched in acid on Locher’s tombstone, come the day.

So we have Police Hooters’ word that the Battling Bickersons have “offered full confessions.” Confessions to what, we may never know. Maybe Locher realized that their situation was so fraught with fatal contradictions that he decided to lock them up and call it a day.

But is this lamebrained arc really over? Where are the stupid jokes and wordplay?

How about unvestigating the funeral director in question-the only real crime I’m aware of here-oh-that would make sense

Lord D - and all you other Annie fans. Read the thread in the Annie comments section. There is a hint that Annie may be back soon. Meanwhile, I’m getting my Annie fix by reading “The Complete Little Orphan Annie” volumes 1 thru 5.

And concerning this mess here. Gosh. I just never got it. I still don’t understand what crime the guy was being investigated for.

VanDork, that’s a great word you created. Unvestigate. The opposite of investigate. Fits Thick to a T.

What next? A new arc? Or does Locher move into a phase where he reveals that Sue Doko is the criminal mastermind who engineered all this lunacy?

Unvestigate! I love it!

NOT QUITE TRACY!

Everyone’s still waiting to find out what happened to Sue Doko!

The sewer speaks! “Not quite, Tracy!” saith the sewer. I knew the rest of the word balloon would show up sooner or later. What will the sewer say next?

-Cougar :{)

Another memorable flash of accuracy in those four closing lines of verse wndrwrthg

If TMS reads your comment here, you’d have to think that by now they’ve realized Locher is a ‘spent force’, and glad he’s on his way !

BillT mentioned it, but it’s odd - seems no one is following up on the bulk of the missing $100 million dollars withdrawn from the bank ?

In the Crimestoppers section … is that Sam Catchem ( just on the onset of PUBERTY), and ‘playing’ with something ?

You know Tracy is a crack detective when the Medical Examiner at the Morgue tells him they are still working on the ‘cause of death’ http://www.gocomics.com/dicktracy2010/08/14/

And without ANY further information, Tracy (14 days later), says to the HQ group - “Now we zero in on who killed David D’Buckworth … where there is big money, there’s a motive.”

That’s just brilliant ! Only the modern, and more experienced Tracy, could have made that great LEAP of perception.

Has anyone noticed the stark similarity between the square glass fronted cubicles at the Morgue - http://www.gocomics.com/dicktracy/2010/08/18/ …

AND, the windows on the Police Hooters building ? http://www.gocomics.com/dicktracy/2010/08/28/

Even Tracy has found there is something a little “square -” about the whole thing !

And remember Thick’s ominous words to Sue Doko about filling in the squares. The full import of this arc is now clear. Fed up with his eighty unpromoted years on the farce, Thick has been in search of a killer who can help him murder his way to the top. The Battling Bickersons let him down, but perhaps Sue Doko can help him turn Horn Hair, Testicle Chin and so many others into square fillers.

Speaking of the money, Sydney Phillips, one of the many clues that Locher planted was to have the missus make a secretive call to “Mr. Rowland at my bank.” There was something fishy there, and I don’t mean the odor of Butterfly McCorpse in the water.

And what of the unidentified spy who got the goods on the associates, and the speed with which Sue Doko handed Thick a list of D’amfool’s business enemies? And did someone bribe the ME into bungling the autopsy? And–

Oh, Hell. Look at almost any strip in this arc and you’ll find an unresolved clue.

confessed to what? going undercover as a homeless person and giving money away? this. is. the. lamest. sorriest. excuse. for. a. macspacy. arc. ever. not quite tracy indeed. not ever the real tracy.

Ive never known anyone to give away alot of information txting. Does Locher think people just txt out all their internet passwords, pin numbers to their debit cards and social security numbers or something? People do that kinda thing?

BillThompson, I have a question. You seem pretty well versed in Dick Tracy. Has the man ever got a vacation? When I was reading the older archives he attempted to go on vacation but every single time someone stopped him with another case. No wonder the man acts like this, its been over seventy years now of working and he has yet to get a vacation. And has he even gotten a raise? Someone give this man a raise, a medal of honor for when he wasnt senile and send him off to retirement.

David f42 said something about threads in the Annie section. How can I find this thread? They took out the Annie title in the menu of comics some time ago, and I haven’t found such a thing anywhere else. I too miss that ‘toon very much. It still remains a classic.

Tweedledee and Tweedledum are The Blue Homeless Man Group.

(I still say the one on the right looks a lot like George W. Except he’s, you know, blue.)

I enjoy this new Dick Tracy comic strip everyday. The comic continues to gain new readership everyday and is quite fun to read. Then I look at the responses on this log and always the same vile hatred and name-calling. The petty name-calling by the same 6 guys here day after day. There is even one guy who makes fun of Dick Locher like crazy, but ends his hatred by saying that Dick Locher is a good man or wishing Dick Locher, Happy Birthday or Merry Christmas! And if anyone points out a positive, they are name-called Mattie instead of Matthew. Name-calling is so much fun–(sigh). Instead while you are on the internet this weekend comparing the length of Mrs. D’Buckworth’s ear-rings from one day to the next (sigh), take the time to look into a program spear-headed by Jeff Bridges, nokidhungry.org and support a process to assure our children do not go hungry. Take the time to do something responsible and dedicate yourself to the service of others, you will find you are less bitter.

Nvash, I’m not all that well-versed in DT history. I started reading the strip this summer, after a friend told me how good it had been when he was young. So I’ve been looking at what is on-line, slowly picking up the lore. The original stuff is enjoyable and I can see what made it popular. I’m also appalled by the trash in the gocomics archives.

I haven’t seen anything that shows Dick Tracy on a genuine vacation. Of course that isn’t the point of a police strip; showing Dick and Tess at Acapulco for two weeks would get dull. But I haven’t seen anything that says “We just got back from a nice, restful ocean cruise.” Certainly there’s nothing like that in the gocomics archives. In fact some of Thick’s troubles start when he goes home and talks with his wife.

You’re right about his behavior. He acts shell-shocked. But that’s more a product of Locher’s ineptness than of actual writing skills.

I want to like this strip, but this?

chemcope, you can find Annie here:

http://www.gocomics.com/annie

Night-Gaunt49, Annie isn’t running anywhere, unless some fan is doing an unofficial tribute.

Cant be, Locher wrapped it all up didnt he? Hasnt he repeated himself enough? Im still wondering how the homeless took D-Cubed down and, as many have said here, what his crime was to begin with but I guess asking for those plot points is entirely too much. Besides its too little too late at this point. Let Dick go home already.

Maybe Sue Doko will appear and explain all. I can see how to fit many of the puzzle-pieces into a coherent hole–wifey conspires with an ex-partner to kill hubby; she met the hit man to set up the killing; when she saw the corpse she realized the hit went wrong; she lied to cover up her role in a capital felony; she tried to shoot hubby to make herself look like a distraught victim in a reduced state of competence; he took to the streets to drop off the radar–

Blah blah blah. Does anyone give an airborne act of fornication for more of Locher’s logorrhea, even if it makes sense?

Please, let the ghost of Patterson whomp Locher upside the head with a baseball bat. Let’s hear that Sue Doko has been kidnapped by the real villain and needs to be rescued. Or she’s the villain and is killing witnesses to her crimes. Let’s have an action story.

I agree BillThompson, you indeed want to like the strip. Maybe thats why I keep tuning in everyday, surely it cant get any worse. Has it hit rock bottom yet or is Locher already scraping the bottom of the barrel?

I am tired of the word “Homeless”

Tracy could have said he was saved by the good people of the city.

He could have told the triple “D’s that ” the privledged were brought down by the “Less Unfortunate””

Locher much have a grade two vocabulary.

As far as Tracy saying the street people saved him, I think anyone could have saved him…….like……….”Little Orphan Annie” “Charlie Brown” “Little Lulu” or “Sad Sack”

But at least we know there is another “disappointing story” commencing Monday, judging by the conversation in last panel.

Nvash, he’s scraped clean through the barrel and is getting topsoil under his fingernails.

I have the uneasy feeling that my Cranky Jesus theory is right. We may learn that D’ingleberry “confessed” to protect his charitable operations, or something. (I noticed things that might be Major Clues. When Thick was looking for the man, it was raining. On the day he found him, the rain stopped. Also Thick’s face lit up as though he’d had a religious experience, and D’D’D said something about “poor in spirit.” The rain resumed when they parted ways.)

“I’m due for a rest - I’ve just about talked myself hoarse.” Or is it all the energy used to grow that stubble, Thick?

tsouthworth, the stubble and grime started out as make-up when Thick went undercover. We don’t know how long he’s been on the streets. However, he identified D-cubed by name on 6 October. All of the events since then have taken course in the space of one night, even though Locher wasted thirty-nine days on that portion of the arc. That’s almost as long as Noah endured his deluge–and that water didn’t come out of anyone’s bladder.

Ah, but do you think Locher can start a horrible story worse than what weve already suffered through and finish it in time for his retirement?

BillThompson, do you think Dick Tracy will continue after Locher retires? Will Locher retire Dick as well? Is there anywhere online where I can find information about this? Should I just give up on this strip altogether or is there some semblance of hope that itll get better one day?

So, the tat on the corpse was new. Wasn’t there a crooked tatooist on the 3D payroll? Why didn’t the ME make note of the tat’s recent vintage? I’ve had mine for 36 years and I can still feel the cartooning lines on my arm.

i’ve been thinking about what locher is saying (or trying to say) about the homeless. that it’s okay to have homeless on the streets because that is truly where they want to be? that they are happy? that they don’t need any help? that they are watchdog crime fighters eager to cooperate and even help the police? that they are cute, cuddly people just a little down on their luck? locher can’t tell a coherent story and, even more disturbing he hasn’t a clue about the homeless.

again thanks WW and BillT.

I dont know much but Ive talked to people who have worked with the homeless. They told me of how they offer bedding and food to many of them but most prefer to be out on the street asking for change.

I see none of this in this comic strip. I see a bunch of people who are down on their luck who have formed a family of sorts. I see some rich man who dared enter their ranks but they took him in anyway. I see them finding out he was rich, I guess that all homeless men hand out $1,000 bills to do-gooders, once Dick blew his cover. Then the homeless got angry, a fight broke out and somehow they became government agents. I guess they transformed like people did in The Matrix. The minute they saw the other Agent Smiths, they became Agent Smith. The minute the homeless heard Dick reveal who D-Cubed was, they turned into government agents. After this amazing transformation they seemed to have somehow become homeless people again because amazingly these government agents continued to let Dick talk instead of telling him this was way out of his jurisdiction and sending him home. I marvel at the mere fact that he got to say in the strip from 11/08 ‘Take them away officer’. Im still wondering who in the World he was talking to and its been almost a week. But they didnt take anyone away did they, because Dick wasnt done talking. Now just as hes finished talking it seems someone else wants to add their own two cents to this mystery or just send him out on another case. And you know, now that I look back on those strips, how many times did these homeless people transform? From day to day they seemed to go back and forth between homeless and government agents. Were they government agents, homeless, or were there more people then meets the eye? Who in the World arrested D-Cubed? Dick? Really? The FBI, CIA and IRS are all after the same man but Dick arrests him, barging right in on their investigations? He was saved by the homeless? How? I thought these people were government agents. So many questions, so little answers.

Aside from the obvious awfulness this strip regularly produces, it just drives me crazy that Lizz looks different in every single panel she appears in!! Are there no model sheets of the characters available to L & B? Poor character design continuity is just not acceptable. Let this zombie strip die and either replace it with something new or start running classic Tracy strips by Gould.

Does anyone remember whem, Lizz, was a photographer in a gangster’s night club?

Tigger, There’s always more to a Locher story … Some people call it REPETITION.

NVash, I have no idea what to expect here. Like everyone else I’m an innocent bystander who’s gaping at the trainwreck. I’ve run google searches on TMS and DT and found things like their Chapter 11 status and rights dispute with Warren Beatty. I haven’t seen anything about their plans, if any, for the strip. Sydney Phillips, do you hear anything you’d trust?

Your Matrix notion makes sense. It would actually have been good writing if Locher had done that. He established that D’oggybreath and his ex-associates had created a movie technology that let the audience see 3-D images without the need to wear special glasses. So far Locher has done nothing with that plot element. That’s strange even for him; usually he makes use of the background he lays. At a minimum we should have seen a “House of Mirrors” sequence where Thick had no idea if what he saw was real or illusionary.

And the writing here stinks! Thick stands like a lump on a log while people tell him things. He looks at headlines. The missus and Norton and the ME say things that should make him ask questions, or at least look suspicious. Trivia gets repeated like pearls of wisdom. And when Thick finally does something, it’s to attack the man he wants to find.

trickdacy, it’s the bizarre perspectives that, literally, hurt my eyes. Aren’t there little wooden mannequins that artists can pose to sketch human figures? Would it kill Locher to get some on-line pictures of buildings and say “This will be Police HQ, this will be the morgue, this will be a mansion?” Can’t he find any DT fans who would volunteer to model for him (perhaps for a nominal one-dollar fee, to cover the legal aspects of using their images)?

trickdacy, Dont mind that Locher said in an interview that he - does all the pencil work, and the other guy is just an “inker” …

When Chief Lizz looks ‘different’, count on it — that’s Brozman’s ART !

The perfect ending. What better description for this miserable story than its own words:

Not Quite Tracy

And Thick’s last words are mispelled, which suits his sadly inappropriate behavior: “I’m due for arrest.”

It looks like triple d is talking into a shoe, rather than a cell phone, just like Don Adams in the original Get Smart TV show.

OK, the fact that I’m not seeing Monday’s installment is not nearly as strange as the fact that I’m not seeing any comments from anybody else wondering where Monday’s installment is.

Furthermore, I keep getting logged out of the site, and when I click “sign in,” I get redirected to the billing info page for people that want to sign up as Genius members.

What the heck? Is this happening for anybody else?

I think gocomics is having another glitch. Most of the other comics have their new installments up, but Brewster Rockit doesn’t.

The delay in today’s “Thick Travesty” fills me with antici … .

SAY IT!

… pation!

I sent them a message at the home page’s “Contact Us” button. The last time this happened they fixed the problem quickly, so we should have a new dose of torment in short order.

Ah, a Rocky reference. I’m a Shock Treatmant man myself. Big time.

The new strip is posted here:

http://comics.com/dick_tracy/

and how did Testicle Chin ask that question with a straight face?

Nothing happens. We don’t even find out who was talking to Not Quite.

Well, it’s 2:30 or so left coast time with no update. Seattle P.I. has not updated any of their strips since Friday, whether by design or not I do not know. But here is my take on today’s installment.

Sam is such a silly guy The answer is right in front of his eye You might say that the writing is on the wall The reason for the detectives great fall Just between you and me I think that it’s plain to see It takes an arrogant criminal to sign his work Or maybe someone who is a colossal jerk Most people would have to much pride And their faces they would try to hide Rather than be associated with this mess But I guess that’s something Locher doesn’t posses No-one else is responsible for this travesty And for putting us through such agony How can he look at himself in the mirror For putting out something this inferior Exactly how much lower can this go Is what we want to know Each day surpasses the one before In a manner which we have come to abhor.

No new bullshit story beginning this monday? Could they finally have admitted that this once great comic strip has deterioated into pure garbage? An embarrassment to its former glory.

What, hes repeating himself again? Why am I not surprised?

Monday’s strip is so bad, GoComics is afraid to post it!

Another Fun All-New Dick Tracy Sunday action/adventure comic strip!

FUN! Classy drawing of Dick Tracy in the first frame. CHECK OUT THE FUN!

More fun all-new Dick Tracy comic strips here tomorrow! Be back here tomorrow if you love today’s all-new Dick Tracy comic strip for further fun adventures.

The BEST Sunday strip so far!

If you love today’s fantastic all-new Dick Tracy comic strip, Love the New Dick Tracy!

More Fun Adventures Ahead! D’Buckworth’s got a New iphone, too!

Be sure to be here tomorrow for America’s favorite comic strip if you love today’s adventure! Wonderfully creative today!

That’s Simple Simon for you, a day late and a brain short.