Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for November 26, 2010

How is it fortunate to die at the hands of the man you just cornered?

Yeah, I don’t understand that either.

They must have been the sort of people who would say “Only an idiot brings a gun to a knife fight.”

Meanwhile, what is it with Dr. Mordred? Do they have him wrapped up like his colleague Dr. Lector? Does the FBI have a special rule that allows supervillains to wear their costumes while in custody? In what field did he earn his degree?

At least the new villian has a cool name.

Will Tracy be able to outrun Dr. Mordred?

Why is Captain EO in prison? Did they finally catch up with Michael Jackson?

Is Dr. Mordred a Muslem?

The eleven cornered Mordred after they died. They are zombies.

Zombies seem popular today, cf. Brewster Rockit and Doonesbury. At least they don’t run wild in the streets like werewolves, which reminds me, what are Thick’s plans for the next full moon?

Maybe they caught John Travolta in his Battlefield: Earth role.

The Police sign has crept back toward the front of the awning. I guess it’s feeling less afraid now that Mordred’s behind bars.

The statements in the first two panels don’t make sense.

But, I shouldn’t be surprised, because the last several cases haven’t made sense either.

The only way to enjoy this strip is to drink and smoke up.

But back to this serial killer that everyone knows but Tracy.

I work for Safeway (a grocery chain)

We had a murder in our stock room not long ago.

We found this employee dead.

Someone had choked him by shoving Fruit Loops down his throat.

The police are looking for a “Cereal Killer”

Sorry folks - that was bad - but I couldn’t resist!!!!

But this being Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, I am surprised Tracy doesn’t think that the “Turkey Carcass” is the remains of someone murdered.

A victim of “Fowl Play”

so sorry, that was another bad one.

Happy “Black Friday” everyone.

This strip makes much more sense if you reverse the order of the panels.

I created an account for the sole purpose of commenting here. “They” refers to the police, not the dead people. My mom makes the same pronoun errors all the time - fortunately she’s not a paid writer.

Mordred was King Arthur’s illegitimate son in the Camelot legends (or his legitimate son, or the son of his sister Morgana, depending on which source you look at). I looked up the name and it’s been used in some modern fiction, both retellings of the Arthurian legends and characters in different stories. There’s supposed to be a comic-book villain named Mordred.

Here are some links to assorted Mordreds:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mordred

http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix2/mordredcamelot.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mordred_Deschain

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ModredtheMystic

Locher probably chose the name because it sounds cool. But if you want to go to an extreme guess, in some versions of the Arthurian legend, Mordred slew King Arthur. If I thought Locher liked and respected Dick Tracy, and if the strip were coming to an end, I’d say he plans to have Dr. Mordred kill off his hero.

With Locher, it could be “Mor’ dred-locks.” That would explain the wiggliness in what might be the hair.

Interesting name. Maybe a good storyline whit a good villain?

My microwave has RETIRED my favorite Dick Tracy mug, used every morning as I read the strip … perhaps it’s a coded, devine message that ‘change’ is in the HAIR ?

Dr. Mordred; He has a PhD in Mordredness.

Spacy replies: “Nope, sorry doesn’t ring a bell. Never heard of this Mordred fella.”

I suppose the ‘they’ in panel two refers to the cops who actually did corner him. Liz is talking like my mother-in-law, who routinely throws in pronouns that don’t refer to anyone previously referred to in the conversation, but has an association with the story that exists only in her own head.

Is that the new catch phrase?

I see the brilliant minds at the Nappingville PD let the good doctor keep his ammunition belt in prison.

If BillT is right from yesterday, and Macy is going to be his new cellmate, then Macy’s new handle will be Mrs. Mordred. And he better hope the good doctor isn’t a cannibal. Meanwhile, Macy needs to check in with a 5 pound can of Crisco in his valise.

Apparently they cornered him outside the POLIICE building. That’s hard to figure out…. Seems there’s a Simon Poliice on Facebook. Maybe he owns the building. That sign definitely says POLIICE; that’s about all we can be sure of….

Hmm. Today’s strip makes a lot more sense if you read it backwards. Maybe it’s really the ECIILOP building, seen in a mirror?

When I search for ECIILOP the results all seem to be in Italian. I don’t think Dick Tracy has ever faced a villain in the MAFIA, has he?

-Cougar :{)

safeway674 Loved your rjoke about the cereal killer. Very funny. It started off my rainy day on a brilliant note.

If everybody has heard of this guy, why is it necessary to mention his name?

Judging by panel three, Dr. Mordred is a plastic surgeon who specializes in re-covering people with elephant skin.

Why does Dr. Mordred look like D-Cubed from behind? Cant that guy stay gone?

OK, I give—- how did Mordred manage to keep his chain-mail shirt and hoodie in jail????? At least that’s what panel three looks like to me. Last time I knew anything about it they make you give up your clothes and put on department-of-corrections clothing— and I’m reasonably sure DOC hasn’t started issuing chain mail to the inmates.

(Special note,just in case you’re wondering: My knowledge of what they do in jail is strictly third-hand. Never been there, don’t plan on going any time soon.)

Another oddity to add to the list: what sort of name is “Mordred” for a Dick Tracy character? The names usually involve either an obvious pun or character description. It’s hard to believe that Locher would make up a name that sounds like “More Dread” and be unaware of Camelot.

Excellent point Michael McMillain !

I had a mind to ask the same question but was saving it for when we got a frontal view (next week ?)

On the Yahoo DT board - one of Locher’s few (or is it two?) supporters (he once posted here), had been hoping that Dicky L would design a “memorable” villain before he “retired”,.Sadly, it hasn’t materialized. When he did the art for Mike Kilian there were some ‘really good’ Villains they could boast about e.g. -

Smirk - http://www.gocomics.com/dicktracy/2001/05/17/

Snails - http://www.gocomics.com/dicktracy/2001/10/21/

And note how much better the art was back then !

I get the sense that he is Dick ‘LAZY’, ‘ducking’ the issue, hence the ‘mask’, just like he did using that Clown’s mask for Mr.Pops last year.

Maybe Dr Mordred will kill off Lochner….