Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for January 19, 2011

I would comment on today’s installment, but there are no adequate words.

I won’t ask what Thick means by pinkies, or how he would dry them.

In almost any other strip, it would be taken for granted that the characters have enough sense to go upstairs. Here it strains Thick’s mind to notice the concept of “up” and put it to use. And it’s no surprise it takes him an entire day to figure it out.

Tracy is ever the thoughtful guy!

Gosh, BB, I wonder what Tracy will find out?

Does “pinkies” mean what I think it means? Nah, couldn’t be.

Eventually, Mordred will panic at the thought of drowning. Then the building will collapse and he’ll be swept away by the suddenly-raging waters. He will be dragged down by FORTY FRICKIN’ POUNDS OF CHAINS, after which Thick will pop up in Police Hooters and announce the irony of it all. “Died the same way he killed his victims!” he’ll crow. “Weighted heavily and thrown in the water!”

Thick won’t blame himself. Truth is he’ll get depressed when Mordred dies. “Drat! I had at least fifty other ways to call him bad! Now I can’t taunt him with them!”

What say we get out of these wet chains?

In panel #3 it looks like Mordred is partly out of his chains. One ends partway across his back and another is simply looped around his upper left arm.

This is Locherland. I wonder how high the water rises before it’s all said and done. They’re stuck anyway, the water is high enough that escape is impossible except by boat.

Mordred, if you’re gonna kill Tracy maybe you’d better be about it.

Tonight on “This Old Structure” Bob Villa turns a long-abandoned granary into an ark, with room for two idiots of each species.

Why am I remembering “Silence of the Lambs?”

This arc is really moving at brake neck speed. Say, maybe that’s what will happen. Mordred will fall from the second floor and break his neck. Why is Tracy’s face still wet?

Well BillT in your second post you’ve put your finger directly on the problem in Locher’s stories …

All the things he wanted Tracy to ‘SAY’

His is a 98% dialogue problem with a paucity of - 2% action.

It gives me a nervous chuckle as the two lines come into sync. Slow pacing … Minimal comment !

I’m convinced now you early risers (or late night owls) are right. The “pinkie” ain’t a finger or toe. Thick, in his continuing effort to belittle Mordred refers to it as “little”. Now, when did we see Thick acquire that knowledge? When Thick finally lures him upstairs, he’ll probably call Mordred a “Silly Savage”.

From Thick to Mordry , here is the song from Phil Phillips - Sea Of Love : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EroRtEUmZcU&list=WL

Woodworker318 asked “Why is Tracy’s face still wet?”

It’s because he wiped it with a wet tissue two days ago having forgotten a wet tissue won’t dry anything. Either that or Locher just had another brain fart.

Mordred may be dangerous but why the over-kill, why the need for the multiplicity of MEDIEVIAL chains wrapped around the suspect like a Dagwood Sandwich ?

Is this artistic overreach intended to imply how particularly dangerous our suspect is ?

Why not regular handcuffs, arms behind the back and then short on the ankles?

Before James Bond and Dick Tracy there was a British crime fighter 1066 aka Norman Conquest and that might have provided an appropriate time line, OLD enough for a return of the Man with the Iron Mask coming out of a Dungeon … (and not an obvious dodge, to avoid creating the expected, ”traditionanal” Gould style rogue).

I wonder if Locher has any idea where he’s going with this.

http://dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2011/01/19/dick-locher-retires-from-dick-tracy/

YEAH!!!

Sydney Phillips, I don’t know what’s up with Mordred’s overdone bondage, but it bears a creepy resemblance to the editorial cartoon Locher originally posted on 31 October. That’s the one where a bound Uncle Sam was being dragged to the gallows by two hooded medieval executioners.

I’m bewildered by the way Thick taunts Mordred. It’s like the “courageous” way he ranted at the D’imwits after they were arrested. What’s the point in making Thick look like an unprofessional coward and bully? We know that Mordred is a serial killer, but we have no specifics of his crimes. What makes him more loathsome than Ted Bundy, for example?

It’s as if the purpose of this disorganized arc is to let Locher rail against, well, something. I wonder if he has Thick scold Mordred now, because Mordred will die and then it will be too late.

My guess is that they’ll end up having to escape on a makeshift raft and will gradually float to Lake Michigan. The story arc will take several more months to flesh out, but Tracy and Mordred will end up bonding like Huck Finn and Jim. In the end Tracy will testify on his behalf at the trial, and the judge will sentence Mordred to 6 months probation while wearing an ankle bracelet and, of course, his chains.

pinkies? pinkies!?

“oh detective, you do care! you can wet any pinky of mine you want anytime, you big silly galoot.”

Absolutely pathetic. This “story”, for want of a better term, has been going for nearly two months and NOTHING HAS HAPPENED. Either Locher doesn’t have a clue where this thing is going or he knows that his idea is so paper thin and uninteresting that it needs to be padded by over a month of Tracy and Mordred out on a stormy night. TWO MONTHS of this idiocy and given Locher’s track record, it’ll be another couple of months before this one ends and the next Tracy Trainwreck begins. What is happening to this once-great strip is a tragedy.

Tracy breaks out in a cold sweat They’re not out of the woods just yet Waves breaking on the shore Swamping the old mill floor To the second story they must climb Before they run out of time Water, water rising high Soon these two may just die Oh, what a terrible plight Oh, what a joyful sight To see Tracy splash about Just like a speckled trout But that would show some action And give it the much needed traction That would move it right along And prove that we were wrong To doubt the genius of this strip Now, wouldn’t that be a trip.

Thank you woodworker318 and Sydney. Sydney, The great purge occurred on 1-21-09, the comments on the other dates I mentioned are still up. MPH had 53 comments on 1-26-09 and if memory serves me, he had at least 75 on the day of the great purge.

Finally Locher retires in March!!

Great work WW!

Can we please just get on with the story if there actually is one.

Everyone -

http://dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2011/01/19/dick-locher-retires-from-dick-tracy/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76RrdwElnTU

IT HAPPENED!!!

o happy day calloo-callay!

chet is surely smiling.

WW – one of your best – maybe somebody has been listening to you and BT

Great WW The new arc starts on March 14. Does this mean that this one is going till then? I hope not. We might as well set our calenders to wake us up then.

BT –Appropriate Song

Davison77–You’ve got to be kidding about there being a story. You could have fooled us.

Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Clause. A little late but very welcome.

Well GeneralMod-looks like we have an end in sight for this masterful story arc-what a way to go out, worse than Brett Favre

Dick Locher said :

“I can only hope that in this time I’ve entertained my readers and lived up to the lofty expectations of Chester Gould’s glow .”

No , you did not ! Happy retirement . Don’t call us , we’ll call you !

Gee !

What a great response Bill T !

The link that General Mod provided references “The creative team will be artist Joe Staton and writer Mike Curtis.”

Thinking those names sounded familiar, I checked out ‘A Tribute Site to the Original Crimestopper’, whose website is down right now, so no link provided, but found this: “Major Crime Squad: Joe Staton * Mike Curtis * Max Allan Collins * Ed Garcia * Charles Gray…”

This is more than could have been hoped for, a return to the classic style of Dick Tracy.

But where will all our sarcasm go after mid-March? Is there another “favorite” comic to pile on?

Staton and Curtis did the “Plainclothes” site, which was running a Tracy “Major Crime Squad” tribute. It’s a whole lot better story (both writing and art) than anything Locher’s done the last couple years (at least). I don’t know if they’re going to have to deep-six the current story line in order to get moving on the “official” Tracy… On Monday, the “Plainclothes” site said “watch this space for a big announcement on Wednesday,” so when the site comes back up I guess we’ll find out…

GeneralMod said,

Everyone -

http://dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2011/01/19/dick-locher-retires-from-dick-tracy/ ———————————————————————

Thanks! I hope Dick Locher doesn’t slack up in the final days!

Thanks! I hope Dick Locher doesn’t slack up in the final ”days!”

How can he get any worse?

Didn’t someone say that Locher was supposed to retire?

Doesn’t seem to be happening.

I have seen Major Crime Squad On Plaincothes site, it’s great.

This is terrible news about Locher retiring. If this strip stops completely sucking on all levels, I will be sorely disappointed.

tsouthworth, there’s joshreads.com for snarking at the many strips that deserve it. I’ve done a bit over there lately. It’s a great place to figure out why you don’t like [insert name of awful strip]. One thing I like about it is that after I figure out why I detest a strip, I can usually put it behind me.

When it comes to Dick Tracy, I’ll gladly put the snark out to pasture, along with the Locher Mess Monster. If Staton and Curtis are even as tenth as good here as they’ve been on their Plainclothes site (they’ll have to produce more and faster) we won’t even think of Thick, Testicle Chin and Horn Hair when we look at their version of Dick, Sam and Liz. I’m looking forward to stories where clues mean something and the background doesn’t change at random.

I’d rather Collins was coming back, but then anything would be an improvement!

I was going to say “Goodbye, Locher, and don’t let the doorknob hit you in the butt,” but that’s exactly where Locher would draw the knob anyway.

This news is more than I could have imagined. I enjoyed the Plainscloths strip and was wishing they could have inherited it. Do you think that they were doing a “trial run” to see how it would be accepted? At Last! Artists that will build on the classic “days of yesteryear.” We can endure two more months of a completely asine story as we look forward to the NEW adventures of Dick Tracy.

GREAT NEWS about Curtis replacing Lochner….

As to this soggy and sorry current storyline, it’s painfully obvious that the second floor will collapse and seal Modred’s doom only after a battle (of some type) with our intrepid hero.

Hi everyone

Mike Curtis and Joe Staton here. We do read the comments here, and look forward to hearing what you think of our work come March.

Klypzyxm said, “Hi everyone Mike Curtis and Joe Staton here. We do read the comments here, and look forward to hearing what you think of our work come March.”

I look forward to March.

Mike and Joe: We are excited by what we saw in the Plainsclothes strip. We are looking forward to sensible storylines and great artwork. If you have been reading the comments you know the critism has come becuse of the deep respect we have for the classic adventure. Chet was not the greatest artist or the greatest story teller, but he was consistent and you saw possibilities that most of it could happen, with some artistic license and some exceptions. We believe you will bring that back to the strip we all grew up with and learned to love.

Larry, Curly & Moe - Where are you when we need you!!!!

We need some comic relief!!! Nuk Nuk Nuk!!!

With luck, the Granary will be swallowed up by the rain

swollen earth

and that will be the end of the story.

hurray - so we know this storyline will end in march

Run to the top story! So when the bottom washes away we can all fall in and die….

Really! March! Let the Exodus Begin!