Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for March 02, 2011

So who is it in the first panel, Locher or Brozman? My guess would be Locher, since he hates to acknowledge Brozman in any way. Whoever it is, I can understand Mordred’s and Thick’s feelings about him.

Although if Thick is gunning for rats, well, it’s hundreds of them and not that many bullets, not by a long shot!

I can’t recall ever seeing a rat that looked anything like the grinning rat in panel one. He appears to be traveling downhill???

You should see this panel in color. That’s not a rat, that’s a rabid Chihuahua.

So we now know there are two situations in which Dick is willing to fire his gun:

He will fire blindly into his own neighborhood if you throw a rock through his window, and he will shoot at mice if they frighten his beau.

So there’s only two weeks left to go before this creative team takes its long-overdue ride into the sunset. Given the pacing of this strip, I don’t think Tracy has time to pull that trigger.

Comics Kingdom has it in color. You can see today’s strip here:

http://tinyurl.com/4pdefmn

It looks like the mutant chipmunk in Corman’s “Day the World Ended.”

Shoot the big two-legged rat first Tracy.

Shoot the big two-legged rat first Tracy.

Hey, it’s only Willard.

Looks like poor Tracy wetted himself….

grazer….anything is possible in this strip.

In panel three, Tracy is either loading his gun (incorrectly, seeing as it’s clip-loaded), removing the safety (very weirdly) or stroking his gun like he’s looking for the soft spot on a loved one’s body.

I’m having a hard time picking which it is.

“Ye gods?” Does this mean Thick’s gun is jammed, and he now has an excuse not to do anything? Pick up the chain, Thick, and show your boyfriend you know how to swing it!

It’s Ren Hoek (rhymes with pork)!

“SQUEAK, I TELL YOU! SQUEAK!!!”

That’s the most adorable chirping rat ever.

Now go dot-dot-dot away, Locher. Ye gods, indeed.

The puddle below Tracy’s gun should be colored yellow.

Today we learn that Morbid is sexually aroused by rats. Faced with hundreds of them, he loses control and rolls onto his back, his legs spread wide. “Go … away!” he tells Thick. Spurned, the detective swears most foully as he makes ready to shoot his fickle paramour.

Then he remembers that he’s Thick Spacy. He runs away.

That rat doesn’t look right … some sort of mutant hybrid???

In panel one, we have a cute little chihuahua-bunny hybrid (look at the cute ears) strolling down what looks like a grassy hill.

In panel two, we have Doctor Zaius, rehearsing his number for the big Troy McClure musical “Stop the Planet of the Apes, I want to get off!”

In panel three, we have somebody trying to re-load a squirt gun.

What strip was this, again?

Does Locher think that’s what a pistol looks like with the slide back? Or is he having trouble deciding how long he wants to draw it?

I guess the rats are not going to scurry away and hide like rats who encounter people, are they.

-Cougar :{)

P.S. I have an idea! Dr. Mordred knew all along there are likely to be rats in a granary, and he has been planning this all the time. Now he will pretend to be afraid of the harmless rodents in order to infect Tracy with fear and trick him into wasting all his ammunition shooting at the cute little things. Then Dr. Mordred can kill him. Won’t that be nice?

:{)

Shoot the rat(s)!

Inasmuch as panel #1 looks like a zombie-bunny, today’s strip is one of the better drawn ones of late…with no picture of the grainery.

The reason the “rats” are chirping instead of squeaking the way real rats do is that some of the DNA from the giant grasshoppers got into the rodent population (an excellent example of ‘jumping genes’).

That’s also the reason some of the creatures’ mouths look more like mandibles than mammalian jaws.

As for the chihuahua element, maybe the culture medium for the DNA was salsa.

“Ye Gods” since when did the school girl from “The Music Man” wander out of Marion the Librarian’s library and into the granary?

Why is there an ad for Taco Bell?

Tracy is going to try and kill hundreds of rats with the 10 - 15 shots he’s got in his magazine. Good plan….for about 1 minute. Then he’ll have to stick it to them with something else.

Wasn’t it the army of rats that ran out and started biting tires on passing cars that closed the intersection by causing four flats?

Having too much free time, as usual, I got to wondering what would be the fastest way for this strip to have gotten where it’s gotten to now.

Day One: Liz: “Dick, you’re going to be transporting a prisoner for sentencing. He’s a serial killer known as Dr. Mordred.” (Closeup of Mordred in suit & mask.)

Day Two: Policeman hands Mordred, in chains, over to Tracy. “Keep alert now; even with the chains, he’s dangerous.” Tracy drives off. Rain picks up.

Day Three: Tracy remarks on the storm. “Look out!” cries Mordred. Car goes into the lake.

Day Four: Tracy punches out the window, drags Mordred out of the lake.

Day Five: Tracy and Mordred walk through the rain, spot the granary, go inside.

Day Six: Tracy and Mordred exchange taunts. Mordred throws off his chains and lunges towards Tracy.

SUNDAY: Tracy fights off Mordred and asks him to take off the mask. Mordred is about to when: RATS!

Did I miss anything? I mean, anything that counts, which doesn’t include Mordred’s invisible accomplices, or the no-show AWACS plane, or Mordred taking off the mask then putting it on again without us seeing it. It could be done in seven days. Locher has taken NINETY-NINE DAYS to get to the same point. This strip is traveling at ONE FOURTEENTH normal speed. That’s like… the hundred yard dash in two minutes and twenty seconds! The Super-Bowl halftime show, taking fifteen hours! The Oscars, three days and three nights!

Sam will hear the shots and run into the granary and save Spacy somehow. Meanwhile, Mordred will die of a heart attack. Then the granary will collapse. The next 11 days will be spent with Spacy telling them what happened.

Can hardly wait to see what doesn’t happen next…

If anyone knows how to post an image in the comments…In that middle panel, Mordred = Ponda Baba.

Next up: the Pied Piper of Hamelin blows into town, saving Thick from the rats. Thick promptly takes credit for ending the menace, the arrests him for practicing pest control without a license.

so this is how this mess is resolved – froggy devoured by ravening rats?

ye gods!!

Under the circumstances, the right prayer is “Ye cats!”

What happened to Thick and Mordred’s thumbs? I know they’re not sterling examples of evolution, but I thought they belonged to a species with opposable thumbs. Or is this the explanation for Locher’s artistic “style?”

That’s the biggest signature I’ve ever seen.

Surprised to see the fundie-christian Locher use the plural in “YE GODS”.

Blasphemous.

It’s been a catchphrase in that strip even in the days of Chester Gould. My family (who are southern baptist) don’t have a problem with it.

I love how many weeks it’s taken from their being trapped in a sinking car to this point and in a flash we have the unforseen twist of its all coming to an end by, oh, Friday. That should be quickly enough for a strip or two showing a rat on Mordred’s leg, another scream, and then Sam bursting in to save (at least) Tracy.

I’m just praying the circus was far, far away from this storm system and the Pig on Wheels suffered no water damage.

“Worst rat ever!” – Comic Book Guy

With each day I become increasingly apathetic About this strip that is beyond pathetic I know that my words would not be amiss To tell you it doesn’t get any better than this My comment will seem a little snide About the way Tracy works his slide Mordred really must be peeved To find that he was deceived Tracy never chambered a round A fact that truly does astound Mordred has threatened and tried to kill Yet Tracy does nothing still Mordred’s hands are free, his feet are too What’s the serial killer going to do Jump up and begin to fight Or lie there in terrible fright But whatever the case may be Soon there will be marvels for you to see Bite your tongue, hold your nose Careful not to bunch your pantyhose No matter what horrors of Locher’s you have seen Soon it will seem to be but a dream So try to be of good cheer The new team is almost here.

Thanks for the comments the other day.

And thank you for your daily poetry. You’re welcome. Good Night, everyone!

not a rat maybe some vole like cryptid or even a fossa

Very good WW. Your poetry sums up the strip better than the strip it self.

carsc23 said, “I’m just praying the circus was far, far away from this storm system and the Pig on Wheels suffered no water damage.”

I’d feel really bad if anything happened to the Pig on Wheels.

Good one, as usual, Wonder Warthog. And speaking of good, here’s an article on the upcoming change, complete with one Sunday and two weekday strips:

http://tinyurl.com/5rvpfwd

It looks like Staton and Curtis are going to recycle one of their plainclothesdetective.com stories. Which is fine, because the story deserves a wider audience. And there’s a gentle, welcome hit of at least one Reset button.