Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for March 05, 2011

Spot the subliminal phallic symbol in panel one.

In panel #2, do the chains in Morbid’s eyes reflect foreshadowing? Or is he just more glassy-eyed than usual? And in panel #3, is Thick chinning himself or preparing some wacky martial-arts move with the stick? It almost looks like he’s ready to make a pool shot.

In panel 3. his eyes look like bulging headlights, his mouth looks like nostrils, and there’s a tongue hanging out at the bottom…

what happened?

What happened is, panel #3 got clipped. It is now revealed that this arc is What Killed Vaudeville, and if we could see more to the left, we’d see a stage manager with a long hook pulling Thick off the stage.

That you, Willard?

It’s time for Spacy to do what he does best: run away!

Those ratty things look like a cross between a Chihuahua and an armadillo…

Is it any coincidence that Our Hero’s initials are D.T. ?

The good news is that Joe Staton (artist) and Mike Curtis (writer) take over the strip starting 14 March.

“OH RATS” , just when my hair was standing on end reading this arc and Locher is going to retire soon.

Not to go all PETA on anybody’s a**, but none of the rats are pictured as even preparing to bite anything. The only thing they seem to be doing so far is laughing, dancing and taunting Tracy for the impotence of his big piece.

Well, I guess that is a death-penalty offense for Mr. Dick.

This is like an especially bad Star Trek episode where two characters fall in love, have an adventure, then break off their affair because they decide it can’t work out. Hit that Reset Button! Get their relationship back to where it was!

Vaudeville. Thick should wave a straw hat at the audience as he dances off-stage. Then Mordred can go on with Topo Gigio.

8

Which do you want first, the good news or the bad news?

The good news is that Joe Staton and Mike Curtis will take over the strip starting March 14th.

The bad news is that Joe Staton and Mike Curtis won’t take over the strip until March 14th.

In the meantime, the question is which rat to knock off … well, both the rats will be gone March 14th.

-Cougar :{)

Did I miss something. Friday, Mordred was under attack and today it is all over.

How did Tracy fight off the rats?

We are missing part of the story line. Opps, I’m sorry, there isn’t any storyline here.

No chains. No handcuffs. You’d think a mastermind criminal would know to use his hands to fend off the rats.

I apologize in advance for this: are the initials on Spacy’s fingers in panel #2 the letters P, O, S?

The final stretch! Tomorrow will be a summary of the wrap up and next week will be a slow motion version of the same with the usual Locher inconsistencies and nonsense. Then it’ll be “See’ya”.

Where’d he get the pool cue?

froggy’s medication finally kicks in

wait till PETA gets hold of Dick

The chance for entendres is certainly ripe As Tracy swings his big ol’ pipe The rat seems in a bit of a miff You can tell by the way it’s standing stiff Mordred sits there in utter dejection Tracy has forgotten his protection But this is no time for us to scoff Because Tracy wants to knock one off The situation no longer is any fun Now that Tracy has an empty gun Sitting there woeful and deflated These short comings he never anticipated The turn of events was rather abrupt Their intercourse, the rats did interrupt So rather than sit there with a quivering lip On himself, Mordred needs to get a grip.

Thanks all, for your comments yesterday.

One positive thing about Locher’s style is that you can rearrange the panels in any order and they still make just as much sense.

Mordred’s goggles are halfway interesting anyway. First panel, I see something that looks like a belt, in the second panel chains show up in his goggles and in the third— I haven’t seen something like that since a cartoon character struck his head and was seeing stars. Looks like Mordred is out of it.

If I were there: I’m not at all sure I’d waste time trying to save Mordred from the rats. Seems like the rats are recognizing one of their own and just want to speak “Howdy” anyway.

Question: Since Locher is running through biblical plagues at the moment, which plague do you think will show up next? I favor frogs, personally but locusts come in a close second.

And this is what Dick Tracy has come down to - FIDLESTICKS

Tracy has fired his last Locher bullet and we’ll never see Mordred’s face, but heck, there are his eyes … the little ’shutters’ have gone up !

You’re right, McMillan, Mordred’s goggles are hip today. Cool to see the chains repeated in eyes, see ‘ya Mordred is right, Areldite. He’s a goner. I see the chain OK in panel #2, but OLD Tracy, I don’t see any big letters that spell P O S . Panel #2 what looks like a gun, just turns out to be a broom stick, not a gun at all. Crazy-eyes in panel 3. See you later More Dread.

Doesn’t look like Mordred will survive today’s rat attack.

You’re right, McMillan, Mordred’s goggles are hip today. Cool to see the chains repeated in eyes, see ‘ya Mordred is right, Areldite. He’s a goner. I see the chain OK in panel #2, but OLD Tracy, I don’t see any big letters that spell P O S . Panel #2 what looks like a gun, just turns out to be a broom stick, not a gun at all. Crazy-eyes in panel 3. See you later More Dread.

See you later is right. But the goggles do look like chains in Panel 2.

Morbid’s eyes are like the display in a slot machine. In the last panel what comes up? Lemons!

The only way this could get worse would be if Morbid suddenly feels gratitude for Thick saving him, and follows him around like a lost puppy. I’m hoping that tomorrow we see Morbid panic and jump out a window. And die, of course–without leaving behind a whiny ghost!

safeway, you didn’t miss anything. You could just read Sunday strips and not miss anything. Dick is still fighting off rats. He was supposed to protect Mordred from the families of his victims but they never showed up. They probably have more sense than to try to power through a flooded intersection.

marvee, who do you think sent the rats?

Safeway, I’ll tell you the plot:

Tracy and Mordred get in a car, which Tracy drives into a lake. Tracy and Mordred get out of the lake and walk to an old granary. They fight a little and talk a lot, until the rats show up.

And it has taken over one hundred days to tell this story.