Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for March 12, 2011

Tracy: “All we found was his gimp mask.

His lovely leather gimp mask…”

As the Old Team knows, there’s just tomorrow, and then–

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxJhUYeZJ-8

Panel #1 is an identical repeat from one used last Sunday, not even a change in the shading. And it contradicts Thick’s story that Mordred wouldn’t follow him. Thick obvously had to push Mordred out of the way so he could save himself. Panic City, Thick!

The true revelation is in the last panel. Mordred didn’t get along with his relatives? Considering how much Mordred and Thick squabbled, is this Thick’s way of saying he’s a rat himself? Or is he admitting that he and Mordred were related, and Thick attempted incest?

Panel 3. Is… is Tracy loosening his necktie after a bout of autoerotic asphyxiation? He looks all sweaty and relaxed.

Or is he about to TIGHTEN his necktie in anticipation of some autoerotic asphyxiation, now that Sam is there to make sure things don’t go too far.

So Spacy’s last two cases end the same: Spacy runs away and blind fate catches up with the criminal.

“… not with a bang but a whimper”.

What was the cause of death????????

Well Liz, having the building your in collapsing might be a clue.

Tracy could have pushed Mordred out of the building first and then jumped out himself after.

Isn’t a person in authority supposed to see people to safety before himself, like the Captain of a sinking ship!!!!

But as the building started for collapse, Tracy probably “Screamed like a little girl” and pushed Mordred out of the way so he could jump first.

But if I was Mordred, I wouldn’t jump.

After all, Tracy almost drowned him with his “Power Approach”

Dragged him over “Hell’s Half Acre”

Would you trust Tracy if he told you to jump???

Well, brighter days are just around the corner for this strip.

P.S. - we never did see Mordred’s face.

Those rats will get indigestion now.

Is the “See ‘ya JB” Jim’s farewell? Is the “HB Terry” from a couple of days ago Jim’s note to family members?

Cause of death: malfeasance

Mordred will return.

Panel One totally contradicts what we’ve already seen:

When Tracy jumped, Mordred was laying on the ground, paralyzed with fear, as rats swarmed all over him.

Tracy is now lying about these events, trying to hide the fact that his actions were cowardly and self-serving.

Agreed, Flight Suit. An impartial investigation of the incident would turn up some curious things. In real life Thick would have to explain why he fired his gun, both in the car and in the granary. Why he ignored a warning about a flooded interscetion. How Mordred got loose–

For once, I’ll cut Thick some slack. Let’s say that this arc was a lunatic conspiracy-theory fantasy, akin to JFK or Capricorn One (if you remember those idiotic flicks). How did Mordred die? The arc says this happened … but like almost all conspiracy theories, it’s riddled with flaws. The real Dick Tracy would have a different version of events.

The rats show no interest in Tracy during the attack and afterward. In this respect, they are much more discerning in their tastes than any of us (myself included).

That joke in panel 3 was just terrible.

You know, there’s nothing like a good Dick Tracy story.

And this was…

Need I even say it?

“OldTracy said, about 5 hours ago So Spacy’s last two cases end the same: Spacy runs away and blind fate catches up with the criminal. “… not with a bang but a whimper”.”

What case? He was a glorified taxi driver. And still couldn’t manage driving down the road.

1

And, VanDork, we all shiver with antici …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eACOILQAkiE

… pation!

Maybe Mordred’s secret identity is Jim Brozman. That would explain the message scratched onto the floor before Mordred disappeared. If I were Brozman, I would have escaped 2 weeks ago.

Stupid ending. Another one day and then the new team!!

Didn’t the Sunday strip show Dick yelling, “Don’t jump” at Mordred? And today he says that he couldn’t get him to jump.

“What was the cause of death, Tracy?”

“It was beauty killed the beast. And rats. Lots of rats. Big pieces of timber. 100 pound bags of grain. Water. Gravity. Boredom. Did I mention the rats?”

And a special thanks to BillThompson for two, count them, two Siouxsie links in one day! Most enjoyable.

Also, I’m a day late, but in honor of Ratnose from the Sonny Chiba film The Street Fighter, “Terry! Don’t leave me, HB Terry!”

Thank you.

Strange, JCFremont, but I just remembered a third song by Siouxsie & the Banshees that seemed fitting. Doc Mordred, this one’s for you!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OobhV7tpUo

Have we all grown so used to the art in this strip that no one will comment on the wildly misproportioned Tracy in panel 3??

The giant head and tiny body? The mismatched hands? The six inch arm?

The current score; Siouxsie Sioux 3, Patsy Cline 1.

Oh, and Dick Locher 0.

To quote a Tracyism, HEEELP!!!

And then we find out that what’s left of Mordred couldn’t fit in a coffee can. Huh??? Could it fit in a bucket?

Finally, tomorrow we get to the root of the problem; Locher has considered all of this “high speed excitement”. Therein lies the disconnect between Locher and the rest of the world.

Farewell, Richard.

The end.

Thank God this garbage is almost over.

The “joke” in panel 3 should have read:

“He disagreed with something that ate him.”

Locher can’t even get that right. Hopefully, he will have properly signed his retirement papers.

Out of days and days of dopey looking rats, I have yet to find two that look the same.

Locher has proved Darwin was wrong.

Short arm inspection in panel 3!!!

“What was he cause of death, Tracy” in panel two. Thick had better remember that question well because he will hear it again and again. First, he will hear it from the Board of Inquiry of Police Affairs. Next, he will hear it from the District Attorney in the presence of the Grand Jury. Finally, he will hear it from a civil lawyer who represents Mordred’s family. And maybe, just maybe, he will hear it from his cellmate during their nuptial rites.

after a criminal display of incompetence and negligence all thick can do is spout a dumb joke? what a lame end to locherworld.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoBFhdeR9PE

it’s kind of disgusting that tracy continues to make cheap shots at the man immediately after his horrible death

NO FAIR!!!! I wanted to SEE the FACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All That for That!!!!! What a letdown ….

I didn’t think the rats could have eaten him so fast and there are no bones left around.

The old granary collapsed as the result of the japan earthquake - I am sure Locher thought that an earthquake halfway around the world would affect us.

Before the new artist and writer take over Locher’s office, they should get a “Priest” and hold an “Exorcisim”

That way, all the stupidity that has happened in that room will be undone.

My thoughts of launching a career in crime, starting with grabbing the 52 inch TV at the Napperville police station while the police were trying to watch it, will have to come to an end before it begins. Under Locher’s reign, I could have gotten away with it while not being noticed by the fifty or so officers in the room. Monday, the police are going to be a lot more competent if past efforts by the new team are any indication.

Yes, Virginia, the Locher reign really had gotten that bad.

It almost seems like this strip ought to take a rest untill after Easter and let the new guys Start from a whole new angle so we can forget the LAST bunch of bad episodes of Tracy from the past.

The longer you are away from something the more you love it later on.

Dr. Midnight, you’re right, we’re so used to Locher’s awful drawings that they hardly rate comment any more. Thick is simultaneously using his wrist gizmo and adjusting his tie one-handed? We should be amazed that his hands have the right number of digits, in the right places.

Yesterday’s jumble with Mordred drew comments from several people. Was Mordred dead or alive? No one could tell for certain if he was dead and dismembered, or still alive and with his arm connected to some anatomically impossible location. Locher draws like a kindergartener who knows that he wants a picture to show, say, an angry face and a finger that points in accusation, but he doesn’t get the idea of perspective.

What taunts will Thick direct at Mordred tomorrow? “Pull yourself together, man”? “It was a shattering experience for him”? “He was all broken up with guilt”?

Mordred, of course, will hope that Thick doesn’t leave him scattered all over the map:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoeFLyklu88

To Safeway 674

Actually, Joe and I not only won’t be taking over Dick Locher’s office, we’re not even in the same state. I write TRACY at my farm in Arkansas (the ground zero area oddly enough for the recent quake swarms) then scan the pages and send them to Joe in NY state. He pencils it, sends it to Shelley Pleger in Oregon who inks and letters it. On Sundays, Shane Fisher, also in Oregon, colors it. Joe and I haven’t been in the same room together in about 7 years. But we are having a high level TRACY conference meeting in Memphis this June.

Good Luck, Klypzyxm!

“Oh and, by the way, there’s a mass of man eating rats around here somewhere. We don’t need to warn anybody, right? I mean, they just eat bad guys anyway…”

“What was the cause of death, Tracy?”

Do detectives determine the cause of death?

Looking forward to your work, Klypzyxm!

(Native Californian advice about earthquakes:

1: make sure your water heater is secured to a wall or other structural support, by straps.

2: find the shut-off valves for your gas and water lines; get wrenches to fit them, and keep each wrench by the valve.)

I wish you best of luck, Klypzyxm! PLEASE bring respectability back to the Dick Tracy strip.

Did anyone notice….those rats left nothing but his mask….ate bones and all….talk about vicious…..

Good luck, Klypzyxm, looking forward to your version of the Great Detective.