Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for January 10, 2009

“No, everything is fine here”. Why? Did he find his ring finger? The Oreo cookie eye seems to have survived the blast intact. Was that explosion caused by the Tracy perfume?

In panel 1, I believe that his ear is on his forehead.

Tracy, you’re right, something does smell funny, it’s this story line.

I realize that policies differ from dept. to dept., but I have never heard of a fire dept. calling a residence when there has been reports of an explosion and not responding to it. And it does look like the good(?) prof. has lost some fingers.

Jeff said : “And as artist Locher has the lattitude to make those changes, much like Rick Fletcher had before him …. nor will it ever be equal to your basis of comparison” etc..Power or lattitude if you prefer require good judgement and reasonable restraint. Qualities that do not reside in that Tracy house in Naperville! I’ve read every thing both artists have done in Dick Tracy several times. And it does seen that the current Artist has used his “limited” authority in a reckless ways.It’s easy to recall Teevo’s Ski Jump nose perhaps it looked too much as the rubber ducky. It has recently been morphed away. Can’t recall that he ever got shot in the nose like Sam. No cosmetic surgery! Then there is the magical reduction in the height of the Diet Smith Building from 3 floors to two. This leads readers to suspect that today he forgets what he drew yesterday and it accounts in part for him being so frequently ‘off model’.Forgive me but I think he has taken vastly too much “lattitude” with the strip, a victim of overconfidence. Little of which in the “Change” Depatment “rings” any doorbells among the reader base. Better to have stood up for reasonable situations on “Gun play” given the nature of the strip. It’s been savaged, so badly “neutered” that no one can be SURE if Tracy has shot (even off camera) a Villain in the past 15 years(?) Why does no one else besides Tracy use a Wristgeenee? Not even Diet Smith? The cellphone must be a supperior form of communication. It’s a pity that the Qualities of restraint and focus don’t hold the man to account.

Margueritem. By tomorrow Locher will have forgotten every thing he drew today, And his penn will jog along in new creative style as if nothing has happened yesterday.

Let’s take a poll. How many times will we see Tracy commenting on the smell?

We saw it yesterday.

We saw it today.

Tomorrow’s Sunday, so we’ll definitely see it again then.

And Locher is the laziest cartoonist to ever do Tracy, so we’ll almost certainly see it again on Monday when he re-uses one of these panels.

How many more times?

Anthony, are you proposing a drinking game?

wndrwrthg wrote:

I realize that policies differ from dept. to dept., but I have never heard of a fire dept. calling a residence when there has been reports of an explosion and not responding to it.

That’s right. The Naperville fire dept. would be rolling on the first reports of a house explosion. Since they would undoubtedly receive multiple reports, the response would be all but automatic. Figure two pumpers, a police car and a paramedic unit at a minimum.

Is anyone remembering that this is just a comic strip?

Panel #3: “no need for your services.” How does that conversation end? The guy from the fire department is probably some newbie who didn’t realize that when someone says “we have a call” it doesn’t mean you CALL the persons house. You GO THERE!!! Now the noob has no choice but to just hang up and sit around in shame. Maybe he will eat some Oreos to make himself feel better.

I agree with everyone that calling the house of an alleged explosion is crazy and I can’t stop laughing about it. Maybe Locher intended to toss in something goofy… it is a comic strip?

Either they need to replace Locher or just put the strip out of its misery.

Sydney Phillips says:

Margueritem. By tomorrow Locher will have forgotten every thing he drew today, And his penn will jog along in new creative style as if nothing has happened yesterday.

You are spot on, sigh…

This IS just a comic strip and this board is quickly becoming a 24 Hour OCD group therapy session.

B-dee, b-dee, b-dee, that’s ALL folks!

Grok. you have put a few silver nails in the coffin if not a stake through the heart! But on your reply to ‘Hank’, I thought the story was about ‘toiletries’ not toilet paper. You could have suggested using his “hanky” instead!

X-Ray Vision must be exceptionally useful in asisting one to see ‘through and thereby avoiding what visually ‘slaps’ everyone else(?) Jeff is a fortunate reader he therefore enjoys every bit of work that Locher produces, just like his co-editor Mattie who discribes it lovingly as “SUPERB”! When all else fails clutch onto “IT’S JUST A COMIC STPIP”. That is a quote from Locher to his Pretorian Guards when asked to explain one of his oddities. They love to repeat it. But X-Ray vision or not, I’m sure now … Jeff-‘see’, Jeff-‘see’, Jeff-‘see’, Locher’s incompetenc-‘see’.

Fire Department calling to check and make sure that, in fact, your shack was completely obliterated. Oh, what;s that you say? Everything’s OK? Oh well gee then, so sorry to disturb you. We’ll just get back to watching Dancing with the Stars. Cloris Leachman is back! (cause after all, that’s what the FD does these days to save money. They call ahead to make sure that your house is really on fire and you are really trapped under a burning cross-beam)

Something smells funny? Dick, that’s your new Eau de Toilet spray from Dr. Stumps. Don’t cha just love it? Or maybe yo just let one go. Either way, it’s the same thing.

BTW - Jeff is a putz. If anyone is OCD, it’s him.