Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for February 17, 2009

She’ll get in easily. No cops surround the place, Noll is dazed and confused, and tracy is pretty clueless himself.

Perp is short for perpertrator? Who would have guessed?

She must only be a short drive from the Drs. house for her to contemplate returning.

Okay, now it’s “Major Oil.”

Either there are two oil companies we’re seeing here (“Big Oil” and “Major Oil”), or we’ve just had another spontaneous name change, like “Magnum Force” to “Brute Force” and “Angelorious” to “Angelglorious” and back again.

In defense, I think she is shopping the formula to the highest bidder.

How busy can Mr. Major Oil be? There’s NOTHING on his desk.

So instead of trying to do some detective work, Tracy is just going to wait for her to come back? What a great detective he is!

Uh, so who’s the terrorist that Cosgrove has been reading tea leaves to find? What the heck exploded? The perfume? The gasoline substitute? Some other formula? What formula did Noll give Angelborius? Where the heck are the 911 responders? I guess if Naperville only has one SWAT team member, they are down to zip emergency medical personnel. Budget cuts hurt. Are there any police? Is Tracy still employed? He hasn’t gone to work in weeks, like Homer Simpson. No answers, only more questions of illogical actions and one dangling plotline after another.

She’s going back to what she perceives is a Murder Scene?

Right… so now with the dead or badly wounded doctor laying on the floor, there is certain to be not a cop in sight. Oh yeah, Tess can keep an eye out since she’s as sharp as a balloon.

Maxine_Viller says: Okay, now it’s “Major Oil.” Either there are two oil companies we’re seeing here (“Big Oil” and “Major Oil”), or we’ve just had another spontaneous name change, like “Magnum Force” to “Brute Force” and “Angelorious” to “Angelglorious” and back again.

It’s a merger thing, ya’ know, like Exxon-Mobil

The strip is now so simplistic I feel like I’m reading a Perry Winkle sequence, (the little kid brother), in the Winnie Winkle strip. Or is it Harold Teen from long ago ?

One week later,It’s Tuesday AGAIN, and 911 (‘FAST’) still has not responded to Tracy’s call, not even an ambulance for a shot man. In the meantime Angelorios has had time to escape, proposition Major Oil, been rejected and is now returning to the scene of the crime. Dick, (did he sleep the night over?)is still “waiting” after his “911 FAST” call!

help! … help! MA MA! DA DA!

Drudge headline: “200-pound chimpanzee mauls female guest at Connecticut Home”

Sounds like “SLEET” (1949)

Quick Tracy - call for backup; call your robot friend!

fleeglebeagle says:

Quick Tracy - call for backup; call your robot friend!

~He’s lost the robot’s number…

Tracy was getting frustrated and angry. “This ridiculously stupid story has aimlessly gone on long enough”! he muttered under his breath to Noll. He felt he had to do something! Speaking into his fake wrist phone Tracy said his next line, “If she comes back we’ll be waiting”, while giving an emphatic thumbs down. “Hopefully Locher will get the hint”, Tracy chuckled to himself as Noll just looked on shocked at the huevos Tracy just displayed. Dick was disappointed with the answer he got back; “No sighting on your perp*, Tracy”. *[Perpetrator]

Dick sighed. He hated when those stupid explanation boxes showed up.

[Later at major oil headquarters] “We see a lot of kooks with high mileage formulas-and this is one too” Tiny Dancer was ticked off! “Did Liam set me up to look like a fool??” She refused to believe that. It had to be Noll.

?@#*II* Dr. Noll, he set me up. I’ll sneak back. The formula must still be there”.

She babbled on while speeding back to Noll’s house. Angelorious decided she could use the help of someone just as devious, angry and hateful as she was to help her out. She knew just who to call. She looked for the number.

BB

It brought me to tears that some of you missed me. Just busy. I am no more Judy then Morrow is Ahmed Best.(Wait a minute, I think he is!)

Peace.

BB: You’re back! We were concerned about you. How was your lunch with Jeff, or didn’t you get to meet?

bassmanbob, Thank God you opened the glider. See you did a “one-up” on Locher, you left us with a real “cliff hanger” (no pun imtended). Who will she phone? And who is Ahmed Best? I can’t recall any posts by him!?

Hi margueritem. I was all set to met with Jeff when Liam sent some of his goons to physically stop me. Something about a conflict of interest! Too bad, I was gonna make him pay!

Cheers!

Hi, Sydney. I’ve been told that Ahmed Best is the person Morrow admires the most in life.

BB

Ahmed Best is Jar Jar Binks

BB, glad to have ya back. I thought Ahmed Best does the lettering for this strip?

Jar Jar Binks: “Monsters out there, leaking in here. Weesa all sinking and no power. Whena yousa thinking we are in trouble”?

Didn’t know Jar Jar was a Dick Tracy fan!

Not sure why I allow myself to make these “observations”. But with so much talk on Locher’s *art” and “lettering”, the following came to mind … Look back at last Sunday’s page (Feby 15th), the third panel with Tess and Dick looking through the window. It’s a classic!

TESS says : “Dick was that a gunshot?” (Now, It’s not so much what Dick is “saying”, but rather what I suspect he could be “thinking”) DICK (thinking): ” No Tess! Haven’t you noticed that weird new lettering? That was just another sample of Locher’s *art, over at the Doctor’s house.

Having seen Wally Wood’s “The end of Dick Tracy” strip from Mad Magazine, I can now appreciate what inspired Locher to put thick and heavy “Mascara” on Tracy’s forehead. Patton questioned it as “artificial” and Tracy said his new name was “EYEBROWS”. Patton shot him dead. Readers must assume Dick Locher found it a “marvelous” facial addition, seeing the way he copied it so carefully.

BB, I was thinking Judy was WITH you, since you both were gone so long! Not that you were her! From her avatar, she’d probably be an interesting travel companion! Now for Jar Jar, that’s a different story! Slobbers too much!

A while back, I asked myself, where did Dr. Noll get his supplies of chemicals and equipment? Then I said, “let’s wait and see if he was bankrolled or supplied by Big Oil or Angelglorious.”

No such luck.

These days, you can’t buy nasty compounds without an account from a licensed research organization like a corporation or university with a research department. And even then, you will get a visit from the FBI or Homeland Security if your order includes materials for making explosives or illicit drugs. Chemical suppliers are required to notify the Feds of ANY suspicious purchases.

And then there is the expense. Dr. Noll would have had to win a lottery big time just to outfit a modest lab. Things have changed a lot from Gould’s day. Back then, high school kids could order moderately interesting chemicals even from pharmacies for their science fair projects. And for not too much money.

I ought to know. Back in the 60s, I had such a home lab. And I am a retired flavor and fragrance chemist. I support the limits to what chemicals are made available to the public at large.

Part of this strip’s problem is the updating of what features and concepts can qualify for suspension of disbelief. If it’s updated too much, it’s not Dick Tracy. If it is not updated at all, it comes across as absurd. Not an easy job for the author.