Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for October 15, 2009

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

“Can You get out?”… I thought they were locked in the cage. What are the clown and the others doing while this is going on? Sometimes I think I’m reading from two different comic strips.

That tiger should’ve turned around and taken a swipe at Fee Fi by now.

Our favorite monster clown doesn’t seem keen on interfering with the interference in his deathtrap. And don’t go saying he’s In Another Room, because this is supposedly one big tent. Maybe he is watching the action, and his gun was just eaten by the plot ahem I mean Della Con- ahem I mean the tiger.

Panel Two: Fee Fi looks like he could be pulling on something else.

Just sayin’.

I hope Fee Fi gets it… I mean just as Dick Tracy escapes… just to liven things up…

Pretty good pair of hands, anyway.

Why don’t you tie his tail to the bars?

Catch a tiger by the tail Only through this can Dick prevail This story needs a nip and tuck Because at present, it just sucks And while the tale just makes no sense At least it stays in present tense So Locher can keep his head held high While the rest of us go “oh why, God? Why?” The hero is helpless, the foils are lame the writer continues to play a very sick game Like a train wreck it is, still plodding on Will Ennen remember that she still has her gun? Fee Fi ‘s new star, and Tracy is out I hope the editor reads this particular bout It couldn’t be worse, I think we agree That’s we all wonder “Are they punishing me?”

Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhrrrrrgggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh! What a load of ……..

The closest way out is through the tiger’s digestive tract.

“Way to go, Fee Fi!”? That has to be one of the dumbest lines ever in the history of this strip.

I am really enjoying this storyline. In a ” Plan 9 From Outer Space” sorta way.

They said it could be worse and sure enough it is

Tie his tail to a bar and then go around and unlock the door to the cage.

How many more days (weeks) will we have to see this same scene?

The clown and gang our outside the tent. How can DT and FBI get out of the cage or is it locked?

A suburban Chicago paper, The Daily Herald stated that Dick Locher still does a lot of “penciling” for the strip, and Mattie earlier stated that he is still “involved” in the art.

I take that to mean that he still does the character designs.The FACE of “Fee Fi” today (mid-panel) seems to confirm that assumtion as it bears a close resemblance to “Red Aurora” (July 29, 2007) in the Baron Von Klu Meister story. See it in the Archives !

It probably accounts for the baby sized hands we see occasionally. As I have the impression that Brozman doesn’t have that defect.

Happily too, despite the hypnotic influence Dicky seems to have over Mattie, and the latter’s “copy mania” obsession. He has, in his new strips managed to resist acquiring that embarrassing artistic habit !

See ! I’m not such a bad guy after all. I do try to give CREDIT when it’s “earned” !

How long has Tracey been at the circus now? A month or two?

Mattie,

You may recall a post I put upon the DT Yahoo board several months ago with a quote from the great Milton Caniff, to the effect that HE thought the most difficult thing to get “right” were hands. Yet, looking at his work no one would ever have thought so.

It’s much too late for the Locher Leopard to change spots, and he’ll be retired from Dick Tracy a year from now. Plus, I don’t believe anyone, including the boys from Woodstock thing he’s even a shadow of Lee Falk !

Mattie,

I must be getting old ! - - In fact I am old ! ;-)

Lee Falk was not an artist (to the best of my knowledge ! ?). He was the Creator and Writer of Mandrake and the Phantom and had different artists on those strips over the years (eg. Phil Davis, Ray Moore, Wilson McCoy and Sy Barry).

I believe Falk was renown for continuing to WRITE the strips into his LATE eighties, before passing on in 1999.

But sorry to observe, it’s not that Dick Locher can’t draw hands properly (eg. His cover of “Dick Tracy’s Fiendish Foes”. Tracy’s hand with 2-Way Wrist Radio - is near perfect). So I have to assume he’s in too much in a hurry to do it right OR has an ingrained bad habit, and is too lazy to take the effort to do it right in the strips !

I think I’m a fair person and will always give credit when due. But Locher has an awful lot to be sorry about in Dick Tracy, he’s made some poor changes and choices that have not served the strip well AND on this current story - he should just hang his head in shame !

I know that when people yank my tail, I tend to start barking…I’m just saying…

His mighty thews show the strain The plewds fall as a heavy rain His iron grip beginning to fade Tracy seems to shun his aid From whence did Fee Fi come That’s the question asked by some The tiger whirls, the tiger bites Causing his captor to go “Yikes” Shouting encouragement for what he sees Tracy again fails to flee Standing fast in the cage Again the target of the big cats rage Why does Tracy choose not to run Why does Enenen not use her gun His days of glory in the past Tracy now is fading fast We scream and cry, even cajole And wonder where this story will go Fear and disappointment is our lot The days move on, the story not.

Great poem CyberV

Someone over on Gasoline Alley suggested that Jim Scancarelli, who draws that strip, should take over Dick Tracy. And I agree, a brief episode in GA had Dick show up and it was way better than anything I’ve seen here lately. But then I thought, what if Locher and Brozman took over Gasoline Alley? The one up side is it would resolve the issue of characters aging in real time (Walt Wallet is now around 110) because nothing would ever happen.

wndwrthg,

Not taking sides (although I really am ;) but I think the competition brought ot the best in you. And you won’t have to push too hard for my vote !

I particularly like that obsevation in the closing line !

Too bad the SWAT team Tracy sent for a couple of months ago left so early. I wonder if Tess and Bonnie have any idea what has transpired now. Actually, Bonnie’s idea was to get Tracy all involved at the circus, and then take Mom to go run up some more charges on the credit cards. Tracy has totally forgotten that someone maxed out his card before B.O. won all that money.

And I still can’t believe that after someone was killed in front of hundreds of eye witnesses, that everyone just…uhhh…WENT HOME. No newspaper people, no local TV station to come investigate. Everybody must have gone home to watch Michael Jackson. After all, I think he was still alive when Bonnie took Mom and Dad to the circus.

BB, either it’s hope for mankind or hell freezing over.

Forget about the hands. This strip is a load of Carp.