Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for December 13, 2008

That Traze-R, what what a fine example for young robots everywhere.

Yes liz, they do, filing, sorting and going for coffee. Traze-R saved lives, barely, and Diet appears to be so shook-up that he is dropping his carton.

What exactly did Trazer do except get “blinded” by some lame laser, fall over like a lead balloon and popped out Groin-Bot to execute a kamikaze mission on BF/MF.

The guy behind Trazer is using his finger like a screwdriver. And is Trazer really that much bigger than the guy? Another issue with size.

What the heck is that thing on Trazers head? Looks like their hooking him up with an IPOD.

Tracy is sleeping standing up talking to Lizz.

Elsie the Milk Pot is still fertile. Diet now has a fresh fix. And the dialogue with Tess hasn’t moved not one iota.

What is with Diet’s hand that is holding the milk? And can anyone please help me understand why Tracy can have worn the wristgenie for 100 years now but Diet is still tied to the phone that looks like a curling iron?

ridenslide65 says: What is with Diet’s hand that is holding the milk?

His fingers were cut off in a tragic milking incident.

And what’s with the hand holding the phone? It’s just a giant palm rising out of his sleeve, no wrist.

What city does Tracy work from? The collar on Lizz’s has the pin “something-PD”. Is it a “C”, or “N”?

That would be a C on her coller, since this comic made it’s debut in the Chicago Tribune back around 1930 I would have to say he works for Chicago.

margueritemPro says: “His fingers were cut off in a tragic milking incident.” Hilarious! Still trying to picture that. It ain’t pretty. So, these are Chicago law enforcement? That explains a lot of what I’ve been reading lately.

I think that’s Traze-R’s hairdresser back there in the second panel.

If the city in question is Chicago, then Tess is trying to get Diet to help her secure a Senate seat for Tracy.

Funny that this robot Traze-R is so specialized but some random with a phililps-head and (his finger?) can fix him all up.

If I didn’t know that Diet was on the phone, I would swear that is a twinkie he is holding up to his face (getting ready to eat it), and the twinkie may or may not be named Tess.

What, pray tell, is wrong with Tracy’s nose in the first panel? He looks rather, er…ethnic.

Just call Diet, “Stubby” from now on.

Actually the more I think about it, Tracy looks like Klinger from MAS*H in the first panel.

HankF: It is actually an “N” – DL lives in Naperville, IL and he has used the “NPD” for some time now.

Jeff Kersten said: “HankF, It’s actually an “N”. DL lives in Naperville IL. and he has used the NPD for some time.” Naperville? I can’t believe it. A bit of a come down for Dick Tracy. From the big city to be a suberban cop. A dash of geographic nepotism there and it appears smaller than Sunday’s “yellow rubber duckie”. All in good fun Jeff, but I can’t recall even “Off. Murphy” working for the Woodstock Police. Perhaps Hank should consider asking the operator to cut in on the call. I believe Diet is still on the line talking to Tess, long-distance from his New York Apartment. He ha a pretty good idea where Dick once worked. Good thing Scorpio wasn’t created by DL he might have been living in Naperville too.

Sydney: You refer to such a reference as if it is without precedent in the strip. Not so. From 2/26/1948 to 3/6/1948, Tiny Hunzman, a local suburban, police officer, appears in a “Crime Stoppers Club” storyline by Chet Gould, as just one example.

The character, Tiny Hunzman, is based on Woodstock, Illinois police chief, “Tiny” Emory Hansmann (who, incidentally, was a 2nd cousin of mine, through my mother’s side of the family).

“Crime Stoppers” was a joint creation - originally conceived by “Tiny” and made a reality by Chester Gould - that existed fictionally in the DT comic strip and in reality in Woodstock, Illinois. The “Crime Stoppers Club” model created by “Tiny” and Chet was adopted nationwide and, in a variant form, still exists today.

The “NPD” reference is simply an homage to DL’s home police force, paying respect to their work, much like the references to “Woodstock, Illinois” and its’ residents who appear from time to time throughout Chester Gould’s work.

DL still leaves Tracy, however, in the employ of an unnamed urban police force, a tradition as old as the strip itself.

REFERENCES & CLUES to actual geographical landmarks and locations appear throughout the strip’s 77+ year run.

Jeff, how old are you (if you don’t mind my asking)?

Never mind; I found your picture in Facebook. It’s probably a coincidence, but you and Mattie look similar. Are you two related?

Naperville is a fair sized town in its own right. Call it a small city, really. It has a tech sector on the Interstate that might do nicely as the location of Genesis Corp, it has a seedy side of town near the border with Aurora, it has well-to-do areas and could be a good stand-in for just about Anytown. One thing it doesn’t have (I’d know by now if it did, I’m way too close most days) is giant robots tearing up the place. That would be sure to make the evening news, possibly even blowing our embarrasing governor stories off of the front page.

I could see a town the size of Naperville fielding a police department that would have detectives and, in conjuction with other nearby towns and small cities possibly fielding a respectable SWAT team. And no, I don’t mean OMSWATT the one-man wetter of pants who hid in the bushes with Tracy in this arc.

No, Morrow, we are not related. We just keep ourselves so busy that we don’t have time to shave every day.

I am 33 (going on 70), btw.