Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for February 21, 2009

A blind Angelwhatever is speeding away in a car she managed to find by feel. How does Tracy know that Noll’s car is on empty? And Noll suddenly remembers more about the two formulas, the effects of the blast and the gunshot must be wearing off.

O.K., he has more mileage, but does he have speed? And WHERE IN THE HELL IS THE BACKUP? Why was this woman allowed to drive away? Liz had better relieve Tracy of duty after this.

Call me skeptical but I’m beginning to think this storyline is awful.

Tracy’s car should start. It may not go far, but it will start. There is some gas in the motor. Why wasn’t Tracy’s car in his garage? Why isn’t it covered in snow? Why leave it out in winter? Doesn’t Tess (remember her?) have a car? Considering the explosion prone Doctor’s absent mindedness, I’d be bleeep scared to crank his car. Or any vehicle with anything he whipped up in its tank.

not only will it go 300 more miles, but it does 0-60 in 3.8 seconds! Fishbulb, the electric fuel pump cannot generate enough delivery pressure to make the switch that enables the ignition if the tank is truly empty. Ludwig, say it ain’t so

I think there might be enough gas in the motor and fuel lines to at least let the motor crank and maybe go a few feet.

And I got a bleep for saying d-a-r-n!

It’s quite a challange to sit in Dick Locher’s chair in his studio and start to write and then draw what he sees as the next step in the story-line. Reading the results of the most recent sequences boggle the mind at the careless number of situations that havs arisen each week, openly contradicting what he proffered the very week before. Mistakes will occasionally happen to every Author but not with the frequency now standard fare in current Dick Tracy. The focus in the “continuity” is no longer “progress” made in the story-line but rather spotting the regular ommissioms and the contradictions which appear like clock-work every week and almost everyday. It comes not unlike the Sunday “sport” (nothing else of interest to read) to look for the yellow rubber duckie, lovingly hidden by the Artist in a panel.

Everyone writes about it. The most recent disaster in Tracy was the call “911…FAST”! Now nearly two weeks ago … after Angelorious shot they are still to arrive. In the same time frame, she escaped, arranged to visit TWO Oil Companies, had the Gasoline formula tessted or asessed, sees it rejected and then has time to drive back to the scene of the shooting!! 911 are still to respond, and it doesn’t strike the Author as piddling poor, unrealistic story telling (?) The week before her name changed from Ange-lorious to Ange-glorious and then back again, did the Author’s heart skip a beat? Readers ponder if the Author even remembered that Angelorious was visiting “Major Oil”(2-17) before he wrote in “Super Oil”(2-19)? Or did he just “forget” what he wrote 2 days before? That’s a Major mistake or a Super one. Take your pick! Then how did a gun miraculously appear in her hand on when in the panel just before she had apparently dropped it to rub her burning eyes? These represent only a small selection of the writers astonishing litany of errors in the past few weeks. The multiplicity of “boners” can’t be rationally explained away. There’s more than a heartbeat of Alzheimers at work here. It may account for Tess’ 2007 donation from her inheritance (from her Uncle) to that Foundation in the Figment Froid story on 1-22-07 (?) Perhaps too, that’s why the Praetorian Guard in alter ego, super-hero costumes, resort to that final (fragile and laughable defence)… “it’s just a comic strip”, for that’s what Emperor Lochious Sever-us told them to say, as if somehow, it would completely absolve him from the responsibility of regularly producing “nonsense” in the comic strip. They repeat it mantra style like a record stuck on the same line, over and over. Or eventually, fall silent in total embarrassment … their Emperor had been stabbed multiple times in two weeks.(not by the board – they only REPORT) All cuts, clearly “self- inflicted” injuries. As readers complain, doesn’t Locher realize the import of that? and doesn’t his Editor want the Dick Tracy strip to survive the danger of a comic strip Armageddon?

It’s time for the TMS Editors to take another stand … it’s time for DL to move on. The property may bleed to death.

Joe Trom says: “Sydney when you say ‘Winnie Winkle’ style are you reffering to when her brother-in-law killed his wife and Winnie’s husband while no one suspected he did it?”

In a way yes, but more from the point of view of “change” in the appearance of characters which were drawn in a more realistic style, FIRST by Max Von Bibber and subsequently by Frank Bolle. Nothing wrong with that if you “know” what you are doing and the changes enhance the strip. Regetably, Locher ‘fancied’ himself as a ‘change’ expert, removed the hat and further diminished Gould’s well liked designs (While Kilian, a surface reader did not understand or appreciate their personalities and cocked that up too) I have no way of knowing for sure but I suspect part of Locher’s ‘motivation’ in facial changes was to ‘veil’ the earlier change in Junior to that of his son John which must have nipped at part of his conscience. You may have noted that except for that 2008 Christmas panel in December, we have not seen him in a story for over four and a half years, since August 3rd, 2004 in a Pig E.Bank story. I could not access sites for Von Bibber or Frank Bolle which may contain the exact quote I was trying to find before responding. But the gist is, Locher and Kilian changed and drew Patton in a more realictic fashion (gone were the round black eyes)and then they completly changed Lizz’s face and personality into a ‘Juliet Jones’. Today, she is no longer a crack shot and couldn’t even defend herself ‘Martial Arts’ wise against Cole Lector (2008) who roughed her up physically. For a while DL seemed to also toy with larger eyes for Tracy and still now has in place, large, outrageous ‘Growcho Marc’s’ eyebrows. The man put out some great designs in the Gould style years ago, he even had the Queen of Diamonds, but sorry, he has never held any “trumps” in Dick Tracy. It seems none of his ‘changes’ served to improve the strip, they only made it LESS important and it could be argued that it was one of the factors contributing to the large loss of newspapers after Collins departed.

Anyone know the link for the archives of Dick Tracy that goes back to around 2001? I knew the link once but can’t find it now.

Thanks.

It’s right here. The gocomics Tracy archives go back that far.

Ludwig the site is : http://www.comicstriparchive.com/Dick_Tracy/ I assume it’s those on the Huston Chronicle you want. It’s daily strips only, no Sundays. But you can get a whole week at a time. The one HERE has the Sundays but does NOT go back ‘fully’ to the begining of the year 2001. Another advantage is, if you go back to date 2001 January 01 you can click on “previous week” and by this process it will take you back another TWO years or so! You can also ‘navigate’ back much QUICKER to earlier dates. Very useful to check up on things on a timely basis.

Thanks for the definition of LMAO ! Let me know if you get the Chronocle site.

Thanks Sydney!

OT: http://www.chron.com/apps/comics/showComic.mpl?date=2004/7/13&week=1&name=Dick_Tracy

I don’t care who you are. That ain’t Junior Tracy!

In fact, after the demise of Moonmaid, wouldn’t Tracy always keep his car locked up in his garage?

OK, I’m totally confused now.

Hi. Longtime lurker here.

Wow. The quality of the art in the 2004 sequence is so much better than what we see here today.

trickdacy, I was thinking the same thing.