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

Will the real Liz please stand up? That guy in the Gobstoppers Slime book is scary, like an evil clown.

Apparently, Spacy is using mental telepathy to transmit his orders to Lizz.

Big Ace is wearing a cutout cardboard mask in panel 6. While impressively juggling with one hand.

Panel 5: we finally see the Evil Tracy peeping out thru the goody-goody disguise.

Hi–Frequent lurker, first time poster–…..Big Ace just accepted a bet without the conditions. What kind of gambler is that? Ya gotta have some idea of what you’re betting. What if “Tuscon Tray-C” makes the bet “heads I win, tails you lose”?

Hey, that wasn’t Liz(z) yesterday. The Chief wears 2 stars, as Liz(z) does today. Yesterday’s stand-in didn’t have any insignia. Had to be someone else.

I called the Hotline, as instructed, and the recording told me that 15-30 was hot, bet on the #7 dog in the second race, and stand on 14 when the dealer shows 15. Then it told me to “Have a Nice Day.”

Lizz in her undercover detective days was always dressed so sharp and chic. How did Gould ever get away with it? As a kid I always thought Lizz looked sexy and hot. Now she is in a rather butchy looking police uniform. Where is Tracy’s daughter Bonnie? I thought her latest incarnation was a student at a police academy. Has she graduated? Will she join pops on the force?

Much of the art looks pretty good today. They fixed the dollar value problem for the bet.

I agree about the Crimestopper character looking like a clown, but what’s he wearing, …a space suit?

OK, boys and girls, let’s summarize this week’s lessons in SPACY MATH 101:

June 17: Big Ace: “There should be three quarters of a million here!” Tray-C, er, Tracy: “THERE’S DOUBLE THAT!” (If we can rely on the conversation, at this point there appears to be $3 million in Tracy’s case.)

June 18: Big Ace: “DOUBLE THE THREE MILL!” What gives?” Big Ace’s comment leads us to believe that there is $6 million (two times $3 million) in the case.

June 19: Tracy: “Whatta you say double or nothing on this stash?”

June 20: Big Ace: “DOUBLE OR NOTHING on three quarters of a mill?” (Now there is apparently only $750 thousand in the case.)

June 21: Tracy: “I’ve got your three quarters of a million in cash… Want to go double or nothing on this loot?” (Sigh.)

Coming up June 24: a whole new layer of math confusion!

Crimestoppers Textbook: Actually good advice, but what in the world does it have to do with stopping crime?

Oh, and HAPPY FATHER’S DAY to all you dads out there!

I once called a suicide prevention hot line and they put me on hold…

This a joke!

From the nit-picker’s Handbook, it’s good to observe that they have resisted the temptation today to flaunt the Yellow (Nippled) Rubber Duckie in those two “empty” picture frames.

The hands are looking minature-like again, suggesting that Locher did the “penciling” and Brozman the “inking”, so they may have been there originally (?). Perhaps Jim, with another flash of independence erased them out (?)

Welcome “DatBigGuy”. you should post more often ! Sorry, but if you had been reading long enough you’d have noticed that detail, (include “correct” detail), is not a forte of the modern strip.

I know that as he reads this. Mattie (it’s his first “port of call” everyday), is in his “studio” grinding his molars (see … I’m kind, I didn’t say “basement”). He fancies himself as the next Locher. But keep “practising” Matt, just unlearn drawing such “infantile” hands. That’s a good tip, Matt !

Whatever happened to the top of Big Ace’s head in panel 6. Did they start out to draw Flattop (?) or did they confuse it with the next villain design waiting in the wings ?

Can’t help but think of all the talk of Mobius Strips over on Pibgorn. We are treated to a weekly version of that here….. sans imagination.

neonleon, thanks for summarizing the weeklong snafu of how much cash is in the suitcase - hilarious!!

I think they guy in Crimestoppers looks like Freddy Kruger without the claw. I’m sorry to see he developed a gambling problem after the movie sequels ended.

Froxkrybra, so are you doin’ better these days?—nothin’ like reading the comments on DT to make you forget yur troubles…. seriously, be well

Monte’s Casino now we need to be WW2 buff to get the puns?

Wow, the “artistic” team can’t even be consistent with Big Ace’s look from one panel to the next.

Meet BUZZ … 436rge said : “As a kid I always thought Lizz looked sexy and hot. Now she is in a rather butchy looking police uniform”

436rge, You’ve put your finger right on the Locher “CHANGE” button. We’ve had a subtle sexual transformation here ! It all began with Kilian and DL looking to “remake” the strip in a more “modern” form. Code for transplanting his OWN images and ideas OVER Gould’s characters.

Locher knew Stan Drake of “The Heart of Juliet Jones” fame. The latter had two “models”. Prudish Juliet and what was then THE sexiest female in comics i.e. Juliet’s sister EVE.

Sadly, Locher picked the wrong one. He picked the Juliet “shell” as his replacement. Long dresses, flattened bust-line, no more”sexy” flash of thigh or intriguing turn of ankle. Secretarial stiff, moves with plenty prude – just, NO rude !

This was all in the wake of converting the “appearance” of Junior Tracy to that of his son, John (of rubber duckie fame). This may have been the “motivator” as even Patton was deemed to need “modification” after having looked the same way for 61 years !

Lizz’s appointment as Chief may have tipped the scales. Hair was cropped noticably shorter and Li-ZZ was seemingly morphed into what looked like “Bu-ZZ” !

Now we have Chief BuZZ Worthington-Grove, circling a 1930’s looking, Naperville Police Station (like Astronaut, Buzz Aldrin?), inhabiting an old, derelict Space Coupe

I could write a book about this misguided “assault” (on artistic and unique personalities) and near destruction of the great Dick Tracy comic strip. Hundreds of papers dropped the strip following these “improvements” !

Bonnie was at University (Not a Police Academy) in a - 2004 Terrorist story (Fiendish Fred and Gnash), she was also in the following Kilian story (J. Kindly Goodfellow), with one Maggie Irish. She hasn’t appeared since!

What is up Dick Tracy’s sleeve other than the arm of the law?

For those looking for “classic” Tracy, www.hamiltonbook.com has several anthologies listed with strips from the mid to late 70s.

Geez! I just remembered why Big Ace looked so familiar. Anybody remember “The Brow”? Goes back in the day when I was a kid. Chester Gould still drew the strip.

I think Big Ace bears a resemblance to classic Gould villain Shoulders.

Dang, they have confused even me and I have a mathematical mind!

Thanks for the correction, Grok.

(But even my lame brain knows that the numerical portion of the 6/24 strip is just WRONG.)

http://tinyurl.com/lquax3 WHOOPS I DIDN’T MEAN TO POST THAT…

If I made popcorn for this story, it would have that powdered Cheeto dust sprinkled all over it. Because [insert predictable punchline concerning cheesy math/characters/plotline etc. here.].

Now, the GOOD popcorn, I save for Bassman Bob’s stories.

Attention 436rge !

Seems you call a name and she appears !!!

Bonnie is back on the radar ! After nearly five years, forward strips suggest she’ll be in the upcoming story.

Thank you Sydney for your responsive comments.