Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for August 04, 2009

Locher & Brozman are truly losing it.

He has to ask the obvious ringmaster who he is?

Wow the great defective gets right to the heart of the matter with his questioning. One is left to wonder what questions he would ask if he were to pay attention to the world around him. Someone dressed exactly like the Ringmaster, introduces a trapeze artist who is shot before a large crowd and dickless Tracy has to ask “What Happened?”

Good gosh, this is bad.

Panel 1: Why is Dick in blackface?

The two people in panel 3 seem to be from some other comic strip entirely.

Police Squad:

Who are you, and how did you get in here?

I’m a locksmith and… I’m a locksmith!

“IT HAPPENED!! IT HAPPENED!!”

Stupid clown should have shot the idiot ringmaster instead of the trapeze artist.

Dick looks like a shadowy Iron Man in panel one.

Panel 1: Dick puts on his police brutality face.

“I’m the ringmaster, and my balls have just dropped is what happened. I’m understandably excited. Now what’s this about an acrobat being shot?”

I think that Locher & Brozman does not have an idea of what to do next in the story so they keep popping the ‘IT HAPPENED’ in to fill panels until they can come up with the rest.

The quality of this comic is unbelievable! (I know ‘quality’ is subjective)

I think that Locher and Brozman are still doing all this intentionally. The strip is probably getting new readers all the time.

These comments and the comic together form so hilarious end product, that I have to follow every episode.

Finally, in panel three…the return of, “Inside Woody Allen.”

Did Tess change her hairstyle while Ringo was yelling, “It happened!!”?

Can Dick Tracy the comic strip be saved at this point? Probably not :(

Still No Bonnie. She has vanished.

And just when you thought the story couldn’t get much worse, this! I can’t believe anyone is paid to put out this garbage. Comic readership must have really deteriorated in the last decade.

My parents bought me a subscription to Children’s Activities in the 40’s which featured “What’s wrong with this picture?” , a panel with various mistakes that you had to identify. This could be “What’s wrong with this strip?”

A “STIMULUS PACKAGE” for LOCHER – to get Dick Tracy “moving” again !

The man needs an INCENTIVE, something to kill the “crawling” pace and ramp up readers INTEREST, the way it used to be !

Forthright ACTION stories have never been a Locher forte. Accused of GLACIAL pacing, this is someone who doesn’t plan ahead but seemingly decides what is going to happen that day in the strip AFTER he sits down, at the Art Board . He doesn’t seem to know WHERE (?) the strip is going, and doesn’t know WHY ! Result : dead end, “Red Herring”, hum drum turn backs.

And he’s poised now, to stick his DULL finger in your eye again. Hello, One Eye Jack !

Most will agree he needs to flush his boring “repetition” nonsense down the toilet. He Whips us with the same LASH week in and week out and already holds TWO “embarrassing” records in the strip !

!) Pacing – SIX Weeks and TWO Days,” continuously” in the SAME ROOM. That”s Tracy with Dr. Sigmund Froid (2006).

2) Art –THREE FACES for the SAME Man ! FBI Agent Hunter. All, completely “different” looking people and ALL appearing in the same the month (Slugs Magnum- 1999)

Record # 2 is about to be equalled with the arrival of a NEW looking Lt.Teevo THIS coming Friday. Ski Jump nose went in his first change and on this Friday in his new incarnation, LOOK for his new Dick Tracy “jaw line”, the old split chin is gone. Facial design, is the only area where “repetition” doesn’t take place. Locher’s designs DON’T remain “static”

Record # 2 is being “tested”, challenged ! It’s Tracy in “one spot” – The Circus Ring (from July 26), and by peeping ahead to August 29, he’ll STILL be there. That WILL be FOUR Weeks, and FIVE Days and counting.

WHY, is this so IMPORTANT ? It bogs down “action” and stifles story progress, while facilitating unnecessary talk with “repeats” of what look like “paste up” old panels, over and over.Till we fall down sick of a fumbling Writer who just can’t seem to “get to the point”!

If anyone ever needed a “Stimulus” Package it’s Locher ! He’s strangling Dick Tracy slowly with his “pace”.

Perhaps, Tracy should recall that Ambulance to get him on a respirator and to heck out of that death Ring there.

Can anyone who’s been reading the strip continuously tell me when and how the brain damage occurred? What happened? Was it a gunshot wound? Did he fall out of one of those flying trashcans?

(If you don’t know what I’m asking about read yesterday’s comments, where the whole secret of life, the universe and everything is revealed.)

-Cougar :{)

With Tess’s new hairstyle, she looks like one of the circus clowns.

Panel 3: The panel contains every possible mistake that you should avoid when drawing comics. This cannot be an accident.

I suspect that they are using this strip at the moment for creative testing.

“Forget every drawing cliché you normally use. Free your mind and do it without self-criticism. Don’t wipe off or erase anything. Do it differently tomorrow.”

In other wors: they are learning drawing.

neonleon59 asks :

“Why is Dick in blackface ?”

Let me guess. To signal readers that he is about to step into the RING - a “dangerous” place. Notice how they have a concerned Tess sillily asking if he “will be safe” ! And Tracy’s quick advice to her to, “Leave now” !

I can’t be sure why it would be so dangerous, but this IS a Circus. Do you think the Mighty Hulk will jump into the ring to fight him ? ;-)

If Jeffery hadn’t gone on another Sabatical we could have asked him, and as for Matty, we know how “well informed” he is (he reminded us so often). BUT —

If that weird looking kid in panel three were to straighten his legs, his right would be almost twice as long as his left. Which also seems to lack a knee. And I’m not so sure he’s a kid, since his head is way bigger than the adult next to him. It’s AMAZING: every square centimeter of his strip lacks quality.

Crunkbot: “If you look at this as storyboards for a David Lynch film, it’s straight-up perfect.”

Add the comments, and you get a David Lynch film as dissected by “Svengoolie” or “MST3K.”

Where would you be safer than at a circus?

Tess backed away from Dick while waving her hand back and forth. “Whoo-eee”, she exclaimed. “That was a wicked one he let out; it even blew my hair back”. Tess knew she had it leave right away. “Dick, will you be safe here”? Tracy was sick and tired of his “Problem”. “This is all Diet’s fault”, he muttered under his breath while gritting his teeth. “I never should have drunk the milkshake that fat cow sent over this morning. He knows I’m lactose intolerant”. Sadly, Tracy felt his stomach start to rumble again. “Better leave now, Tess” Once Tess left Dick walked over to where the ringmaster was doing a poor Angelorious dance and arm wave. Dick listen as the ringmaster kept repeating over and over; “IT HAPPENED! IT HAPPENED!” Dick, getting distracted by the huge picture of Matthew the head clown on the curtain lost his train of thought. “Perhaps the man in the funny coat and hat can help me remember why I’m here”? Dick went up to the man. “Who are you, and what happened”? Startled, the ringmaster answered; “I’m the Ringmaster - - boss Ringo”. Meanwhile, Waldo thought this was a good time to leave before someone found him.

Where is the daughter?

Bracy called him “Mr Ringmaster” like a week ago.

Sorry I called out Carlo, but once again he did say he liked where the story was going, only to leave right before it went to straight up insanity and pathetic quality. Way to stick up for the strip!

Is there a reason for blackface? Last time it was because Ace could not figure out the plot and was very angry. Is Spacy going to kill the clown with his bare hands? We can only hope so.

Hmm ! Looks like KIM JON ILL is now KIM JON WELL ?

Seems he took his “STIMULUS” PACKAGE ? And all’s well

Locher as an Editorial Cartoonist will be fully aware of all this, and I’m sure we all hope, he’ll take ONE too !

Okay mark my words! Tomorrow’s strip:

Panel 1: Badly drawn Dick Tracy: “She is dead.” Panel 2: Badly drawn Dick Tracy and Ringo: “It HAPPENED! IT HAPPENED!” “What happened?” Panel 3: Completely random exterior shot of something. “She is dead.”

Bonnie has wandered off somewhere, but why should her parents care? A murder, a mob scene, pandemonium – what kind of parents would think of their child at a time like this?

-Cougar :{)

“Can Dick Tracy the comic strip be saved at this point? Probably not :( ”

It could be, but only by replacing the Locher/Brozman team.

Jeff used to defend Locher by complaining about the space constraints that have been placed on him. But, look at Funky Winkerbean. Same space constraints, yet Tom Batuic still tells a compelling story.

@Donnie- I agree totally. Prince Valiant was way in the pits during the end of Murphy’s tenure, and King Features brought in an A-list team from the comics to replace him. They can’t do what Foster did because they don’t have the space, but they are doing good things with what they have.

Dick Tracy, well, it just isn’t working. Taken individually the art and the writing are awful these days, and beyond that there is absolutely no sense of graphic storytelling. It’s a shame, because this strip has such history and potential.

But realistically, newspapers are in rough shape. So it’s not likely that Tracy is picking up new audience, and I’m sure that the quality decline has cost TMS subscribers. It could be that the money is not there to hire anybody good…though even then I’m sure there are talented people who would take the job on just for the exposure and the chance to work with an iconic character.

I will have to agree with Mr. Krucar – the comments are an integral part of reading this modern Dick Tracy and some of the errors and mis-art are probably deliberate to fan the flames, so to speak.

Reading these negative posts day in and day out, I can only help but think of a hypothetical television critic who keeps watching episode after episode of Hannah Montana and constantly berating it for not being Masterpiece Theater. How long do you think people would listen to this negative critic?

My point is this - if you have a point to make, make it. But to constantly make the same comment day after day about how bad this is, well after a while doesn’t that lose its effect?

Where has Sandy gone?