Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for September 12, 2009

Perhaps question the performers and crew? I realize this might smack of actual police work, but sometimes it can’t be helped. Again, the FDA should remove Ringo to another location. He is a target after all.

It’s time for another “ransom note” to show up!

Shouldn’t the ‘witness protection agency’ be the ones to put Ringo under 24 hour guard. After all, they are the ones that put him in this stupid circus…

I’m a performer in the circus, and I’m not scared!!!

Is Panel One meant to portray some sort of romantic tension between Tracy and Ennen? Or perhaps suggest that an inter-departmental turf war is brewing?

Panel Three: Who’s the hairy giant, and what is the meaning of the C.U.U.U. emblazoned on his wristband?

Hmmm….

Circus peformer’s and Utility worker’s Union of Utah?

Nah…

Also:

Do any of you have an extra room for me in case I need to “lay low” for a while? I believe Morrow’s wife’s employer’s HR department is investigating me, and I’m a little worried about what they might find.

leakysqueaky712 ROTFL!

Uh oh. Tracy has a plan.

A great man once said that he loved it when a plan came together.

Too bad Tracy’s not that great man.

I thought you would appreciate that Aunt Marg….:-)

Barb Ells keeps changing his/her sex like some desert lizard.

So does the plan involve thermal imaging cards, or giant robots? I guess we’ll find out in ten weeks or so.

The plan is: a new writer soon!!!

Hey Look! Sloppy the Clown came back. Yeah, the performers are SO scared that the girl on the elephant just keeps riding him and doesn’t try to get to safety.

FDA? Food & Drug Administration

Well, that makes sense, dkram. You’d HAVE to be on SOMETHING to make this story seem logical.

The girl on the elephant just like big moving things between her legs..

I have a plan. I know it will work. Teevo, get me the Matrix Pack.

The girl on the elephant can come over to my house and sit…….oh never mind.

Margueritem rightly debates which Agency should be providing the 24 hour Guard service. It matters little, Those in Locher’s tales of whatever stripe have always been proven to be incompetents.

Recall the Cole Lector tale (2008). Chief Lizz was kidnapped under their noses, Back in J.Hennessey Tucker (2007) the Tractor driver told the Swat team Officer to step aside. In Braces / Magnum Force (2008) only the Captain turned up.

And as you’ll find next week when thing finally begin to get hot, those that Tracy has around will all have “DISSAPEARED” as IF, they had NEVER been there !

It’s sad, this is the sort of writing to prove what Mattie describes as (Locher / Brozman) - “giving their HEARTS and SOULS - their ABSOLUTE BEST, for it makes a hillarious mockery of those adjectives.

And those are NOT the only careless ommissions / contradictions, which are becoming standard fare and near legion. This is the context in which he calls Locher’s Tracy work - “IMMENSELY TALENTED” (?)

How can anyone take Mattie’s analysis or opinions seriously (?) He views everything by Locher, no matter how inept, through the flattering filter of “Rose tinted” glasses.

I’d opine, and suspect that most would find, that on Dick Tracy, Locher’s work is “immensely INCOMPETENT”

The name Sal Monella (1998 & 2003) AND his favorite “PRODUCT”, easily come to mind,

Think of the, DICK TRACY credits - “by Jim Brozman and Sal Monella”

Thats a wrist band decorating the wrist. If I was ringmaster I wouldn’t trust the FBI. They got him in this mess and they are suppose to protect him. DT ought to do the protecting. Same clown and performers.

Ahem………. I wish to correct the non-stop human exhaust pipe. I didn’t say anyone was questioned as for being “real”; of course he is “real”; the question was if the clown was “for real”. I’m sure he is asked daily, “Dude, are you for real?” Google has volumes on the subject. Barf.

Flight Suit, I think it’s funny; that makes two of us!

The thought occured to me - - -

Mattie could “teach” Locher a thing or two about “circulation”. He certainly brings readership, weird excitement and heated comment to new life on the board.

Dicky would do well to “study” his accolyte !

Me, too. That’s three of us.

And, while it’s obvious that the wristband is just the studs sticking out, it does look like letters and the comment and speculation were funny.

Matthew: After reading yesterday’s posts, I completely understand your consistent defense of Locher. He’s a friend and an extremely talented and busy one. Perhaps that’s why the writing and artwork are so bad - he’s too busy with his political cartooning and bronzes….

NotNorman………. no.

so, sydney , what’s wrong with the spell checker? when you capitalize words for effect, the effect is somewhat lost when they are mispeld

just a thot

Hey, not so harsh there!! Sydney uses CAPITALS for emphasis only. No one said he was perfect….. or did they? If you get BORED with this strip, take a look at TARZAN. That is one well drawn and reasonably fast paced strip.

Sorry “nighthawks”, not at the head of the class in spelling.

On this board they don’t seem to have a “spell checker” in easy reach.

If they do, tell me now to find it.

I was just looking at some mid-90s Tracy strips. While I was never a big fan of Locher’s art, the strip held up okay when it had someone writing it who could, like, write. The difference is kind of amazing to see.

MPH, I know this is like releiving onesself against the wind, but I think Liam might just own this website. If he doesn’t, it is safe to say he rubs elbows with those who do. To some, the conventional wisdom says not to threaten him. We, of the Board, love you and your even-temper. We’d hate to see you lose your priveledges here because of a threat to the wrong somebody.

I have a question. Isn’t a person in witness protection supposed to become practically invisible? Why would you put him in a job where, at one time or another, every eye in the place is looking at him? Bad guys go to circuses too, and it’s not hard to imagine a couple of enemies sitting in the stands saying to each other “Say, isn’t that so-and-so who used to work with us and ratted us out?”. “Yeah, you’re right, let’s get him.”

”- - the clock is ticking” ??

Has someone planted a bomb ? Something about to explode ? Liam may soon snuff out the electronic fuse !

I don’t think it’s a good idea to appear to threaten someone in the fair discharge of their duties !

You better keep it “ticking” till Monday when Liam gets back from the weekend off - - - and make SURE your Alarm doesn’t go off.

Sigh…

If we can get a hint of what the plan is by next Sat., I’d say the story has finally shifted into gear.

Matt, like a battered spouse who provokes their partner into having a blow-up just to get it over with, I can not take the suspense of knowing that I will soon be assigned a degrading moniker.

Therefore, let’s just assume Liam’s not going to capitulate to your demands and get it over with right now. Here are some suggestions:

Blight Suit

Fat Slut

Poop Chute

Flighty Goof

and…

Um…

I’m afraid, as you can see, my name doesn’t really lend itself to any sort of funny nicknames.

Wait, I’ve got it! Besides being something fighter pilots wear, a flight suit is also something that parrot owners have their birds wear so they can fly around the house without defecating all over the furniture!

So you could call me Mr. Bird Diaper…

Or perhaps The Depends Parrot?

Just a few suggestions.

The Dick is Loching…

LOL thanks Flight Suit! I needed a laugh. ;) Recently got off work and it was one of THOSE days…

I just happened to look back at yesterday’s comments and noticed that Matthew went berserk after my comment (probably the most complimentary of all after his lecture) about using the name Mattie. It never occurred to me that a person named Matthew would be upset by that, nor do I remember his asking not to be called Mattie.

Matthew, you need to calm down and, if you’re going to write in public, you need to get a thicker skin.

I have to concur, Matthew…you’re entitled to your opinion, but really, lighten up. This is a forum for a comic strip, not the Congressional Record, and no one here but you seems to have any problem with anything anyone is saying. Liam is moderating as best he can, and pretty well as near as I can tell, and it’s a tribute to his patience that you haven’t just been booted off of here completely. Your rants and accusations impress no one, and frankly do not reflect well on you as a person.

Obviously you’re a big fan of Locher’s work on this strip, and you’re apparently alone in this regard. But if you don’t want to see it criticized for its admittedly wretched writing and lackluster art, well, no one is making you read our posts. Their tone is not likely to change until the strip changes. For me, these opinions ought to be a wake-up call to TMS to do something with this feature before it loses more papers and vanishes forever. And even if, as you seem to believe, all of us are wrong and you are right, we’re entitled to our opinions too.

The essence of what you are sayng “jumbobrain” is that IF he doesn’t like what he is reading he should be MATURE and cease reading the board.

That’s exactly HIS advise to readers who don’t like Locher’s strips.

Seems - he should take HIS OWN advice ! He’s a “mature” lad !

What say you Mattie ?

jumbobrain, he’s not going to change. He thinks that the only opinion that counts is his own and that’s it. He loves the fact that the comments are about him and not negative comments about the strip.

Are all these people just standing around doing nothing? Except of course, Lena the Elephant Girl who is doing laps on Dumbo. If you are afraid for your life…LEAVE!!!

Yeah well, I just figured I’d try a little civility. For the heck of it. I mostly feel bad for Liam, I mean he’s already got to sort through the rest of our rants without getting those inane threats fired at him.

g6793, I’m glad I could make you chuckle!

Regarding the quality of this strip, I think it’s possible to enjoy it and revel in its awfulness at the same time. I myself am a huge fan of Godzilla. The original movie that started it all in 1954 is universally acclaimed as a haunting, beautiful work of art, and I enjoy it as such.

On the other hand, when I watch dreck like Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster, I have to laugh, ‘cause otherwise I’d cringe at its awfulness. I certainly don’t get upset with the cast of Mystery Science Theater 3000 for giving the film the skewering it deserves, and I don’t feel I’m being disloyal to the franchise when I laugh right along with them.

Just something to consider.

I dunno Flight Suit…the awfulness that is currently Dick Tracy just doesn’t have a lot of redeeming qualities for me. Even those dumb Godzilla movies had the effects work of Eiji Tsuburaya going for them. I don’t like Gasoline Alley as much as I did years ago, but it’s still competently written and drawn even if not to my taste. With Dick Tracy it’s like watching a slow-motion car wreck, it’s being done so artlessly and losing readers and yet all the time I’m thinking geez, there is such potential here, and yet TMS puts this out day after day, and here at its ostensible home page it is ripped to shreds by everyone (except Matthew of course), and no one seems to care.

Why they don’t get a creative team in to breath life back into it a mystery worthy of Dick Tracy (the old Dick Tracy, who would cleverly solve the mystery, not the current Dick Tracy, who would stand around talking about it endlessly in poorly drawn panels).

Mattie:

From now on, you will refer to me as either “the All-wise, All-knowing”, or as “the Perfect Male Specimen”.

If you fail to comply…

… the clock will be ticking!

Those are valid points, Jumbobrain. I guess this experience here is different for me, ‘cause I’ve never known Dick Tracy in any form but its current one.

Anyone have an over/under as to when matties alter ego shows up? I say it is this week.

Hey Flight Suit,

Wow, if this is the only incarnation of Dick Tracy you’ve seen I’m surprised you bother with it. During Chester Gould’s heyday of the 40s it was highly stylized and uber-violent, mostly featuring bizarre villains who put Tracy in insane deathtraps and then themselves met gruesome ends. Gould stayed at it till the 70s and while most agree he lost his edge, he did some pretty inspired stuff (including sending Dick to the moon in the early 60s, where there was a whole civilization). Max Collins took over the writing when Gould retired and reinvigorated the strip, first with Rick Fletcher, a really tight artist, then with Locher (whose style was not my favorite, but it worked okay). His peak was a long “never before told” story of Tracy during the war which featured almost every villain of that era. A lot of this stuff has been collected and published, it’s worth a look.

Dear Liam,

Thank you for not deleting this entire thread. ^_^

TMK