Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for September 28, 2009

He’s a switch!?

Hah, haw, haw!

Now Ringo’s incessant brandishing of that whip is beginning to make sense!

For those who have no idea what I’m getting at, the term “switch” is very commonly used in the BDSM community to refer to a person who is not exclusively dominant or submissive, but moves easily from one role to the other.

By the way, has Mr. Pops been smart enough to do what Tracy and Ennen hadn’t, and force Ringo to divest himself of his whip-weapon?

Furthermore:

Panel One:

It appears the clown’s decorating early: There’s a Christmas wreathe hanging from his hair-do!

Also:

“…worst of all, he’s a blackmailer!!”

Well Mr. Pops, what do you call sending people notes that say, “U R A dead man?”

I guess your notes weren’t exactly blackmail, because you didn’t ever demand anything.

Hmmm…

GASP, a blackmailer!

You’re not exactly good yourself.

Where’s the tiger? Why did Mr. Pops move away from Tracy? I thought Pops was going to put them in the tiger’s tiny cage so the tiger could do away with them so it’d look like an accident. Huh?

I was wondering what a “switch” is. Pop’s right arm has suddenly shrunk in size.

Flight Suit’s explanation of “switch” seems to suit Ringo pretty well. For a ringleader with a whip, he’s been awfully whiny and submissive. But maybe that’s just the ‘at gunpoint’ speaking.

Why does everybody at the circus hate Ringo? Clown’s the one trying to take them down. Also, he’s crazy.

Locher is the “switch.” He switched a w for what should have been an n.

They all hate him for dragging them into this stupid story. Duh.

…and we continue to stand around and chat. Sigh…

Standing around and chatting is important. That’s the only way Locher can illustrate “explanation” time. The story is written in a style where readers never SAW what happpened. So, a long winded explanation is needed.

In enlightened circles this is called a “mystery”. Yes ! It took all of three months BUT readers were entertaind by Circus pictures, Freaks, a Tiger and an Elephant..Even a cameo shot of Lt.Teevo !

One more week is required so that you understand – and the hungry Tiger will just have to wait.

Remember, the strip isn’t Action Jackson - - it’s Locher’s Dick Tracy !

If you squint a little and look at panel 2, it almost looks like Flattop. Sigh, I constantly dream of better days…

Y’know, I’m no genius and I certainly am having trouble connecting the dots here - especially comparing this yarn to my life experiences, but if the entire circus existed just to kill Ringo, W.T.F. didn’t someone plug him and be over with it? And I hope Locher has the vision to tell us WHY the FBI is involved. But (alas), I might be asking too much.

Is everyone working for the circus a former employee of the company where Ringo was a whistleblower?

Why else would they all be mad at him and want him dead?

This whole story makes no freakin’ sense!

If you close your eyes while you read it, you get a better idea of where this is going.

He’s a switch, a traitor, a blackmailer – but that’s not the worst of it! He stole my upper right arm! Right from the elbow to the shoulder – IT’S GONE!

-Cougar :{)

Morrow, whaddya want everything?

Okay, what is it now, 12 weeks our hero has been standing in one place listening as one random and pointless plot twist after another is revealed? I think the real criminal is in the corporate offices of TMS, plotting Tracy’s demise by putting out a strip that is so pointless and mundane that even its most devoted subscribers will be obliged to drop it.

Can anyone tell me what is a bigger waste of time than reading this strip?

jtpozenel, taking time commenting on it.

Greg1Martin has a good suggestion but how can you read the strip with your eyes closed?

If someone paid me a bunch of money and told me to sit down and write the craziest story my mind could conjure up, with no rhyme nor reason, I couldn’t top this one! A bunch of misfits out to kill some dude, all working for a circus………. go figure! Let Mattie call it “Genius”; I reserve my opinion for a less glamorous description.

jumbobrain … morrow

I’m going to speculate on the problem of Locher’s story contradictions. He’s not very powerful in the cognitive area. He’s had the unhappy reasoning quirk of dropping higly succesful practises Gould used and picking up others without “understanding” how to USE them effectively.

He’s writing from the “seat of the pants”, is what’s hitting us here. He “recalled” that Gould put Tracy in jams without knowing how he’d get him out. Which meant that readers woudn’t know either. So he uses that part of the formula but fails to INVEST the necessary HOURS of “thinking” to come up with sophisticated story solutions.

My guess is that his focus on what happens next in the strip lasts 15 minutes each morning. Then, he implements. The hillarious contradictions we see are the baneful result. And before he’s finished, the demands of Editotial cartoons start knocking stridently on his window !

It’s the old story hitting Dick Tracy (TIME) … WE are reaping, what HE blithly sows !

But I agree, someone (?) at TMS needs a touch or two of Ringo’s “switch”. The Boys from Brazil err … Woodstock, blame Locher’s flawed performace on TMS, I do too, but for a different reason, (not so much restrictive mandates) but for allowing what the Elephant put down to pass so freely in this great comic strip.

Say, could somebody tell me where I might find Locher’s political cartoons?

After all these months of reading Dick Tracy, I think it might really blow my mind to see Locher’s artistic style applied to something other than DT.

Also…

Where’s Matt?

Gould may have made up his plots as he went along, but at least they were interesting and did not contradict themselves. What really annoys me with Locher’s writing is that all the exposition has happened in one rambling conversation, and ended up as one muddled interaction between numerous characters, most of whom we know nothing about.

Don’t get me wrong, a circus full of killers where no one is who they say they are could make for a very funny, inspired story. But only if it’s told in an interesting way.

I wonder again if anyone connected with the strip ever reads these comments and if so, why nothing ever changes.

At least one of Tracy’s backup should put out his cigarette and come in the tent to see what’s going on.

Hey Ludwig….how do you know they are back from Tim Hortons Donuts . or do they actually smoke….not cool any more. Perhaps the other guys who only went to Dunkin’ Donuts will show up tomorrow.

Blackmailed me about my affair with Louise. Ah, my dear Louise. She used to do these really swell tricks without a net. She took me to new heights. So, I shot her.

Flightsuit… check this out.

http://www.gocomics.com/dicklocher/