I have heard of a couple of deaths already this year:Richard Alf – Co-founder and chairman of the San Diego Comic-Con International. He died January 5th, 2012.John Celardo – Illustrator of the Tarzan comic strip for the 50’s and early 60’s. He died today (Saturday) or yesterday, depending on what time zone you are in.The world has lost another couple of great guys. They will be missed. R.I.P.
Kudos for the bio of Sam Steele!The expression “reading someone the riot act” was based on him.Armed with a rifle, his pistol and the Canadian legal code, Steele single-handedly stopped rioting miners by reading them the Riot Act – and letting them know it was going to be strictly enforced!(Steele made tough guys like Dirty Harry look like girl scouts!)
Tarry,.I answered your questions re rank structure on yesterday’s page, but I’m reproducing it here with one addition..Re your questions below:.“Are we using the system for the Chicago PD?”.Yes..
“If so, 4 stars is a Superintendent of Police.”.Absolutely correct..“Is that what Pat is?”.Yes..“I thought he was a Chief (1 star) If Tracy is head of a department, wouldn’t he be a Captain or a Commander?”.Pat is the chief of police. In Chicago (and in some other US cities such as New Orleans), the official title of the police chief is Superintendent..Pat’s official title as chief of police is “Superintendent.” Those close to him address him by the less grandiloquent title “Chief.”.Until 1960, when O.W. Wilson took over, the official title of Chicago’s police chief was “Commissioner.” Occasionally, on formal occasions, Pat’s predecessor, John (or occasionally, George) Brandon, was addressed as “Commissioner.”.“If Tracy is head of a department, wouldn’t he be a Captain or a Commander?”.I think you mean head of a Bureau or Division. Tracy’s head of the Detective Bureau, which means he’s Chief of Detectives. Since the Major Crime Unit is part of the Detective Bureau, Tracy CHOOSES to run it personally so he can continue to be a hands-on investigator. Normally, MCU would probably be run by a lieutenant, or, at most, a captain..“Are Sam and Lizz at least Detective Sergeants?”.Lizz is a detective, not a sergeant in the Detective Bureau (strictly speaking, there is no such rank as “detective sergeant.” There are sergeants who work in the Detective Bureau..Sam was, briefly, Acting Superintendent in the wake of the scandal arising from the exposure of crooked First Deputy Superintendent Carl Climer. From this I would infer that he’s at least a lieutenant, and was jumped up temporarily because of his rock-solid integrity (notwithstanding his being a politically incorrect smoker)..Johnny Adonis, when he was still with the Department, was a detective..Lee Ebony is a detective..BTW, the reference you used is slightly out of date. Under the new police chief hired by Mayor Rahm Emmanuel, Garry McCarthy, the rank structures undergone some changes, and a lot of the top brass positions have been eliminated. Those holding the official title of “Chief,” like Tracy, are now entitled to war two stars instead of one..Now the only person between Tracy and Patton is whoever holds the position of First Deputy Superintendent.
Lemme guess…..Putty Puss somehow winds up with teh funky cello case, and disguised as Spike Jr or one of the band, HE gets busted at teh border and this time HE gets taken in…
Good morning Tracyphanics … another GREAT strip today and a special thanks to Jim Doherty for the Sam Steele info. Kudos all around Team Tracy !!! Very interesting … tying PP in to the Son of Spike arch … WELL DONE !!!
“Amphibian Wax”? Love it!.How things have changed… wasn’t all that long ago we were bemoaning the unbelievable plot device of a Stradivarius stuffed with plastique; now we’re getting a story in which a cello case crammed with drugs….…actually… makes… sense…
Based on team Tracy’s ability to resurrect old villians from Tracy’s past, and since the original Mr. Crime was shot dead, and confirmed dead by Tracy and sam years ago, I suspect that the new Mr. Crime will be none other than one of Tracy’s greatest villians…Pruneface!
From yesterday’s comments about overlapping story arcs:
I agree with you, it is much more realistic to have the cops working on more than one crime at a time. Also, Gould’s tradition of one story blending into the next is one of the distictive marks of Dick Tracy.
There is one subtle difference, from my perspective. Gould tended to wrap up one vilian, while having the story elements show us hints of the next story coming up. This current Tracy team has several storys all boiling along at the same time, with hints of one big blow up coming when all the elements somehow colide.
Another thought – one of the things Ed McBain was famous for in his 87th Precinct novels was coincidence. Could it be that some of these villians will, by the long arm of “chance”, end up betraying each other, or in some way becoming entangled together? THAT would certainly be good writing for a mystery genre.
Of course you can’t talk about the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and not think about the movie Rose-Marie and the Indian Love Call. At least, I never can.
JD I have another question for you. What is the actual position of Junior Tracy in the police force? My understanding is that he is a Sketch Artist or Facial Composite artist. That would place him in the Reproduction and Graphic Arts Section of the General Support Division of the Bureau of Administration. At least I think that is where he is located. In any case, not under Dick Tracy’s chain of command. What is your take on him?Also any idea what Sparkle is doing for a job currently?
I know you addressed your question to JD, but I remember that the Collins story that featured the death of Moon Maid had Jr. tellling Tracy that, although his day- to- day duties were in the artist dept., he was first and foremost a cop. Tracy thought about it and agreed with him, and Jr. went out with an officer to do detective work relating to the murder investigation.
Just read entries of Samm Steele. Interesting reading. Wiki He’s the one that establishes the rule you had to have supplies to last year before you can go on "stairway. One of the early people of NWRCMP.
Tarry Plaguer almost 13 years ago
Well it looks like Putty Puss and Mr. Crime may be crossing paths soon. I wonder if Tracy will luck out and catch two birds with one stone.
Vista Bill Raley and Comet™ almost 13 years ago
Good morning Tarry and the rest of the gang…
Cueball appears to be obsessed with polishing his head!
margueritem almost 13 years ago
Hale! Hale! The gang’s almost all here!Good morning, Terry.
60sFan almost 13 years ago
Good morning all.
Will Putty Puss play along with Mr. Crime?
I am loving this story!
Det.DanDone almost 13 years ago
Cueball is looking Buff….or should I say Buffed!
thejensens almost 13 years ago
Good Sunday Morning everyone!!!!
I thought Dudley DoRight was the greatest Mountie!!!!
Tarry Plaguer almost 13 years ago
I have heard of a couple of deaths already this year:Richard Alf – Co-founder and chairman of the San Diego Comic-Con International. He died January 5th, 2012.John Celardo – Illustrator of the Tarzan comic strip for the 50’s and early 60’s. He died today (Saturday) or yesterday, depending on what time zone you are in.The world has lost another couple of great guys. They will be missed. R.I.P.
Can't Sleep almost 13 years ago
Kudos for the bio of Sam Steele!The expression “reading someone the riot act” was based on him.Armed with a rifle, his pistol and the Canadian legal code, Steele single-handedly stopped rioting miners by reading them the Riot Act – and letting them know it was going to be strictly enforced!(Steele made tough guys like Dirty Harry look like girl scouts!)
Weegel almost 13 years ago
Tarry,.I answered your questions re rank structure on yesterday’s page, but I’m reproducing it here with one addition..Re your questions below:.“Are we using the system for the Chicago PD?”.Yes..
“If so, 4 stars is a Superintendent of Police.”.Absolutely correct..“Is that what Pat is?”.Yes..“I thought he was a Chief (1 star) If Tracy is head of a department, wouldn’t he be a Captain or a Commander?”.Pat is the chief of police. In Chicago (and in some other US cities such as New Orleans), the official title of the police chief is Superintendent..Pat’s official title as chief of police is “Superintendent.” Those close to him address him by the less grandiloquent title “Chief.”.Until 1960, when O.W. Wilson took over, the official title of Chicago’s police chief was “Commissioner.” Occasionally, on formal occasions, Pat’s predecessor, John (or occasionally, George) Brandon, was addressed as “Commissioner.”.“If Tracy is head of a department, wouldn’t he be a Captain or a Commander?”.I think you mean head of a Bureau or Division. Tracy’s head of the Detective Bureau, which means he’s Chief of Detectives. Since the Major Crime Unit is part of the Detective Bureau, Tracy CHOOSES to run it personally so he can continue to be a hands-on investigator. Normally, MCU would probably be run by a lieutenant, or, at most, a captain..“Are Sam and Lizz at least Detective Sergeants?”.Lizz is a detective, not a sergeant in the Detective Bureau (strictly speaking, there is no such rank as “detective sergeant.” There are sergeants who work in the Detective Bureau..Sam was, briefly, Acting Superintendent in the wake of the scandal arising from the exposure of crooked First Deputy Superintendent Carl Climer. From this I would infer that he’s at least a lieutenant, and was jumped up temporarily because of his rock-solid integrity (notwithstanding his being a politically incorrect smoker)..Johnny Adonis, when he was still with the Department, was a detective..Lee Ebony is a detective..BTW, the reference you used is slightly out of date. Under the new police chief hired by Mayor Rahm Emmanuel, Garry McCarthy, the rank structures undergone some changes, and a lot of the top brass positions have been eliminated. Those holding the official title of “Chief,” like Tracy, are now entitled to war two stars instead of one..Now the only person between Tracy and Patton is whoever holds the position of First Deputy Superintendent.
Mdstudio almost 13 years ago
If Mr. Crime were my boss, I wouldn’t want him mad at me.
ctsignguy almost 13 years ago
Lemme guess…..Putty Puss somehow winds up with teh funky cello case, and disguised as Spike Jr or one of the band, HE gets busted at teh border and this time HE gets taken in…
APersonOfInterest almost 13 years ago
Good morning Tracyphanics … another GREAT strip today and a special thanks to Jim Doherty for the Sam Steele info. Kudos all around Team Tracy !!! Very interesting … tying PP in to the Son of Spike arch … WELL DONE !!!
tsull2121 almost 13 years ago
i agree person of interest… the tie is is well handled.. nothing like “fleshing out the backgroupnd” before throwing everyone together.
BruceQuast almost 13 years ago
Are the daily strips inked by a different person than the Sundays? The style on the Sunday strips looks different than the dailies.
trimguy almost 13 years ago
Well, Cueball doesn’t seem to reciting verse, so one would guess he’s not waxing poetic.
puddleglum1066 almost 13 years ago
“Amphibian Wax”? Love it!.How things have changed… wasn’t all that long ago we were bemoaning the unbelievable plot device of a Stradivarius stuffed with plastique; now we’re getting a story in which a cello case crammed with drugs….…actually… makes… sense…
Yahsfirescribe almost 13 years ago
Based on team Tracy’s ability to resurrect old villians from Tracy’s past, and since the original Mr. Crime was shot dead, and confirmed dead by Tracy and sam years ago, I suspect that the new Mr. Crime will be none other than one of Tracy’s greatest villians…Pruneface!
quartermain almost 13 years ago
There was also a novel by James Oliver Curwood titled “Philip Steel Of The Royal Northwest Mounted Police” published 1911—free on kindle via Amazon
Ken in Ohio almost 13 years ago
@idesama:
From yesterday’s comments about overlapping story arcs:
I agree with you, it is much more realistic to have the cops working on more than one crime at a time. Also, Gould’s tradition of one story blending into the next is one of the distictive marks of Dick Tracy.
There is one subtle difference, from my perspective. Gould tended to wrap up one vilian, while having the story elements show us hints of the next story coming up. This current Tracy team has several storys all boiling along at the same time, with hints of one big blow up coming when all the elements somehow colide.
Another thought – one of the things Ed McBain was famous for in his 87th Precinct novels was coincidence. Could it be that some of these villians will, by the long arm of “chance”, end up betraying each other, or in some way becoming entangled together? THAT would certainly be good writing for a mystery genre.
Stay tuned!
Tarry Plaguer almost 13 years ago
Of course you can’t talk about the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and not think about the movie Rose-Marie and the Indian Love Call. At least, I never can.
Tarry Plaguer almost 13 years ago
JD I have another question for you. What is the actual position of Junior Tracy in the police force? My understanding is that he is a Sketch Artist or Facial Composite artist. That would place him in the Reproduction and Graphic Arts Section of the General Support Division of the Bureau of Administration. At least I think that is where he is located. In any case, not under Dick Tracy’s chain of command. What is your take on him?Also any idea what Sparkle is doing for a job currently?
Ken in Ohio almost 13 years ago
@Tarry Plaguer:
I know you addressed your question to JD, but I remember that the Collins story that featured the death of Moon Maid had Jr. tellling Tracy that, although his day- to- day duties were in the artist dept., he was first and foremost a cop. Tracy thought about it and agreed with him, and Jr. went out with an officer to do detective work relating to the murder investigation.
ReneTray almost 13 years ago
Or a Thompson Machine Gun.
ReneTray almost 13 years ago
Just read entries of Samm Steele. Interesting reading. Wiki He’s the one that establishes the rule you had to have supplies to last year before you can go on "stairway. One of the early people of NWRCMP.
ReneTray almost 13 years ago
Sam Steele
Buzza Wuzza almost 13 years ago
The inking does look somewhat different on the Sundays.
Rick Smith Premium Member almost 13 years ago
Love the use of the revolver to lead the band!