Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for October 05, 2009

Now he’s a panther…. ;-)

Man! Look at the size of the cage now! And look at the black panther…er… tiger’s fangs! Poor Ringo will get the blame for Tracy and Ennen’s fate!

That kitty has as many whiskers as a porcupine.

well, get on with it then

No, Pops. It’s LOCHER that’s killing Tracy slowly, not you. I thought the atrocious writing made that abundantly clear.

I can’t BELIEVE how this is dragging on - it’s ridiculous!

Hey Tracy, I just stopped over with those DNA results from the notes..and guess what? It’s the clown. Hey, what are you doing in that cage?

Must be windy in that cage. Check out the poorly drawn Tracy and his tie.

Maybe the tiger did get his own strip and the panther was his understudy?

seems the tiger ate tracys rh/pinky finger…

Hey, like the Star Wars movies…….. maybe this happen first in time and the tiger got Macy’s hands. That explains why in later episodes Macy has malformed hands! One even looks like a flipper! Locher explains it all! Thank you, Dick Locher! Now we know where the hand problem originated.

Tracy’s got Jazz Hands!

Exactly where are Agent Ennen’s legs? Is her disembodied torso floating behind Tracy?

Hey, Pops, if you keep on repeating yourself the tiger will take his nap and then where will you be?

Wasn’t today supposed to be the magic day when this strip gets beamed up to comic heaven and all will be revealed?

Hopefully, the tiger will eat Tracy, and put an end to this abominable strip.

Dick Tracy, if you get eaten, it’s just your own bad karma coming back to you from when you tried to pull “the popcorn trick!”

Regular readers WILL recall that Tracy has a TASER Gun on his Wrist Geenee (used 7-13-2005) And he still has his Wrist Geenee on

Tiger or Panther no problem !

Of course Locher, to add excitement, conveniently forgets and hopes we are all stupid enough not to remember.

But we DO ! So who wears the STUPID CAP ? Tracy in the strip and Locher reveald when next he sits with other comic strip writers !

Last year he could have used the TASER on - -

1) Baskerville’s savage DOGS he tried T-Bone Steaks in stead. ;-p 2) Mangnum Force he dived in the bushes instead.

And this year on - - Angelorious, One Eye Jack, Big Ace’s men and now Mr. Pops.

But Locher found it better to have Tracy look like a FOOL instead.

As Mr,Pops observed - “Poetic Justice” !

Ok. that’s it, I am done.

The tiger that has been drawn to exhaustion now looks more like a panther. I am sick of this!

As was previously said, I just can’t contribute to the number of readers of this strip online. Every visit (even to read the comments) contributes to a “view” that gets counted as a measure of the strip “success”. So, as I do with a comic book when I don’t like it - and I vote with my wallet when I stop buying it until they change the creator/storyline/whatever, I am doing the same thing with this crapfest, because in this case, I can’t vote with my wallet and stop buying it.

I prefer to dedicate my time (and visits and clicks) to strips that really deserve it, like the wonderful cul-de-sac or Brewster Rockit.

With the 24-hour-comic experiment I’ve made my peace with Dick Tracy - to me, that’s the “ending” of the current era (at least in my mind): between sleep deprivation, the altered mental state that comes with it, added to the stress of doing a coherent strip, I am done with Dick Tracy, and not going back here even to see the comments.

There are wonderful people in this forum, that I will talk to elsewehere (like margueritem, that comments usually in cul-de-sac) - and I still follow the Yahoo Dick Tracy Group, I know Sydney posts there regularly.

Maybe someday, when TMS realizes this is killing Dick Tracy, they will change the creative team, and find someone who loves and respects the comic to do nice and worthwile stories, because the way this strip is progressing, is shameful and embarrassing. I am even ashamed to say I read the current Dick Tracy strips, which is a pity, because he is indeed an Icon - and a relevant figure in the Sequential Art panorama. Or at least, he was.

I will be seeing you elsewhere, but not in this strip. Good bye, Dick Tracy - let’s hope you find some capable hands to continue your adventures.

Good bye everyone, see you around, but here!!

I agree with Roberto, but if all they look at is the number of hits, and not at the consistently negative feedback, they’re fools. But then, if they think this is an acceptable product, they’re capable of much foolishness. Obviously. And speaking of obviously, this strip only repeats points that were already repeated all last week.

Another wasted day with no progress.

HO HA HO, or rather Ho Hum.

You’re so right, MPH. Cul De Sac and The Duplex ARE terrific! Thank you so much for the suggestion!

Sorry to see you go Roberto

Hasta la Vista !

I feel like I’m watching “Groundhog Day” here.

But wait, they’re in the cage? Isn’t that an advancement? We’ve been waiting for weeks to get far.

I don’t blame the clown for his plot not making any sense. He is a mad, demented clown, after all. He’s not supposed to make sense. I’ve watched enough 60’s Batman to know that the madman’s plot is supposed to be contrived and goofy. This fits the bill to a T.

On the other hand just having the circus audience sit idly by while all this is going on is just plain weird.

Ugh, what is going on in second panel?

I believe Roberto is right, we are supporting this and nothing has come from our suggestions / complaints.

I will follow this travesty during its random inclusions on The Comics Curmudgeon (where they rip it apart much more thoroughly than here) but I will not support through web clicks to this site.

Matt, not only am I the first follower of both your new strips, but I am also now the first commenter!

Roberto and Mr. Bribery, I don’t know how you can tear yourselves away from this. Every night at 10:00PM I start to get excited, ‘cause I know it’s only a matter of minutes before a new installment is uploaded.

Remember people, hate is not the opposite of love; indifference is.

The tiger has already eaten Ms. Ennen’s legs. Is he still hungry? Tune in next month or so and see! By then the clown may have repeated his plan enough times and maybe it will be time for the tiger to take another bite….

-Cougar :{)

just before I leave, a couple more comments:

Sydney:

Hasta la vista! I will be reading your posts and contributions to the Dick Tracy Yahoo forum (that I really enjoy) - and I will be participating more on that group, not just reading the posts over there.

Matthew:

About the panther:

This is the profile of a tiger: http://img1.photographersdirect.com/img/13894/wm/pd673507.jpg

This is the profile of a black panther: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3272/2515722065_0621748165.jpg?v=0

What is the point of showing us a tiger to exhaustion, and then “Black it out” when the poor animal is finally becoming a part of the action? As if the strip was not dumb or surreal enough. Plus the weird perspective of the bars - shouldn’t they be getting closer to each other (fading to a remote vanishing point) if they are not parallel to the viewer? Not to talk about Agent M&M’s legs and the ugliest Dick Tracy I’ve ever seen (on the second panel).

But, even if I disagree with some of the things you say, I will be reading (and commenting) your online strips - because they really sound like solid, entertaining stuff!

jumbobrain:

The reason that made me quit reading was in part the indifference to our comments. The group of fans is quite vocal about what’s wrong with the strip (so much we all could write a “MANIFESTO” like Grant Morrison did with the X-Men pointing out what’s wrong with the strip (and maybe we should!!).

But, as Flight Suit said - the opposite of love is indifference. So, if I have to show I don’t love the strip anymore (at least as it currently is being shown), I will stick with my reprints of Gould’s work on hardcover, my old Locher/Collins newspaper pages and the paperbacks that published the Collins stuff, and when I find out that they got a creative team that respects the characters and start creating an exciting strip again, I will be back.

Bye, everyone! Hasta la vista! See you commenting other strips!!

“the opposite of love is indifference”…well put Roberto. Yeah, maybe it’s time I also gave up on Dick. After a year or so of following it, it seems clear that the people creating it could care less about producing a strip that anyone, much less Dick Tracy fans, will care about.

Last call Locher / Brozman / TMS? Does anybody have anything to say in defense of the strip?

Mattie,

The advice you give about ceasing to read (if you don’t like it). How come you’ve never taken it yourself regarding what you read on this board ?

Is that a sort of admission that you are not MATURE ?

I read Dick Tracy and record as I SEE it, the good the bad and the ugly. Sadly, with a few exceptions it;s been mostly bad, occasionally (like this story), real UGLY. Quality in the strip is important to me, and i have no intention of leaving. I’m recording honestly as I see it, what happens each year.

It’s possible I’m biased, but I don’t measure merit in a comic strip because of something extraneous like “knowing” or “liking” the Author. My judgement is fair and based on CONTENT.

Call it by any name, to do otherwise would be intellectually dishonest.

And if Locher’s (or for that matter any sucessor’s) work blemishes my favorite comic strip – trust me, I’ll be HERE to nail it ! He’ll be praised only when it’s deserved !

As Jerry Lee Lewis said it : “Shake, baby shake, shake it baby shake”! Sadly, in Locher’s Dick Tracy there AIN’T a whole lot of SHAKING going on ! (?) There hasn’t been for a long, long time !

Roberto Macedo Alves, I’ll miss your comments here, but I’ll look for you at ‘Cul-de-Sac’.

MPH, I like panel #2 of today’s Apollo, good illustration of the ‘heavy’.

I think it was yesterday that Barticle35 enquired as to the whereabouts of the funny dead duck.

Here is the very disturbing answer:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2005/mar/08/highereducation.research

Flight Suit, it appears that we have our answer… We had a male mallard pair on one of our local lakes one summer season.