Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for October 06, 2009

Now it’s a BADGER!

Tracy is freakin out! Yeah!!!!

Besides swallow nervously and break out into a sweat…

Oh yeah let’s just wait outside while our evil plan churns behind our backs. Nothing can possibly go wrong.

I think Tracy just filled his pants.

“Good kitty…”

It was the tiger that said “gulp.” He just swallowed DT’s foot.

This is a good strip.

Aaaahhh, is that the lesser known tigerXbearXwolf that we finally get to see. We are so privileged.

Tracy, you’ve got to do something…else!

Do something, Tracy! What, me? Yes, I’m a federal agent, but you’re forgetting that I’m also a woman, and may therefore swoon at any moment!

Suddenly, Tracy remembers the Matrix pack in his pocket. In no time at all, the tiger is mesmerized by some really cool card tricks.

^ “Pick a card…any card!”

Which reminds me, what ARE “thermal imaging cards”?

Hey! Now DT is breaking out in that rash! We don’t see that too often. Note the plot thickening….they are gonna wait outside the tent so they don’t hafta watch the gore…. Now that means that Syd is probably right and they are gonna climb up the cage?? I guess we’ll see that fairly soon or the next time we see DT and Ennen they will be Tiger Turds….who said that? Perhaps Locher will remember the Taser on DT’s wrist this time. At least to delay the Tiger so they can climb up the cage.

Where are those drugged steaks when you need them? This is like Batman. Put Batman & Robin into the giant hour glass & leave so they can escape. The “cat” in panel 1 looks like the “hounds” in the Baskerville story. I bet the close ups of the tiger were all clip art.

Somehow or other, I like today’s installment. Incidentally, I wonder how Liam likes his website being used as a set-up AND sounding board for a non-member strip!

Tracy emitted an audible “GULP” when he remembered that Tess had discovered the iPhone he had bought for his girlfriend, absent-mindedly using his family credit card for the purchase.

you would think that his 2 way wrist radio would have a panic button…… and gps locator…BTW where are all the other cops at? you would figure that someone gets killed and there should be more cops there than at a doughnut shop sale… and where is the fbi agents partner? this plot has more holes than swiss cheese…. oh and where is the pig on wheels? we want the pig on wheels!!!

Tiger, tiger creeping slow About to devour Pops’ new foe Fearsome beast in a rage Oh look, tasty treats in the cage Ennen and Tracy too On their way to being tiger poo Claws will rend, blood will spurt Looks like Tracy’s in for one big hurt Circus freaks selling arms Not beguiled by Tracy’s charms Weeks and weeks of talking heads Louise Trapeze is happy to be dead Why we come here day after day Nothing changes to our dismay Plots that sicken, stories overlong Where did Locher go so wrong Tortured syntax, tired script Sometimes I just want to spit What new twist will the morrow bring Probably not a blessed thing.

It’s all very simple, Tracy still have his Wrist Geenee …. TASER - the TIGER ! Tiger hair will be UP and he’ll be standing on his claws !

But Locher carelessly forgot - SO, Tracy forgets too !

Alternative 1 : Ennen still has her weapon Mr, Pops did the “forgeting” this time !

Alternative 2 : Tracy (like in a recent story) has left his Wrist Geenee in “broadcast” mode. The Police Squad which had been playing with the Matrix Pack (?) and had dissapeared are about to re-appear again

Otherwise relax ! And watch a cage GROW upwards !

And while you wait those that can access the Archieves go back to the last panel of Sunday 1-21-07 Remember who Tess donated most of her inheritance to ?

Go there and you’ll get a clue to solve ALL the current problems

Not a bad strip today, although the silhouette is really weird in panel 2 and Ennen looks like a mustachioed Cleopatra in Panel 3.

Sydney, I think we can only assume the current model of wrist Geenee doesn’t do bull. Maybe tasers burn out the battery too quickly, or perhaps it just didn’t make the budget; regardless, a taser meant for humans would be unreliable at best against the largest member of the cat family.

I’ve been away for a week … . . i can’t believe this isn’t resolved yet!

What I can’t understand why didn’t DT fight the clown over the gun with two there can over power one. FBI agents are suppose to be trained. Why let them in the tigers cage at all suspense I guess?

As long as this space is being used to plug other strips, here’s mine….

http://www.daily-journal.com/bloggers/captainzerocomic/

Thrills! Chills! Suspense! Intrigue! Music! Dancing! Hilarity! Romance! Drama! Adventure! And MUCH, MUCH MORE!!!

Tracy looks more scared then the female FBI agent does…

So Mr. Pops is a card-carrying member of the International Brotherhood of Dark Lords and Evil Geniuses (local 99), whose rules specify that once you’ve locked the good guy into the cage with the hungry animal (I give up guessing what it is now), you must then leave the room so he has a chance to escape…

Scott Evil, where are you when we need you?

Yeah, I should’ve pointed out that there’s some political/social commentary in those. BTW, click on the strips to see a larger version. If you enjoy them there’s archives on the right that go back through 2005.

Ooooookay, if I squint my eyes a little bit and try to forget that it’s taken some twelve weeks of characters standing around in the same spot slowly unveiling a plot with no characterization or logic and just look at Dick in the tiger cage I can maybe pretend for a few seconds that the strip is good again. Let’s see how long this lasts.

Where’s Robot Tracy when we need him!!!!!!!!! SHEESH!!

wndrwrthg,

That verse is easily a classis ! If you don’t mind, i’ll put it up on the DT Yahoo board shortly. Giving you credit of course

The only change I can think of, is to drop the words “found” in the 2nd line, and “becoming” in the 6th. I believe it would “flow” more smoothly.

It’s simply great !

Do cartoonist ever get fired?

JT: that’s a good question. Short answer, in most cases the strip is owned by the syndicate and they can technically do what they want. But I don’t think that happens very often.

With the best comic strips, syndicates usually get that it’s the cartoonist that makes the strip work, and occasionally a “star” cartoonist will get ownership of his strip (Pogo, Prince Valiant, Lil’ Abner, to name a few). Charles Schulz got an agreement that no one else would ever do Peanuts, which is why we have reruns now. The syndicate threatened to fire Berke Breathed when he wouldn’t let them merchandise the hell out of Bloom County, but I think they knew they’d be killing the goose that was laying the golden eggs. Bill Watterson had similar battles over Calvin and Hobbes.

But with old properties that the syndicate owns, it’s another story…they’re just commodities. Underground cartoonist Bobby London took over Popeye in the 80s and tried to modernize it, and King Features fired him after he did a strip that seemed to touch on the abortion debate.

When Dale Messick retired from Brenda Starr, the new creative team wrote a convoluted, ridiculous story that resulted in a new writer announcing two years’ of stories had been a dream, but I don’t know what the backstory was there.

Honestly, I think if Locher were going to be fired he would already have been..I mean, he’s doing a strip that’s lost 85% of its subscribers in recent years (which hits both the direct income and the value of the character for merchandising), and it’s clear from the posts here that while Dick Tracy has devoted fans, they are not enthusiastic about Locher’s work. But it goes on and on. I can only guess that TMS is so insulated and dysfunctional that they aren’t paying attention to what’s going on outside their offices.

And as always, if anyone associated with the strip has an opinion, let us hear it!

Sydney, thank you and by all means please feel free to re-post it. I took your advice and dropped “found” and changed “becoming” to “being” as you can see.

Somebody flagged and removed my political comments. That’s totally lame.

You should have told him to do something BEFORE the tiger ate your legs….

That doesn’t even look like a cat in Panel 2 – more like a badger, or maybe a Tasmanian devil.

Of course Tracy still has his backup gun, Ms. Ennen still has two guns unless her backup gun was in an ankle holster and got eaten (along with her ankle), he still has his two-way wrist teevee (with Taser) and surely the FBI must have at least as good communication devices and concealed weapons as the local police department. Pepper spray, cell phones, telescoping batons…. Even so, this would be a suspenseful situation, were it at all plausible.

Will the badger (or Tasmanian devil) and the tiger eat each other all up like the gingham dog and the calico cat? Will anyone come to see what’s all this noise and maniacal laughter? Will Barb Els notice what the clown is up to and shoot him for the same reason she shot Louise Trapeze? Will Tracy do something? Tune in next month … next year … next decade … something is BOUND to happen sooner or later … right? Right? RIGHT?!

-Cougar :{)

wndrwrthg, Bravo!

Flight Suit, Sorry about your flagged comment. I didn’t do it.

Captain Zero, I didn’t think you had. Sorry if my comment was unfair, though. I do tend to get on my high horse sometimes.

Now then, who wants to talk about religion?

;-)

Nobody here, unless it’s to say “Dear God, please make this strip better”.