Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for November 17, 2010

Hey! Where did Thick’s neck go? And–the Police sign! ITS ALIVE! It’s moved to the edge of the awning … will it–no! Don’t jump, Police sign! Life is worth living, even if you’re stuck in this arc!

Tracy gets to keep the money 3D gave him?

Does this mean that Thick plans to keep the money? Should he really mention that in front of Horn Hair?

“As I was saying”. Even Dick Locher admits he is stalling.

Isn’t that bill an ‘ill gotten gain’?

Oh Dickie you’re such a little twit Obviously you don’t know chit Much it will be to your frustration That money was obtained during an investigation Your joy is about to be short lived And of it you’ll be deprived It becomes property of the state And oh, doesn’t that just grate Pity you were not so quick And up that loose cash, you did not pick Think of the riches that did abound Thousand dollar bills on the ground Yet you chose to yell at ol’ D’Bucky While others around you were getting lucky Just like your skills as a detective Your perception of what goes on is defective But nothing more is to be expected From someone so disconnected.

Maybe this is the end of the arc. It resembles the end of the Stradivarius arc, which had about three weeks of meandering chatter amid a lot of inaction. The trouble is, this also resembles any other section of this arc.

The dialog seems utterly scrambled. Did Locher and Bozoman get together one afternoon, churn out all the panels, then accidentally shuffle them around? Was the “Not Quite Tracy” line meant to be the Saturday cliffhanger?

Good grief.

So Thick is totally exhausted, and his solution is–shop ‘til you drop!

“Maybe this is the end of the arc.”

Yeah, that makes sense, given that Locher would have to complete the next arc by the end of the year.

Maybe, but probably not, the introduction…

Panel 2: More little dots hopping off Thick. He puts the lice in police.

Panel-Panner prediction: Thick can’t keep the money. It’s evidence. What a maroon.

More poetic justice by WW. And he’s right:

That money was obtained during an investigation Your joy is about to be short lived And of it you’ll be deprived It becomes property of the state And oh, doesn’t that just grate

You know, Thick makes a lousy crooked cop. A real crooked cop wouldn’t show off that bill, especially to his boss.

So good or bad, Thick is one dumb cop.

But what else is new in Locherland? (Too bad Dr. Seuss ain’t around to do his take on this strip.)

The question is, how will Thick lose the money? Will the missing Feds show up and make him report it on his taxes? Will it turn out that the money is an illusion generated by D-cubed’s magical 3-D movie technology? Will Tess blow it on tickets to Les Miserables? Remember that Locher has just learned the word “ironically” and is eager to show it off.

Thick probably can’t keep the money, as police departments don’t normally allow their members to accept gratuities from anyone. But is it evidence of a crime? Maybe charity is a crime in Locher’s book (which I’m guessing isn’t the Bible) but most people are cool with it.

The only way the money could be evidence of a crime is if it isn’t really D-cubed’s money. Perhaps he embezzled it from his stockholders. Too bad Thick didn’t exhaust himself by investigating that matter.

What would make this more absurd is if the $1000 bill is counterfeit (as if the cops in Naperville could figure that out). That would make a crime out of all this nonsense and give Locher an “out”.

Counterfeit? Little Beavis brought in a bill for testicle chin to look at at the start of the arc, about 6 yrs ago it seems, but then again, the lab perhaps hasn’t had time to look at it, given that they still have to get to the “ransom” notes from the circus

very tough ‘case’ indeed. A few days of slumming it while other agents solve the ‘case.’ I guess it’s exhausting to stand around and verbally harrass and gloat at your victim.

If Macy was a smart dumb cop, he’d hand over the envelope for the Property Room and at the same time, be at home counting out his sack of other bills that 3D was peppering the air with. THAT would move him up a notch in the smarts department. It would also qualify him for a position of public servant in Chicago. Maybe Mayor!

I’m flabbergasted! Locher actually did some research! That portrait on the $1,000 bill actually resembles Grover Cleveland (you know, in a sort of Locher/Brozman way…)

Not solving crimes must be exhausting.

stupider and stupider

Hey, it’s the return of the one thousand dollar bill!

^Sally, if you finally found this site: Look up—Lio. It’s a strange one today. Just click on COMICS, then A-Z Listings and then find Lio and click on that name and today’s strip will pop up. Sally, remember my theory on the money? I told that I looked on the web and found that they no longer make one thousand dollar bills. And they are rare and worth more than one thousand dollars each if you have one. So it’s my theory that these bills here are phony baloney. I told you that the next big surprise will be that the one thousand dollar bills turn out to be as fake as the butterfly tattoo. I’m always right. Wait and see.

Well, wasn’t it said that Triple D WAS embezzling the money from friends and associates? So it would definitely be evidence. Not to mention that $1000 bills are not currently used as legal tender, so where would Thick go to spend it? I guess he’s going to wander back down to where the homeless folks are and spend it with them.

The $1000 bill could be spent, it’s just that most establishments wouldn’t be able to verify the bill, and thus probably wouldn’t take it.

Panel 2: More little dots hopping off Thick. He puts the lice in police.

Po’ lice.

Another ‘philosophical’ Proverb from Dick Locher :

” Having a lot of money doesn’t always equate with brains “

(like - ” Just follow the money “)

But. in that vein we should remind HIM …

” A change is as good as a rest “ and

” A new broom sweeps clean “!

A little PAST TENSE there in panel one. But the third one, flashing the money, reminds us of the loose end …

So again we ask, what’s happened to the ‘missing’ $100 million in raw cash?

How about that Shakespearean proverb, ”All’s well that ends.”

Sue Doko, who obviously received her boss’s cell phone calls. The well-known crimes that made Thick compare the ex-associates to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list, even before they were “exposed.” The ME’s bungling. The reason Thick went undercover. Pistol Packin’ Penny’s contradictory testimony at the mansion. Her call to “Mr. Rowland at my bank.” D’eranged’s charities which we didn’t hear about until Norton mentioned it. The cell-phone-controlled “empire” that Thick named on Sunday. The “plan” that D’ingaling mentioned one day. The reason he handed out money. The real reason D’opey lived on the streets. The reason the missus cooperated with stealing the body. Butterfly McCorpse’s real identity.

All that and the Mystery of the Missing Megabucks. Locher has enough explaining left to keep him busy through 2011. And it won’t do if he says “D-cubed was crazy.”

For years now I’ve noticed that ever since Locher took over what he called -“artistic control” the only HQ ’CHARACTER’ that’s never been ‘modified’ is Testicle Chin (?) Even though main character Tracy got the ‘Grouco eyebrows’ and a more ‘visable’ head of hair.

Locher should have dispensed equal ‘artistic justice’. Since Testice Chin’s role has been (for many years), hardly more than that of a ’sounding board’ at story end - for Tracy’s amatuerish ‘PUNS’ and ‘APHORISMS’.

To get the design to more appropriatly match the ‘function’ - how about ‘doubling’ the SIZE of his EARS ?.

There is still enough time left on the contract to embed it !

“a tough case”??? All he did was stand around for three months! Or however long this abomination took.

I should post my email and have one of your guys contact me when something significant happens.

If Tracy keeps the $1,000, wouldn’t he become a co-conspiritor?????

You just don’t keep evidence of a crime.

As for it being a tough case and Big Dick needing a day off, the street person did all the rough stuff when he brought down triple D. while Tracy stood there with his finger up his nose.

So “need a rest” means head on down to the evidence locker and pick up some cocaine for the weekend, I presume.

Why does Dick get to keep that money? Shouldnt the FBI, CIA or IRS have confiscated it for evidence?