Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for March 08, 2011

Just one simple task, Dick: Drive this guy somewhere, and make sure he’s still alive when he gets there.

Very simple.

Pretty much impossible to frack up.

An idiot could do it.

So now the other 6 days are recaps of the Sunday strip. Finally something surprising has happened.

Is it march 14th yet?

So in panel #1 the water is ankle-deep even though the flood got bored and went away. Miraculously, though, one rat is able to walk on the waters. Maybe it’s Mighty Mouse, here to save the day.

Tracy’s going to jump again? Meanwhile, it appears that Sam took the high ground and is holding it!

So kick him through the wall Tracy. Come on, think of something.

These panels can be rearranged in any order and still make just as much sense. You gotta hand it to Locher.

Only if you’re handing him a pink slip, barticle35. That middle panel is weird. Why does Thick describe the building’s collapse in sexual terms?

In panel #2 you can see Tracy’s pupils. Has that ever happened before. Last week Tracy was opening the trap door and it was dry. Maybe the dry spell was the eye of the storm and now we’re getting the other side. Makes as much sense as this story.

what the heck did I miss something? I thought he jumpted yesterday.

Didn’t Mordred say yesterday “I hate rats”?

But rats just LOVE Mordred. Add water, makes his own gravy!

Mordred said “I hate rats!” on Sunday, not that anyone gives a rat’ sass about Morbie’s feelings.

I’m beginning to sympathise with Mordred. After several months trapped in a granary with Tracy, I think he’s paid his debt to society.

Another day, another recap.

You know, I’m beginning to get the impression that Mordred doesn’t care for rats.

scuttlebutt99, maybe his idea of wrapping it up is to have Morbid die a horrible death, then have Thick deliver some ironic words. “Just like every king of crime, his Camelot collapsed around him.” Or maybe Morbid will get tangled in his chains and accidentally hang himself after all, “Destroyed by the very chains he forged!”

There are a lot of Sunday section DT strips on

http://www.ilovecomixarchive.com/D/Dick-Tracy

and when you look at them you can see some reason for the current strip’s problems. Even in 1952 the strip received a half page and had room for twelve full panels. Okay, that’s plenty of room to tell a good chunk of a story.

These days there are seven panels on Sunday, not counting the one wasted on the textbook. The print size can’t be reduced too far, so a lot of information can’t fit into the word balloons. But that doesn’t explain the chaotic stories over the past years. Issues are raised and forgotten, like the AWACS plane. Space is wasted on non-topics, like Testicle Chin and Horn Hair’s futile chatter about their concern for Thick. Chester Gould could allow Dick Tracy to get caught by bad guys–but a “power approach?” I’m beginning to get the impression that I don’t care for Locher’s work.

“M. Mitchell Marmel said, about 3 hours ago

But rats just LOVE Mordred. Add water, makes his own gravy!”

“…makes his own gravy” - the funniest dam* thing I’ve read in weeks! Literally laughed at loud here in the office.

Thanks MMM!

Well, we hope to entertain everyone starting next Monday..

tcayer, I’m sure there are plenty of creative ways to say “That makes sense!” and “Great artwork!” The material that Staton and Curtis had on the Plainclothes site was more than good–sensible explanations for why the magnetic vehicles went out of service, actual clues in the artwork, Sam assisting Tracy on a case.

(You know what would have made this arc work? If the people at Police Hooters had said “Some vigilantes attacked a decoy car, and we arrested them.” and “Mordred’s associates attacked another decoy, and we nailed them!” Which would lead to “Tracy’s in danger, but it hasn’t gone for nothing!” Add to that a set-up where Tracy was put alone with Mordred because “Mordred has a huge ego. He’ll want to taunt you with clues as to who else he killed, and where he hid their bodies.” Then this arc might have amounted to something.)

C’mon guys, it’s your LAST WEEK doing this strip. Give us a memorable ending. Or SOMETHING.

My money’s on an ending that is just as stupid as the strip has been for the last several years. I was happy to see that Mattie finally agreed with the consensus. He couldn’t be that lame-brained.

It ends with four flat tires.

5

jumbobrain said, “C’mon guys, it’s your LAST WEEK doing this strip. Give us a memorable ending. Or SOMETHING.”

R.I.P.?

I don’t know if this is really a recap or if they just got the strips out of order (again). But, yes, we all know that Sam will watch (from the safety of the completely dry road) as Tracy jumps into the moat surrounding the granary.

this is how the locherverse ends, not with a bang, but a whimper.

btw that was great MMM – best lol of the day.

Thumbs up to Marmel and tcayer, above.

Well, the rats were already deus ex machina. Maybe the entire Locher run of the strip will be Moon Maiden’s dream.

aFTER WHAT, ABOUT 3 MONTHS OF NO MOVEMENT, dICKY l STILL HASN’T FIGURED OUT WHAT HE WANTS mO TO LOOK LIKE? Jeez. Maybe it’s Angeltop–again for the 4th fifth time. New folks, please take note. 4 1/2

All Mordred has to say is, “No! Do it to Julia!!”.

All we’re going to get at the end is Locher’s last lame Dick Tracy joke, which will make everyone break out into a resounding HA, HA, HO, HO, HO!!

And there will be a “See’ya” from Broz tucked in there.

Until then all we get is Dick trying to get Mordred to jump only to leave him behind anyway. He was able to drag him out of the water and up to the granary but he couldn’t get him a few feet to the window and push him out.

I can’t take anymore….I’m rooting for the rats.

I bet Spacy is going to jump, but Mordred will go down with the ship.

I was away from the strip for a week to attend my grandmother’s funeral, and nothing changes!

@dakota - actually with this pacing, things go backward in a week. Literally. Tuesday’s strip has not caught up with last Sunday.

Hey Dakota! Long time! Not much has changed since then, has it?

Hey, It is refreshing to get imput from the new team here in the comments section (Klypzyxp @ 7 hours ago). We all are anxiously awainting the “Reset” of this once great strip. Although the last few years have been terrible, I will give credit for the many years that Locker kept the strip alive and interesting. Give credit where credit is due.

Right now the only hope of anything coming out right in this arc is if the AWACS plane has already directed a medical helicopter to the scene. (Even if they don’t know that Tracy has swum through storm waters and been soaked by a winter storm, and is without a coat, it’s still reasonable to assume he’s suffering from exposure and hypothermia.)

You know what would be fun? Instead of wrapping the story up, he takes the last day and presents the AWAC plane, the bad guy friends, the tow trucks for the flat tires, a rat trainer and a tornado all in the final panel. He could then walk away laughing while the new guys tried to work out a plausible ending.

That’s what I’d do, anyway.

You know what? I have absolutely NO law enforcement experience. I’ve never even worked as a security guard. Somewhere in my house there’s a stun gun and maybe a half empty canister of pepper spray, but I couldn’t tell you where they are.

Also, I am lazy and out of shape.

Despite these facts, I guarantee you I could put Mordred in a car and drive him somewhere without having him escape or die.

Even if the weather’s bad.

it’s all a bad dream