Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for June 14, 2011

Looks like ponytail got her neck cracked!

Good morning all!!!!

A little Snap, Crackle & Pop!!!!

Good Evening All! This is probably one of my all time favorite DT strips. I know Shelley spent a lot of time on it. Panel 1 is just AWESOME.

This is one I wish you could see in the original B&W. I think it is more dramatic that way.

With a whip I think it’s cracked.

Didn’t take long to reveal that as well as being a super-annoying criminal, Doubletalk is also a psychotic murderer.

Crackin’ good strip! (With apologies to Wallace and Gromit.) Alas, Ms. Parks will not snap out of this, I fear—so young, so dead, so long.

If you want to see the B&W version you can find it here.

Good morning everyone…

Its crack the whip time.!

@Tarry Plaguer: I was enjoying Gunsmith Cats way before they did the English dubs and translations. Indeed, I incorporated the “Gunsmith Kitty-Cats” into a Shanda story for Shanda Giant Animal #2 back around ’96 or so… :)

Agree with panel 1. Defintely puts the fear in you.

Doubleup is crackers.

That first panel is absolutely chilling! Fantastic strip today.Aaron

Beautiful Artwork today!

That first panel makes me think of the movie “Strangers on a Train” in the scene where the maniac strangels the tennis players ex-wife, the vile act is seen as a reflection in her glasses. (here we see it in shadow)

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Today’s strip is amazingly beyond words. That first panel is definately “Hitchkockian”! You don’t stuff like this in comic strips these days!

Ponytail said earlier she was replaced by a “lighting double,” meaning Lizz, but what exactly is a lighting double?

Well, then, why don’t you break a criminal’s neck for a change? For a change?

Wow! Awesome the first panel.

Looks like two pairs of glasses flying around.

A “lighting double” is the same as a “stand in”. They use them to set up a scene so the star doesn’t have to do it.

Having a stand-in isn’t the same as being replaced. Ponytail got too upset over it and now it looks like she will have to be replaced.

I’ve wondered the same thing. How can we find out? I doubt that the Tribune Syndicate will release those numbers.

Just checked the GoComics list … DT has 32,717 listed as DT fans. Not too bad. I don’t remember what it was before the new team took over.

Far superior in B & W.

Yeeks! Doubleup just became a lot less comical.

A lighting double’s job is to stand in for the real actor while the crew adjusts the lights and makes sure the scene is properly lit.

Panel 1 is the absolute best ever! In both B&W and color. So much in it. The shadows and the picture of the Scarlet Sting. Reminds me of The Shadow.

I love the art today, especially in the black & white version in my morning Trib and in the e-mail from GoComics. But I can’t figure out the Scarlet Sting photo (poster? mirror? hologram?). The shadows of the whip and sunglasses seem to be behind the frame but in front of the photo. And if the pic is on the wall, how does the shadow get behind its lower lefthand corner? What am I misunderstanding here? Great hands in panel two, also very menacing.

equally great in color and b&w — DT is raised to the level of art almost on a daily basis.

I am a professional actor. A lighting double is somone the same height and build as the principle actor. This person stands in the actors position while the technical crew aims and sets the lighting before the scene is filmed. A stunt double is a trained stunt man who performs the dangerous actions such as fights and car chases. A stand in is soeone resembling the actor who can stand in on long shots where the actors face is not clear in the scene. Long shots are often filmed simultaniously

Consequently, when you watch a movie, you are generally only seeing the star when the shot is a medium or close up angle. Long shots, back of head, action scenes, etc. are often other actors and technicians performing the action.

Here’s a lesson for all those wanting to get out of a bad situation: don’t advertise it. Just go when the opportunity to do so arrives.

It’s too bad more papers aren’t carrying DT…it’s the BEST looking strip being drawn today…BAR NONE ( props to Prince Valiant & DOONESBURY though ).

I recently attended a dinner where Scott (Dilbert) Adams was the speaker. He said that the regulations put on newspaper cartoonists are now so restrictive that cartoonists cannot show people firing guns, nor the damage inflicted by them. Adams was reduced to showing a cop firing bullets from a donut! This explains why the Tracy strip above is reduced to using shadows. In light of the fact that Dick Tracy in the 1930’s – 1960’s had full-fledged gunfights and fires, the future of Dick Tracy looks pretty bleak!

@ T.E. LawrenceWhile it is certainly true that Chester Gould made full use of the types of scenes that you mention, there is something to be said for the indirect approach. Hinting at something in the shadows can be very effective. If the story is well written and intriguing, we really don’t need full-on graphic violence to hold our interest.

O SNAP! Crackle and Pop goes the neck! I just witness a murder and it’s………….pretty shocking, for a daily strip. Especially after so many years of sanitized violence.

He is insane…lol

The censorship is insane, especially in light of what you can get away with on just network television, in primetime no less. Still, the work that Mr. Curtis and Mr. Staton are doing to work around some of those restrictions is amazing, certainly much more creative and entertaining than most of what we’ve seen over the past ten years. However, if the syndicate and newspapers are to have any hope of survival, they are going to have to enter the 21st century and loosen their restrictions some. @Terry Any hope that such a book might emerge if the recently announced Tracy sequel moves forward? Aaron

I would love to see today’s strip colored by Shane.

He’s living a fantasy world if he thinks what he is doing isn’t criminal. His psychosis really adds to his character.

Today’s strip is dynamic on every level. Mike, what a fantastic element of menace and horror. We can’t wait to see how Tracy gets this fiend. Joe, what a remarkable composition and point of view in the first panel. The low angle on Doubleup in the second panel shows him as both powerful and overpowering as he towers over our low view forcing us to look up to him. Shelley, what incredible renderings. The shading on the plant and the hair and body of Ponytail hearkens back to early Gould while the floating face of the Scarlet Sting is reminiscent of Collins although more detailed and in all of this keeping Joe’s unique style prevalent.Outstanding today, guys.