Dick Tracy by Dick Locher

Tags: DEATH stalks the Circus!!, HEY RUBE!!, Louise stalks the trapeze!, It happened!, Popeye stalks the Circus!!. Add Tags

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VistaBill said, 2 months ago

Tracy’s eyes went out again. Hired gun trapeze artists are a frequent sight. Now to locate the sharpshooter with the 30-30 sniper rifle. Check the elephant’s trunk.
Margueritem said, 2 months ago

Or check the pig on wheels.
VistaBill said, 2 months ago

Forgot about the pig on wheels! That’s my circus favorite.
Flight Suit said, 2 months ago

So this sinister assassin just coincidentally happened to be a skilled trapeze artist, thus enabling her to insinuate herself into the troops?

I mean, troupe.
Margueritem said, 2 months ago

Strange coincidence, eh Flight Suit?
jumbobrain said, 2 months ago

AUGH…choking on…horrifically contrived…writing…all talk…no action…staggeringly implausible scenario…delivered piecemeal…over…months…so very…very…lame…GACK
watcha said, 2 months ago

Ai, what happened to to muscle ladies piece of hair hanging in front of her face.

Yesterday the Mr. Police Officer had a small badge and a big head - today he has a big badge and big head.

It seems that seeing that the story line is going nowhere they have decided to entertain people with graphics which tells its own story.
JackParsons said, 2 months ago

One Of Us! One Of Us! Gobble-gobble!

Jealousy and marrying the gimp for money, that’s what makes a good circus story.
Flight Suit said, 2 months ago

Every time we see a cop, they have a different kind of badge on their hat. Previously the badges have been shaped like a hand grenade and a butterfly. I don’t know what to compare today’s badge to.
Fearless_Fosdick said, 2 months ago

Tough to tell where Louise hid that sniper rifle in that skimpy outfit. Hope she was dead before she hit the ground, or it must have really hurt.
KingRat said, 2 months ago

I keep waiting for “buttons” a clown to show up.
morrow said, 2 months ago

Why are they having this conversation in front of all the suspects? Good observation, Macy, in the third panel. It DOES sound like a lot of the performers don’t like each other! One must have called the other a “wierdo”. Or, maybe one called another by his or her nickname and it didn’t set well. We see that out here in the audience!
Carlo Coratelli said, 2 months ago

For flightsuit: the cops come from Naperville.
Akenta said, 2 months ago

Where’s the tiger? Suspiciously missing…
LudwigVonDrake said, 2 months ago

Tracy looks either in pain or constipated in the first panel.
Sydney Phillips said, 2 months ago

“That wust be why some peope LIKE Locher’s Dick Tracy the man is “bunch-of-bananaS” full of “hunches” and he just picked a ripe one (panel three). as “morrow” noted.

Kilian first scrubbed the idea of “clues” on the Yahoo board - “stories would take much too long” using that method, But Locher had already discovered a better method which he has used fully in this story.

“Ludwig”“, noticed the symptons first – Tracy was constipated. He hadn’t gone to the Men’s Room for two months. He had to be, to blend into a story of similar complexion.

Margueritem and Fosdic were speculating where the gun was hidden but more dangerous was WHERE Ringo HAD been hidden (?) by the FBI ! And that is - right among the very people ALL looking to kill him ! Only Locher’s Tracy could have thought up a plot as fiendishly … stupid - err … (sorry) uh ! clever as that .

That’s why some people enjoy the strip EVERYDAY. Nowhere else in the comics Universe can they get plots as upside-down and brilliantly unexpected as this.

The unexpected comes every week even if it’s stupid !

And another Locher twist of the screwdriver. The LAST policeman you’ll see - they’ll all be gone when things start “popping” on Friday.
Fer Lefer said, 2 months ago

She may have said “shoot me; I don’t want to be compared with the pig in wheels”

A good theory as the one Richard is working on…

… AND, IN AN UNRELATED ITEM, IF YOU ARE HERE IN SEPTEMBER 16…

… ¡VIVA MÉXICO!
Roberto Macedo Alves said, 2 months ago

Hello, first time posting here, even if I’ve been following the strip (and the comments, that usually are more interesting than the strip) for a while.
I began reading Tracy during the Collins/Locher days, and stopped around 1993, I think - and now the Gould hardcover volumes.
I just wanted to say hello to everyone, as this was my first post here!
Matthew Hansel said, 2 months ago

Great strip today. All though, I do wish the characters would stop wearing the word balloons as hats.

AND–colour me amazed that people cannot understand that Tracy’s eyes are looking DOWN so we see his eyelids in panel two. His eyeballs are NOT missing. You’d think that people who profess to have read comics for so long would at least understand the basic conceits of the medium.

I guess the audience really isn’t as intelligent as we are lead to believe.

MPH
idarke said, 2 months ago

Either the muscle lady is standing in a hole, or the giant guy is now twelve feet tall.
CougarAllen said, 2 months ago

Matthew Hansel, you still haven’t responded to the questions I asked you in the comments here on Sept. 11 (second page).
-Cougar :{)
g6793 said, 2 months ago

(sigh) Matthew, you take things way too literally.
BIGCHRONO said, 2 months ago

Would be unusual to find a leak in the Fed dike,
& the killer @ large is this female FBI agent?
Matthew Hansel said, 2 months ago

CougarAllen:

All I’ve said is “watch this space on October 4, 2009”. I added words like DRAMA! ACTION! ADVENTURE, et. al. And even posted a teaser image (heavily edited rough pencils).

BUT–I’ve never said it was related to the Dick Tracy comic strip–and I’ve never said it wasn’t related to the Dick Tracy comic strip, either! ;-)

In all honesty, there were SEVERAL announcements planned for October 4, 2009–but one of them has been pushed back.

MPH
morrow said, 2 months ago

Well folks, we didn’t make it to lunchtime before we were told we were unintelligent. Dale Carnegie in disguise!
jumbobrain said, 2 months ago

So what does it say on that report? “Occupation: Hired Assassin”? Is this the result of some background check? Was she wanted, and thus presumably working under an assumed name? If so, how did they figure this out in the hour or two of comic strip time that’s elapsed in the TWO FREAKING MONTHS since she was shot? And if she was gunning for Ringo, again, why didn’t she just kill him in an alley somewhere?

Gould and Collins both took pride in writing a strip that at least paid passing notice to real-world logic and police procedure. The most frustrating thing about this strip is that the writing is lazy and slipshod, and there’s no point getting involved in a plot that twists and turns so arbitrarily. Writing is supposed to be a discipline, this is a schoolyard exercise.

Harumph!
JanCinVV said, 2 months ago

Matthew, your first comment today was interesting. You started off by saying you liked today’s strip and then immediately degenerated into insulting everyone else’s intelligence. The comment about downward cast eyes could have easily been made without the insults. This is why you get the reactions you do from almost everyone else.
nighthawks said, 2 months ago

roberto macedo alves— welcome!
i am not in charge or even a member of the ‘comment something nasty about DT everyday’ club, I am just a mouth breathing troll whose occasional musings are usually ignored and I noticed nobody acknowledged your self introduction……so…now that you are here…..just jump in an flail away…… your only duty is to pick apart and trash whatever part of the strip you can find…your official Dick Tracy comic strip commenters club membership card and an official
Dick Tracy yellow fedora will be in the mail to you shortly.
now, practice breathing through your mouth….
see? its easy!
mumbles said, 2 months ago

Not to belabor the “after” 1947 comment, but Gould stayed very creative untill he got into his “Space Race” stuff in the 60s. Spinner, Tonsils Rhodent, Spots(right Syd??) et. al. weren’t bad. Even early seventies sported some decent villain/?story arcs with Haf n Haf(albeit a 2 face clone) Scorpio, Posey etc. Even early Collins stuff with Torcher, Hammerhead, Flipside, Art Decco , Snake Eyes etc. Pass muster. Last 5-10 years?? I dunno. I still say most of the Vilains in the Dick Tracy Magazine “Create a Villain” contest were better than say; Angelorious, Oily, All the Cards stories. Fighting Robots?? A creative influx is definitely in order. To insist differently misses the forest for the trees.
g6793 said, 2 months ago

Thank you, JanCinVV. You put it very eloquently. I’m sure the comment I did NOT write would have been flagged and deleted and I would have heard from Liam.
BASSMANB0B said, 2 months ago

1997 U.S.A. Loomis, Fargo and Company Robbery

4th October, 1997 : An insider job at an office of Loomis, Fargo and Company results in the robbery of $17.3 million in cash.

Sydney still hasn’t been caught!
Matthew Hansel said, 2 months ago

Morrow, g6793, nighthawks, JanCinVV:

Red sweaters are available in aisle 3, next to the hairshirts.

MPH
Matthew Hansel said, 2 months ago

Oh…and for those of you that don’t “get” the “RED SWEATER” reference:

Me: I think that anybody that wears a red sweater is an idiot.

You: I’ve never worn a red sweater in my life, and I resent being called an idiot.

MPH
OldHipster said, 2 months ago

Well, hell, they all look constipated!

Even LIdia the tattooed lady.
avenger09 said, 2 months ago

No I look good in mine red sweater.
CougarAllen said, 2 months ago

So, Matthew Hansel, you’ve clarified the Oct. 4th prophesies a little – we’re not to know in advance whether the prophesied events will have anything to do with Dick Tracy or not, all we know for sure at this point is it won’t be anything of significance?

As for how the rules you claim the syndicate restricts Locher with keep getting broken, perhaps it’s best to just ignore that question. It’s too difficult….

-Cougar :{)
Matthew Hansel said, 2 months ago

Liam:

Please DELETE “avenger09“‘s account. They are using an image (it is mine!) without my permission.

Your prompt attention to this copyright issue is greatly appreciated.

MPH
jumbobrain said, 2 months ago

Roberto,

Welcome to the monkey farm. I’ve only been posting a while myself.

RE: post-1947 …I think Gould’s work was always worth a look, even when it was strange and not so great. I wish more of his post-1960s stuff was in print, I find it fascinating, even the moon stuff. I still want to see the early Groovey Groove strips, when Gould was trying to be “hep.”

Don’t know if anyone’s seen this, but it’s a very amusing comic by underground artist Jay Lynch about when he and Robert Crumb met Gould:
http://www.edpiskor.com/images/chester.jpg
Matthew Hansel said, 2 months ago

CougarAllen:

I never said it wouldn’t be significant (one of the announcements IS VERY significant), but I also never said they would be!

Re: Rules…sorry, I must have missed that portion of your question…

You seem to operation under the notion that comic strip syndicates operate with COMPLETE consistency all of the time. They do NOT. What ONE editor will allow one cartoonist to get away with is completely prohibited with others. They are consistenty inconsistent if anything.

MPH
avenger09 said, 2 months ago

mr matthew i no undrstand why you mad. is all in good fun. you always make fun of all else. me no see why you so bitter man
Handrew said, 2 months ago

Hey Hansel, why don’t you ask avenger to change his avatar instead of going crying to big brother?
Matthew Hansel said, 2 months ago

avenger09:

Please DO NOT use my image in your avatar. That picture is copyright protected and you did not seek my written permission, or that of my attorney, to use the image.

Please remove it IMMEDIATELY.

Sincerely,

MPH
Matthew Hansel said, 2 months ago

Handrew:

Why on Earth would I believe, based on past behavior on the board, that people who honor my wishes? There is certainly no track record of it.

MPH
morrow said, 2 months ago

Who in the world would ever spend good money in the US Copyright office to copyright an avatar? Answer: No one. Whoever did the one I use hasn’t said a word; nor, has he hired a Copyright Attorney. Before one goes too far, one needs to prove it is his or her original art. There is only one fool I can think of who would demand an attorney attack the internet. And the attorney would respond with something about a place where the sun doesn’t shine. I could very well demand that Mattie’s avatar was stolen off MY desk!
Handrew said, 2 months ago

That’s an easy one, too, Hansel. People don’t honor your wishes because your wishes usually amount to an egomaniacal demand that others shut the hell up.
dkram said, 2 months ago

OK, back to Duck Twacy, I mean Dick Tracy, I back to thinking Mr. Pops is the shooter, because he started to say something to Tracy away back some time ago.
wndrwrthg said, 2 months ago

He blew into town in a cloud of dust
He had a mission to fulfill
He knew he must
Do battle with those magpies who’s
Comments were so sinful

He wanted them to toe the line
Think good thoughts, not complain
Maybe, he thought they should all do time
They’re evil and just plain lame
Why can’t they see Lochers just sublime

“I never said those things” he cried
Though the words were written by
His hand, that’s pretty much cut and dried
He stamped and snarled and asked why
Couldn’t God cause them all to be fried

He railed to the powers that be
To have them banned
And just leave he
“They don’t deserve to be fanned”
He said, They’re not a bit like me

Then someone sought to make him sorer
Dressed their avatar in a red shirt so fine
This caused him to cry out in horror
“You can’t do that, the image is mine”!
Tired he was, our brave little warrior

Oh why must he be the one
To curse the dawn
Not see the setting sun
Lochers work now is a big yawn
No more is there any fun

Draw the drapes, bank the fire
Curb your posts, and speak so very softly
Lest we draw more of the ire
Of he who’s ideals are ever so lofty
The consequences could be dire.
avenger09 said, 2 months ago

ok mr matthew. i change picture to make you happy. I do not know why you get so mad. i no want you to think i no listen to you. you hurt me when you say people in red sweaters is idiot. i like red sweaters. you no know me. why you call me idiot. i want apology from you. i do what you ask. do you do what i ask.
Sydney Phillips said, 2 months ago

It seems we have an in-house “Conway West” here, or is it a clone of Congressman Pete Stark … of “P” on the leg fame ?

Whichever, You won’t find him quoted as an examplar in “How to Win Friends and Influence People”. Particularly with a tendency to quickly slip into questionable back street vernacular when cornered and unable to give rational expression

He has difficulty understanding basic concepts. And in the absence of coherent answers waves them away, often with two words which only serve to “avoid” answering the question. A few examples :

Q. What was the ADVANTAGE of (Locher) “changing” the facial appearance (and personalities) of 60% of the HQ staff (ie Patton.Lizz and Junior) ?
ARTICULATE how it helped the strip. (Increased circulation? Many new young readers ?

A, “Artistic license. If you don’t like it stop reading the strip.”
(Reflecting an inability to answer !)

Q. Both Gould an Collins used a rough rule of thumb of “CRIME” within 72 panels – to get ACTION going and start the CHASE sequence. WHAT advantage did Kilian and Locher achieve by abandoning that formula ?

A.1 “Time to crime is not a rule written in stone ….etc”
(no one said it was, it was just an excellent formula that worked beautifully all of Gould’s life and for Collins too. Locher doesn’t have one in use, does he ? Just flys by wire ?)

A,2 I’ve told you DOZENS of times dear Sydney, and you refuse to listen, that the powers that are don’t want the strip tp be over violent, and usually, in Dick Tracy the chase ivolves violence, We’ve seen a few chase sequences since Locher went solo ……’ “By and large, many chase sequences, in my opinion, do not work well on paper, because chase requires MOVEMENT and movement is ONE thing that TV and FILM have over the comic strip medium. (and MOTION lines on EVERYTHING looks dumb ! And don’t get me started on the stupidity of doing car chases in a comic strip”.

(Well I’m glad you opened your mouth and allowed “ignorance” to “jump” out. What you just told me reveals you haven’t got a CLUE on what I’ve been talking about. - and every utterance you made was just designed to shield Locher’s woefully horrid incompetence. MOVEMENT isn’t about car chases, it’s about “escaping”, trying to “get away”. Changing scenery, new locations, physical dangers. And Tracy in relentless persuit.

In fact that’s precisely what the current story LACKS - some MOVEMENT! Tracy has been riveted in the same “boring” place for THREE months

Q. Death Traps (serious ones) a thing of the past ?

A. “We have seen a few over the years, but YES, they are more or less gone, but again, if one of the mandates of the editors is to less the degree of DANGER that the main character find themselves in, how could you possibly do DEATH TRAPS ?
(You’ve admitted it. No serious Death Traps, Another flawed change. Another workable practise abandoned ! There’s NO TMS mandate to avoid danger in the strip. When Locher’s flawed work flares up you immediately try to blame TMS.

Q. The good guys never get shot or injured again, not for the last 17 years. (?)

A. “NOBODY CAN GET SHOT” That would’nt fly .. etc ..”
(Why not ? No body injuries ? No accidents ? No near death scenes ? HospitalIization ? Gould had at least one every year. There is no mandate to prevent that ! Again don’t shift blame to TMS for Locher’s lack of ideas and know how.
He’s a spent force !)

The bald truth is that Locher (if he even knew? and I’m now doubting that he did) has dropped most of the techniques Gould and Collins used AND he has replaced it with “fluff”. He, just in silly fashion makes it up each day as he goes along and it’s now become a major embarrasment to a once great strip

TMS should retire him NOW. And you should consider refraining from talking about a subject on which you know so little. The thrill of a few conversations with him does not confer any degree of expertise on this great strip on you.

You have so many basic things still to learn Matt. Best of luck !
Matthew Hansel said, 2 months ago

Morrow:

I own the IMAGE that is my avatar. I drew it. It is from a story that I had published. It is a caricature of ME!

MPH