Dick Tracy by Dick Locher

Tags: DEATH stalks the Circus!!, HEY RUBE!!, It happened!, Lousie. Add Tags

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VistaBill said, 2 months ago

Louise Trapeze faked her act? Not many people could fake a trapeze act! That circus hired an untrained ringmaster and then an untrained trapeze artist! Wow! This is getting more suspenseful every day! zzzzzzz….
Flight Suit said, 2 months ago

First of all, if Louise was faking her act, it would have been unnecessary to shoot her.

Secondly, I retract my former assertion that Agent Ennen is a gelfling: She is actually a Predator, and is using her wig to hide her fearsome face-mandibles.
Margueritem said, 2 months ago

What VistaBill just said.
She found you because you’re not too well hidden, ya big dope!
VistaBill said, 2 months ago

Did I say that?
barticle35 said, 2 months ago

Well, the drawing is nice, even if the story is downright silly.
JackParsons said, 2 months ago

“Lousie Trapeze”? Truer typos were never lettered.
Flight Suit said, 2 months ago

Good eyes, JackParsons!
Michael McMillan said, 2 months ago

I ask again, could anything be dumber than placing a man who needs to be invisible into one of the most highly visible positions that can be found? Then, wondering how the bad guys could find him there?

Good jobs for becoming invisible: factory worker in a large plant, bureaucrat in a big office where you have little if any contact with the public. Think “MIB” and dress and act accordingly. Maybe you don’t get the flashy memory messer-upper and the fancy guns, but the invisibility would be priceless.
Fearless_Fosdick said, 2 months ago

It took the company five years to find Ringo, then another five to train a hit woman to be a trapeze artist. Finally, on the night she is supposed to kill Ringo, this happens. Oh well.
Roberto Macedo Alves said, 2 months ago

Hi, nighthawks, thanks for the nice welcome. I thought it would be nice to introduce myself before starting criticizing harshly whatever part of the strip I can find. However, the mouth-breathing part of the job is harder!

jumbobrain, I’ve been a follower of the strip (and the comments) for a while – Sorry to know about your dad and his struggle with Alzheimer’s… I noticed that painful personal detail was also ignored! I am familiar with the fun and games and trolls in this forum – oh, and I really liked the Crumb comic you posted here about Gould! Thanks!

Margueritem, thank you for your welcoming message. I usually enjoy your comments in my other favorite strips, like cul-de-sac and Brewster Rockit.

Regarding the strip (allegedly we should be talking about it and not about avatars and copyrights and such), I have very fond memories of the Dick Tracy stuff I grew up reading (like the Cryonic man continuity, Putty Puss, Little Boy, etc I still enjoy Locher’s artwork (even if it is not as strong as it used to be when I discovered the strip, in 1983 or so) – I agree with most of what has been said recently (I actually enjoy Sydney Phillips’ comments, with all the “accounting” of panels and hard numbers and complete references and deep historical knowledge about the strip – I find it fascinating).

I think the problem is that Dick Locher, as talented as he is, is essentially an artist, and probably the strip is having the same problem that Asterix has now in Europe: being written and drawn by an artist. Usually, artists think about stuff visually – to manage plot, character consistency, storytelling and imagery is a hard task – more so with no previous practice of the craft. The strip has declined a little since the Collins days, mostly story-wise, but there is always hope of improvement and there are always ways to solve this and jump-start the strip again to its former glory. Even I was tempted to write a story with that purpose, some time ago…
LudwigVonDrake said, 2 months ago

I thought all the circus performers were milling around? Where did they all go in the third panel?
Akenta said, 2 months ago

I’m still waiting for the tiger to return.
wndrwrthg said, 2 months ago

The tiger and the elephant appear to be on break. Again, would it not be prudent to IMMEDIATELY remove Ringo from the scene, as he has been targeted? Thanks Margueritem for yesterday.
morrow said, 2 months ago

Lookin’ for a nice bunch of bananas to be my avatar, but they all claim to be picked. Oh, well!

As for the story, maybe Mr. Pops is Ringo’s secret bodyguard. I don’t remember Macy askin’ Clarabelle to see his popgun. Maybe hunting around the tent for a 30-30 ought to be in order.
neonleon59 said, 2 months ago

Good catch on the name typo, JackParsons.

THAT is utterly inexcusable. I’d like to see how MPH defends it.
Sydney Phillips said, 2 months ago

For those who like to nit pick at the art, note how the hair (panel 1) falls ABOVE Karen Ennen’s ear tomorrow it’s decidedly below. as it had been earlier.

As the story proceeds it will become apparent her role in the story is of diversionary value only. - to perk up visual interest on a last panel Saturday or on a Sunday page.

Mike McMillian points to the largest pill to swallow. How a gang in an import business,(by Ringo’s testimony) is closed down and suddenly, all the bad guys and gals rush off to form a Circus..Conveniently, collectively they all have the phiysical characteristics and skills to fit right in comfortably. The FBI who would have files on all don’t “recognize” them and HIDE Ringo right AMONG them, FROM them - for his own safety . I’m still laughing !

Locher must be secretly pleased that all this plot “.crap” sailed right through the Editors. That is, if HE even “realized” he had done it. Brozman, new man on the block must have been amazed that the work wasn’t returned to be done over. (?)

And welcome Roberto Macedo Alves, good to have another Dick Tracy fan posting. As a youngster (track & field), I had a leg therapist by a similar name - “Bein Alves” treating a torn knee cartelidge.
DonnieTevault said, 2 months ago

I’m sure that one of the TMS restrictions that Matthew keeps talking about is what required Locher to make that typo.
chefblackstock said, 2 months ago

Hello, all. This is my return the DT strip after about a fifteen year absence. I would read it everyday in my local paper but after moving a state away, no dice. It’s good to be back into Tracy’s mind. Hope to see you guys everyday.
DonnieTevault said, 2 months ago

As for art…

I’m just not seeing that, either. Gould’s artwork consisted of detailed drawings of the characters interacting with the environment, acting out the story. Locher’s artwork mainly consists of panel-after-panel of talking heads, with an occasional cut-and-paste panel of a circus tent, a tiger, a casino, etc.
Matthew Hansel said, 2 months ago

Flight Suit:

Back in the 1990s (following the OH SO TERRIBLE Uncle Warren DICK TRACY film), Disney did TWO one shots (not very good ones either as they drew Tracy to look like Uncle Warren) and those are, to my knowledge, the only ORIGINAL material published outside of the reprints of the strip.

I’ve been so close I could touch it with a Dick Tracy ongoing comic BOOK (written and drawn by yours truly), but every time the deal is almost inked, the powers that are get cold feet and run away.

I should probably send a pitch again, its been several months since I did ( was asked to submit a “reboot” of the franchise…basically and updating of Dick Tracy, his origin et. al. The problem was, I had to condense the first year of the strip into four 22 page comic books, and that is NO easy task…and I had to intro all the major characters, too…Lizz, Sam, Pat, Tess, Junior, etc. I came up with a way to do it, but my ONE great struggle was this…do I intro the two-way as something that has ALWAYS existed and is just part of the police arsenal or do I have Diet bring it to them as some NEW technology? One of my writers friends said I should abandon it all together—which I dismissed, because that two-way is one of the ICONS of the strip! Like the fedora is!).

MPH
avenger09 said, 2 months ago

mr matthew i try to be nice to you and do as you ask. how come you no say sorry to me for saying i idiot for liking red sweaters. you not fair person. i think you look nice in red sweater. why you want people to do what you say but you no have to listen to other peoples. you think you better then all else do you not. do anyone else think mr matthew should say sorry to me.
morrow said, 2 months ago

Avenger, your avatar looks great in red. I’m thinking about scanning your avatar, putting a dayglo orange shirt on it to change it substantially, and using it. You wouldn’t mind, would you?

As far as Mr. Matthew’s comment concerning “powers that be” getting cold feet about entering into a relation with him, what’s the question? Certainly, no intelligent person is surprised. It’s that rejection thang!
Matthew Hansel said, 2 months ago

avenger09:

Try reading my post again and THINK about what it says.

I’ll give you a HINT (since you are obviously having trouble grasping the concept)…it isn’t meant to be LITERAL.

MPH
puddleglum1066 said, 2 months ago

People are missing an important plot twist which explains everything: this is not a real circus. As described in the award-winning documentary film “Killer Clowns From Outer Space,” some “circus tents” are in fact alien space ships. Detective Spacey has had the misfortune to wander into one, and while his family members were able to escape before liftoff, he’s now stranded with a gaggle of man-eating aliens who are trying to keep him distracted with a poor simulation of police talk till the cauldron is up to a boil.

Tracy’s alien abduction also explains the glacial pace of the strip–as the “circus tent” space ship accelerates to near the speed of light, relativity dictates that time slows down… so while a few months have passed here on Earth, only a few hours have gone by aboard Ringo’s starship.

I think this is all due to be explained around October 4.
Matthew Hansel said, 2 months ago

Morrow:

Don’t speak about those things of which you have NO KNOWLEDGE.

The powers that are got cold feet because they aren’t sure that they want to have “two versions” of Dick Tracy out there for the public to read and enjoy” because they believe that it would be confusing.

I often wonder, when I read comments like that from the powers that are, WHO exactly to they believe their audience to be, and HOW unintelligent do they think they are? Do they honestly believe that people are incapable of remembering events from yesterday? Obviously the powers that are DO believe that otherwise we wouldn’t have the mandate for all the repetition.

Instead, I have a whole completed first issue in my flat files, that I was not paid for and will probably never see the light of day.

Oh well…

MPH
captainzero said, 2 months ago

Very impressive how the “world’s greatest detective” can’t solve a crime that he was eyewitness to without the help of the FBI.
And barely even then.
Sydney Phillips said, 2 months ago

Another part of MATURITY my Woodstock friend is to realize that your making a “statement” on something does not ipso facto make it a FACT. Much as you may have liked it to have been that way !

The information on NY / Chicago as Tracy’s home city (Gould’s strip) is quite clear as set out in the Stooge Viller -sesecond story (1933), Whip Chute (1939) an Scorpio (1969) are completly unambigeous - and SAY - New York !
Only ONE story, Spots (1960) - names Chicago ! Many others (eg Larceny Lu, Boris Arson , George Ozone specifically exclude Chicago). Confirming my point that Gould changed base locations to suit the thrust of his stories. the debate was with another - you intruded on it.

It’s another indicator Mattie that you have scant information on the comic strip’s history. And In bellicose fashion you betray deep ignorance with strongly worded statments that when “checked”, make your lack of better knowledge on the subject apparent.

I’m sure you like the strip, as does everyone here. That’s WHY they are here. You came in late knowing then Locher’s work AS - Dick Tracy and you are unable to view his work dispassionately - you’re heavily BIASED, and it sticks out lika sore thumb. Your “over agressive”, know-it.-all” attitude turns people off. People here are not taking cheap shots. It’s that they like the strip enough to be “pained” when the quality of writing hits “rock bottom”.

Your peformance “style” here is not a plus ! It’s a communications minus, and you’d help your case a lot to adjust it. You don;t have to state it, but accept that Locher should not be writing the strip.

It’s easy to see Locher is still involved in the art, at least some penciling, his trademark - the “little hands” are still there.

Your closing line suggests you may have picked up a spot to assist Brozman on the art side when Locher steps early (?) and Brozman takes over the writing If so, best of luck. If that materialises Locher probably fixed that for you with Brozman. No wonder you’re falling off the edge for him, like that suicide pilot

Paying work is always a top piority in life. Go for it !
Roberto Macedo Alves said, 2 months ago

Matthew Hansel:

I am not sure I understood, you were asked to submit a pitch for a reboot of the strip? or a new Dick Tracy version for A comic book/graphic novel?

I am already confused trying to understand what happened with Sam or Liz(z), or about the age regression of Bonnie… it is almost as if there were two versions around, anyway. But the powers that are DO know that, right?
avenger09 said, 2 months ago

Matthew Hansel said, about 20 hours 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

Matthew Hansel said, 32 minutes ago

avenger09:

Try reading my post again and THINK about what it says.

I’ll give you a HINT (since you are obviously having trouble grasping the concept)…it isn’t meant to be LITERAL.

MPH

mr matthew i no see why i need not to take what you say literal. you call me a idiot for liking red sweater. you need say sorry to me. you like bad little boy who need pow pow from mommy.
Roberto Macedo Alves said, 2 months ago

sigh…
idarke said, 2 months ago

Can’t the story just end at this point? The hired killer was killed, presumably by a good guy. Ringo’s safe, and they can now move him to another hiding place (perhaps lead singer in a popular rock band).

Time to start dropping clumsy hints about the next story setting…
kab2rb said, 2 months ago

DT and FBI need to find the shooter. And why not have someone in plain sight. Easy target makes the FBI look bad.
SQUIDBREAKER said, 2 months ago

He should have known the FBI has no money to bribe an umpire to ensure the ringmaster would be safe.

The ringmaster is now called out……..
Anthony 2816 said, 2 months ago

Prior to this job, Lousie (sic) Trapeze worked by faking her job as a neurosurgeon in order to kill the hospital administrator who was known to have voted for Obama.
JanCinVV said, 2 months ago

It’s obvious that Ringo made a mistake in asking the FBI for help in hiding from his former bosses. Now if he had asked the US Marshall Service he would be safe in obscurity somewhere and Ms. Louise (Lousie) Trapeze would still be alive.

Of course that would mean that there wouldn’t be a story here, but as far as I can see, there isn’t one anyway.
jumbobrain said, 2 months ago

Roberto,

Thanks for your words, it is what it is, I only brought it up here because I think calling Locher senile is a cheap shot. That he’s a very poor writer is clear, but that doesn’t mean he has dementia.

Matthew, on the other hand…given his high opinion of the strip as it’s now done, his statements that readers have no business criticizing the strip, and his tendency to lay the blame for any problems with the TMS staff that control Dick Tracy, well, I can only imagine what that comic book would be like.

On another note, the other close thing to a Tracy comic book is not a Tracy product at all, but “The Cabbie,” a 1986 graphic novel from Spain by Marti Riera. It’s essentially an homage to Gould’s visual style and moral absolutism…though much darker than anything even Gould did. It’s available on Amazon and if you’re a fan of Gould it’s definitely worth a look.

Oh, and can I just note that all the information in today’s strip has already been revealed at least three times? And I’m still confused as to what purpose the FBI agent serves…a week was spent introducing her and the only revelation she’s made is that Ringo shot someone. Aside from that she’s been just another talking head in this interminable conversation.
Sydney Phillips said, 2 months ago

puddleglum1066,

Yours is the only explanation I’ve heard up to now that gives some element of acceptance to this weird presentation

That must mean FBI’s Ennen is a space person. ;-)

“1066” was a long ago early version of 007 - James Bond i.e. Norman Conquest. Ever heard of him ?
jtpozenel said, 2 months ago

I don’t care anymore…just make it stop!
Matthew Hansel said, 2 months ago

Roberto:

It was a pitch for a comic book mini-series that would have the potential to become an ongoing series. TMS has flirted with the idea several times, but they keep getting cold feet about the whole concept of doing comic books and/or graphic novels.

I have, in the past, submitted reboots for the actual strip itself, but TMS shows no interest in such a concept.

MPH
Matthew Hansel said, 2 months ago

Sydney:

The strip THAT CHESTER GOULD DID is VERY CLEARLY modeled on CHICAGO not NY. During the ENTIRE time that Chet did the strip it is PEPPERED, quiet liberally, with references to Chicago, Woodstock, McHenry County (NONE OF WHICH ARE ANYWHERE NEAR NEW YORK CITY). You lost this debate on the Yahoo Board (thanks, Jim!) I’m not going to rehash it here.

AND–yes–PAYING WORK comes first (another movie just came up! Yay!)

MPH
Matthew Hansel said, 2 months ago

avenger09:

You’re still missing the point. I’m done with you. Buh-bye.

MPH
Sydney Phillips said, 2 months ago

Hmm ! Mattie’s sounding important here (You’d think it was Joe Staton with some disdain - contemplating a “gig”)

Yesterday, Matie raised the real importance of “paying” jobs. You have to wonder who is “funding” this little venture.

We haven’t seen Sam Catchem in a Locher panel for over a year now. But in this he’s coming back – and from the very begining in this rewrite. Who is the Chief in all this ?

But GRAB THIS : (Quote):

“One of my Writer’s friends said I should abandon it all-together” (i.e. the 2- way wrist radio) “which I dismissed, because the two-way is one of the ICONS of the strip ! Like the Fedora.

Gosh ! You could have fooled me ! And all these years Dicky Locher seems to have been flat out “ignoring” Mattie’s perceptive ‘advice” on KEY items to enhance the current strip ? Like today’s Tracy, Mattie just standing still,

Was Locher ever really told ? Not even a little “tinka belle” ?

I tell you ! You have to question the “quality” of those “musical bells” below ! (?)

But Dicky has them all mezmerized. My guess is that everytime in Naps they ask a simple, sensible question, Locher can’t fudge away, he gives them the “ALL-INCLUSIVE”, stock reply –

“Why, it’s just a comic strip” !
Sydney Phillips said, 2 months ago

Mattie,

With new Roberto already putting out a familiar - SIGH -
Don’t you suspect it’s someone you already know with a false accent, taking you for a ride ? ;-)
BASSMANB0B said, 2 months ago

Wow Matthew, it looks like I’m still one of the few Magpies who ever got an apology from you (sort of) a long, long time ago. Knowing that brings me to tears! I’m sure you’ll deny every stating you we’re incorrect regarding some words you used (something about me beating my wife to show her I loved her). Some of the old timers should remember! Poor avenger09, expecting you to play fair! The IRONY of it is he sounds too innocent to understand the rules you play by and you’re too arrogant to realize what a jerk you are.
BB
jumbobrain said, 2 months ago

Been rereading some Modesty Blaise…anybody here follow that? British adventure strip that ran from the early 60s till its writer/creator Peter O’Donnell retired a few years back. I think of it because it also was a three-panel daily strip (with no Sundays)…Locher would do well to take a look, since O’Donnell had a real gift for moving the story forward with actions as well as words.
cholldekkgher stenst... said, 2 months ago

Gee, a false swinger! Who would have thunk it? Certainly not in a Dick Tracy comic.
Matthew Hansel said, 2 months ago

Bassmanbob:

He doesn’t understand the concept of what I was saying…I was merely providing an example of what my RED SWEATER reference was. Red Sweater Syndrome has NOTHING to do with wearing red sweaters.

THINK!

MPH
Matthew Hansel said, 2 months ago

Sydney:

I don’t “question” everybody that posts here. He asked a serious question, and I provided him with a serious answer.

End of story.

MPH
Matthew Hansel said, 2 months ago

Sydney:

You seem to presume that the writer friend I was talking to about MY version of the strip was Dick Locher…it wasn’t. It wasn’t even anyone who has ever been associated with the character, or even comics strips in general.

And–for the record–I absolutely believe that the two-way, the Fedora are ALL very important. I also believe that SHOWING the crime, showing at least some passible verison of evidence is ALL critical.

In a few weeks, you’ll see just how SERIOUS I am about such things!

MPH
BASSMANB0B said, 2 months ago

Matthew, not everyone possesses the sharp mind that you do. Perhaps avenger09 will never understand what you’re trying to say (no insult intended avenger09). The point SHOULD BE that you offended him. That’s reason enough to AT LEAST say you feel bad that he took it the wrong way. It seems compassion is an emotion foreign to you. All of this brings me back to the good old days.

Bah Humbug.