Dick Tracy by Dick Locher

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  1. VistaBill

    VistaBill said, 2 months ago

    Maybe the tiger will escape and do the clown in. I think Tracy’s falling asleep. Wonder what the audience thinks about what is going on right in front of their eyes.

  2. Margueritem

    MargueritemGenius_badge said, 2 months ago

    Love that tiger!
    You’d better laugh clown, and join the rest of us out here who laugh ourselves silly at this nonsense.

  3. Llewellenbruce

    Llewellenbruce said, 2 months ago

    How many people can one tiger eat at one sitting??

  4. Gweedo Murray

    Gweedo Murray said, 2 months ago

    HA HA SAID THE CLOWN

  5. Flight Suit

    Flight SuitGenius_badge said, 2 months ago

    Panel One:

    Enough talk? I beg to differ! Let’s have another month of talking before anything happens!

    Panel Two:

    More card references, Tracy? Have you forgotten which story arc we’re in?

    Unless…

    Maybe Mr. Pops really is Big Ace or the King of Clubs?

    Also:

    The expression on kitty’s face has changed. He actually does look like he’d be interested in eating somebody.

  6. jumbobrain

    jumbobrainGenius_badge said, 2 months ago

    You know, in the old days it used to be harder to get the drop on Dick Tracy. Now you just stand there while he talks and talks and then you pull a gun on him. At a crime scene. Next to someone you’ve said is under 24 hour protection. In a clown suit. While he’s standing next to an FBI agent who knows you’re actually a vengeance-seeking ex-con working alongside someone in your witness protection program, but forgot to mention it while standing around there talking to Dick. And also standing next to the target of your vengeance, who said he thought you were friends, but apparently never realized you were also the person he blew the whistle on at his old job, before the witness protection program gave him a new identity working in front of hundreds of people. And now you’re going to stage a scene where a cop, an FBI agent, and someone in the witness protection program are eaten by a tiger at a crime scene and everyone will think it was an accident.

    MAN, is this some great writing!

    And if Louise Trapeze was a hired gun after Ringo, why did the clown kill her anyway?

  7. fishbulb

    fishbulbGenius_badge said, 2 months ago

    Panel 1 “Enough talk”. We’ve been saying that for weeks.Didn’t the bird gang (remember them?) have a tiger? Didn’t that plan end rather badly? “He’s holding all the cards, Ringo!” No, no, no. No more cards puns, Tracy. That was your last absurd outing. This is a whole new mess. How does the clown know the tiger will attack or eat anyone? Isn’t it likely to just run off or refuse to leave its cage? Possible outcome: the clown gets killed, Tracy disguises himself in clown make up in an impossibly short time to trick the other gang members…

  8. Margueritem

    MargueritemGenius_badge said, 2 months ago

    jumbobrain professional jealousy…

  9. LordDogmore

    LordDogmoreGenius_badge said, 2 months ago

    I’m just kinda wondering what happened to oh I don’t know, how bout ALL THE COPS AT THE CRIME SCENE?
    Sorry, I feel better now that I got that out of my system.
    I think I’ll stick with my volume of Classic DT for the forseable future.

  10. morrow

    morrow said, 2 months ago

    I actually think Mattie, with his circus train full of nuances, could do a better job. As far as Tony-the-Tiger goes, it sits up and jumps through hoops for a living. It’s a stretch to expect it to eat a bunch of cops. Remember Agent Hot-body Ennin still has her piece in her purse.

  11. Carlo Coratelli

    Carlo Coratelli said, 2 months ago

    Enough talk? I’m agree with the clown.

  12. wndrwrthg

    wndrwrthgGenius_badge said, 2 months ago

    Tiger, tiger cut and paste
    Lord this strip has become a waste
    Boring script, questionable art
    Were does one really start
    We had hopes (we really did)
    Maybe this time they wouldn’t kid
    Circus freaks, deadly trapeze
    On these things we eagerly seized
    Tracys there to see a crime
    Oh the possibilities were sublime
    A pig on wheels, elephant foo
    Surely the writer knew what to do
    Then the days came to pass
    With Tracy just sitting on his bleeep
    Day passed into another day
    Much to our great dismay
    Characters came and characters went
    All inside that stinking tent
    Where was the detective we all knew
    Sadly he’s mired in this goo
    That has become our daily fair
    Causing us to pull our hair
    Evil in the guise of a clown
    Will he put old Tracy down
    Ever so slowly we twist in the wind
    Looking forward for this to end.

  13. Fearless_Fosdick

    Fearless_Fosdick said, 2 months ago

    Yep, I have a plan. All I have to do is quietly get Tracy, Ringo, and Miss FBI into the tiger cage and they will all eventually end up as tiger turds. Then, I take off my makeup and nonchalantly walk past the fifty cops surrounding the circus who won’t hear a thing or suspect a thing.

  14. LudwigVonDrake

    LudwigVonDrake said, 2 months ago

    “Laugh, Clown, Laugh”? Oy!

  15. Matthew Hansel

    Matthew HanselGenius_badge said, 2 months ago

    When they all turn their backs, Tracy should just grab his own gun and shoot this…er…um…clown in the head!

    Sadly, I don’t think the “standards and practices” people would allow that.

    sigh

    MPH

  16. Carlo Coratelli

    Carlo Coratelli said, 2 months ago

    Sidney. I think Brozman is improved in the last weeks. Are you agree?

  17. ridenslide65

    ridenslide65 said, 2 months ago

    That is an EXCELLENT tiger drawing.

    Too bad the rest is garbage. Apparently, the entire tent has been emptied and they all know this without looking.

    Lame, so very lame.

    Tracy is falling asleep and so are we. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ………………………….

  18. ridenslide65

    ridenslide65 said, 2 months ago

    Carlo - Yes, Brozman’s art is getting better but still too much black face. has been used lately.

  19. ridenslide65

    ridenslide65 said, 2 months ago

    Well Said Jumbobrain!!!

  20. Maxine_Viller

    Maxine_Viller said, about 1 month ago

    Check out this banner image that’s being used at the Comics Curmudgeon:

    http://joshreads.com/images/09/09/Banners/ClownB.png

  21. Flight Suit

    Flight SuitGenius_badge said, about 1 month ago

    Too funny!

  22. Sydney Phillips

    Sydney PhillipsGenius_badge said, about 1 month ago

    “He’s Holding All The Cards Ringo !”

    NOT REALLY !
    Tracy (read “Locher”), called in a heavily armed Police Squad (8-27-09) to provide PROTECTION for ALL in the Circus. So where are they when Mr. Pops pulls the GUN ?

    Seems big BOSS Locher squeezed the “Matrix pack” and before you realized it one whole part of the story changed so it would look as if that (now inconvenient) Police Squad had never ever been there

    Then Homicide arrived (8-07-09), and big surprise, it was Teevo,. But before the neophyte could even utter a word, like saying he was no longer in “communications”, or even listen to Ringo’s story, Locher gave him the Punjab ‘blanket’ treatment and he immediately dissapeared

    Tracy could have turned the Wrist Geenee to transmit mode to quietly alert Chief Lizz to his plight. But, Big Boss Locher knew Tracy had a “Secret Weapon”. Question is would he remember it or FORGET it ?

    A look at the past might be a good indicator. But we worry, Big Boss Locher is a FORGETTING Man. Let’s see –

    2008 Against Baskerville’s Hounds - As a defence he used T-Bone steaks Instead.

    2008 Against Braces’ robot Magnum Force (gone wild), revolver bullets bounced off, he dived in a hedge Instead !

    2009 Or, to disarm Angelorious - burning caustic perfume in her eyes Instead

    2009 One Eye Jack (?) “SECRET WEAPON” not used. He’d rather King of Clubs shoot Jack in the back Instead !

    The SECRET WEAPON is a TASER GUN afixed to Tracy’s Wrist Geenee (see 7-13-05 - Shaman story) afixed to his Wrist Geenee

    CHOICES (?) A) Disarm Mr. Pops and hancuff him.
    B) Later, thake down the Tiger in his cage and call in a fresh Police Squad
    C) Later, fire the man who removed the forst squad. Who’s that ? “Forgetting” cousin Dicky Locher !

  23. Fer Lefer

    Fer Lefer said, about 1 month ago

    Oh, just let Locher finish this terrible show!

    Then you can send in the clowns…

  24. Roberto Macedo Alves

    Roberto Macedo AlvesGenius_badge said, about 1 month ago

    Sydney,

    Thank you for the references of the “good villain design” from the Killian and Locher era. I will check the earlier strips available - or at least Smirk (‘01), Snails (‘01) and Beau Tox ‘02 - that are available in the earlier GENIUS strips.

    Today’s Clown face is a creative disaster - and yes, I agree it is probably due to bad payment, old age and two jobs. Not that I think that old age can be detrimental to artistic creation (Just look at Franz Liszt, Matisse, Dalí or José Saramago)… but something is really stale in this strip.

  25. Roberto Macedo Alves

    Roberto Macedo AlvesGenius_badge said, about 1 month ago

    And personally, I don’t think Brozman is getting better:

    The art is inconsistent, poor and uneven. For example: the tiger is not drawn in the same style of the rest of the characters, and as it was placed in a single panel, it almost looks pasted from another comic.

    We were talking about how strange a “Realistic” Dick Tracy looks - if everything is stylized, why do we need a “Realistic” tiger in the strip? Just to distract the reader?

    Until now the tiger has not contributed to the action, besides looking like he was listening to the conversation and had something to say. Why do I need to look at the tiger when Ringo and Tracy should be the “actors” (even if the “action” is just verbal?)

    The clown and other details are inconsistent from day to day - and I see lots of amateurish mistakes:

    There is no depth in the drawing (everything looks like a 2-dimensional stage - no perspective
    Point of view is always the same (the view angle barely changes and all we see are just heads, not even body language)
    Figures are not correctly placed/planned in the composition of the scene (why the gun was cropped in the first panel? - is it not relevant to the action?)
    The little perspective that is shown, is freaky (like the gun in the first panel of the Sept 21 strip)

    Please, read the first page of the “COMIC STRIP ARTIST’S KIT” and check how many of the “common errors” are made with the art in this strip:
    http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1250/2135/1600/page1.0.jpg

    If someone is interested in the complete document, it can be found here:
    http://sevencamels.blogspot.com/2006/09/comic-strip-artists-kit-redux.html

  26. Sydney Phillips

    Sydney PhillipsGenius_badge said, about 1 month ago

    Roberto,
    To complete all he has to do in a day (Tracy, Political Cartoons, sculpture etc, requires a rationing of TIME, Only so many hours a day for Dick Tracy, Not enough “THOUGHTFULL” energy on story building aspects to get real “quality”. Gould gave it a full 100%. Living it, breathing it, dreaming it. A lack of time to make that extreme degree of commitment is the insidious factor at play allowing all those laughable contradictions to further ruin Locher’s presentations

    And you have to wonder IF he really cares anymore ?.

  27. Sydney Phillips

    Sydney PhillipsGenius_badge said, about 1 month ago

    Yesterday afternoon DONNIE TEVAULT in assesing the quality of this story speculated that Dick Locher and Jim Brozman might, like the Elephant be “working for peanuts” for producing Dick Tracy.

    You have to take that as a strong possibility given the fact that it’s only a paltry 50 newspapers pulling the whole show.

    My concern immediately went over to Mattie as he has bee parading on the board that he might, just might (by choosing NOT to deny it outright)

    He said he’d been doing some gun “inking”
    And that naturally set us all up to thinking
    As a little Assistant dude, you working for nothing ?
    Shakels ? or only Peanut Shells (?) – we worrying !

    Man cannot live by “bread” alone, but heck, he still needs the “bread” !

  28. g6793

    g6793Genius_badge said, about 1 month ago

    Maxine…that was cute! Comics Curmudgeon must keep up with DT. (crunch, crunch) Popcorn? :)

  29. Roberto Macedo Alves

    Roberto Macedo AlvesGenius_badge said, about 1 month ago

    Sydney,

    I really think he just doesn’t care anymore. Which is sad.
    But then, if political cartooning and sculpture and such helps him earn more money, why would he care about details or originality in Dick Tracy ?

    By the way, what happened with Dick Tracy’s son? I remember reading somewhere something about a legal problem about using him on the strip because of Max Collins? It was a long time ago - and I couldn’t find the information anymore. I think it was related to the end of the “Collins Casefiles” books - that I started collecting, and then they ended.

  30. JanCinVV

    JanCinVVGenius_badge said, about 1 month ago

    Thanks Roberto. The link was awesome.

  31. Roberto Macedo Alves

    Roberto Macedo AlvesGenius_badge said, about 1 month ago

    JanCinVV,

    My pleasure, glad you liked it. This is one of my “personal bibles for comic creation” - too bad Locher and Brozman are not aware of the content of the document!! :(

  32. CougarAllen

    CougarAllen said, about 1 month ago

    You may well wonder who the clown is speaking to when he says, “Laugh, clown, laugh!” I figured it out. The clown is halfway through disguising himself as a different clown. He’s put on one glove and stuck star stickers on one sleeve, but he hasn’t done the other side yet. (That’s why all this talktalktalk with the people he is about to murder. That might appear pointless, but it does have a purpose: to gain time to disguise himself.) So, right at the moment his right half is disguised as a different clown but his left half is still the original clown – and his disguise is SO GOOD that even he himself is fooled! He thinks there are two clowns in there! So he’s telling the OTHER clown, “Laugh, clown, laugh!”

    As soon as he finishes disguising himself he will walk his three prisoners out of the tent within a tent at gunpoint – out of the tent within a tent and over to the tiger cage! The cops swarming all around will pay no attention because they will think he’s a different clown. He will force his prisoners into the tiger cage. The tiger will eat all three of them. He is a very hungry tiger. However, he is not hungry enough to eat four people! So he will not eat the clown, or eat any of the policemen (not counting either Dick Tracy or that FBI agent as policemen – obviously they are not policemen; they are idiots).

    -Cougar :{)

  33. OldHipster

    OldHipster said, about 1 month ago

    Now the Dick that is Tracy looks constipated!

    Ya heard me?

  34. mcjunkfood

    mcjunkfood said, about 1 month ago

    Leave Dick Tracy alone! He is doing the best he can with his 50 I.Q. !

  35. Sydney Phillips

    Sydney PhillipsGenius_badge said, about 1 month ago

    Jumbobrain,
    Mr, Pops didn’t kill Louise Trapeze. Someone else in the Circus did. The “thriller” is the motive. I think even Locher surprised himself with that one ! The killer’s identity will be introduced in this talkathon (phase 2) next week Friday.

    Tracy, right now has a “secret weapon” that could end. this all in seconds Locher knows but won’t use it. He takes an easier way out ! The mind doesn’t seem agile enough to write interestingly with that one !

    One other hilarious item is how a “hit woman” goes to a Circus and “fakes” it as a trapeze artist ? It’s not even revealed. exactly who hired her to kill Ringo.

    The whole story is a barrel of loose nuts and bolts. Nothing coherent, nothing fitting orderly togteher. It has all the blurred fingerprints of an unsure man going to his desk each morning and asking - “Well, let’s see now - what will I make happen today (?)”

    If Mattie were to later do Dick Tracy he could use a Locher cartooned face with larger (puzzled) eyes as a model. Name suggestion - “Fuzzybrain” Loco.

    And remender to draw him with head slightly bowed - to reflect shame.

    Free tip Mattie ! You’d be in good company. Remember Big Frost and Pearshape ?

  36. Tigger

    TiggerGenius_badge said, about 1 month ago

    Who’ll Let the Cat out?

  37. Matthew Hansel

    Matthew HanselGenius_badge said, about 1 month ago

    Remember, too, Sydney…Chet had at least five other people working with him on the strip (including other artists and researchers).

    MPH

  38. jumbobrain

    jumbobrainGenius_badge said, about 1 month ago

    Nevertheless, Dick Tracy has a writer and artist and it’s still a crappy strip. Schulz did almost fifty years of Peanuts without even one assistant, and I believe the same was true of Bill Watterson. It’s not about the number of hands, it’s about the competence of the hands. Or in this case the incompetence.

  39. cholldekkgher stenstenstaffgher

    cholldekkgher stenst... said, about 1 month ago

    Popcorn fart, hah, that’s funny.

  40. Maxine_Viller

    Maxine_Viller said, about 1 month ago

    Hm, it seems the link I posted earlier is now broken.

    Or could it have been … eaten?

    http://joshreads.com/images/09/09/Banners/Escaped%20Tiger.png

  41. Roberto Macedo Alves

    Roberto Macedo AlvesGenius_badge said, about 1 month ago

    jumbobrain,

    That was precisely the example I was going to say! Watterson never used an assistant and always managed to create fantastic, wonderful strips! I assumed Shulz also did, but I was not sure!