Dick Tracy by Dick Locher
- October 09, 2009
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Tags: DEATH stalks the Circus!!, HEY RUBE!!, Ringo. Add Tags
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Tags: DEATH stalks the Circus!!, HEY RUBE!!, Ringo. Add Tags
Chester Gould, a veteran cartoonist, began drawing his most legendary character, the dashing and daring Dick Tracy for the newspaper comics page in 1931. Modeled in the image of the innovative Sherlock Holmes, Gould was inspired to create new crime-fighting technology, including the two-way wrist TV, closed circuit TV police line-up and the engineless car that took Dick Tracy to the moon (both literally and figuratively).
Although many remember him with fond nostalgia, Dick Tracy, now written and illustrated by Dick Locher, continues to be relevant as he combines old-fashioned values with 21st century innovation to capture corporate crooks, computer pirates, polluters, skyjackers, gang members and terrorists.
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Comments (43) Jump to Comments Form
VistaBill said, about 1 month ago
Another day… wonder how Tracy and Ennis are faring with the “nice kitty”?
barticle35
said,
about 1 month ago
Pops is making those freaks nervous with his finger on that trigger. Needs a class in firearm safety.
Margueritem
said,
about 1 month ago
The Leno chin is back….
Llewellenbruce said, about 1 month ago
Pops is just like the Ever Ready bunny. He keeps going on and on.
jumbobrain
said,
about 1 month ago
Okay, see, if this were written in an INTERESTING way we would have met all these people a long while ago. And wow, after twelve weeks we see the clown in profile. Who says there are no surprises left??
watcha said, about 1 month ago
So Mr. Locher, still not figured out how Dick is going to escape the tiger, hu?
OzzieJohn
said,
about 1 month ago
POPs won’t be very POPular if he keeps pointing the gun at his friends.
I presume Fee Fi is the giant and is standing behind Della Contessa.
Fearless_Fosdick said, about 1 month ago
fee, fi, so, dumb
LudwigVonDrake said, about 1 month ago
So Sloppy the Clown is banking on the idea that NO ONE will roll over on him when push comes to shove. I guess he’s never heard of blackmail.
morrow said, about 1 month ago
Sydney - that’s a characture of Bush! Complete with the frontal lobotomy look!
ridenslide65 said, about 1 month ago
More Nonsense. A wasted day. Tomorrow we’ll meet the folks selling the concessions.
idarke said, about 1 month ago
Roll call is required at a circus every hour. It’s state law. Look it up.
Fer Lefer said, about 1 month ago
Not a wasted day, ridenslide65, it’s a good chance to say “Have a nice day” to everybody in this forum…
CyberV said, about 1 month ago
…”Have a nice day”? Are you KIDDING us? Not only is this a waste of a day, but it lengthens this insipid nonsense even longer! Just wait for Sunday’s thrilling “name the characters” recapping action!
kreniigh
said,
about 1 month ago
Remember, one of the circus people is an informant. Apparently Locher only now just remembered. But it’s OK, every classic detective story waits until just before the reveal to introduce all the suspects – that way the audience doesn’t get distracted with all that suspense and guessing.
captainzero said, about 1 month ago
What’s Smalley’s act, doing Al Jolson impersonations?
Sydney Phillips
said,
about 1 month ago
Dick Locher could have picked up an “eye-openening” lesson on the technique of building SUSPENSE by simply reading Jay Meader’s ANNIE comic strip
This started Sept. 25, on the point of Warbucks and Grimm about to break into an apparently abandoned Underground Facility in the middle of the New Mexico dessert, Inerest in WHAT they might find was at a peak. And some readers commented on it !
At that point the writer FROZE activity there for TWO weeks taking readers off on two related side stories (one with Annie) - - - while we all waited ! Today, TWO weeks later we are back with Warbucks about to make that interesting discovery. Impressive !
It’s a technique you won’t find used in Dick Tracy. Rather, they attempt to achieve SUSPENSE with a combination of WITHOLDING information, flogging REPETITION and DELAY by rationing out progress.
This slow-poke agenda doesn’t provide suspense, it only serves to create irritation and frustration - openly expressed on the board every day !
Those who have read Edgar Rice Burroughs Tarzan novels would have recieved an excellent lesson on INTERESTINGLY achieving SUSPENSE. He’d have TWO connected stories going at the same time. At he end of Chapter 1, you had to wait for Chaptrer 3 to find out what happened in the “cliff-hanger” in one ! Same thing in the other story sequence over in Chapter 2, where another tense situation would arise and then frozen until a return to it in Chapter 4.
And so Burroughs would alternate this focus throught the book, chapter after chapter. Occasionally, bringing the two stories together, only to seperate them again (or start a new one entitely, to repeat the suspense using that technique until concluding the story.
Older people have moch greater difficulty in aquiring NEW skills. And perhas what we see playing out here is an Old Man failing to adjust, having stayed in his “art trench”, unfortunately, paying little, or NO attention, to the “writing” aspects when he had decades of exposure. He seems to have learned so little and his judgement on making CHANGES in the strip are poorly thought out, if not near catastrophic
It should be apparent to most that TMS made a big mistake to put Locher in as the “writer”.
The TIME to correct that is NOW !
nighthawks
said,
about 1 month ago
ok ok……lochner is evil and incompetent , I get it!
off with head!
JanCinVV
said,
about 1 month ago
If I remember right, we “met” all of these characters weeks ago. So this is just a recap of suspects, a la Ellery Queen….
436rge said, about 1 month ago
Saturday, 10/10 at 9am EDT parts 11 and 12 of 1937 DT Serial. on TCM.
mumbles said, about 1 month ago
Mr. Locher, tear up this story arc!! Puh leeze, this is reaching soap opera lengths.
BASSMANB0B said, about 1 month ago
Barb Els is the FBI’s spy. (S)he’ll come to the rescue!
BB
whardin1960 said, about 1 month ago
My vote is on Fee Fi - Fee Fi of the F.B.I. get it?
Matthew Hansel
said,
about 1 month ago
Sydney:
To respond to YESTERDAY’S late night comments…
The “note” in my strip was in NO WAY influenced by the current DT storyline. If you had bothered to read ALL of my posts yesterday, you would have…er…noted that in a response to one of the other posters I indicated that I wrote the script for this particular episode of APOLLO back in JANUARY (and the idea for the story has been rattling around in my head for almost two years).
Regarding your OTHER comments…I’ve made no secret about my desire to take on the Dick Tracy fanchise when Locher retires. I’ve even told Dick so. That in NO WAY can or should be seen as my offering an opinion on the quality of the current offering. Your mindreading is getting borish.
MPH
jtpozenel said, about 1 month ago
Yes, the perfect plan. Can we go over it just one more time?
Flight Suit
said,
about 1 month ago
Sydney, “Older people have much greater difficulty in acquiring NEW skills” is a bit of a cheap shot. I know plenty of people well into their “senior” years who’ve continued to grow intellectually and creatively.
Remember: 70 is the new 50.
BIGCHRONO said, about 1 month ago
If Tracy still has his Wrist Geenee, that will save them.
Gackle23 said, about 1 month ago
Everybody complains about Locher’s art work, but in the fifties everybody complained about Chester Gould’s in exactly the same way.
Joe Allen Doty said, about 1 month ago
One of the people being named by “Mr. Pops” is probably the FBI informant.
But, it could also be that many of the circus members are on the same side of the law as Ringo and are in the FBI’s witness protection program, too.
LOCHER IS NOT THE ARTIST HERE!
JIM BROZMAN IS THE ARTIST.
Dick Locher is only the writer now.
Do some research folks.
Gackle23 said, about 1 month ago
Whoops, sorry for getting the wrong guy. Actually I just signed up and was trying out sending a message. I do remember everybody thinking Gould was nuts and complaining about his artwork, though.
BASSMANB0B said, about 1 month ago
Flight Suit, Sydney’s about 90 so he’s allowed to make a comment like that.
BB
BASSMANB0B said, about 1 month ago
Joe Allen Doty, you’re one mean Hillbilly!
BB
BASSMANB0B said, about 1 month ago
I nominate Matthew for the Noble Peace Prize for his ability to unite everyone on this board!
BB
morrow said, about 1 month ago
Mattie has united this board just about the same as Ringo has united the performers! Good for you, BB!
Sydney Phillips
said,
about 1 month ago
BASSMANBOB – Thanks for making the point (as I’m speaking from both daily “obsevation” of others and of course my “personal” experience) - even though you had to exaggerate my Age by a year or two ;-p
Flight Suit – Trust me it’s very REAL as one grows older !
Joe Allen Doty – There are many things that Mattie says that are colossal exagerations (eg. Locher is “superb”, and his “SHOUTING” announcements) but I “believe” him when recently he said here that Locher is still involved in the art. And, I suspect the character “designs” (or lack of them in the current story). It’s human nature - you don’t do something all your life and then just toss it out the window
Nighthawks – no, no, Locher not EVIL, but at least you got the “incompetent” (as a writer) part right. That’s all you need to get in your “head” ! Simple isn’t it ?
Mattie – Locher has a contract that still runs for a YEAR and three months. Why didn’t Locher recommend YOU instead of Brozman. He knows you both, although the latter may have more experience and better ‘bono fides” having been an art school chum of son, John. (?) Not so ?
Or did you hear that TMS is “retiring” him early, AGAIN ?
Unless you’re looking for an assistant “wuk” to help Brozman with ruling up panel pages and such ? But Dick could HELP you with all that, if he want’s to (?) Not so ?
That’s why I was wondering WHY you were throwing the hat in the ring while the man was still there. Reasonable assumption ?
Then how could I presume to be BORING when the King of TEDIUM and REPETITION still reigns supreme in Dick Tracy ? Coming from you it’s a sort of compliment to put me in the same ROOM knowing how highly you think of the man. ;-p
tracyfan92 said, about 1 month ago
Way to grasp at a compliment Sydney…I would prefer anyone take over the strip right about now. I am a much bigger fan of Burroughs and all things considering the Apeman than I am of DT even. It has been great picking up the Dark Horse Jesse Marsh reprints. I collected the 10 centers back when they were new and these reprints take me back to a better time in the late 40’s and early 50’s. I’m considering getting the Turoks now from Amazon.
wndrwrthg
said,
about 1 month ago
Margueritem: thank you for your kind words of yesterday
My ability to draw is really quite minuscule
So I shall not hold the artwork to any ridicule
My complaint now and always has been
The plots that are inane and exceedingly thin
There are those who say “well can you do better?”
“If you can’t, then go knit yourself a sweater”
Though as a writer I would surely fail
I had hopes that clearer heads would prevail
And write us a story so crisp and so clear
That we would stand up and give a great cheer
Now I have the ability to read and comprehend
And what we are subject to, is a nightmare without end
Day after day we see the same scenes
And day after day the dialog fairly screams
“We care nothing of what your petty concerns may be”
“We are in control and to us you are nothing but fleas”
Is it really the plan of the folks at TMS
To foist on the fans this tragic mess
Or is it that the writer seems to no longer care
That he serves up as gruel such an unpalatable fair
We grouse and we grumble, snicker and snerk
Some even loudly opine that Locher is a jerk
Yet we always come here day in and day out
Only to sadly retire to our favorite corner and pout
Is there a lesson here for us to learn
Or is it our lot to be continually burned
Maybe one day the sun will shine, the skies will clear
And we can enjoy Dick Tracy and not shed a tear
For those glory days of yesteryear we so fondly remember
And hope this excremental arc will be over by December.
James7344 said, about 1 month ago
Does Mr. Locher have some plan with these panels, other than to list every possible circus-related pun in existance?
cholldekkgher stenst... said, about 1 month ago
Another day without the Dick that is head cop
This slowness has just got to stop
Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my
A swinger that was killed, up in the sky
Nothing has change, this series is a flop
Araldite said, about 1 month ago
There’s absolutely nothing in this story that has any semblance of credibility. It’s just a hodgepodge of nonsense stumbling along like a drunk in the dark. It’s clearly written for people who have no ability to think. Locher is just insulting the intelligence of DT readers whether he knows it or not. It could easily be written in a way that is at least reasonably plausible with a little imagination, but I can’t stretch my imagination far enough to get beyond any description other than nonsensical. The comment section is really the only reason to come here.
jumbobrain
said,
about 1 month ago
Wonder Warthog, you put more time into writing for this strip than anybody getting paid to do so, and you do much much much better. I would rather see your poetry illustrated than this strip, that’s for sure.
Sydney Phillips
said,
about 1 month ago
Mattie,
Another late night query !
It you wrote your script for Apollo back in January (?) Per chance, did Dick Locher get to peep at it ? If so this is looking even more serious. I see where you seem to have a copyright on the Apollo strip, I hope no one has been pinching “ideas”. Particularly if they’ve had a history of doing so before or recycling others (?) ;-p
Seems Brozman’s penchant for using face shadow has impressed you (?).
On the positive side it’s really good to see that you draw NORMAL sized hands. So glad you never picked up that bad habit
So the bad guy was the dead girls boss (?) But I note that despite blacked out face, he seems to have Crandall’s hair style at the back.
Leading a double life ?
Don’t get over-excited on the first paragraph. I’m just pulling your leg ! ;-p
And how come you’re giving a freebie to those that you say don’t pay their fair share ?
OldHipster said, about 1 month ago
I done some research, I found the truth
The Dick and Dick Show is very uncouth
We are all tired of “laugh, clown, laugh”
WE gonna take another path
We gonna take a “trip” to the local zooth!
Apologyies to the little dude who likes the lyrick.