Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for March 09, 2011

When they take off Mordred’s mask, it turns out that he is really Bob Newhart and he’s been having some horrible nightmares.

The building is falling apart, so why not bring the window to him? Or tell him there’s an innocent child outside the window and he’s just waiting for some deranged killer to butcher him? (Thick, you do remember what Mordred is all about?)

Panel #1 makes it look like Mordred is in deep water. And have any of these rats done any actual Mordred-biting yet?

Thank God this story is about to end.

This has to be the worst one yet.

Where is that AWACS plane???

They were supposed to find Tracy.

The rats don’t look that vicious at all.

They appear to be having fun.

The one is looking at his reflection in Mordred’s eye while the other appears to be laughing.

And why did the story go backwards.

Tracy jumped out of the window on Sunday and today he is still in the building.

We already know from the Sunday installment that Tracy doesn’t lift a finger to get Mordred to the window. All he does is jump to save his own skin.

This is the best drawing of Tracy we’ve seen here in ages. It’s actually good.

There. I said something nice about Locher. Remember that when you do my eulogy tomorrow.

Is Panel 2 really showing a rat about to eat Mordreds eye? I cant believe that made it to print.

It’s a race between Dick Tracy and Fearless Fosdick: Will Fosdick bring the Chopendale Chair to justice before Tracy escapes the clutches of Locher and Brozman?

(See Li’l Abner classics at comics.com.)

So there’s three dailies and a Sunday to go huh? We gonna end on a bang or a rat squeak?

Flight Suit said, about 5 hours ago

You know what? I have absolutely NO law enforcement experience. I’ve never even worked as a security guard. Somewhere in my house there’s a stun gun and maybe a half empty canister of pepper spray, but I couldn’t tell you where they are.

Also, I am lazy and out of shape.

Despite these facts, I guarantee you I could put Mordred in a car and drive him somewhere without having him escape or die.

Even if the weather’s bad.

But could you do it without a ‘POWER APPROACH’ Flight Suit?

Thick. He’s helpless. Grab his wrists, or his ankles, or his collar. Pull him to a window, or to that strangely-placed door you found on Sunday, the one that opens into a forty foot drop. Push, hard. Problem solved!

(But when you take a closer look at Sunday’s strip, you see Mordred standing in the doorway, blocking it. Next panel, you see that Thick has jumped. You have to conclude that Thick shoved Mordred out of the way.)

BillThompson said, “…And have any of these rats done any actual Mordred-biting yet?”

The rats appear to be window shopping.

“Tracy, I’m melting! Melting! What a world, what a world!”

So. How many here are actively cheering on the rats? Show of hands, now! ;D

Has anyone seen the decoy cars?

BillThompson, it is NOT a good drawing of Tracy. In fact its not even Tracy. Tracy does not look on in wide-eyed compassionate despair when murderers meet their end.

Tracy’s eyes are always closed slits. Gould opened them perhaps once or twice in 40 years and only when Tess gave Tracy a kiss for x-mas.

Locher opens them up to Garfield-on-caffeine dimensions at the first sight of slightest danger.

Perhaps never in all of his career Has Tracy been a bigger horses rear Such a pathetic caricature he has become It truly leaves a person shaken and numb In producing a work so lame Locher shows that he has no shame Even if Locher had continued on No lower could this strip have gone I think to all it is abundantly clear Tracy has reached his nadir Annie went out at the top of her game Brenda Starr did the same Kathy left when all was well But Tracy emits an awful smell This once great hero has been allowed to sink Producing this god awful stink We can all breathe a vast sigh of relief That we will no longer be subjected to this grief To Locher I will not bid a fond farewell But consign him to the depths of hell My criticism is both harsh and rude But Locher has given me this attitude Only four more days we have to go Until there debuts a brand new show So take heart and be of good cheer Good times will soon be here. Thank you Nvash, woodworker318 and Fusnr, for your comments the other day.

Locher’s back to his old habits. Check out Mordred’s hand in the first panel. It looks to me like Mordred is related to Danny DeVito (The Penguin) from the Batman movie.

4

Very good WW. May this be the last one in this vein. The hand in panel #1 look like it is backwards, like a left hand. Another great job of paying attention to details.

I haven’t seen many rats in my lifetime, but I never saw rats as happy and smiling as those!!!

tcayer: I’m guessing flightsuit didn’t use the pepper spray himself-he lent it to Spacy and Stick used it on his sirloins to make pepper steak

The rats aren’t attacking Mordreck, they’re looking at him as Lord of the Rats. The one in the second panel is checking out the mote in God’s eye (sorry, Larry and Jerry).

Never known rats to run around with their tails in that position – like cobras about to strike.

Tracy got so panicked he literally exploded out of the building.

Who is HB Terry?

tcayer said, about 1 hour ago

Flight Suit: What did you use the half-can of pepper spray on? ————————————————–

Revenge.

The guy was brandishing a knife, so technically, I could claim self defense, but really, it was revenge.

Where did the baby kangaroo on Modred’s head in panel one come from?

“How do I get him to a window to jump?”

Sit him down and make him reread this story line. He’ll be more than willing.

In spite of that…Mr. Locher, thank you for your 24 years of dedication and devotion to Tracy. Enjoy your well deserved retirement.

quite dithering for once thick and actually do something!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGT_2vlRIPI

In a surprise ending, Locher will expose the fact that Moordead is actually King Rat, and he summoned them to aid in his escape. Now that ChickenDick has leapt from the building, Moordead can slip out the other side into the waiting limousine.

Mordred is a chick. and The rats are a thinly disguised icon of the commenters here.

-or-

Mordred is a thinly disguised icon of Locher and The rats are rats.

Didn’t Duck jump out that window last Sunday? And Mordred refused and got all et up by dem rats? How did Duck get back in the building? Why?

IGoPogo4 said, “…Mr. Locher, thank you for your 24 years of dedication and devotion to Tracy. Enjoy your well deserved retirement.”

I agree.

When I was younger I had a couple of pet rats, but I had to give them away.

Whenever I picked them up, I immediately fell flat on my back, and couldn’t get up until someone lifted them off me.

So stop making fun of Mordred. It isn’t pleasant, being trapped under weighty rats.

IGoPogo4: I said the same thing yesterday. Although the past 2-3 years have been getting worse by the day, Locher gave years of good service to the strip. For some time it was a readable story and the art was more than passable. Give credit where credit is due.

wndrwrthg WINNER!

Breaking news:

Profiled: Locher ends 32 year run with Dick Tracy

Posted by Alan Gardner March 9, 2011

Editorial cartoonist Dick Locher is ending a 32 career working on the Dick Tracy comic strip. This Sunday is the last strip with Locher as the writer. The local ABC station interviewed Dick. Video is below.

None of any of this makes sense from day one !! it goes forward then backward .. I only read it to hope each day is the end…of the worst written and drawn cartoon ever in the history of cartooning…

Gould? Locher wasn’t even as good as Collins!

“Altho the last few years have seen the decline of story plotting and art, ”

What this strip needs is a writer/artist combination. let each contribute on strong points. It’s rare that content and design are united in a single individual.

Meanwhile the granary continues its Charlie Sheen impression.

Man…the new writers for this strip are going to have a hell of time picking up with any coherence from where this sorry tale is going….if they can do that, then we know the right people are in charge.

NVash said, about 20 hours ago

Is Panel 2 really showing a rat about to eat Mordreds eye? I cant believe that made it to print.

nah, Modred appears to have goggle in his mask.

rat is admiring his reflection in the goggle