Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for January 12, 2012

Don’t forget the autograph.

Good morning, all!

The 3rd panel is “touching.”

I really like today’s dialogue, and Joe’s art (especially Spike’s body language in panels 1 and 2) is terrific.

Nice touch from Dad – but I think Spike Jr. is already into too deep!!!

In 1972, a friend of mine was touring a band for Columbia Records of Canda.

I travelled with them over the summer of ’72 before I went to College in the fall.

Back then, radio stations in Canada were supposed to program 33.3% of air time during the day to Canadian Talent.

It was felt that American and British Bands were squeezing out talent from Canada from being played on radio.

Our bus had crossed over the prairies & we were entering the mountains of British Columbia.

The band was travelling in an old bus converted into band storage, sleeping quarters and a common area.

One thing I noticed, even though it was summer, the temperature was dropping as we climbed up the mountains.

It was about 3:00 a.m. when there was police lights flashing behind us.

There was a small quanity of “Weed” on the bus which one the “roadies” consumed.

He did what he could, so no one would get in trouble.

The sacrifice that man made was beyond the call of duty.

Expecting the RCMP, were we surprised it was the British Columbia Provincial Fruit Board checking for illegal fresh fruit being smuggled into British Columbia.

It is the same as trying to bring fruit into California.

We had a good laugh and our “Roadie” slept the rest of the trip.

hmm…i’m trying to guess what band was on columbia from canada in the early ’70’s…can’t be edward bear, they were on capitol. not the guess who, either. they were on rca….would’nt be mashmakhan, would it? they were from canada, though they were on epic here. the year would be about right, though. “as the years go by” was out about that time.

Very simple and touching strip. I wonder if Spike could be putting some sort of tracking device on his son in the last panel?

I have a bad premonition about young Spike Jr. I hope he survives the coming ordeal….

Always worth remembering that sometimes the wrong people die in this strip. Anyone remember the Summer Sisters?

Even though I prefer B&W, the color here is much better than at Comics Kingdom.

the art is outstanding

Spike could be a good Frank Gorshin “Riddler” if he wanted to.

Spike’s suit has the ability to “change its spots”.

@cockerham2…or Matthew Lesko.

Amazingly artistic in story, dialogue and rendering.

Wow.

This strip is great.

Excellent art today. You can see how much Spike cares for and worries about his son just from the art, much less the dialogue. A very emotional strip—excellent story telling all around.

I’ll agree with you on the blue at least. I am really growing to despise that color choice. The colorist uses it for every pane of glass in the strip, or on night scenes. Spike is standing in the doorway. His legs are hidden by the chair, but you can see his hand holding the doorknob. He should be colored like he is in the other panels, wearing a red coat and orange hair, but instead he is all blue. This makes him look like he is standing outside and implies that SoS likes to leave his door open in the winter time. FAIL!I also don’t want this person painting the walls in my house. Way to much purple and green.@knightwatchmanI agree the spots on SoS’s “Wonder Bread” coat change color in every panel. Of course without a model sheet to work from the colorist has no idea what color they should be I personally am happy that they are red, green, yellow, and blue. We could have been treated to purple, brown, orange, and pink.

Matt,.Re your comment below:.“Today is a GREAT example of WHY the coloring of B/W dailies is WRONG on so many levels.”.With only a few exceptions, you’re preaching to the choir. Most people here don’t like the “colorized” daily strips..But it doesn’t seem to be going away, so there’s really no point mentioning it anymore..So I suggest you do what I do. Read the strip at ComicStripNation or the Houston CHRONICLE site, and come here for the conversation.

I am looking at the large half circle on his right lapel (viewer left). In panel one it is red, in panel two it is green, and in panel three it is blue.The large spot on his left shoulder (viewer right) is green in the first panel and blue in the second, Spikes hand covers it in the third.I am aware that this is only two examples, I chose them because they are large and easily visible. To be fair the yellow-blue-yellow-green string of dots on his right lapel (viewer left of his tie) does seem to stay the same in the first two panels.I really don’t care about the dot placement and color. I think the intent is to tell the viewer that this jacket is LOUD, something that we all definitely picked up on.

Oh, I also forgot to mention. It isn’t night time. I believe Spike left the Police Station in the afternoon, probably around 4:30pm. Honeymoon likes to drop by the station after school and have her Judo lesson with Lizz. The passage of time is intentionally vague in comics, but my guess is that it isn’t even 5:00pm yet.