Recent Comments

1. over 8 years ago on Dick Tracy

   @cpalmeresq; do you think this is only going to be an interlude? I would guess there’s going to some more development; maybe one of the classic villains who hasn’t yet shuffled off this mortal coil will become obsessed with the “Midnite Mirror” film, since it gives him an opportunity to see Tracy killed in the end, and….

2. about 13 years ago on Dick Tracy

   Really nice work (as the overwhelming consensus has it); those sharp, clean lines are a pleasure to look at.

   I was really hoping, though, that the emergency call would go something like “It’s bad news, Dick; Internal Affairs isn’t buying that ‘eaten by rats’ story. Not buying it at all. In fact they say your whole account makes less sense than the latest Fearless Fosdick episode in Li’l Abner. And I just can’t argue with that, can I?”

3. about 13 years ago on Dick Tracy

   How much high-speed excitement can you pack into 110 days of cartooning? If you’re Locher and Brozman, you can give us the thrill of:

   Dick Tracy gets into a car! (15 days) Dick Tracy drives the car into a lake! (17 days) Tracy and his prisoner get out of the lake! (21 days) Tracy and the prisoner exchange taunts and threats! (40 days and 40 nights) Rats tap-dance around the prisoner! (16 days) The end.

4. about 13 years ago on Dick Tracy

   Safeway, I’ll tell you the plot:

   Tracy and Mordred get in a car, which Tracy drives into a lake. Tracy and Mordred get out of the lake and walk to an old granary. They fight a little and talk a lot, until the rats show up.

   And it has taken over one hundred days to tell this story.

5. about 13 years ago on Dick Tracy

   Not to go all PETA on anybody’s a**, but none of the rats are pictured as even preparing to bite anything. The only thing they seem to be doing so far is laughing, dancing and taunting Tracy for the impotence of his big piece.

   Well, I guess that is a death-penalty offense for Mr. Dick.

6. about 13 years ago on Dick Tracy

   Flight Suit: “You have got to be effing kidding me” is precisely what the rat in panel two seems to be saying.

7. about 13 years ago on Dick Tracy

   Having too much free time, as usual, I got to wondering what would be the fastest way for this strip to have gotten where it’s gotten to now.

   Day One: Liz: “Dick, you’re going to be transporting a prisoner for sentencing. He’s a serial killer known as Dr. Mordred.” (Closeup of Mordred in suit & mask.)

   Day Two: Policeman hands Mordred, in chains, over to Tracy. “Keep alert now; even with the chains, he’s dangerous.” Tracy drives off. Rain picks up.

   Day Three: Tracy remarks on the storm. “Look out!” cries Mordred. Car goes into the lake.

   Day Four: Tracy punches out the window, drags Mordred out of the lake.

   Day Five: Tracy and Mordred walk through the rain, spot the granary, go inside.

   Day Six: Tracy and Mordred exchange taunts. Mordred throws off his chains and lunges towards Tracy.

   SUNDAY: Tracy fights off Mordred and asks him to take off the mask. Mordred is about to when: RATS!

   Did I miss anything? I mean, anything that counts, which doesn’t include Mordred’s invisible accomplices, or the no-show AWACS plane, or Mordred taking off the mask then putting it on again without us seeing it. It could be done in seven days. Locher has taken NINETY-NINE DAYS to get to the same point. This strip is traveling at ONE FOURTEENTH normal speed. That’s like… the hundred yard dash in two minutes and twenty seconds! The Super-Bowl halftime show, taking fifteen hours! The Oscars, three days and three nights!

8. about 13 years ago on Dick Tracy

   How will Locher put off showing The Monster’s face in the next week’s strips?

   2/27: Flashback Sunday, so we get shown the storm intensifying, Tracy and Mordred doing the dozens, and Tracy telling Mordred to take off his mask.

   2/28 Sam skids on the wet road. Liz silently prays for Tracy to be OK. Mordred, back still to us, taunts Tracy for being shocked at his face.

   3/1 Close-up on Tracy, who admits being shocked. Sam recovers from the skid. Liz asks what’s holding up the magic AWACS plane.

   3/2 Sam says “whoa, that was a close one”. 2nd policeman reminds Liz that they don’t know what’s happening to the plane because it’s raining too hard to communicate. Close-up on Tracy, who says “looks like you caught a bad break, but…”

   3/3 Close-up on Tracy, who says “Lots of people caught bad breaks.” Close-up on Tracy, who says “But they didn’t become killers.” Sam stops the car, looks at something, says “Wait a minute!”

   3/4 Sam gets out of the car, says “I wonder if…” Policeman 3 comes running into headquarters, tells Liz the AWACS plane can’t get through the intensity of the storm. Sam bends down to inspect something, thinks “This could be it!”

   3/5 Tracy speaks to Mordred’s back: “Don’t think you’re entitled to pity, Mordred!” Mordred’s back replies “Hee hee HEE! Oh, Tracy! You think I’m asking for pity?” Liz tells Policeman 3 “Then it’s all up to Sam.”

9. about 13 years ago on Dick Tracy

   “But let’s be optimistic; if he isn’t alive, all his troubles are over!”

10. about 13 years ago on Dick Tracy

    Trying to follow Mordred’s logic here. “Now that you know I’m a monster, you realize that you’re not leaving here alive” =

    1) “Now that you see how ugly my face is, you must realize that I’m the kind of person who is capable of killing. I know you’ve been told I’m a serial killer thirty-seven times since this whole misbegotten story began, but this face REALLY proves it!”

    2) “Now that you see how ugly my face is, you understand I can’t let you live and share this information with anybody else. I might have been willing to let you live and go quietly to my execution before, but it would just be too embarrassing to think of you making ‘he’s so ugly that…’ jokes with Sam and Liz.”

    3) “Now that you see how ugly my face is, you understand that I am a monster, and as such have the unstoppable strength of one, like Frankenstein’s creature. I was only playing around before, with that ‘strangle you with my chains’ bit, but clearly I can twist your head off with one misshapen hand.”