Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for January 17, 2010

That’s a very useful installment of Disaster Preparedness Textbook.

In other news, look at the last two panels:

It appears that this alien predator girl’s hair-mandibles flare to accentuate certain conversational points.

I’m also loving this new, shirtless, headbanded band member, who appears to be an escapee from Dexy’s Midnight Runners or the J Geils Band or something.

Along with the emergency lighting, you might want to have some batteries and matches (shudder) on hand.

Everything’s falling into place now. More petifors, please.

Groan.

Aha, an invitation for strings….. And bring on the champagne to go with those petifors.

This is beginning to get interesting now. Hope the excitement doesn’t keep me awake. Shouldn’t have eaten all those petifors at bedtime. Maybe a glass of margueritem’s champagne would help me sleep.

Looking around police headquarters… Is the door attached to a wall? It appears to be free-standing on the floor and what are the two rectangular frames on the pole?

VistaBill two glasses would work better.

Interesting that the old-school monitors at the station have made a return, as if someone was reading the comments. When is the last time the monitors on a pole was seen in a strip?

Granted, they are not attached to anything and contrast to the non-Euclidean windows, but I understand and appreciate the intent, no matter how poorly executed.

Nothing change in in this strip.

Panel 2. Well, the Gould type TV monitors on poles have returned. In fact, there a 4 screens present in this panel. 2 computers, 2 TV screens. No images on any of them, but 4 screens are present, none the less. Sigh.

Crimestoppers: One emergency light would probably be enough.

I have one in the bathroom because it has no windows and becomes the darkest room in the place if power goes out. Any other room has light coming in from somewhere.

Flightsuit Said:I’m also loving this new, shirtless, headbanded band member, who appears to be an escapee from Dexy’s Midnight Runners or the J Geils Band or something

That’s the lead singer from the Bay City Rollers dude!

And make them play together! (See Richard Strauss’ “Ariadne auf Naxos”.)

How do they decide which characters have lips (The Ambassador & Virgil Ohso) and which ones don’t?

margueritem said, “VistaBill two glasses would work better”

Not at my age, margueritem!

They’ll open up with “The Devil Goes Down to Georgia”.

Dick Tracy gets a ticket to see the train wreck that’s about to happen. I can hardly wait.

A rare sighting, those old-school “monitor screens” and like Tracy’s yellow ”hat” … indeed, all “Blue Moon” events in today’s Dick Tracy.

The art in the panel is scraggly … and I’d have thought Locher’s rough penciling “inked” over as it came, were it not for the hands which look closer to normal size.

The monitor screens to the left all seem to be showing that New Mexico desert we’ve been seeing over in Annie. A subconscious cry for HELP?

We’re into mid January and the hat hasn’t appeared for the season yet, apparently to reinforce and quietly ram home Locher’s misguided (fashion relevant?) idea of what the modern hero should look like. While, as he fiddles around. he lacks the real cajones to change the masthead’s Sunday logo currently showing the hat.

I dare him to try to change that.

ChubsyUbsy said, “Why is the ambassador dressed up in a doorman’s uniform?”

He works part-time at the Ritz Hotel.

Dick “Captain Obvious” Locher is certainly weaving quite the story here.

I can’t help but think that the fundie-christian far-right Locher’s overall message will turn out to be that “American rock” is the music of Satan.

This has been dragging on so long, I have forgotten how it started.

N7326 Foxtrot said, about 1 hour ago This has been dragging on so long, I have forgotten how it started.

Come back in a month or two for the next twist in this wretched plot..

This is obvious foreshadowing. I dig it.

For crimestoppers there fairly on target. I used to live in a small town either two things happen two block area would loose power from transformer means a squirrel got fried or some animal or idiot lose control of vehicle by speeding/or roads icy and a bigger area two small towns and surround would go out. Imagine total darkness. Even rooms you think would have enough light wouldn’t, and when dark out no light inside you would feel your way around your surroundings. This could be an interesting concert and easy on the ears since we commentors won’t be able to hear music and I can’t read any music notes.

Somewhere Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood are smiling.

N7326 Foxtrot, observing Wabucks cigar in hand, said over on the Annie board :

”I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much smoke come from one little Cigar”

Sam Catchem immediately came to mind, a one time, “two-at-a-time” chain smoker. I believe it was Collins who first imposed his personal moralistic standards of behavior on Sam (an “amputation” of personality) and to a lesser extent all the other HQ characters, Back then (1978), Diet with “cigar” seemed to be the lone exception. Everyone else (Patton, Lizz, Junior) became instant apostles of Mr.Clean.

As a former smoker I can imagine the anguish and severe withdrawal symptoms Sam experienced doing it “cold turkey” under “Clean-as-a-whistle Collins’” sanctimonious health standards.

One would have thought that in comic strip terms this principled behavior (exemplary for young readers) almost assured a long life for Sam in the strip. But as we all know it was not to be. Locher in his ebb and flow struggle to be a writer has “discarded” much that worked so well in the past, and now, ”ever so quietly” … has slipped the knife into Sam’s rib cage.

Fortunately, it’s all been “off camera”, he’s just resting in a coffin, forgotten, until a skilled Writer who knows his onions (and a good character when he sees one), comes along for the resurrection.

The only thing that has gone to “POT” is Locher’s reputation.

Almost no need to add that under the “revisionism” regime later imposed Locher (and I’ll add Kilian) Lizz lost all her “know how” as the department best shot, any knowledge of “martial art” skills (she was slapped around by Cole Lector - 2008)

And then all her rude changed to prude, flashy leg and ankle displays gone, and mini shirt hem lines crashing rapidly below the knees.

That guy in the fourth panel had better trade in his kiddie guitar for a grown-up instrument before the gig starts.

channce said, “Vista Bill, I was half drowsy when I read your first post and thought you had written excrement instead of excitement. Perhaps that is a Freudian clue suggesting my opinion of the current quality of this strip. I just can’t resist the cleverness of some of the comments, however.”

It’s all in ones mind. I often think I see something that isn’t. Perhaps we read Dick Tracy too often.

VistaBill and Maxine Viller, thank you for your comments yesterday.

Joe-Allen “Joe” Doty said, 8 minutes ago On the TV series shows, Smallville and NUMB3RS, they use monitors like you see in today’s strip.

Yellow white & Blue?

Joe-Allen “Joe” Doty said, “On the TV series shows, Smallville and NUMB3RS, they use monitors like you see in today’s strip.”

Thanks. I watch Green Acres and The Addams Family. I like Arnold on Green Acres. Maybe that’s why I like the Pig on Wheels so much!