Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for December 18, 2010

And Mordred’s reasons are the stuff of songs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptP0OR-e7rI

The policeman is back! I bet he’ll tell Tracy that there are four cars with flat tires ahead and Tracy will decide to turn around and try another route!

If Spacy wasn’t so senile, he’d remember to put his teeth in each day.

I third the above predictions.

What if this is a different intersection, with a different cop and blocked by four different cars with flat tires? The conspiracy against Thick could be so vast that it has unlimited resources.

I predict that ain’t a real cop.

Does Mordred really have such a dedicated fan club, to save him?

If he does, shouldn’t they be fighting now with the victims’ fan club, out to kill him?

Lazy Locher finally has Thick say something pertinent. It’s reasonable to assume that Mordred never revealed his motives to anyone. Survivors of the dead, profilers, cops and defense lawyers all want to know what motivated a killer, for different reasons. Thick could have used this trip as an opportunity to get Mordred to talk. Of course the preferred method, the one that works, is to ingratiate yourself with the killer,

Locher could have set up the arc this way. The FBI comes to Thick. They want to take advantage of his reputation; they think Mordred will talk to the famous crime-fighter. They’ll set up a situation where the two men are alone in a car, in an apparent transfer, and let Mordred think he might escape. Put off-balance, Mordred and Thick discuss murder and killing, and the doctor starts to boast. Then things go wrong.

Locher could even have used the earlier portions of this crappy arc to explore Mordred’s motives. Testicle Chin or Horn Hair could have said something about the victims: “All those kids … killed so slowly.” Or whatever works in the story. Instead the unimaginative Locher stuck to his rule of one bogus development per week, padding it out with repetitious chatter.

Hey, who made the comment in panel #3? Because that balloon-arrow isn’t pointed at Thick or Mordred’s mouth. Has one of Mordred’s allies turned up?

Back in the days of King Arthur, Mordred and his mother, Morgana didn’t exactly use normal power to get their way. They used magic, if I recall the story halfway right. I wonder if this thing Rightwing mentions is a bit of wizardry, or is it more likely just another visitation by the Locher Mess Monster.

I can’t believe events from last week are being repeated. Again.

Locher’s story telling technique, if you can call it that, is totally bizarre.

How do the FBI and the Riverside Sheriff know the man, in chains, behind that mask is Mordred who they believe he is (?)

Did Tracy go back to double check the ID ? Where is the FBI rep — they made the request (?)

Did anyone check behind the mask ? Finger print him? Perhaps one rogue decoy has outmanuvered the Sheriff, Tracy and Lizz’s three decoys. … while the real Mordred (unmasked) is taking a boat - up the river (?)

That would me a smarter plot until Tracy cleverly discovers the switch and then gets after the real killer when he discovers what the killer ‘looks’ like.

Right now he hasn’t a clue who’s behind the mask ! … and uncomfortably, neither do YOU !

Are they going to make a bathroom stop on the way ?

Have a snack and a soda pop ?

It’s these little (realistic) challenges that will indicate the degree of ‘thought’ Locher has put into the sequence.

Sydney Phillips, I’ve wondered about that earlier. The evidence suggests that it’s Mordred in the back seat, but we all know what evidence means in Locherland. That could easily be a lunatic who believes he’s Mordred, and thinks the sort of thoughts he believes Mordred would think. Or it might be a government agent, preparing to kill Thick as part of a CIA-FBI-Illuminati conspiracy to spirit away the real Mordred to work as a gummint assassin.

In the real world provisions for bodily functions don’t have to be made when the transfer is of short duration. Mordred can hold it for an hour or so. But in the real world the “sedated” patient would be accompanied by some sort of medic in case the sedation caused problems. There would be other guards as well, and they’d probably scrub the whole operation when the storm arrived.

You wouldn’t mask a sedated patient, by the way. If the drug makes him throw up, he could choke on his own Tracy before the mask could be removed and his airways cleared.

By showing the Bad Doctor in profile, panel two gives away his true identity: he’s really an escaped chimp from the Circus arc, out to get revenge on Spacey for having stolen the Pig on Wheels!

I figured out who Mordred is.

Since this is Christmas, Locher is doing a Christmas Story

. Mordred is Jacob Marley from Charles Dickens book called “Scrooge”

In the story, Jacob’s ghost appears to Scrooge covered in “Chains”.

Jacob tells Scrooge he built those chains, link by link because of what a terrible person he was in life.

Now, Jacob or Mordred might be here to save us from the pain of reading this strip everyday.

Tracy keeps complaining about the visibility, but he’s slid down in his seat so far he can’t see over the dashboard. Mind your posture, Tracy!

Come to think of it, maybe he’s the one who’s sedated. And drifting off to sleep as he drives. You know how things repeat in a dream?

-Cougar :{)

NEXT MONDAY’S STRIP:

Cop: Mordred’s all loaded up in the car, Tracy. He’s been chained up and sedated, so you should have no problems.

Tracy: I should be back to headquarters in an hour.

Liz: Isn’t this the day that Tracy is supposed to transport the prisoner?

Tess: Hey! I never gave permission for that!

Everything you say - makes pragmatic sense BillT

The Author’s problem is, that he doesn’t have (is it the skill?) or the patience - to bother structuring his story ideas in a realistic and believable fashion.

Since Mordred’s wearing that mask, all zipped up tight and all, shouldn’t his response be more like, “Oomf mff mf meemuff.?”

I think Modred is Pat Patton. He was tossed off the strip without even a retirement party and now…REVENGE!

Mordred is actually David Copperfield. There will be a puff of smoke and then all at once, the chains will be around Spacy.

“A gifted mind? I bet you say that to all the serial killers you silly!”

here was a truly gifted mind and a gift to music:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwmhhJrsBB8

RIP Captain Beefheart – boogliarize on…

To the tune of…

Mordred’s getting sentenced in the morning He’s got to be made to pay for his crime People want to shoot him, for his evil doin’ So get him to the court on time He’s got to be there in the morning Spruced up and those chains had better shine Though a storm may be raging, and Mordred misbehaving But get him to the court on time If he’s late, the judge will be awful sore If you blow it, you’ll be a detective never more Mordred’s getting sentenced in the morning Tracy, your ‘ass is on the line Take him to justice, you don’t need a compass’ And get him to the court, get him to the court on time Tracy he’s getting sentenced in the morning Hurry, your quickly running out of time We’ve drugged and we’ve chained him, Securely restrained him Now get him to the court, just get him to the court on time.

Thanks, BillT, and billdi,

Ludwig, I think you have put your finger on it, that was Locher’s big SURPRISE all along ! It’s Pat Patton **… getting revenge for the “snub” Tracy put on him on that last day on the job

http://www.gocomics.com/dicktracy/2007/02/15/

Who would have thought of it (?) You’ve let Locher’s cat right out of the bag.

wndrwrthg: Perhaps you could also compose “I’ve Grown Accustomed to His Mask”

I have an image in my mind of wndrwrthg consuming three cups of coffee and wearing a hole in the rug from going around in circles coming up with these lines. Certainly it’s not the kind of stuff you leap out of bed and throw up on the computer in only ten minutes— some thought goes into this. It amazes me to see some of these writings up before I get up, and that’s around 2:30 Chicago time.

Wonder, do you do this type of thing for a living? If not, you’ve missed your calling.

Tomorrow is recap, with the lead in for next week. Ten gets you one that the cop tells Tracy about the flat tires tomorrow. No bet at all that the Crimestoppers will be lame.

Michael McMillan, It’s so good of you to note how unique and outstanding wndrwrthg’s contributions are. He gets to the root of the day’s strip directly, and takes a telling ’bite’. That it is all done in verse, increases Locher’s fright.

Months ago, I hailed him as the Dick Tracy poet laureate, a most eminent observer … a member of the Royal House.

The only problem is, poor Dicky Locher doesn’t relish, his tilting, valedictorian joust.

Panel 3, That’s the first Raincoat I’ve seen that looks like a London Mini Skirt

When you get tired of this dreck:

http://www.ilovecomixarchive.com/D/Dick-Tracy