Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for February 23, 2011

Be anonymous. Go around with a hideous mask. Can’t they just kill each other and get this over? Please.

Yeah, that gimp mask does a real good job of making Morbid look anonymous. That must be why the Feds let him keep it. Makes real sense, Locher.

Meanwhile, Locher, look at your forearm. See that thing at its end? No, not your elbow, which you can’t tell from your bleeep anyway. The other end. It’s called a hand. Take a good look at it. Then go to art school and learn how to draw one. Along the way you may notice it ain’t attached to your shoulder.

This is as dumb as a sack of rocks, which is probably the secret of the gimp mask.

What happened to yesterday’s finger on the zipper? True to form, Gypsy Rose Locher is taunting us with non-revelations. I’d say he’s doing a fan dance,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lot27raJ6uw

but unlike an honest peeler he has nothing worth looking at. And when you get down to it, no fans.

I do like Dr. M’s change of clothes. Very natty.

If he did show you his face Tracy that might help you stay awake for quite some time.

Don’t ask, thick, take action! Rip off his mask! Here’s how it’s done:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sa3bHKWZoJg

And if anyone can outperform Mary Philbin, it’s Thick.

By the way, yesterday the floor was dry. What happened to the water–oh, skip it.

I still want to know what he got his doctorate in, what third rate diploma mill granted it, and whether Locher studied art there.

Gee, I wonder what the weathers like outside…

So Locher wants us to believe Mordred was a gangsta in his youth? He seems awfully well-spoken for a gangster. What gang was he in, the Yale Whiffenpoofs?

BillThompson said, “Yeah, that gimp mask does a real good job of making Morbid look anonymous. That must be why the Feds let him keep it …” Not just the Feds, the courts who were supposed to have sentenced hiom would have been somewhat remiss as well.

Hey, how did Mordred get his hands on my old leisure jacket?

And what about that chirping noise? Must have been that helicopter over at Mark Trail.

prrdh is right about the source of the chirping. They’re on the way to Chicago:

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

and they have much in common with Locher, who’s about as welcome as a plague of locusts.

Pardon my interruption, but have a niggling idea: what if Mordred actually looks like Tracy?

Mordred probably looks like Downwind Jackson. ;)

In other news, the new team makes the LA Times:

http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2011/02/21/dick-tracy-is-there-a-fedora-future-for-the-80-year-old-icon/

Tracy, the kind cop, will not only arrest you, he will understand you.

I’ve thought all this time that the mask was part of the security system, like in Silence of the Lambs. Now we find out that Dr M wears it all the time. He must even had worn it during his trial, since Dick doesn’t know what he looks like. This is juuuuuust a liiiiiitle unbelievable.

Yesterday he started unzipping the mask. Today it’s still zipped. Another inconsistency.

M. Mitchell Marmel said, 16 minutes ago

In other news, the new team makes the LA Times:

http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2011/02/21/dick-tracy-is-there-a-fedora-future-for-the-80-year-old-icon/ ——————————————————————–

They’ve illustrated that article with Locher’s most recent Sunday installment! How many readers will wrongly assume this is a preview of the new team’s work? Horrors!

When Johnny Mordred was just a lad Everyone knew he would grow up bad He was always pulling wings off of flies And running around telling awful lies Smoking corn silk out behind the barn About rules he really didn’t give a .darn He’d never fail to slam the door On his way out to knock over a liquor store But he wanted to make his momma proud Do something to make him stand out from the crowd He enrolled in a university that was online Just get his doctorate and things would be fine So he figured, “hey, what the heck” “I’ll go to this one run by a guy named Beck” But these juvenile pursuits soon gave way When his first man he did slay A rare killer with plenty of compassion Who agonized as he butchered his victims in a gruesome fashion With plenty of heart (look in the icebox) and motives obscure He’d cut your throat with a smile, of that you can be sure But the law finally caught up with him Now he has a choice to either sink or swim So many days spent in constant chatter It’s enough to drive us mad as a hatter And to think the best of the story is in the past With the worst of it is coming up relatively fast.

Thank you, g6793, BillT and woodworker318, for your comments the other day.

That was a great song BillT.

Aren’t serial killers almost always loners? Ted Bundy didn’t run with a gun-and-drug crowd.

A modest plot summary of our continuing saga:

ACT ONE: DICK TRACY GETS INTO A CAR

11/24: Liz announces that a serial killer has been captured. 11/25: Liz announces that the killer who has been captured is no ordinary serial killer. 11/26: Liz explains that the serial killer who has been captured has serially killed people, and goes by a name, “Dr. Mordred.” 11/27: Liz informs Tracy that this serial killer seems to be a very bad person. 11/28: Liz announces that Tracy will transfer this serial killer to captivity, and tells Tracy this serial killer is in fact the dreaded “Dr. Mordred.” Tracy is shocked to hear that the serial killer who has already been named as “Dr. Mordred” is none other than the dreaded “Dr. Mordred,” who is a very bad person. 11/29: Liz tells Tracy he will be taking part in a transfer of this imprisoned serial killer. 11/30: Liz tells Tracy this transfer will protect the serial killer from retaliation from the victims’ family members. 12/1: Liz tells Tracy there will be decoys pretending to be the serial killer and his captors. 12/2: Liz tells Tracy this transfer of the imprisoned serial killer, who is a very bad person, will be dangerous. 12/3: Liz tells Tracy it is time to get started, and this transfer of the imprisoned serial killer will be dangerous. 12/4: Liz tells Tracy that the serial killer will be bound in chains. 12/5: Policemen explain to one another that Tracy is going to take part in the transfer of the imprisoned serial killer. Tracy drives away with the serial killer. 12/6: Tracy is introduced to the serial killer, and told to drive him away. 12/7: Tracy prepares to drive away with the serial killer. He is told the killer is chained. And also handcuffed and sedated. 12/8: Tracy drives away with the serial killer, and asks him why he serially killed people.

Tune in tomorrow for the summary of ACT TWO: DICK TRACY DRIVES THE CAR INTO A LAKE

FlightSuit: the LA Times does at least start the article with the splash panel as drawn by the new team (note the difference in the shape of Tracy’s nose). After that, they illustrate the article with an old comic-book cover, a poster for the Warren Beatty movie, and a recent Locher strip. Would have been nice if they’d labeled the illustrations, though.

Yeah yesterday thick was unzipping froggy’s mask (those two scamps are so cute and playful!) and he even had his finger in froggy’s mouth. today he’s telling him to …

“take it off, take it all off!” that’s because “my men wear gimp masks or they wear nothing at all.”

thanks for the links BT MMM and flight suit; ww– another good one

WW You’ve don it again. If you want to know what happened to water on the floor, just wait until tomorrow when we are shone how bad the storm is and how high the waves are. We can’t go too many days or we will forget how bad it is. The storm that is.

Artist Joe Staton of the new team in the above LA Times article: “JS: We pick up from the current narrative and we accept all that has gone before, but there is a moment very early when the observant reader will understand that we have to some degree hit ‘reset’.” (my bold)

Hurray!

“Reset” could be a good thing….

Mordred is inhuman, scum, awful, loser…..

buuuuuuut, we’ll let him keep the mask because it is SO ADORABLE!

The chains must have been Mordred’s idea as well.

Great one, Wonder Warthog! That on-line university explains a lot about “Doctor” Mordred. He obviously learned how to be incoherent from a master. Glad you enjoyed the song, too.

———————————————————-

Here’s a thought: What if Locher doesn’t plan to end this arc? What if he leaves Staton and Curtis with this trainwreck on their hands? Then Locher can say “I had a brilliant plan to end the story, but TMS suddenly took the job from me–and these young whippersnappers cooked up some idiocy that made me look like a fool!”

How did Al Capp do it? How did he peer through the mists of time, foresee this arc, and show the Locher Mess Monster how to handle this very situation? And how did he manage to give a chair more personality than Thick and Mordred combined:

http://tinyurl.com/4vlcxr5

Bill: This is why Capp is hailed as a genius, while the Locher Mess Monster…well.

WW: Another brilliant opus! Bravissimo! :D

Thick’s got this fixation on zippers………. I dunno what to say about that boy!

BillThompson said, “How did Al Capp do it? How did he peer through the mists of time, foresee this arc, and show the Locher Mess Monster how to handle this very situation? And how did he manage to give a chair more personality than Thick and Mordred combined:”

I thought the same thing when I read Feerless Fosdick this morning! I suspect that Dick Locher got the idea from reading old Fosdick strips!

Flight Suit underestimates gangsta eloquence. Snoop Dog and Ice T are very well spoken.

New guys; Just don’t “reset” to 60s, not CG’s best. If you create a series of villains and stories like Empty’s, this strip will take a GIGANTIC leap forward. The Title page is already an improvement.

how is he pointing with a foot for a hand?