Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for November 27, 2019

The Plot Thickens …

Good morning™, nitpickers!

Today, we have an actual mistake by Team Tracy and not by the colorist at GoComics.

The first line has to be spoken by Tracy or it doesn’t make sense. The second line should be spoken by Steve.

Anyway, apparently the pair go way back with Tulza Tuzon (second mistake: it says Tuson).

Makes sense.

“Tucson” is a place name …

… and someone here noted that Roper/Nomad often fought foes whose names were references to specific locales. ✨❤️✨

I’m getting confused with these confounding dialogues.

Good morning™, bad script writers !

Is left facing fireguy putting a kink in the hose ?  I think the yellow doo dad under his chin is supposed to be a clasp that pulls the collar halves together but looks more like a clamp on his jaw. (Somebody had to say something that doesn’t have to do with the police work being attempted here. )

Curious. I don’t know these characters, but if they’re from King Features, they’d have to be used in a temporary licensing agreement. Making them a part of the past of a Dick Tracy villain would seem to anchor them to the Dick Tracy world in a greater way than I thought such an agreement would allow.

First panel: the word balloons are improperly placed and pointing at the wrong people.

Next “Cher” will show up singing “Gypsy, Tramps, and Thieves!!!”

WOW, WHAT A FABULOUS STRIP TODAY!

The intensity, the drama, the action, the dialogue, the drawing, the coloring! The beautifully placed word balloons, Perfection!!!!!!!

(my two posts from yesterday mysteriously disappeared. “Did I do that?”

I suppose it doesn’t hurt to give them what they want once in a while).

I like the firefighters in the foreground in the final panel. The visual variety shows them hard at work in tough conditions. Dick, Sam, Steve, and Mike shift to the background in silhouette. I believe Roper has a tale to tell.

1-DT: This near-death experience – well, for Sam anyway – has caused me to rethink my whole life. Changes start now beginning with a new rakish angle for my hat. Whadaya think?

CAPTAIN: Ummm.

2-SAM: Why mess with perfection, Tracy?

DT: You’re right Sam! Why would I change just because of a little thing like your death. Oh. By the way, glad you’re feeling better.

SAM: Am I? Or has this unfortunate experience changed me into the latest super villain as similar experiences have changed so many previously good and upstanding citizens? Splitface for example. From now on, call me…

3-DT: Knock it off and go help the firemen with their long hoses. I bet they’re hot under those heavy outfits. Did you know that they slide down long poles? At the fire station I mean. And live together like the Spartans of old. Nevermind Sam. I’ll help ‘em…

i’m gonna have to ticket you for littering .

The firefighter in the 3rd panel looks weird, like his head was pasted on a different body.

As the mistakes compound and the Siam Hotel burns, Dick, Sam, Steve, and Mike casually chat. It must be a secret code so you don’t know who’s talking with whom. Who is doing this strip now? This certainly looks too sloppy for three-time Harvey winners.

Has the team become too disinterested in the strip to do a good job? GoComic errors aside, how much time does it take to proofread what, in totality, amounts to about a paragraph a day? …to look over the drawings? …to devise a coherent plot with logical action?

I know, perhaps we need a new pointless Minit Mystery to interrupt this pointless crossover—maybe one featuring cosplay.

Come on, guys. We’re loyal readers who love the strip and want to stand by you and support your work but you’re making it hard.

Sam dresses like ‘70s era pimp.

Anyone need a part time job? It appears Dicko needs either an editor or a proof reader. Or maybe a ventriloquist? Sloppy

Haf n Haf had another accident? He really should be more careful.

I’m interested in the backstory on how Split Face, Steve Roper, and Mike Nomad met up…

“We used to call him 20% back in those days. Worst case of acne you ever saw.”

Bunch of drama queen commenters here…..this is still an excellent strip and if an error here or there upsets you so much maybe you should skip reading this and see what Dick, Jane, and Spot are up to….

This strip is getting to a point where 90% of the readers are picky, complainers. I’m at the point in just viewing the strip and not going to comments, thanks to the spoilers.

Mike has apologized over on that social networking site for the misplaced speech balloon (panel 1) that, as he says, everyone missed today. That first bit of dialogue should be Tracy’s, and the second balloon is Roper’s. But I think most readers here could figure that out for themselves.

What we do learn that is helpful, but in need of further expatiation, is that Roper and Nomad knew Tulza before he became Haf and Haf (panel 3). This will go far toward explaining what brought them to Tracyville.

I like how Joe has foregrounded the firefighters in panel 3, too….