Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for May 20, 2009

Who are those strangers in the first panel? I have never seen their like in this strip.

Jack appears to be croaked. That’ll save the taxpayers expense of a trial, for sure.

Nice. Now for the facts:

There is no casino in Naperville. The nearest one is in Aurora, next town over, and I doubt that Aurora’s police would appreciate a Naperville dtective coming in and busting up the place on a one-man job like that. Under the circumstances, I would expect Tracy to be arrested immediately. He’s just been police, judge, jury and executioner, and there’s nowhere in the states– even including Chicago with their notoriously rough police— where you get to do that without facing some serious investigation. OK, maybe in Bolingbrook where they just arrested a seargent for suspected murder of his third wife, but even there somebody would have investigated Tracy’s methods before now. (Bolingbrook doesn’t have a casino either.)

This is the backup Tracy called for 10 weeks ago!!

Tracy’s in the wrong business. With a left hook like that (killing Jack), he needs to get in the ring and make some serious money.

I asked this already with no response. Where does the bank statement/credit card issue that had Tess all worked up fit into this story?? Did I miss something? Also, is One Eye dead in the last panel, or does he have one more “TRICK” up his sleeve with that open eye?

Mattaden65 says: is One Eye dead in the last panel, or does he have one more “TRICK” up his sleeve with that open eye? That’s very prophetic, if anybody has been reading ahead with the “sample strips” on TMS’ Brozman bio page…

Wndrwrthg has a point. I believe the last a policeman had a speaking part in this strip was Groovy Groove back in the early 80s. And it is obvious that Jack is not dead; he does not have an ‘X’ over his eye.

Okay, are the artists mocking us or themselves? I see that the focus of Panel #2 is Tracy’s hand. I am impressed that it actually appears to have the appropriate number of fingers and its facing the right way. It is a little small, but beggers can’t be choosers.

Does the cop in Panel #1 have a radio on top of his shoulder??

Dash it! Obama has killed Dick Locher’s business opportunity with his remarks about NOT spending “dimes” in Las Vegas!

After all that effort, any idea of selling a “Gambler’s Phrase Booklet” to help buyers impress others that they’re an ‘old hand’ in the game, is now, in the wake of that Barack’s “O’bark” a dead bet!

It must have taken Dicky quite a while to collect, re-invent and compile so many street smart “quips” to impress others. Sorry Dick !

Then, the “spectacle” of calling in “back up” when it’s all over. But bleeep it! Perhaps not so about “..last bet covered”! Yes! We all see some faking there with One-eye’s, one eye, open in panel three? More to come!

Cretit Card scam? FBI tax report? Sorry, as I’ve noted before those are all the “usual” senseless, Locher “dead end” turns. You’ll never hear anything more about them again.

With Locher’s achilles heel defect in drawing Hands, you’d have thought TMS would have ensured Brozman could do them right! Not so. What you “see” is what you get!

The shield on the cop’s hat in Panel #1 looks like a Transformer’s logo…. Hmmm - “more than meets the eye”. Now, that crossover would breathe some life into the strip!

Wow, does everyone else have a new look to the site or was my coffee too strong this morning?

“Matters seem to be in hand, sergeant” “Oh yeah, who’s your daddy, who’s your daddy”? “Umm, Sarge, why are you pointing your gun at me”?

Thus ended Dicks short career as a Rapper!

BB

Tracy was able to correctly identify the person in panel 1 as a police officer. Sadly, I thought it was a gun-toting chef with an alien growing on his shoulder. Between the pose in panel 2 and the joke in panel 3, my conclusion is that DT doesn’t quite understand the concept of a knock-knock joke.

Bassman Bob: The new features to the site were a surprise, but I think I like the change!

Richard, You probably already know, but the radio on the shoulder has been an English thing for the last ten years or so. Perhaps it has just been introduced in Naperville and SO, Dickey has the update right in the strip.

Rather “regressive” though, back in the seventies Gould had Uniformed Officers using the 2-Way Wrist TVs. Today, they dont. Two years ago Locher had Tracy using a “Cellphone” more often that the Wrist Gee Nee. To him tat must have been the MODERN badge (?)

Then, further, flipping through the same “seventies” strips there was an Air Car Port jutting out of a high-rise Police HQ building showing several smaller sky scrapers below. That was the Dick Tracy of THIRTY FIVE years ago. Where does Dick Locher see us all going UP or DOWN?

Today Head Quarters is a modest 2 story building. I’m told patter,ned after one in Naperville. I guess it’s considerably more important to “impress” the “suburban” officers near HOME than his regular readers across America. It’s not the first time he has used the strip to lean in that direction.

Even the insides of the HQ are depicted these days in a spartan, low budget manner. All Gone, are the impressive display banks of TV monitors and other modern high-tec equiptment. (?) Things are so bad at times he has Tracy working alone and “back up” fails to arrive on occasion.

Even GO Comics has introduced more modern print on their board. It’s another “signal” flag to tell “Tin Cup” Dick he’s gallowping in the wrong direction .

Woe is me, the man can’t see !

I thought sergeants had chevrons (stripes) on their sleeves. Is the cop an intruder? Or does Tracy need glasses to see his rank?

Hey- I just noticed the “genius” tag. There must be something wrong. There is only one “genius”, and that is Mattie. Ask him if you don’t believe me!

Morrow, you are so right. I’ll just continue going through life as an uninformed magpie. Life is so much easier that way!!