Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for August 21, 2009

I keep tellin’ ya, it’s moi, the elephant girl!

*BB*, I would have the story advance on a daily basis, and I would have a well conceived plot. I’m thinking of ‘Annie’ right now. The plot advances daily, the drawings are consistant, and the characters are interesting. There are some truly far out elements in the plots, such as ‘Doris the saurus’, but they just add to the fun.

What would you do?

Margueritem, are you riding an elephant with one white leg and 2 black legs??

I would prefer some logic to the plot, take for example this “clue”. If indeed it is someone at the circus, then they know that it was the murder of the aerial performer that brought the police. The fact that the murderer chose to execute their plan makes no sense for a second note. YOU CANNOT HIDE A MURDER THAT OCCURS IN FRONT OF TENS FROM THE POLICE. I can overlook most mistakes made in the art, but cannot tolerate this glaring absence of any logic to the plot.

leakysqueaky712, why yes. He suffers from an unfortunate skin condition, very similar to the late Michael Jackson’s.

MORE LAMENESS!!! Stupidity Alert!!

I don’t think the elephant can manage the scissors.

Tracy looks constipated in the second panel.

I’m sure DT will solve this before the Christmas holidays.

It’s not just Tracy that’s constipated, the plot is as well. If Lewreader is right, then bring on Christmas!

The elephant’s ears look all wrong - I think it’s because they are sticking up and outwards, and they look more like a moth-eaten maple leaf than jumbo ears.

I am still waiting for Tracy to find out who first delivered the note, or did I miss that bit?

Lewreader said, about 2 hours ago, “I’m sure DT will solve this before the Christmas holidays”

Of which year?

I agree with jumbobrain’s comments about the Phantom yesterday. Nowadays, DePaul and Ryan do a superb job.

As for Dick Tracy, don’t you recognize parody? This one even takes it to new heights, . . oops, . . depths. Aren’t we lucky!

“I don’t care if there was a murder! I don’t care that the crowd has all gone! I’m the elephant girl, and I’m going to stay up here! Can you pass my dinner up?”

neonleon thank you for asking that. I was thinking this Christmas was way to soon to get an ending for this.

Please this has gone on long enough !

What would I do to save the strip?

Last time I checked, the syndicate charges each newspaper about $30 a week for a strip, of which the artist(s) get half. At 50 papers, thats $350 a week for each of the two artists. That’s not really enough for either of them to bother spending more than a few hours a day on it.

So the primary change I would make would be to assign the strip to a single person, who wouldn’t have to split the money and therefore would be more likely to put more time and effort into the strip.

Right Bracy, the “playbill” was only handed out to everyone at the circus. Anyhow, how can Bracy tell it’s from the latest one? This strip just gets worse by the day.

I think all the people at the print shop should be under suspicion as well.

Actual contents of most recent playbill: “See a performer murdered before your very eyes! One show only!”

If there were anything interesting going on we wouldn’t be paying so much attention to things like louvers on Tracy’s collar and how short the ringmaster’s arms are. In fact if there were anything interesting going on the drawing could be sketchy, even bad, and the strip could still be successful.

I notice comments on other strips pointing out mistakes but in a good-natured friendly way, and sometimes the cartoonist will post and say “Oops, I screwed that one up,” and people go right on reading and enjoying. Of course most of them don’t have grotesqueries on a regular basis, but even so – a cartoonist can get away with a lot, if the story is interesting. That’s the real problem with Dick Tracy these days.

-Cougar :{)

The elephant did it!! The motive is MORE PEANUTS!

Change the strip, sure. First I would drastically improve the villains, and since I won a Create a Villain contest in Dick Tracy Magazine, I have a store of them. (I’m not a cartoonist) Secondly, the pacing would move. There has been little to no progress in the present arc for at least two weeks. Also I’d use the “chases” the hero in jeopardy, the supporting characters. I haven’t for instance, seen Sam, Junior, or even much of Liz(z) in months. Is that a start??

jtpozenel said : “I think all the people at the print shop should be under suspicion as well”

And as well, all the people producing the strip (Locher Brozman) AND the Editor, who lets this crass stuff “pass” should ALL be iimediatly put under suspension until it can all be corrected following a quick inquiry, and puposful CHANGE !

I don’t see Locher playing (sadly perhaps,- he’s fimished) any useful part in anything called improvement out in the future. Not even an Advisory role.The strip could do with art that shows dramatic movement rather than just a collection of dull faces (currently Circus ones) Then perhaps, TMS needs to step back from uninformed censorship (if that’s all they’re doing). Release the swimmer to let him swim. And If no one has a clue on what to insist their “producers” DO. Give a creative team a “free” hand and watch the strip grow.

Villains! That’s what is wrong with the current story line. To date we don’t have a an idiosyncratic and grotesque villain to give the story some interest (the circus freaks are a poor substitute).

Fleeglebeagle might be onto something here, it could be the elephant. I was thinking that crimes within a company (e.g. a circus) often result from grievances such as pay or working conditions. If you pay someone peanuts, expect trouble!

Also, I would get the Crimestopper’s Textbook tips from somebody in law enforcement, not just make them up off the top of my head. There are plenty of people in the field who would be happy to contribute.

-Cougar :{)

A skillful writer can hold the readers attention. The art is eye candy but not what makes you wait in anticipation to see what happens tomorrow. Here we know what’s going to happen tomorrow…nothing. Not next week, maybe next month, maybe. Locher is not skilled in this form of writing. It’s a mismatch that should have been corrected a long time ago.