Tracy’s eyes went out again. Hired gun trapeze artists are a frequent sight. Now to locate the sharpshooter with the 30-30 sniper rifle. Check the elephant’s trunk.
Every time we see a cop, they have a different kind of badge on their hat. Previously the badges have been shaped like a hand grenade and a butterfly. I don’t know what to compare today’s badge to.
Why are they having this conversation in front of all the suspects? Good observation, Macy, in the third panel. It DOES sound like a lot of the performers don’t like each other! One must have called the other a “wierdo”. Or, maybe one called another by his or her nickname and it didn’t set well. We see that out here in the audience!
“That wust be why some peope LIKE Locher’s Dick Tracy the man is “bunch-of-bananaS” full of “hunches” and he just picked a ripe one (panel three). as “morrow” noted.
Kilian first scrubbed the idea of “clues” on the Yahoo board - “stories would take much too long” using that method, But Locher had already discovered a better method which he has used fully in this story.
“Ludwig”“, noticed the symptons first – Tracy was constipated. He hadn’t gone to the Men’s Room for two months. He had to be, to blend into a story of similar complexion.
Margueritem and Fosdic were speculating where the gun was hidden but more dangerous was WHERE Ringo HAD been hidden (?) by the FBI ! And that is - right among the very people ALL looking to kill him ! Only Locher’s Tracy could have thought up a plot as fiendishly … stupid - err … (sorry) uh ! clever as that .
That’s why some people enjoy the strip EVERYDAY. Nowhere else in the comics Universe can they get plots as upside-down and brilliantly unexpected as this.
The unexpected comes every week even if it’s stupid !
And another Locher twist of the screwdriver. The LAST policeman you’ll see - they’ll all be gone when things start “popping” on Friday.
Hello, first time posting here, even if I’ve been following the strip (and the comments, that usually are more interesting than the strip) for a while.
I began reading Tracy during the Collins/Locher days, and stopped around 1993, I think - and now the Gould hardcover volumes.
I just wanted to say hello to everyone, as this was my first post here!
So what does it say on that report? “Occupation: Hired Assassin”? Is this the result of some background check? Was she wanted, and thus presumably working under an assumed name? If so, how did they figure this out in the hour or two of comic strip time that’s elapsed in the TWO FREAKING MONTHS since she was shot? And if she was gunning for Ringo, again, why didn’t she just kill him in an alley somewhere?
Gould and Collins both took pride in writing a strip that at least paid passing notice to real-world logic and police procedure. The most frustrating thing about this strip is that the writing is lazy and slipshod, and there’s no point getting involved in a plot that twists and turns so arbitrarily. Writing is supposed to be a discipline, this is a schoolyard exercise.
Matthew, your first comment today was interesting. You started off by saying you liked today’s strip and then immediately degenerated into insulting everyone else’s intelligence. The comment about downward cast eyes could have easily been made without the insults. This is why you get the reactions you do from almost everyone else.
roberto macedo alves— welcome!
i am not in charge or even a member of the ‘comment something nasty about DT everyday’ club, I am just a mouth breathing troll whose occasional musings are usually ignored and I noticed nobody acknowledged your self introduction……so…now that you are here…..just jump in an flail away…… your only duty is to pick apart and trash whatever part of the strip you can find…your official Dick Tracy comic strip commenters club membership card and an official
Dick Tracy yellow fedora will be in the mail to you shortly.
now, practice breathing through your mouth….
see? its easy!
Not to belabor the “after” 1947 comment, but Gould stayed very creative untill he got into his “Space Race” stuff in the 60s. Spinner, Tonsils Rhodent, Spots(right Syd??) et. al. weren’t bad. Even early seventies sported some decent villain/?story arcs with Haf n Haf(albeit a 2 face clone) Scorpio, Posey etc. Even early Collins stuff with Torcher, Hammerhead, Flipside, Art Decco , Snake Eyes etc. Pass muster. Last 5-10 years?? I dunno. I still say most of the Vilains in the Dick Tracy Magazine “Create a Villain” contest were better than say; Angelorious, Oily, All the Cards stories. Fighting Robots?? A creative influx is definitely in order. To insist differently misses the forest for the trees.
Thank you, JanCinVV. You put it very eloquently. I’m sure the comment I did NOT write would have been flagged and deleted and I would have heard from Liam.
So, Matthew Hansel, you’ve clarified the Oct. 4th prophesies a little – we’re not to know in advance whether the prophesied events will have anything to do with Dick Tracy or not, all we know for sure at this point is it won’t be anything of significance?
As for how the rules you claim the syndicate restricts Locher with keep getting broken, perhaps it’s best to just ignore that question. It’s too difficult….
Welcome to the monkey farm. I’ve only been posting a while myself.
RE: post-1947 …I think Gould’s work was always worth a look, even when it was strange and not so great. I wish more of his post-1960s stuff was in print, I find it fascinating, even the moon stuff. I still want to see the early Groovey Groove strips, when Gould was trying to be “hep.”
Don’t know if anyone’s seen this, but it’s a very amusing comic by underground artist Jay Lynch about when he and Robert Crumb met Gould:
http://www.edpiskor.com/images/chester.jpg
Who in the world would ever spend good money in the US Copyright office to copyright an avatar? Answer: No one. Whoever did the one I use hasn’t said a word; nor, has he hired a Copyright Attorney. Before one goes too far, one needs to prove it is his or her original art. There is only one fool I can think of who would demand an attorney attack the internet. And the attorney would respond with something about a place where the sun doesn’t shine. I could very well demand that Mattie’s avatar was stolen off MY desk!
That’s an easy one, too, Hansel. People don’t honor your wishes because your wishes usually amount to an egomaniacal demand that others shut the hell up.
OK, back to Duck Twacy, I mean Dick Tracy, I back to thinking Mr. Pops is the shooter, because he started to say something to Tracy away back some time ago.
He blew into town in a cloud of dust
He had a mission to fulfill
He knew he must
Do battle with those magpies who’s
Comments were so sinful
He wanted them to toe the line
Think good thoughts, not complain
Maybe, he thought they should all do time
They’re evil and just plain lame
Why can’t they see Lochers just sublime
“I never said those things” he cried
Though the words were written by
His hand, that’s pretty much cut and dried
He stamped and snarled and asked why
Couldn’t God cause them all to be fried
He railed to the powers that be
To have them banned
And just leave he
“They don’t deserve to be fanned”
He said, They’re not a bit like me
Then someone sought to make him sorer
Dressed their avatar in a red shirt so fine
This caused him to cry out in horror
“You can’t do that, the image is mine”!
Tired he was, our brave little warrior
Oh why must he be the one
To curse the dawn
Not see the setting sun
Lochers work now is a big yawn
No more is there any fun
Draw the drapes, bank the fire
Curb your posts, and speak so very softly
Lest we draw more of the ire
Of he who’s ideals are ever so lofty
The consequences could be dire.
It seems we have an in-house “Conway West” here, or is it a clone of Congressman Pete Stark … of “P” on the leg fame ?
Whichever, You won’t find him quoted as an examplar in “How to Win Friends and Influence People”. Particularly with a tendency to quickly slip into questionable back street vernacular when cornered and unable to give rational expression
He has difficulty understanding basic concepts. And in the absence of coherent answers waves them away, often with two words which only serve to “avoid” answering the question. A few examples :
Q. What was the ADVANTAGE of (Locher) “changing” the facial appearance (and personalities) of 60% of the HQ staff (ie Patton.Lizz and Junior) ?
ARTICULATE how it helped the strip. (Increased circulation? Many new young readers ?
A, “Artistic license. If you don’t like it stop reading the strip.”
(Reflecting an inability to answer !)
Q. Both Gould an Collins used a rough rule of thumb of “CRIME” within 72 panels – to get ACTION going and start the CHASE sequence. WHAT advantage did Kilian and Locher achieve by abandoning that formula ?
A.1 “Time to crime is not a rule written in stone ….etc”
(no one said it was, it was just an excellent formula that worked beautifully all of Gould’s life and for Collins too. Locher doesn’t have one in use, does he ? Just flys by wire ?)
A,2 I’ve told you DOZENS of times dear Sydney, and you refuse to listen, that the powers that are don’t want the strip tp be over violent, and usually, in Dick Tracy the chase ivolves violence, We’ve seen a few chase sequences since Locher went solo ……’ “By and large, many chase sequences, in my opinion, do not work well on paper, because chase requires MOVEMENT and movement is ONE thing that TV and FILM have over the comic strip medium. (and MOTION lines on EVERYTHING looks dumb ! And don’t get me started on the stupidity of doing car chases in a comic strip”.
(Well I’m glad you opened your mouth and allowed “ignorance” to “jump” out. What you just told me reveals you haven’t got a CLUE on what I’ve been talking about. - and every utterance you made was just designed to shield Locher’s woefully horrid incompetence. MOVEMENT isn’t about car chases, it’s about “escaping”, trying to “get away”. Changing scenery, new locations, physical dangers. And Tracy in relentless persuit.
In fact that’s precisely what the current story LACKS - some MOVEMENT! Tracy has been riveted in the same “boring” place for THREE months
Q. Death Traps (serious ones) a thing of the past ?
A. “We have seen a few over the years, but YES, they are more or less gone, but again, if one of the mandates of the editors is to less the degree of DANGER that the main character find themselves in, how could you possibly do DEATH TRAPS ?
(You’ve admitted it. No serious Death Traps, Another flawed change. Another workable practise abandoned ! There’s NO TMS mandate to avoid danger in the strip. When Locher’s flawed work flares up you immediately try to blame TMS.
Q. The good guys never get shot or injured again, not for the last 17 years. (?)
A. “NOBODY CAN GET SHOT” That would’nt fly .. etc ..”
(Why not ? No body injuries ? No accidents ? No near death scenes ? HospitalIization ? Gould had at least one every year. There is no mandate to prevent that ! Again don’t shift blame to TMS for Locher’s lack of ideas and know how.
He’s a spent force !)
The bald truth is that Locher (if he even knew? and I’m now doubting that he did) has dropped most of the techniques Gould and Collins used AND he has replaced it with “fluff”. He, just in silly fashion makes it up each day as he goes along and it’s now become a major embarrasment to a once great strip
TMS should retire him NOW. And you should consider refraining from talking about a subject on which you know so little. The thrill of a few conversations with him does not confer any degree of expertise on this great strip on you.
You have so many basic things still to learn Matt. Best of luck !
I’ve been out for half the day and really amazed at how reckless our Junior artist has become since morning. As they say - “mouth open, story jump out”
’.
As you read - it’s clear, the Leopard hasn’t changed his spots. Same old vocabulary, same dull cliches.
The avatar, mouth wide open finger pointing seems like a mirror image of the “copyright” holder. What a joke.
And Matthewvius, no one here HATES Locher…I’d hazard a guess that no one here really has an opinion of him personally. It’s his writing that we hate. Because it’s not very good, and it denigrates a character and strip that we all have respect for.
I for one don’t “hate” Dick Locher and while I can’t speak for others I don’t think they do either. You on the other hand seem to have an unhealthy obssesion (?) Defending him as if he were a close family member.
I don’t think you have “music” down below to face up to Locher. I’d quicker see you kissing his ring hand, as if he were the Pope
On the other hand to judge by recent deterioration in his work, it’s clear the man (on Tracy) is now a spent force. Time to go with some shred of dignity still there.
The current story might easily BE the worst ever presented given the accumulation of stunning flaws and contradictions. Today he seems to “forget” what he wrote yesterday as if it never happened. And you are so mezmerized you can’t even see it,..
I don’t doubt your word about the restrictions that TMS has placed on Locher. But, as I also stated, much of what’s wrong with Locher’s Dick Tracy work has nothing to do with those restrictions.
Nonsensical storylines, constant continuity problems with both art and dialogue, story elements that are introduced for no apparent reason and then just disappear. Sorry, don’t even try to tell me that all of these problems are caused by TMS restrictions.
And on that “anonymous cowards” bit, up yours Matthupus. I wrote TMS a letter a few months ago, using my real name, criticizing the work being done on the strip and suggesting, as I have here, that it would be well-served by a change of staff.
I wouldn’t put my name up here for fear that pedantic freaks like thee would track me down and try to continue these conversations in real time.
Never did hear back from TMS incidentally, which reaffirms my opinion that for whatever reason, they don’t care about the strip or its readers, so it really doesn’t matter what we say about it here.
“ARTISTIC LICENSE”. If that gives him a free hand to change most things as he pleases, I’d have to say he BLUNDERED, and blundered badly. Loosing 86% of your papers in a few years AFTER instituting great “change” tells the story. He started with it all ! His “choices” have been an abject failure.
While you of a different opinion to 98% of the posters on both boards remain incapable of laying out the (financial and other) advantages of what he has done, He stands as a stark failure on that score. That the strip still survives is a tribute to Gould’s work and “original” concept. Little or nothing to Locher, A similar strip by him would have folded in a month.
“The CHASE” You may dislike me even more now, but to misunderstand what “THAT” means in the “context” of Chester Gould’s work, shows how little you know on the subject. Go off and read Tom DeHavens article “Bud Which Way to the Noble Hotel”. You’ll understand clearly what it means, and much, much more, about the Dick Tracy you never knew. Everyone has noted how desperatly you try to shift the blame for everything away from Locher
MANDATES. I havn’t got an idea what they all are but a good dash of common sense tells me you know a little and pretend you know a lot. To imply thay they don’t have a chase sequence because it will generate too much violence is nonsense. Because it won’t. Locher’s “failure” and lack of “know how” to use what helped Gould succeed is YOUR problem, AS in your World he can’t be WRONG. !
I don’t need to say so, The “PALTRY” 50 Newspaers tells it all to the World. You like to say on the Yahoo board how “well informed” you are. Become informed young man !
Recall, I’ve never lost a “factual” debate with you on the Yahoo board.
No, Matthew. That avitar is not a good or accurate likeness of you. The avitar that you drew of yourself was too big for the webmaster to use. The head wouldn’t fit in the allowable space. The avitar that you are looking at in your posts is a characture of you drawn as a joint effort by members of this board. We drew it based on what we THINK you look like. See the buns on both sides? (I better stop there….!)
Feeding the troll is a bad indulgence to be sure. But it’s so very fun to watch him thrash around. There is way more melodrama in those posts than in Dick Tracy itself. I mean, where else can one lil’ poke get you back a 12 paragraph rant? Watch:
“Dick Locher is not doing a very good job writing this comic strip.”
I’m not gonna subscribe to the Alzheimer’s theory, my dad has it and that’s a cheap shot that cuts a little close to home.
Really, I don’t think Locher would have done any better writing this strip 20 years ago than now. While the continuity errors make jokes about senility easy, I think it’s more a basic lack of understanding about storytelling in this medium…everything that’s happened for the past two months has just been words, with either talking heads or random images underneath them. It’s all people describing facts, no characterization, no introspection. And no action. Eight weeks, 56 strips total, all one conversation in one place. If the characters don’t interact with their world, why should we be engaged?
I won’t lay the blame solely at Locher’s feet…this strip presumably has an editor approving this stuff, and that person is either asleep or clueless.
Once again, if Locher, Brozman, or anybody at TMS have a response to this I’d honestly like to hear it. I haven’t seen another strip on gocomics garner such consistently negative responses, and this strip is supposed to be one of the giants of the medium.
Has there ever been a Dick Tracy comic book? I don’t mean the collected dailies all in one book, but an actual comic book. I ask this because it seems to me that a lot of the issues people have with this strip are issues that will inherently come up when you attempt to tell an ongoing story in the medium of a daily strip.
There’s only so much that can happen in three panels per day, so things will, of course, move slowly, and you really have no choice but to repeat things, because any given reader is likely to miss an episode here and there.
I can recall way back in the day when there was a daily Star Wars comic strip, and it was very frustrating, because you just can’t tell an ongoing, non-comedic action and adventure story with just three panels a day.
The daily newspaper comic strip medium is ideal for stand-alone jokes, political cartoons, and not much else.
If DT is ever to be revitalized, saved, or whatever, I vote for it happening in the form of a monthly DT comic book, preferably with Dark Horse as the publisher.
The closest thing to a Dick Tracy comic book that I know of (other than Gould strips converted for that purpose) was the adaption of the 1990 movie, which was illustrated by Kyle Baker…I remember Gould’s family wrote a letter to the editor of the Chicago Tribune protesting that choice because his style was so different from Chester’s, but it was an interesting piece of work.
There’s also a Spanish graphic novel, “The Cabbie,” by Marti Riera, which is a noir homage to Gould’s style of storytelling.
But, for my money, Dick Tracy works best as a daily comic strip. The deliberate pacing required by that medium (different from the plodding and pointless pointing we’re seeing now) somehow fits the character…and the daily newspaper comic is a storied medium with so few characters still standing. That’s why, for me, it’s so frustrating to see this strip so badly done.
But who knows…Marvel did a four issue Prince Valiant comic ten years ago that was really good (again, in my humble but astonishingly informed opinion).
Matthew Hansel said, about 8 hours ago
Morrow:
I own the IMAGE that is my avatar. I drew it. It is from a story that I had published. It is a caricature of ME!
MPH
Hi, nighthawks, thanks for the nice welcome. I thought it would be nice to introduce myself before starting criticizing harshly whatever part of the strip I can find. However, the mouth-breathing part of the job is harder!
jumbobrain, I’ve been a follower of the strip (and the comments) for a while – Sorry to know about your dad and his struggle with Alzheimer’s… I noticed that painful personal detail was also ignored! I am familiar with the fun and games and trolls in this forum – oh, and I really liked the Crumb comic you posted here about Gould! Thanks!
Margueritem, thank you for your welcoming message. I usually enjoy your comments in my other favorite strips, like cul-de-sac and Brewster Rockit.
Regarding the strip (allegedly we should be talking about it and not about avatars and copyrights and such), I have very fond memories of the Dick Tracy stuff I grew up reading (like the Cryonic man continuity, Putty Puss, Little Boy, etc I still enjoy Locher’s artwork (even if it is not as strong as it used to be when I discovered the strip, in 1983 or so) – I agree with most of what has been said recently (I actually enjoy Sydney Phillips’ comments, with all the “accounting” of panels and hard numbers and complete references and deep historical knowledge about the strip – I find it fascinating).
I think the problem is that Dick Locher, as talented as he is, is essentially an artist, and probably the strip is having the same problem that Asterix has now in Europe: being written and drawn by an artist. Usually, artists think about stuff visually – to manage plot, character consistency, storytelling and imagery is a hard task – more so with no previous practice of the craft. The strip has declined a little since the Collins days, mostly story-wise, but there is always hope of improvement and there are always ways to solve this and jump-start the strip again to its former glory. Even I was tempted to write a story with that purpose, some time ago…
Vista Bill Raley and Comet™ about 15 years ago
Tracy’s eyes went out again. Hired gun trapeze artists are a frequent sight. Now to locate the sharpshooter with the 30-30 sniper rifle. Check the elephant’s trunk.
margueritem about 15 years ago
Or check the pig on wheels.
Vista Bill Raley and Comet™ about 15 years ago
Forgot about the pig on wheels! That’s my circus favorite.
FLIGHT SUIT about 15 years ago
So this sinister assassin just coincidentally happened to be a skilled trapeze artist, thus enabling her to insinuate herself into the troops?
I mean, troupe.
margueritem about 15 years ago
Strange coincidence, eh Flight Suit?
jumbobrain about 15 years ago
AUGH…choking on…horrifically contrived…writing…all talk…no action…staggeringly implausible scenario…delivered piecemeal…over…months…so very…very…lame…GACK
watcha about 15 years ago
Ai, what happened to to muscle ladies piece of hair hanging in front of her face.
Yesterday the Mr. Police Officer had a small badge and a big head - today he has a big badge and big head.
It seems that seeing that the story line is going nowhere they have decided to entertain people with graphics which tells its own story.
JackParsons about 15 years ago
One Of Us! One Of Us! Gobble-gobble!
Jealousy and marrying the gimp for money, that’s what makes a good circus story.
FLIGHT SUIT about 15 years ago
Every time we see a cop, they have a different kind of badge on their hat. Previously the badges have been shaped like a hand grenade and a butterfly. I don’t know what to compare today’s badge to.
Fearless_Fosdick about 15 years ago
Tough to tell where Louise hid that sniper rifle in that skimpy outfit. Hope she was dead before she hit the ground, or it must have really hurt.
KingRat about 15 years ago
I keep waiting for “buttons” a clown to show up.
Morrow Cummings about 15 years ago
Why are they having this conversation in front of all the suspects? Good observation, Macy, in the third panel. It DOES sound like a lot of the performers don’t like each other! One must have called the other a “wierdo”. Or, maybe one called another by his or her nickname and it didn’t set well. We see that out here in the audience!
coratelli about 15 years ago
For flightsuit: the cops come from Naperville.
Akenta about 15 years ago
Where’s the tiger? Suspiciously missing…
LudwigVonDrake about 15 years ago
Tracy looks either in pain or constipated in the first panel.
sydney about 15 years ago
“That wust be why some peope LIKE Locher’s Dick Tracy the man is “bunch-of-bananaS” full of “hunches” and he just picked a ripe one (panel three). as “morrow” noted.
Kilian first scrubbed the idea of “clues” on the Yahoo board - “stories would take much too long” using that method, But Locher had already discovered a better method which he has used fully in this story.
“Ludwig”“, noticed the symptons first – Tracy was constipated. He hadn’t gone to the Men’s Room for two months. He had to be, to blend into a story of similar complexion.
Margueritem and Fosdic were speculating where the gun was hidden but more dangerous was WHERE Ringo HAD been hidden (?) by the FBI ! And that is - right among the very people ALL looking to kill him ! Only Locher’s Tracy could have thought up a plot as fiendishly … stupid - err … (sorry) uh ! clever as that .
That’s why some people enjoy the strip EVERYDAY. Nowhere else in the comics Universe can they get plots as upside-down and brilliantly unexpected as this.
The unexpected comes every week even if it’s stupid !
And another Locher twist of the screwdriver. The LAST policeman you’ll see - they’ll all be gone when things start “popping” on Friday.
roberto.alves about 15 years ago
Hello, first time posting here, even if I’ve been following the strip (and the comments, that usually are more interesting than the strip) for a while. I began reading Tracy during the Collins/Locher days, and stopped around 1993, I think - and now the Gould hardcover volumes. I just wanted to say hello to everyone, as this was my first post here!
idarke about 15 years ago
Either the muscle lady is standing in a hole, or the giant guy is now twelve feet tall.
CougarAllen about 15 years ago
Matthew Hansel, you still haven’t responded to the questions I asked you in the comments here on Sept. 11 (second page). -Cougar :{)
g6793 about 15 years ago
(sigh) Matthew, you take things way too literally.
SHAKENDOWN about 15 years ago
Would be unusual to find a leak in the Fed dike, & the killer @ large is this female FBI agent?
Morrow Cummings about 15 years ago
Well folks, we didn’t make it to lunchtime before we were told we were unintelligent. Dale Carnegie in disguise!
jumbobrain about 15 years ago
So what does it say on that report? “Occupation: Hired Assassin”? Is this the result of some background check? Was she wanted, and thus presumably working under an assumed name? If so, how did they figure this out in the hour or two of comic strip time that’s elapsed in the TWO FREAKING MONTHS since she was shot? And if she was gunning for Ringo, again, why didn’t she just kill him in an alley somewhere?
Gould and Collins both took pride in writing a strip that at least paid passing notice to real-world logic and police procedure. The most frustrating thing about this strip is that the writing is lazy and slipshod, and there’s no point getting involved in a plot that twists and turns so arbitrarily. Writing is supposed to be a discipline, this is a schoolyard exercise.
Harumph!
JanLC about 15 years ago
Matthew, your first comment today was interesting. You started off by saying you liked today’s strip and then immediately degenerated into insulting everyone else’s intelligence. The comment about downward cast eyes could have easily been made without the insults. This is why you get the reactions you do from almost everyone else.
Nighthawks Premium Member about 15 years ago
roberto macedo alves— welcome! i am not in charge or even a member of the ‘comment something nasty about DT everyday’ club, I am just a mouth breathing troll whose occasional musings are usually ignored and I noticed nobody acknowledged your self introduction……so…now that you are here…..just jump in an flail away…… your only duty is to pick apart and trash whatever part of the strip you can find…your official Dick Tracy comic strip commenters club membership card and an official Dick Tracy yellow fedora will be in the mail to you shortly. now, practice breathing through your mouth…. see? its easy!
mumbles about 15 years ago
Not to belabor the “after” 1947 comment, but Gould stayed very creative untill he got into his “Space Race” stuff in the 60s. Spinner, Tonsils Rhodent, Spots(right Syd??) et. al. weren’t bad. Even early seventies sported some decent villain/?story arcs with Haf n Haf(albeit a 2 face clone) Scorpio, Posey etc. Even early Collins stuff with Torcher, Hammerhead, Flipside, Art Decco , Snake Eyes etc. Pass muster. Last 5-10 years?? I dunno. I still say most of the Vilains in the Dick Tracy Magazine “Create a Villain” contest were better than say; Angelorious, Oily, All the Cards stories. Fighting Robots?? A creative influx is definitely in order. To insist differently misses the forest for the trees.
g6793 about 15 years ago
Thank you, JanCinVV. You put it very eloquently. I’m sure the comment I did NOT write would have been flagged and deleted and I would have heard from Liam.
CougarAllen about 15 years ago
So, Matthew Hansel, you’ve clarified the Oct. 4th prophesies a little – we’re not to know in advance whether the prophesied events will have anything to do with Dick Tracy or not, all we know for sure at this point is it won’t be anything of significance?
As for how the rules you claim the syndicate restricts Locher with keep getting broken, perhaps it’s best to just ignore that question. It’s too difficult….
-Cougar :{)
jumbobrain about 15 years ago
Roberto,
Welcome to the monkey farm. I’ve only been posting a while myself.
RE: post-1947 …I think Gould’s work was always worth a look, even when it was strange and not so great. I wish more of his post-1960s stuff was in print, I find it fascinating, even the moon stuff. I still want to see the early Groovey Groove strips, when Gould was trying to be “hep.”
Don’t know if anyone’s seen this, but it’s a very amusing comic by underground artist Jay Lynch about when he and Robert Crumb met Gould: http://www.edpiskor.com/images/chester.jpg
Handrew about 15 years ago
Hey Hansel, why don’t you ask avenger to change his avatar instead of going crying to big brother?
Morrow Cummings about 15 years ago
Who in the world would ever spend good money in the US Copyright office to copyright an avatar? Answer: No one. Whoever did the one I use hasn’t said a word; nor, has he hired a Copyright Attorney. Before one goes too far, one needs to prove it is his or her original art. There is only one fool I can think of who would demand an attorney attack the internet. And the attorney would respond with something about a place where the sun doesn’t shine. I could very well demand that Mattie’s avatar was stolen off MY desk!
Handrew about 15 years ago
That’s an easy one, too, Hansel. People don’t honor your wishes because your wishes usually amount to an egomaniacal demand that others shut the hell up.
Dkram about 15 years ago
OK, back to Duck Twacy, I mean Dick Tracy, I back to thinking Mr. Pops is the shooter, because he started to say something to Tracy away back some time ago.
wndrwrthg about 15 years ago
He blew into town in a cloud of dust He had a mission to fulfill He knew he must Do battle with those magpies who’s Comments were so sinful
He wanted them to toe the line Think good thoughts, not complain Maybe, he thought they should all do time They’re evil and just plain lame Why can’t they see Lochers just sublime
“I never said those things” he cried Though the words were written by His hand, that’s pretty much cut and dried He stamped and snarled and asked why Couldn’t God cause them all to be fried
He railed to the powers that be To have them banned And just leave he “They don’t deserve to be fanned” He said, They’re not a bit like me
Then someone sought to make him sorer Dressed their avatar in a red shirt so fine This caused him to cry out in horror “You can’t do that, the image is mine”! Tired he was, our brave little warrior
Oh why must he be the one To curse the dawn Not see the setting sun Lochers work now is a big yawn No more is there any fun
Draw the drapes, bank the fire Curb your posts, and speak so very softly Lest we draw more of the ire Of he who’s ideals are ever so lofty The consequences could be dire.
sydney about 15 years ago
It seems we have an in-house “Conway West” here, or is it a clone of Congressman Pete Stark … of “P” on the leg fame ?
Whichever, You won’t find him quoted as an examplar in “How to Win Friends and Influence People”. Particularly with a tendency to quickly slip into questionable back street vernacular when cornered and unable to give rational expression
He has difficulty understanding basic concepts. And in the absence of coherent answers waves them away, often with two words which only serve to “avoid” answering the question. A few examples :
Q. What was the ADVANTAGE of (Locher) “changing” the facial appearance (and personalities) of 60% of the HQ staff (ie Patton.Lizz and Junior) ? ARTICULATE how it helped the strip. (Increased circulation? Many new young readers ?
A, “Artistic license. If you don’t like it stop reading the strip.” (Reflecting an inability to answer !)
Q. Both Gould an Collins used a rough rule of thumb of “CRIME” within 72 panels – to get ACTION going and start the CHASE sequence. WHAT advantage did Kilian and Locher achieve by abandoning that formula ?
A.1 “Time to crime is not a rule written in stone ….etc” (no one said it was, it was just an excellent formula that worked beautifully all of Gould’s life and for Collins too. Locher doesn’t have one in use, does he ? Just flys by wire ?)
A,2 I’ve told you DOZENS of times dear Sydney, and you refuse to listen, that the powers that are don’t want the strip tp be over violent, and usually, in Dick Tracy the chase ivolves violence, We’ve seen a few chase sequences since Locher went solo ……’ “By and large, many chase sequences, in my opinion, do not work well on paper, because chase requires MOVEMENT and movement is ONE thing that TV and FILM have over the comic strip medium. (and MOTION lines on EVERYTHING looks dumb ! And don’t get me started on the stupidity of doing car chases in a comic strip”.
(Well I’m glad you opened your mouth and allowed “ignorance” to “jump” out. What you just told me reveals you haven’t got a CLUE on what I’ve been talking about. - and every utterance you made was just designed to shield Locher’s woefully horrid incompetence. MOVEMENT isn’t about car chases, it’s about “escaping”, trying to “get away”. Changing scenery, new locations, physical dangers. And Tracy in relentless persuit.
In fact that’s precisely what the current story LACKS - some MOVEMENT! Tracy has been riveted in the same “boring” place for THREE months
Q. Death Traps (serious ones) a thing of the past ?
A. “We have seen a few over the years, but YES, they are more or less gone, but again, if one of the mandates of the editors is to less the degree of DANGER that the main character find themselves in, how could you possibly do DEATH TRAPS ? (You’ve admitted it. No serious Death Traps, Another flawed change. Another workable practise abandoned ! There’s NO TMS mandate to avoid danger in the strip. When Locher’s flawed work flares up you immediately try to blame TMS.
Q. The good guys never get shot or injured again, not for the last 17 years. (?)
A. “NOBODY CAN GET SHOT” That would’nt fly .. etc ..” (Why not ? No body injuries ? No accidents ? No near death scenes ? HospitalIization ? Gould had at least one every year. There is no mandate to prevent that ! Again don’t shift blame to TMS for Locher’s lack of ideas and know how. He’s a spent force !)
The bald truth is that Locher (if he even knew? and I’m now doubting that he did) has dropped most of the techniques Gould and Collins used AND he has replaced it with “fluff”. He, just in silly fashion makes it up each day as he goes along and it’s now become a major embarrasment to a once great strip
TMS should retire him NOW. And you should consider refraining from talking about a subject on which you know so little. The thrill of a few conversations with him does not confer any degree of expertise on this great strip on you.
You have so many basic things still to learn Matt. Best of luck !
margueritem about 15 years ago
WW, you’ve done it again. Bravo!
fishbulb about 15 years ago
OldHipster said, about 3 hours ago
Well, hell, they all look constipated!
Even LIdia the tattooed lady.
She’s an encyclopidia!
margueritem about 15 years ago
Roberto Macedo Alves, welcome to the melee, jump on in!
sydney about 15 years ago
jumbobrain,
All of Gould’s work 1931 to 1977 is already in print, and available
The Dick Tracy Fan Club. Phone Andy Feighery (719) 685 9086.
Address : Spec Productions, Dick Tracy Magazine PO Box 32, Manitou Springs, CO 80829-0032
The Moom Series is in his “Missing Years” Magazines.
You can also see their site at specproductions.com
Enjoy.
sydney about 15 years ago
I’ve been out for half the day and really amazed at how reckless our Junior artist has become since morning. As they say - “mouth open, story jump out” ’.
As you read - it’s clear, the Leopard hasn’t changed his spots. Same old vocabulary, same dull cliches.
The avatar, mouth wide open finger pointing seems like a mirror image of the “copyright” holder. What a joke.
jumbobrain about 15 years ago
Thanks for the info Syd, I will check into that.
And Matthewvius, no one here HATES Locher…I’d hazard a guess that no one here really has an opinion of him personally. It’s his writing that we hate. Because it’s not very good, and it denigrates a character and strip that we all have respect for.
sydney about 15 years ago
I for one don’t “hate” Dick Locher and while I can’t speak for others I don’t think they do either. You on the other hand seem to have an unhealthy obssesion (?) Defending him as if he were a close family member.
I don’t think you have “music” down below to face up to Locher. I’d quicker see you kissing his ring hand, as if he were the Pope
On the other hand to judge by recent deterioration in his work, it’s clear the man (on Tracy) is now a spent force. Time to go with some shred of dignity still there.
The current story might easily BE the worst ever presented given the accumulation of stunning flaws and contradictions. Today he seems to “forget” what he wrote yesterday as if it never happened. And you are so mezmerized you can’t even see it,..
DonnieTevault about 15 years ago
Matthew:
As I said yesterday…
I don’t doubt your word about the restrictions that TMS has placed on Locher. But, as I also stated, much of what’s wrong with Locher’s Dick Tracy work has nothing to do with those restrictions.
Nonsensical storylines, constant continuity problems with both art and dialogue, story elements that are introduced for no apparent reason and then just disappear. Sorry, don’t even try to tell me that all of these problems are caused by TMS restrictions.
countoftowergrove about 15 years ago
Hey man, dang ol’ I still say that dang ol’ Barb Els is that dang ol’ Texas Ranger Boomhower, dang ol’, tell you what!
jumbobrain about 15 years ago
And on that “anonymous cowards” bit, up yours Matthupus. I wrote TMS a letter a few months ago, using my real name, criticizing the work being done on the strip and suggesting, as I have here, that it would be well-served by a change of staff.
I wouldn’t put my name up here for fear that pedantic freaks like thee would track me down and try to continue these conversations in real time.
Never did hear back from TMS incidentally, which reaffirms my opinion that for whatever reason, they don’t care about the strip or its readers, so it really doesn’t matter what we say about it here.
LudwigVonDrake about 15 years ago
I have an idea: Ignore him. He wants people to respond to his dozens upon dozens of posts a day. He is what is known as an “attention whore”.
sydney about 15 years ago
“ARTISTIC LICENSE”. If that gives him a free hand to change most things as he pleases, I’d have to say he BLUNDERED, and blundered badly. Loosing 86% of your papers in a few years AFTER instituting great “change” tells the story. He started with it all ! His “choices” have been an abject failure.
While you of a different opinion to 98% of the posters on both boards remain incapable of laying out the (financial and other) advantages of what he has done, He stands as a stark failure on that score. That the strip still survives is a tribute to Gould’s work and “original” concept. Little or nothing to Locher, A similar strip by him would have folded in a month.
“The CHASE” You may dislike me even more now, but to misunderstand what “THAT” means in the “context” of Chester Gould’s work, shows how little you know on the subject. Go off and read Tom DeHavens article “Bud Which Way to the Noble Hotel”. You’ll understand clearly what it means, and much, much more, about the Dick Tracy you never knew. Everyone has noted how desperatly you try to shift the blame for everything away from Locher
MANDATES. I havn’t got an idea what they all are but a good dash of common sense tells me you know a little and pretend you know a lot. To imply thay they don’t have a chase sequence because it will generate too much violence is nonsense. Because it won’t. Locher’s “failure” and lack of “know how” to use what helped Gould succeed is YOUR problem, AS in your World he can’t be WRONG. !
I don’t need to say so, The “PALTRY” 50 Newspaers tells it all to the World. You like to say on the Yahoo board how “well informed” you are. Become informed young man !
Recall, I’ve never lost a “factual” debate with you on the Yahoo board.
FLIGHT SUIT about 15 years ago
Jumbobrain, that comic you linked to with R. Crumb and Chester in it was amazing! I love that kinda stuff.
jumbobrain about 15 years ago
FlightSuit, glad you liked it…I stumbled across it by accident and found it pretty awesome myself.
Morrow Cummings about 15 years ago
No, Matthew. That avitar is not a good or accurate likeness of you. The avitar that you drew of yourself was too big for the webmaster to use. The head wouldn’t fit in the allowable space. The avitar that you are looking at in your posts is a characture of you drawn as a joint effort by members of this board. We drew it based on what we THINK you look like. See the buns on both sides? (I better stop there….!)
jumbobrain about 15 years ago
Feeding the troll is a bad indulgence to be sure. But it’s so very fun to watch him thrash around. There is way more melodrama in those posts than in Dick Tracy itself. I mean, where else can one lil’ poke get you back a 12 paragraph rant? Watch:
“Dick Locher is not doing a very good job writing this comic strip.”
Ok, everybody duck!
sydney about 15 years ago
DUCK ?
Seems someone beat us to it, sucking a thumb and warmly hugging a little yellow rubber duckie. !
jumbobrain about 15 years ago
I’m not gonna subscribe to the Alzheimer’s theory, my dad has it and that’s a cheap shot that cuts a little close to home.
Really, I don’t think Locher would have done any better writing this strip 20 years ago than now. While the continuity errors make jokes about senility easy, I think it’s more a basic lack of understanding about storytelling in this medium…everything that’s happened for the past two months has just been words, with either talking heads or random images underneath them. It’s all people describing facts, no characterization, no introspection. And no action. Eight weeks, 56 strips total, all one conversation in one place. If the characters don’t interact with their world, why should we be engaged?
I won’t lay the blame solely at Locher’s feet…this strip presumably has an editor approving this stuff, and that person is either asleep or clueless.
Once again, if Locher, Brozman, or anybody at TMS have a response to this I’d honestly like to hear it. I haven’t seen another strip on gocomics garner such consistently negative responses, and this strip is supposed to be one of the giants of the medium.
FLIGHT SUIT about 15 years ago
Has there ever been a Dick Tracy comic book? I don’t mean the collected dailies all in one book, but an actual comic book. I ask this because it seems to me that a lot of the issues people have with this strip are issues that will inherently come up when you attempt to tell an ongoing story in the medium of a daily strip.
There’s only so much that can happen in three panels per day, so things will, of course, move slowly, and you really have no choice but to repeat things, because any given reader is likely to miss an episode here and there.
I can recall way back in the day when there was a daily Star Wars comic strip, and it was very frustrating, because you just can’t tell an ongoing, non-comedic action and adventure story with just three panels a day.
The daily newspaper comic strip medium is ideal for stand-alone jokes, political cartoons, and not much else.
If DT is ever to be revitalized, saved, or whatever, I vote for it happening in the form of a monthly DT comic book, preferably with Dark Horse as the publisher.
jumbobrain about 15 years ago
The closest thing to a Dick Tracy comic book that I know of (other than Gould strips converted for that purpose) was the adaption of the 1990 movie, which was illustrated by Kyle Baker…I remember Gould’s family wrote a letter to the editor of the Chicago Tribune protesting that choice because his style was so different from Chester’s, but it was an interesting piece of work.
There’s also a Spanish graphic novel, “The Cabbie,” by Marti Riera, which is a noir homage to Gould’s style of storytelling.
But, for my money, Dick Tracy works best as a daily comic strip. The deliberate pacing required by that medium (different from the plodding and pointless pointing we’re seeing now) somehow fits the character…and the daily newspaper comic is a storied medium with so few characters still standing. That’s why, for me, it’s so frustrating to see this strip so badly done.
But who knows…Marvel did a four issue Prince Valiant comic ten years ago that was really good (again, in my humble but astonishingly informed opinion).
ridenslide65 about 15 years ago
Somebody did NOT take my advice about getting a Freshy.
Not good.
ridenslide65 about 15 years ago
Matthew Hansel said, about 8 hours ago Morrow: I own the IMAGE that is my avatar. I drew it. It is from a story that I had published. It is a caricature of ME! MPH
This explains quite a bit……..
roberto.alves about 15 years ago
Hi, nighthawks, thanks for the nice welcome. I thought it would be nice to introduce myself before starting criticizing harshly whatever part of the strip I can find. However, the mouth-breathing part of the job is harder!
jumbobrain, I’ve been a follower of the strip (and the comments) for a while – Sorry to know about your dad and his struggle with Alzheimer’s… I noticed that painful personal detail was also ignored! I am familiar with the fun and games and trolls in this forum – oh, and I really liked the Crumb comic you posted here about Gould! Thanks!
Margueritem, thank you for your welcoming message. I usually enjoy your comments in my other favorite strips, like cul-de-sac and Brewster Rockit.
Regarding the strip (allegedly we should be talking about it and not about avatars and copyrights and such), I have very fond memories of the Dick Tracy stuff I grew up reading (like the Cryonic man continuity, Putty Puss, Little Boy, etc I still enjoy Locher’s artwork (even if it is not as strong as it used to be when I discovered the strip, in 1983 or so) – I agree with most of what has been said recently (I actually enjoy Sydney Phillips’ comments, with all the “accounting” of panels and hard numbers and complete references and deep historical knowledge about the strip – I find it fascinating).
I think the problem is that Dick Locher, as talented as he is, is essentially an artist, and probably the strip is having the same problem that Asterix has now in Europe: being written and drawn by an artist. Usually, artists think about stuff visually – to manage plot, character consistency, storytelling and imagery is a hard task – more so with no previous practice of the craft. The strip has declined a little since the Collins days, mostly story-wise, but there is always hope of improvement and there are always ways to solve this and jump-start the strip again to its former glory. Even I was tempted to write a story with that purpose, some time ago…