Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for December 09, 2011

Good morning fellow DT fans…

Good morning, VB et al! Didn’t Max Allen Collins write a book with Robert Weinberg?

Again with these inside jokes and references to past DT writer/artists. Sorry to say it, but these references are more tiresome than clever.

Mrs. Catchem, I presume? How literary!

maybe it’s Sam’s mom, pretty nice place for a detectives salary eve if he moonlights in the funnies.

I wonder if the Book was a Nathan Heller or a Quarry novel?

Personally, I love the in jokes. Keep them coming Mike!

Collins has written/co-written several Tracy books so no surprise that he reads his books. I believe that is Sam’s wife though I don’t think we’ve seen her in like 50 years.

Sam’s shirt says that he’s on days off.

What’s that odd symbol between Tracy and the bad guy (Pruneface?) in panel one? Two letter “F” back to back? Or a “V” with wings? Representing what?

The FX symbol is on the camera (panel 1) and behind Harley (panel 3) in strip 12.08.11. Again it shows up on strip 12.05.11 on the studio wall (panel 1) and on 12.04.11 in panel 3, Early Christmas says she is working for the “EFEXX” network. It appears that she may have meant the “EF-V-EF” studios.

I don’t like the “in jokes”, either. They can be construed as a challenge to the readers, where only the PhD level DT’ers catch it. That leaves 99% of the rest of us scratching our heads. Not good.

Interesting! I never saw Sam’s wife before. But there is a brick wall I haven’t crossed around the 60s. Looking forward to the DT books to fill in that gap.

I too enjoy the in-jokes, having read Tracy since the late ’40s and caught up all the prior material…BUT…if the current writers expect to draw in new readers, which we desperately need, the in-jokes and references might be a “HUH?” tune-out.

re “In jokes” I love’em. If there are newer readers who don’t get them, does that detract from their enjoyment of the art and story line? Plus when I was a boy, Rocky & Bullwinkle were just started. Lots of humor aimed at kids, but lots for older folks to like, too. A rough analogy, perhaps, but I gotta go farkling.

Max Allan Collins has also written novels about Eliot Ness’s work as Public Safety Director in Cleveland a few years after The Untouchables.

In-jokes are fine. What’s more important to me is to be kept guessing. If I know how it’ll all turn out it loses it’s allure.

I don’t get most of the “in jokes”, but when I read this strip, I get as much enjoyment from the comments as I do the strip. It gives the strip depth. A light reader can just see them as background filler, while the curious can be challenged to see how many they can catch. Or like me you can get the extra enjoyment of reading the comments then going back to the strip again for a new view. Just my opinion.

Fearsome Foes

Not “Fearless Fosdick”

Nice tip of the fedora.

But these “in-jokes” aren’t actually funny. Doesn’t a joke have to be funny to be worth telling?

NightShade09, I’m sure I’ve probably read something by Max Allen Collins, as I tend to read a lot of crime novels. What difference does it make?

You never see Han Solo telling Luke Skywalker that Chewbacca enjoys George Lucas movies. Nor do you ever see Alfred and Robin commenting on Batman’s enjoyment of Frank Miller comics.

Why?

Because that would be dumb.

Just read Jerry Robinson’s obit in the NYT .. what a great career he had. Batman will live on in his memory … the new movie will be out soon.

Or even one of the Batman comics he wrote (or Ms Tree, or Wild Dog). To dismiss the mention of Max Allan Collins in particular as “just” an in joke is more than a bit unfair. One of Max’s novels would be just the sort of thing that Tracy would read, and if you ever read one you’d understand why. (Just as long as he keeps away from the movie and TV spin-off books.)

Sam’s right. Reading (and re-reading) Pratchett novels is a great way to relax! I would have expected “Guards! Guards!”, but maybe “Wyrd Sisters” is more recognizable to the non-fan.

Keep the story moving, instead. of posting tiresome inside jokes. It’s supposed to be a comic strip, not a navel-gazing, patting self on the back session by the writers.

Holy smoke! I apologize to one and all that I may have offended. I’m still getting to know the characters, and figured Sam for the fantasy reader and Tracy for the hard crime mystery type. I had forgotten about Sam’s wife in the Pruneface story, the last time I thought she had appeared was when Tracy got married in 1949.

As someone who is actually rather new to Tracy, (although I am getting a very quick education), I like the jokes. Since this is a web site comic for many of the readers they already have a computer. The first thing I usually do when I see a name I don’t recognize is Wikipedia it to find out who it is. Sometimes this will tell me why the creator of the strip in question used it, sometimes it just raises more questions. As it is, I know who Shawntae is, and can make a good guess on Ed and Raelene. If there is a name in the strip, it is fun to try and find out who Mike is basing it on. Wonder if any Terry’s or Shelley’s will show up?

Hmm.. where have I seen that logo before?No, not those, I remember it from a comic or cartoon. (gah)

Nice to see Terry Pratchett get a call out. Now that he’s public with his Alzheimers, I wonder how many more books he’ll be able to do. I’ve enjoyed his books immensely over the years.

It’s pretty common in comic books to make every street name or business sign a reference to a writer or artist. This is just more of the same sort of thing.