Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for November 19, 2008

“I CN C U” LOL!

It has to be baby-bot!!!

The robot can say quite, but not, not?

In this story, Tracy reminds me of Douglas Fairbanks’ character in that great police drama, The Mystery of the Leaping Fish - and his squad are about as effective as the cops in that movie. (See http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0007108/ and http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0007108/board/nest/86321119)

I sure hope the little fella is equipped with serious firepower. How about a turret-mounted laser cannon? A little less drunken boasting and more serious fighting would be good too.

Nice, now Tracy and the other police person are playing hide and seek with MF. Dick Tracy gets paid by the police department for this? Some cushy job. Sign me up! Next time someone comes in my office to ask for something I’m going to peek up from around my computer and delare “I can C. U.!” Won’t that be great for my career?

Officer Kersten slowly crept up towards Tracy. He’d learn a long time ago never to sneak up to a person who was suffering from hallucations. He tried to talk in a calm voice using simple words he hoped Dick would understand. “Our police robot is helpless”. Tracy didn’t say a word to Kersten, settling instead on a simple look of disgust. “What does he mean, “OUR” robot? Traze-R’s all mine”! Magnum Force remembered how much fun it was playing hid and seek with all the proto- types of him that were developed before he was created. He snickered when he remembered the joy he’d get when he’d find them and destroy them with his mouth laser. This was so much fun! “U cannot hide. I cn C U.” Officer Kersten could only shake his head when he saw the puddle appear next to Tracy. He was just about the last person on the force who still admired Tracy. Everyone else dismissed him as a lost cause. In fact, the only other person he could think of that respected Tracy was the stations maintanance man, Matthew.

“How sad”, he thought, “The great Detective Dick Tracy has become only a shadow of himself”.

Tracy shouted out in total fear; “Our Goose is cooked”! “We’re as vulnerable as Traze-R”. Suddenly, from directly behind him Tracy heard a familiar voice. “Nt Quite”.

To be continued……….

Of course they’re not quite as vulnerable as Traze-R. He’s lying on the ground with his butt in the air. . I’m not a Locher apologist, but I think the “I CN C U” is the best that he can do to indicate that robots have a different type of voice, more mechanistic, than humans. In hindsight, it’s not working well, and he should just have let them talk naturally. The technology is here for natural sounding artificial speech, after all.

“…was the stations maintanance man, Matthew”

Bassman you are really hitting your stride now! This is better than watching an Mystery Science Theater 3000!

I CN C U, 2!

Mmmm … cooked goose – sounds tasty! Seasonal, too. Christmas is coming, to say nothing of Thanksgiving. Who needs turkey? I’ll bet Brute Force could roast a goose very nicely with his laser, and serve it with a side order of the spinach everyone’s hiding in.

That’s a skunk, Max! Boy, did Tracy ever get whupped with a “wussie” stick!

BB to the rescue! Thanks, BB. With your interpretation, it makes perfect sense!

Chester Gould would be sickened by what Dick Tracy is today. The story lines are crap. The characters are crap. It repeats the panels WAY too often. Dick Locker needs to re-read the old strips from the first 20-30 years for inspiration.

The best way to convey a strange voice that doesn’t necessarily have an accent is to use different fonts. Maybe the strip size doesn’t permit that, though.

BB, You’ve done it again.

MF panel 1:

Excuse me while I slip into something more comfortable. Don’t peek!

Thanks for the nod, bassmanbob. You know what? You are the only one who comments here that I respect. Likewise, you are the only one here whose opinion I even take seriously.

You should have been a writer, my friend. You definitely have the flair for it. And, I KNOW – it is NOT easy to write a daily comic strip. I’m feeling your pain daily, pal. Cheers to YOU!

One step closer to a partnership, you guys. Excellent artistic skills and great narrative. I think we’d all cheer you on. At least at first. ;-)

Wow Jeff, I’m speechless!!! All this time I thought only those with PRO status had opinions that mattered! Goes to show what little I know!

How about you and I submitting my ‘Dr. Magpie’ as a comic strip? You could handle the illustration and I’ll do the narrative. Heck, I’d even give you

TOP BILLING

Could be our shot to glory!!!

BB

PS,,, Thanks for the kind words everyone.

Just so we are all clear on this, the random “backup” police officer saw DT almost get shot by that lazer, then, decided that rather than making a get away or shooting at the robot while it was distraced, he decided “hmm. heckling our team’s robot while squating behind a bush with a square man sounds like fun. I think I will join him.” Brilliant. Now wonder DT got the job.

Bassman has a way of working with the storyline as it is that’s something else. I confess I can’t duplicate it.

I could come up with alternate storylines easy enough, starting from where we are and going off into “uncharted territory”, I reckon any of us can do that though.

Question: Where is Brute Force getting his power from? Even in today’s age, he’s expended quite a bit more power than batteries are capable of, and even fuel cells eventually wind down. I figure that at the most he’s got one more laser blast left in him and then he’s kaput. OK, OK, I know about the Energiser bunny, but all that guy does is march and beat a drum. Running the way BF has, bashing in walls and finally letting loose with laser blasts consumes HUGE power and that has to come from somewhere. He’s about finished, if normal hardware/battery use is any indication.

When meddling police persons I must kill, I take my proton energy pill!