Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for March 04, 2009

Gertie has gotten cuter. Oh ho, suspence!

Given that Gertie is shouting in the second panel, I think that Tracy is just protecting his hearing. That having been said, that is one ugly hand.

Neither of those frames look like the phone is being held up to his ear. Someplace else entirely.

Ok, I thought Dick was still wearing his stylish Turtleneck? There shouldn’t be a cuff from a shirt underneath. Plus the phone up to his ear changed from the second panel to the third panel.

B.O.’s been bitten? By a dog? A spider?

This may sound familiar to everyone: Sigh…

I was thinking werewolf. Or a vampire might be a fun storyline too.

There’s something about the Tracy drawings in today’s strip and yesterday’s second panel that make me believe they are drawn by someone other than Mr. Locher. The line strokes are different somehow. And DL always drew Tracy’s nose much more different in frontal shots…nothing like this.

I am prone to go along with Andyh40 as far as the artwork … it doesn’t look like Dick is drawing this, maybe he has an assistant who is doing more of the work.

If Dick’s hands are that small, Tess is a sad woman.

This story is starting off slow….. not a good sign.

Exactly HOW does Gerties phone still work in this day and age?

Bitten? Gambling again? More recycled ideas?

As Grok aptly notes, more of the same - starting the story once again with a “telephone” call!

This is the TENTH story written by Locher since Kilian’s passing and sadly, only the NINETH he managed to begin with a “telephone” call! Talk about creativity! WOW! Are there any other ways of kicking off a story? Tell me! If nothing else our Author gets full marks for consistency.

While, the labeler of “GENIOUS” gets another “DL” pin for his chest ;), for being consistently satisfied and unashameably pleased with this outstanding milestone in “originality”! Talk about blind loyalty!(?) WOW!

I have one of these phones, and it works just fine. However, since it has no dial, you cannot call out on it. I wonder how Gertie called Tracy…?

Isn’t it odd that we go from perfume to b.o?

Anyway, despite all the criticisms with the last story (and to be fair, a lot of it was valid)there was a strange, dream-like, almost surrealistic edge/quality to it which I don’t think anyone picked up on.

Finally, I guess we can be thankful that Mr. Locher didn’t mass market scratch’n’sniff samples (FREE WITH EVERY SUNDAY PAPER! AH!!!!!!)

I predict that Dick will be doing some real detective work very soon.

Tracy thought he was still hearing things. “What did Gertie just say…’He’s been smitten’”? “B.O. Plenty has what”? Gertie sighed and repeated herself to Tracy for the fifth time, wondering why he always called him B.O. Plenty and not just B.O. “He’s been bitten…..” Tracy finally understood Gertie. “About time B.O. Plenty wised up and ditched this ugly chick”, he thought to himself. Snickering, hi asked; “Another women……Gertie”? Gertie couldn’t take it anymore and screamed into the phone. “NO!” Tracy was confused. “What could it be”? he wondered. “What is it, then”? Sounding like she had begun to cry, Gertie answered him. “Far worse”. Tracy was stunned. “Could it be”? he pondered, his curiosity rising.

BB

In the old days, the phone that Gertie uses had no dial, so they had 2 call the operator 2 transfer the calls 2 whoever they were calling…

Akenta, you beat me to it, my 1st thought was a vampire!

My colleagues from the other board (AndyH and Brine) sense the presense of another artist in the strip. I believe they are both in the field (?), so with a special eye they may see what we “common marbles” can’t ;) It may well be an early warning “buzzer” of change in the making, although last time (3 weeks ago), Jeff spoke on the subject (and he knows DL well) he stated (then) that Locher had NO Assistants.

One of the things that look different in the middle panel yesterday was that Tracy was “smiling” an expression we havn’t seen much of, these past 32 years. Readers may recall that at one time that quiet confident smile was a unique part of the Tracy personality. Even in the face of death! That inscrutable expression seemed to follow Chet Gould into retirement in 1977. It was a unique part of Tracy that was never imprinted on Fletcher or Locher and as a result never perpetuated.

The expressins that seemed to have trumped that, in Locher’s version, are seriousness and an excess of “open mouthed” over-excitement! But yesterday we saw Tess with a Giraffe neck (not unlike BO’s) and with backgrounds void of cross-hatching and replaced with lined extensions. Even Gertie has a peculiar look. A different visual feel!

What remains indelibly constant though, reminding us that Locher is still there, are those “Lilliputian” hands, with careless magnetic fingers. And all topped off with a thick splash of “Groucho Marx” in today’s final panel. All, recognizable imprints of the Master Genious!

I think B. O. has always smelled like gas-but not gasoline.

So, in the last story, the only purpose of the CIA guy was to run into Angel(gl)orious?

Anthony2816 says: “So in the last story the only purpose of the CIA guy was to run into Angelorious?”

Yes! Think of all those wasted panels and the CIA infringing on FBI territory. You are now begining to “understand” our Author and exactly why a few see the veins of a genious flowing through him. Sadly, there wasn’t even an explanatory panel saying they had ceased their search, and WHY!

I think Gertie had cheek implants. Look at those cheekbones!!

Dick… she said “bitten”, not “smitten”. I predict he’s been bitten by King Kong. BTW - this’ll be the second consecutive personal storyline in a row. Hopefully, he still has a job….

I think Dick stole someones prostetic arm and is using it to hold the phone to his ear.

Grokenstein says: (sigh) Well, so much for the fresh start. Yet another storyline starting out with a pointlessly roundabout phone call. Seriously, read these lines out loud. But make sure nobody’s around, especially anyone who could have you committed. Who’s holding the phone up to Dick’s ear, anyway? No way that’s his own hand.

I agree, the dialog is like pulling teeth, or Tom Joad trying to find out from Muley where his family is. I think it’s Noll’s hand on the phone.

He’s holding the phone to his neck.