Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for August 27, 2009

They did not ‘say’ it. Tracy infered it.

Is that last panel the door to the Twilight Zone? There is something other worldly about the panel as if the symmetry were off..

I’d call it just plain off kilter. Which way is that door supposed to open?

The pose in panel one is almost right, except for having the finger on the trigger, instead of extended onto the trigger guard.

If the killer is one of the people in the circus, and the second note was put together right after Tracy made the scene, who gave it to the person who gave it to Ringo? There wasn’t time for FedEx.

Panel 3 - jeewiz, how bad can you draw

Hey, I just noticed now. The tent has fallen down at the end of panel 1. Wonder if somebody else got killed when it happened?

I have seen the september 21 strips…

Wow, a great surprise… (sigh!)

Panel 1: The gun butt is angled upwards from the barrel, not downwards. It would be very uncomfortable for the officer with his bull neck, to use the sight effectively. No doubt he’s used to it and prefers to fire from the hip.

Panel 3: perhaps it’s a clever optical illusion by the artist? In other words, the walls, doors & ceiling are correct but the POLICE FORENSICS LAB sign is hanging crooked. As are the two thingies (whatever they are) just below it. And the graffiti below that is angled as well. (Strange, the graffiti looks like two signatures which are somehow familiar). Obviously the intent is to depict seedy premises - with admirable success.

It stinks!

Maybe Pops the Clown could give the cop a few pointers on how to hold a gun properly.

“Mr. Ringo you head up the troupe, I want to know …..”

What I’m a tad “curious” about is what sort of “job training” Ringo underwent. Just up ahead we’ll be hearing he was sent there in a witness protection program. I’d think the job requires a little more experience than holding a whip and wearing a Mandrake hat. The deference shown him by the performers suggest his “experience” and “leadership” is respected and that he knows what the he’s doing.

I hope the heavily armed SWAT team member knows what HE’s doing, (where’s Sam Catchem ?). Hope he’s not the Sergant that was so careless, he let Jack GRAB his GUN. He may have been busted down to Private, AS should Tracy for forgetting to “handcuff” Jack when he was knocked out.

It’s these careless, vacous situations that keep croping up regularly in every story that should hasten TMS to retire Locher immediately, rather than let the “ROT” continue unabated untill December of next year

Perhaps that’s the BIG surprise Matthew is talking about.

” WATCH THIS SPACE ON OCTOBER 4, 2009 ! ”

Please, please , please , give us a hint !

To much suspence on the same day !

Yesterday we had a three mast tent and today it grows to a six mast . Zee pain , zee pain !

I always hold the stock up against my shoulder.

The Threatening Note? Thought it was a Ransom Note?

…which could have come from someone in the crowd who is long gone.

Is the circus expecting a direct attack by a hostile nation? Even the police at WTO in 99 were not armed that heavy. Why not just bring in Tra-Z?

It would be really nice if Locher and Brozman could approach this comic strip with the sort of creativity and enthusiasm present in the barrage of criticism it unleashes every day.

And what the heck is that thing below the forensics lab sign? A tiny window?

My vote for the window-thingy is either a hand-print reader or a Kaff-Pow dispenser.

Panel 1 - What exactly is above our police officer’s belt buckle?

Panel 3 - The forensics department can’t read. They seem to be relying on Tracy’s “interpretation” of the ransom note.

Panel 3 - Love the little window. Of all the errors we see in this thing daily, along with the dismal plot, how do they have time to draw (poorly) unnecessary features like that window?

Richard T - says “Panel 3 - Love the little window”. The lab in Panel 3 not only has a neat window, a giant light switch, AND a mirror on the wall. Are you saying you don’t find that interesting or a valid use of the artists’ time? I mean, it really helps you get the feel of the empty forensics lab.

I would like to point out that Dick Tracy just asked Ringo to tell him everything he knows about each performer. That sounds terrible, I hope Ringo doesn’t know very much. Otherwise this is going to be a REALLY long arc.

“Don’t worry, performers! If another person gets shot, this guard here will shoot them.”

So I guess everyone AFTER the next one killed shouldn’t worry…

Mr.B’shrunkenheads

You nailed the sloppy writing again. “Ransom” note (incompetently called that several times) changed to “Treatening” note (WHEN every reader could see it was’nt for a ransom).

Had it been an occasional mistake one could understand but it’s a disgusting, recurring decimal.

AND the Guys in Woodstock STILL think, he’s the “best” thing since sliced bread !

I think today’s strip is occurring immediately after the murder of Louise Trapeze – police arrived (real police), the notes were sent off to forensics, and Tracy is trying to play detective despite his brain damage. He doesn’t know enough any more to take everybody’s fingerprints and DNA and find out who sent the notes, or even to ask who the messengers got them from, but he has some vague idea he should interrogate the ringmaster and find out if he knows anything. This should have happened a few minutes after the murder. It’s too bad that secretary got goosed or we would have seen this strip weeks ago.

Maybe tomorrow we’ll see the ambulance take the corpse away, or maybe we’ll see that later, or maybe the wind blew that panel out the window and we’ll never see it at all.

-Cougar :{)

I’ll say they’re safe! That looks like Superman holding the gun!

I didn’t say he did it. I’m just saying that he can dish it but can’t take it.

Morrow (as usual) is 100% correct!

You know, to be fair, if you go to Zabasearch.com and enter mr. Hansel’s name you will come up with dozens of hits, at least one of which is a guy in Ohio who is probably the EMT mentioned in flightsuit’s Google search result.

Now I’m not taking any sides on the matter but it seems to me to be very unkind to associate anyone with something a cursory web search turns up. Don’t air any dirty laundry unless you are sure the clothes fit.

Just my opinion.

Let’s see - from what I recall, October 4 would mark the 78th Anniversary of the debut of Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy strip.

Perhaps a fitting tribute..or at the very least a tip of the hat - is in the works?