Dick Tracy (comic strip): Difference between revisions

Line 11:

Finally, Gould retired in 1977 and mystery writer Max Allan Collins took over writing and did his best to restore the best of the strip's past. Silly characters like Moon Maid and the above mentioned hippie sidekick were [[Killed Off for Real]], legacy versions of popular (and deceased) villains were introduced (and in the cases of some, like Pruneface, flashback stories were written to bring them back) and the gadgets were scaled back to a more reasonable level. In addition, he also had Tracy get his complaints about reforms to due process out of his system when he temporarily resigned from the force to become a private detective. Sadly, Collins [[Executive Meddling|was forced off the strip]] in the 1990s, leading to the series descending to being [[So Okay It's Average]] under succeeding writer Mike Kilian, and then going ''[[Snark Bait|completely and totally insane]]'' when Kilian died and longtime artist Dick Locher took over the writing duties, as [http://joshreads.com/?cat=54 some have observed].

In 2011 Locher retired and a new team headed by writer Mike Curtis and DC/Marvel artist Joe Staton took over the strip. The restart already has fans talking of a [[Growing the Beard|renaissance]], and it's hard to dispute that. Staton & Curtis have [[Continuity Creep|placed a strong emphasis on continuity]] and [[Character Development]], and tied all ages of the strip into the main canon --- [[Rescued ~~From~~ the Scrappy Heap|even the Moon Age]] -- during a recent storyline arc. In addition, ''Dick Tracy'' has crossed over with multiple comic strips, most notably ''[[Little Orphan Annie]]'', thus opening up an [[Expanded Universe]]. Toss in the artwork (not a surprise, given Staton's pedigree) and it could be argued that Staton & Curtis have done to ''Dick Tracy'' what [[Russell T. Davies]] and [[Steven Moffat]] have done to ''[[Doctor Who]]''.

In 2011 Locher retired and a new team headed by writer Mike Curtis and DC/Marvel artist Joe Staton took over the strip. The restart already has fans talking of a [[Growing the Beard|renaissance]], and it's hard to dispute that. Staton & Curtis have [[Continuity Creep|placed a strong emphasis on continuity]] and [[Character Development]], and tied all ages of the strip into the main canon --- [[Rescued from the Scrappy Heap|even the Moon Age]] -- during a recent storyline arc. In addition, ''Dick Tracy'' has crossed over with multiple comic strips, most notably ''[[Little Orphan Annie]]'', thus opening up an [[Expanded Universe]]. Toss in the artwork (not a surprise, given Staton's pedigree) and it could be argued that Staton & Curtis have done to ''Dick Tracy'' what [[Russell T. Davies]] and [[Steven Moffat]] have done to ''[[Doctor Who]]''.

The strip has been depicted with numerous media adaptations: movie serials, the 1961/1962 TV series, [[The Dick Tracy Show]], cartoons, and a full-length 1990 [[Dick Tracy (film)|theatrical film]] starring Warren Beatty, whose specific tropes are discussed here.

Line 32:

* [[Bald of Evil]] - The Brow

* [[Beauty Equals Goodness]] - Generally played straight, though there have been exceptions (the various Mahoney women for instance). Dick Locher also tended to draw much more normal-looking villains than the other artists did.

* [[Berserk Button]] - Junior, of all people, experienced this once. Right after his first wife is murdered (by a bomb meant for Tracy himself), the first thing he does when he finds out who was responsible is [[Took a Level In Badass|take Tracy's spare gun, drive himself to their hideout and prepare to avenge his wife]]. {{spoiler|Only to chicken out at the last minute, requiring Tracy to come to the rescue.}}

* [[Berserk Button]] - Junior, of all people, experienced this once. Right after his first wife is murdered (by a bomb meant for Tracy himself), the first thing he does when he finds out who was responsible is [[Took a Level in Badass|take Tracy's spare gun, drive himself to their hideout and prepare to avenge his wife]]. {{spoiler|Only to chicken out at the last minute, requiring Tracy to come to the rescue.}}

* [[The Blank]] - The Blank

* [[Book Safe]]: Flattop is hiding out in a boarding house and decides keeping his loot on his person is too risky. So, when he sees an old thick photo album under a table that looks rarely used, he decides to cut out the inner pages and hide his money in it. As it happens, the kid blackmailing Flattop has drowned while ice skating on expensive skates bought with the shakedown money. Those skates led Tracy to the boarding house where he requests the boy's mother to get a photo for the newspaper and so they go to the photo album and the money is discovered. When Tracy asks where this money came from, the mother guesses it must be from her boarder and Tracy proceeds to Flattop's room while the crook is frantically trying to escape.

* [[Brain Uploading]] - Memory Banks, in one of Collins's more offbeat stories.

* [[Butter Face]] - A number of recurring female characters.

Line 50:

* [[Cloning Blues]] - After faking his death (for the second time!), Mumbles returns years later with a shady biologist in tow, claiming to be a clone of the original Mumbles. It's all an elaborate scheme to swindle research money from Diet Smith. Tracy exposes it and Mumbles goes to jail, naturally.

* [[Contract on the Hitman]] - Fearing the police's eventual retaliation when Big Boy Caprice offered a one million dollar open contract on Tracy's life, [[Big Bad Ensemble|other criminals]] offered a similar contract on the life of whoever claims the prize on Tracy's life.

* [[Creator Breakdown]] - Gould actually thought turning a strip about an urban cop into a science fiction series on the moon was a good idea. Then again, given the sheer volume of contempt Gould had towards various 1960s Supreme Court rulings regarding due process rights all criminals have, Gould probably thought turning the book into a sci-fi strip would be better for his mental health.

** Judging by the decline of the strip's artwork quality from 2006 to 2011, some fans consider Dick Locher to have suffered one of these, most likely because he experienced both the death of both his son (John Locher, who was co-artist in the mid-80s) and one of his closest friends (Mike Kilian, who was the writer between 1992 and 2006) while working on the strip.

* [[Creator Cameo]]: Dick Locher made an appearance in his final strip as artist, thanking Tracy for "32 years of high speed excitement." Whether this counts as a heartwarming moment or egotism depends on whether you prefer to remember Locher for his good artwork until 2005, or his terrible artwork and worse writing from 2006 onwards.

Line 93:

* [[The Hyena]] - 'Laffy' Smith

* [[Improbable Hairstyle]] - Crewy Lou, although all the characters do think it looks odd.

* [[In the Blood]] - Flattop's big extended family, though some of them reform.

* [[Informed Judaism]] - Dick's partner Sam Catchem was introduced as a Jewish guy, which was pretty progressive for the 1940's. It rarely has any bearing on the storylines, though, and so isn't mentioned much.

* [[Karmic Death]]: The main villain of some storylines suffer one, usually of the [[Cruel and Unusual Death|"Cruel & Unusual"]] variety.

Line 106:

* [[Magic Plastic Surgery]] - Dr. Carver, plastic surgeon to the underworld.

* [[Master of Disguise]] - Puttypuss

* [[Meaningful Name]] - Pretty much everybody. However, a few minor characters who got promoted to series regulars wound up permanently stuck with names that only related to the plotline which introduced them. Poor Vitamin Flintheart!

* [[Money, Dear Boy]] - Whenever the intros to the Dick Tracy books and articles regarding Tracy talk about Chester Gould, they tend to point out that Chet did not see himself as an artist creating a fictional narrative to entertain audiences, but rather as a businessman creating a product designed to sell newspapers.

* [[No Celebrities Were Harmed]]: Quite a few in the Staton & Curtis era:

Line 134:

* [[Spotlight-Stealing Squad]] - B.O. Plenty and Gravel Gertie.

* [[Street Urchin]] - Junior, before his adoption by Tracy.

* [[Tech Marches On]] - While some of the extreme examples like the Space Coupe with its magnetic propulsion system are straight examples, Tracy's various wrist communicators have always felt reasonably in line with the times with occasional upgrades over the years.

* [[Those Wacky Nazis]] - Pruneface and the Brow

* [[Throwing Off the Disability]] - The Mayor's invalid wife rises from her bed to shoot Mrs Pruneface and save her daughters.

* [[Train Escape]] - Shakey does it to lose the pursuing Tracy in his climatic attempt to escape.

* [[Tunnel King]] - The Mole

* [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future]] - Even before it got ridiculous with the space period and after it pulled back, Dick Tracy has an ample supply of futuristic gadgets, especially with his various wrist communicators.

Line 144:

* [[Ugly Guy, Hot Wife]] - Subverted with Pruneface and Mrs. Pruneface. Played ''very'' straight with Abner Kadaver and [[Goth|Rikki Mortis]] (although they live together, their relationship hasn't been specified as of yet).

* [[The Unintelligible]] - Mumbles and later Merky.

* [[The Vamp]] - Breathless Mahoney.

* [[Vapor Trail]] - Happens to Measles

* [[Video Phone]] - Dick's "2-Way Wrist TV" that carries this function and is used to communicate with police headquarters.