Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for January 12, 2010

Ah, the North Side!

Which is…

Um…

Run down?

Anyway, the guy’s clearly a pro. You can tell by the way he wields that screwdriver.

I see Chris Shendo is still at work with his Stradivarius tool kit. This story is really moving along now!

Zzzzzz-zzzzzz….huh? Somebody say somethin’?

Wake up, margueritem. Send Tracy over to “Annie”.

Quit fiddling around and get to the story Locher

If I send Tracy over there, Albuquerque is doomed. However, the Pig on Wheels may be able to help.

A five-string Stradivarius. Must be the banjo variant.

Fer Lefer said, “…and Vista Bill, don’t awake Margueritem. She´s not missing anything here…”

You are sure right about that! For a moment I thought they were redoing one of last weeks strips by mistake.

margueritem said, “If I send Tracy over there, Albuquerque is doomed. However, the Pig on Wheels may be able to help.”

Send the Pig on Wheels. Ask him to “oink” three times when he gets there.

I think Gweedo’s plot is very plausible (in a DT sort of way). He goes to the ball, hypnotizes the audience, and cleans them out.

This thing is gonna double for a banjo!

Story speed here is like an Iceberg, drop by drop melting without an assist from Al Gore’s Global Warming.

And the hand SIZE in panel 2, awkward as it may appear (like his leaning lamps), is all Brozman. No “baby” pencilling evident today.

Always trust your precious Strad to the guy that is one step from welfare in the tenament house. Yeah, that’s a good plan.

I agree with Sydney. Story is moving at Iceberg pace.

Love that new 5-String Banjo Strad!

The fiends! How long until Dick Tracy brings these villainous violin thieves to justice???? Ugh.

Well, unlike the last story at least we’re seeing things happen on multiple fronts…though “seeing things happen” is probably an overstatement.

VistaBill Oink, oink oink!

Too bad the high school guidance counselor that told him “Stradivarius Violin Modifier” was a good career choice can’t see him now.

crunkbot, - The “toe-finger” in panel 1 ?

Yea! I think they “copyrighted” that feature for Dick Tracy a couple years ago. You won’t see it anywhere else.

Jumbobrain, “Seeing things happen” ?

Same thing back in the OneEye Jack story last year. We were all getting excited. For the first time in years it appeared like we had action moving on three fronts.

Then suddenly, Locher tapped the gear levers back into neutral

Another day off for Locher.

I think Locher is trying to draw a shadow under the leftmost string, and creating the illusion of a fifth string. Either that, or he thinks a violin has a fifth string that extends only from the base of the fretboard to the end of the sound box.

I make it 50-50 which is correct…

BTW, this does look like an accurate drawing of the North Side of Naperville. I think Chris is working in one of the abandoned Lucent buildings. Maybe the same one I once worked in…

If it’s a 4 string violin why does only one of the strings cast a shadow?

-Cougar :{)

margueritem said, “VistaBill Oink, oink oink!”

Opps! Sandy doesn’t get along with Pig on Wheels! Wait a minute… he was waiting to be introduced. All’s well now.

Hey guys and gals! That is what makes THIS Strad so valuable! I’m going to tell you something that few people know about Strads. Stradivarius cranked out his fiddles by the dozens. He had the frames made in China; the fret was made in Bangladesh; and they were shipped to Mexico for final assembly. The strings were monofilament fishing line from Myanamar. Those were the 4-string Strads, marketed through Walgreen’s. Those are the ones you know about! He had the Japanese build a few prototypes that featured electric strobe lights when you hit the fifth string, but they didn’t sell. Honest! He discontinued the 5-string when the plastic backs delaminated from the heat of the self-illuminated resonance boxes. THEY are the valuable ones! And this is one of them.

Joe’s being followed by a string shadow, string shadow, string shadow He keeps arguing about the string shadow, string shadow, string shadow And anyway you look at it, It it’s not a trick of the light Oh Joe’s being taunted about a string shadow, string shadow, string shadow

Just oink three times with feeling if you want him He hears our cries, when we’re feeling so low (we love him, we love him) Yes, oink three times with feeling if you want him He’s ready to fight, so just let him go.

margueritem, If you’re following on wndrerthg’s suggestion, you forgot the - “oink,oink, oink ;)”

The Pig on Wheels has returned from Annie! He’s back home again. Oink, oink, oink!

morrow said, “Hey guys and gals! That is what makes THIS Strad so valuable! I’m going to tell you something that few people know about Strads….”

Thanks morrow. That answers a lot of questions!