Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for February 27, 2013

Good morning all…

Let’s see. Simon has been a serial killer for more than 67 years and no one found about it until his untimely encounter with the hybrid locomotive.

Okay, why wasn’t it mentioned before that the confession was signed by Sweatbox? And if Simon killed her after he wrote it, why didn’t he burn the confession?

Macabre, isn’t it?

We still have to see what becomes of Sweatbox’s assistant. He’s likely to know something about the killings.

I was just going to say the same thing. Tracy needs to question SB’s assistant. Creepy story.

Agreed, Gweedo. That second panel is rockin. I even like the color job.

serial killer ? hmm

So true. Speaks for itself. You don’t have to see what he’s about to put in that hole to know what it is…

Woo hoo!Waddaya know, I was right – Ol’ Sweaty WAS a serial killer!

Usually in the case of a serial killer, there’s at least a couple of rewards for info involved; I would love to see Mole get some of that money so he could fix up Moletown and upgrade Rose’s kitchen

Let’s hope there’s a future for DICK TRACY and the other TMS comics if the Tribune Papers are sold.

Wow, Sweatbox was a very bad boy.

That second panel is really nice.

To: StillDaMan (yesterday) thought you might like to see this list of train gauges over the years- there actually once was a gauge smaller than “T”!http://www.spikesys.com/Modelrr/scales.html

So Sweatbox, the rat had his brother take the rap for his murder then piled the rest of his victims on him, too!

The case seems clear enough so far as Patton and Tracy have explained it. But what was Sweatbox’s motive for his serial killings? Was he an impulsive sociopath? A short-eyes? Insanely protective of his holdings? Motivation, please!

HOW did Tracy and Pat find all this out? Sure, they could have done it “Off camera”, so to speak, but if the story arc was less rushed, we could have seen the fine detective work that went into compiling that report he’s giving the Mayor. How in the world could a 1940s woman have “forced” Simon to do anything, let alone write a confession?!Oh well, I enjoyed the story overall, and I really liked the sequence with the train.

I am loving this strip! Reminds of the dark and brooding strips of the early years.

My guess is that the fiancee had just enough on Baux to blackmail him into writing that confession, then hid it, but made the mistake of letting him know she hadn’t told anyone else. Never blackmail someone who solves their problems with murder.

We read in an earlier strip that some of the confession was illegible due to water damage—presumably they’ve now repaired it enough to read the signature.

Sweaty’s assistant hasn’t been heard from yet?

What is missing in the abbreviated stories told here is any detecting done by Tracy and his squad. There was absolutely no buildup to get to these conclusions at all. Whoever is squashing the story telling here should be demoted and put in charge of obituaries and let the artists tell a complete story. This has been a very frustrating storyline.

So how was a confession from a 4 years old at the time George Tawara going to help Simon?

I sure hope I’m as strong, physically & mentally as he was when I get to that age

I heard on the news the other day that 70 is the new 30. That should make me about 25. I’m OK with that.

@BillThompson The note was signed by S. Baux. They thought it was Stephen Baux at first, but then it was implied that it was Sweatbox who had signed the note instead.

FWIW I believe this is the last or 2nd to last Tracy story that had to fit in the 6 week limit. The writing team is supposed to have more time going forward to tell their stories. For example the Moon Maid mystery is supposed to go 3 or 4 months.

gweedo murray said….

“But who knew at the time that the area would eventually be under water ? I can buy the part of the burial site being covered over by a structure though since work was ongoing at the time”.

Look at the panel gweedo.. the sign clearl states LAKE FREEDOM under construction… not CAMP freedom… it was already camp freedom and was in the process of being turned into a lake when sweaty was burying his ex lady love.

and syd… didnt you see mike’s comment a few weeks back in the yahoo group which i reposted here with spoilers? in case you didnt i am posting a spoiler here……..*******************************************mike said moon maid will appear march 7th

lilyslore, no detective work being done in this story at all?!? REALLY?!?!?! did you NOT see tracy call george tawara when the evidence was found at lake freedom, or lee ebony go interview sweatbox, or tracy and lee go out to dinner with george and brad to get info on camp freedom, or tracy at the scene of the baux family vault, or junior tracy calling dick to tell him the information that was found, or tracy and lee going to baux’s house to apprehend him, or tracy passing the info onto pat patton who then told tracy to bring in sweatbox, or the mole pressing pouch for information?!?!? thee was TONS of detective work done, it was just written so well into the fabric of the story, you overlooked it. as for “condensed stories”.. i believe you are correct that this is the last of th e6 week adventures and if i recall correctly mike said moon maid’s story is going to take a WHILE to unravel completely.. someone said much like the mr crime story…. and she will be around even AFTER her story wraps

Matt, after reading a couple of your posts, and trying to understand your logic, one becomes tired……… very tired. Have you ever thought about opening a hypnosis studio? I think you could induce sleep to a hoot owl at midnight.

You said: “… I sure hope I’m as strong, physically & mentally as he was when I get to that age…”-—————————————————————-I guess we’d all like to be as strong as Sweaty at that age (heck, I’d like to be that strong now!).Sweaty could also have been using performance enhancing drugs to add to his muscle mass, adding to the effects of his exercise and diet routines. I don’t know if science knows the effects of PEDs on senior citizens.

Someone may get away with burying a body in an area about to be flooded, but a body in a coffin will pop up when the ground around it gets wet, ie the air space in it is buyount.It seems this has been a problem when cemeteries get flooded – the caskets float downstream, and no way to ID the bodies!I live near the Mississippi and there are no cemeteries in the flood plain – they are all on the bluffs, at least around here.Same reason propane tanks pop out of the ground when flooded.

Perhaps there is more explanation forthcoming, but, as it stands now, there are big links missing in the chain of evidence. Of course, this won’t come to trial, because Sweatbox died in the wreck. But, even to convince the Mayor of what they suspect, there seems to be much missing.How do they connect him to the victim? Who was the victim, and what was his motive for the first murder supposed to be? Is there a murder weapon? Is there physical evidence? I guess this comes from reading dozens of Perry Mason books over the years, but they were educational with regard to how things should be proved in a court of law. Mike was a law enforcement officer, he knows about these things.

As I recall the main crime in this story was originally supposed to be something else, but then after a change of plans the tale was rewritten to make Sweatbox a serial killer. I kind of expect that there will be some holes in the final explanation of this case, since the original conception seems to have changed in midstream.

Which is fine by me because I’d rather talk about Moon Maid, Retik, and Stellaluna. :)

But who knew at the time that the area would eventually be under water ?^^Look at the sign, it specifically says that the preparations for the site becoming a lake are underway.

Here in Maryland we have absolutely no natural lakes. All of them are man-made.

My father was born in Linn Creek MO but not in the location where the town is currently located. The original town of Linn Creek now sits at the bottom of The Lake of the Ozarks. The whole town was moved when the lake was built.

I haven’t seen Dick Tracy in 35 years. Nice to get back.