Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for May 17, 2015

Jimmy’s cleaning up loose ends, thus his Lufthansa stuntUnbeknownst to Jimmy, Doubleup has joined the hunt.Fontane and Cork have felt the fork. Both of them are doneNow he aims for Axelrod, before he has to run.Silence is so golden when the ones who cease to speakKnow too much of the gold heist, their knowledge bound to leak.Yet dead men never tell their tales, they always stay so quietWhen questioned by authorities can’t confirm or deny it.Choo Shooz knows he’s paid his dues, his heist long in the worksNow wary of the fallout, for the threat of Blackhearts lurks. .Sam and Tracy on the case, for Jimmy they now searchThey gamble on a bookie joint where Jimmy’s known to perch.Welcome a wild party: Doubleup doubles the funSo disarming and assertive, Jimmy reaches for his gun.Sam and Tracy on the scene just in the nick of timeTracy arrests Jimmy Choo Shooz. Murder is the crime.As Jimmy reaches for the sky the room goes black as inkTracy calm and cool. Never been the first to blink.Cowards pout when the lights go out. Doubleup just grinsBeen in tighter spots than this, while chalking up his wins.

Shouldn’t that have been, “Heh, heh…Heh, heh”?

Good morning guys!

A nice Sunday strip with outstanding poetry by Pequod77… what more could a person want?

Tracy wished that Sam would driveA wee bit more than twenty-fiveHow nice it’d be to finally arriveBefore the goons they’d be surprised

Hold your ground don’t move a bitYour under arrest we got a tipDon’t say a word just zIp your lipAnd by the way that shirt ain’t hip

Oh No no way I hate the darkthat’s why I won’t stroll in the parkat night when dogs all like to barkI hope the whip won’t hit it’s mark.

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Whipped this together in under 10 minutes. .. it shows! LOL!

Fast moving & interesting story! Great art (just look at the detail on DoubleUp’s bullwhip!) And another fascinating entry by Jim Doherty! All that and our poets, too! What a special Suinday!

Bravo TEAM TRACY!!!

Who turned off the lights?

Happy Sunday you all!@Pequod @Avenger09 my compliments!Maybe Axelrod turned the switch, or maybe BB Eyes or Mr Bigg!

Terrific art, a suspenseful ending, and another great poem by Pequod77. Sunday’s off to a rousing start!

“Where’s your boss? And why are you dressed like a railroad engineer?”

Note the mustache on the “engineer” matches Slim and the “other Slim” at the second place, except for color.

Unless Blaze has some manly-huge hands, it’s definitely not her.

What is the context of that Batman panel? Why is Batman striking Robin?

A blestful Sunday morning to all Tracy fans. Including ‘Gwedo the Great’.________Excellent poem Eldo. Our Poet Laureate.__________Good comic Gweedo._______Be happy and healthy my friends.

Well, since both Jimmy and Doubleup are shown with their hands up, simple elimination seems to indicate Axelrod.

Whatever happened to the consequence for Axelrod’s foot speed, when Tracy (Sam?) shouted - “Freeze!” ?

Not so effective then, (seems he got away – unless he remains standing, as Neil (compliantly?) envisioned him - unseen (?), ‘to the left of the frame’ . . . ?? . . . so today command … IS - “Nobody Move !”And the main known suspects are ‘seen’ to remain in the room.

Note too, the charge is murder, not one of “suspicion” of murder.No wish to sound ‘picky’ . . . (but Axelrod Speed?)You got to ‘imagine’, they already have a ‘motive’ in the bag, and forensics in, that tie back to Jimmy’s gun, plus a reliable Eye Witness, (peeping through the door?) just as Jimmy pulled the trigger ? Not just simply seen (by a worker), running out the office after the sound of shots.

No Guess Work here. the case IS - “Open and Shut”!

The office has no windows? No light from the adjacent room? Is Doubleup going to lash out (pun intended) with his whip on two cops that have their guns trained on him? Hopefully, Tracy and Sam have their night vision goggles in their utility belts! Great poems, you two! Especially the 10 minute wonder!

Doubleup’s such a fine, upstanding person that I’m sure he wouldn’t think of getting the drop on Tracy.

The bullwhip appears prominently three times… Axelrod has gloves on but the hand the switches off the lights does not. It looks like a masculine hand but Blaze is the one unaccounted for.

could not agree more

Great Sunday Strip & Poems…Thanks All..Its a shot in the Dark..

I wonder if we will ever find out what actually become of all that gold. That is a lot of gold to be just missing or even just forgot about. Jimmy has to tie up loose ends to keep things hushed, surely someone has a story to tell of a big bunch of gold. ….that is before Jimmy runs out of ammo ….

love the batman joke … a time or two I’ve been on the receiving end of “one handed clapping”

life isn’t always a Popsicle …

The “train conductor” is indeed a suspicious fellow. If he removed his gloves he becomes the leading candidate for switch flipper. This engaging story broke the “rules” when the crime took place off-panel. This simple twist leaves us to guess where the gold is and who will take the prize. Doubleup is cool under pressure. “I’ve never seen that whip before in my life, officer.” Hy Pressure saw it, but only for a moment. I like the way Team Tracy mixes it up. Thanks for another fine Hall of Fame inductee, Sgt. Doherty.

Thanks to Willy007, Ray Toler, VistaBill, cpalmeresq, Gweedo, Neil Wick, Ashmael, Starman1948, morrow, Chris Sherlock, John Russell and JPuzzleWhiz for the kind words. Very much appreciated.

Great piece of info as always from Doherty. That book sounds like it my be a good/informative read. Probably out of print, but deserves some research

Thanks to everyone for your kind words.

Jimmy Choo Shooz is a DEAD MAN.

Wonderful poetry from Pequod and Avenger! Thank you!

From yesterday’s strip, Axelrod, Jimmy, and DoubleUp gets word Tracy was arriving. Axelrod heads to the storage closet (to hide or escape, we don’t know), but Jimmy stays to take his chances, and DoubleUp also stays.

Today’s strip: Tracy and Sam face Jimmy and DoubleUp—but no sight of Axelrod. Tracy and Sam are unaware of him, for the “engineer” responded to Tracy’s question of “where’s Jimmy?”

So it’s possible that it is Axelrod’s unseen hand we see flipping the switch, for Tracy and Sam, having a bead on Jimmy and DoubleUp, had their hands raised.

Ah, but there is DoubleUp’s whip, on the desk, right in front of him. The lights go out, Tracy says “NOBODY MOVE! That means you, DoubleUp!” and DoubleUp snickers. Sounding confident?

Going from bright light to darkness takes time to adjust for the eyes, so if DoubleUp has reflexes of a cat, the whip will be a-lashing, a-lashing!

Yours was also well done, JPW!

Gweedo the Great said about three hours ago: do you think…..______Yes, we should indeed get a free trip to the awards ceremony.______Be well my friend.

I bet Mr. Big turned off the lights.

I bet Mr. Big turned off the lights.

It’s known as aiding and abetting.

Yeah, I suppose that whoever it is was aiding and abetting the escape of someone, if not actually being an accessory to the original crime.

Where was Axelrod when the lights went out?Since he seems to be the only person unaccounted for, I’m guessing that on his way to the secret egress through the storage closet he found the light switch and flipped it off. Will DoubleUp try to take advantage of the dark and go for his whip (lying nearby on the table)? I’m guessing that he will, as that would provide some action and excitement in the coming strips. Jimmy is a big, easy target and could be unintentionally hit if Tracy or Sam, or both, open fire before DoubleUp can disarm them with his bullwhip, bullwhip….

I really like that tiny sliver of yellow light on the edge of Tracy’s coat collar in the last panel!

And look how the guy in overalls is “looking over his shoulder with his eyes” – Joe sure does pay attention to details, and he uses things he has probably observed in real life.

Tracy and Sam may be holding guns . . .

But it seems to me, they’d be reluctant to pull a trigger in the dark, unless someone physically attacked them.

Can’t be sure what you’ll HIT if you can’t SEE what’s there.Could be unintended - “manslaughter” !

Since we don’t know for sure who might be in the building the light switch could’ve been flipped by anyone but I doubt Jimmy or Double Up could’ve managed that maneuver. The most likely culprits would be Axelrod or another gang member. I doubt Blaze would risk coming in. We might not even find out who it was.

Jimmy’s cleaning up loose ends, thus his Lufthansa stunt

Unbeknownst to Jimmy, Doubleup has joined the hunt.

Fontane and Cork have felt the fork. Both of them are done

Now he aims for Axelrod, before he has to run.

Silence is so golden when the ones who cease to speak

Know too much of the gold heist, their knowledge bound to leak.

Yet dead men never tell their tales, they always stay so quiet

When questioned by authorities can’t confirm or deny it.

Choo Shooz knows he’s paid his dues, his heist long in the works

Now wary of the fallout, for the threat of Blackhearts lurks.

Sam and Tracy on the case, for Jimmy they now search

They gamble on a bookie joint where Jimmy’s known to perch.

Welcome a wild party: Doubleup doubles the fun

So disarming and assertive, Jimmy reaches for his gun.

Sam and Tracy on the scene just in the nick of time

Tracy arrests Jimmy Choo Shooz. Murder is the crime.

As Jimmy reaches for the sky the room goes black as ink

Tracy calm and cool. Never been the first to blink.

Cowards pout when the lights go out. Doubleup just grins

Been in tighter spots than this, while chalking up his wins.