Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for April 02, 2017

Lightning strikes Ramon down dead. His crime it did not pay

Confrontation imminent when nature had her say.

A lifeless corpse shows no remorse, his deed not justified

What a shock. No tic or tock. Dead meat electrified.

Double Am had no chance to scram. Spirit is no pushover

A sling on wing becomes a noose, good leverage takes over.

Reminds me of when Piggy fell, trussed up, his windpipe closed

Double’s trouble much like that. Suddenly he’s indisposed.

A battle royale in Am’s corral. Time to take out the trash

Ramon is fried. Double Am neck-tied. This tag team a true smash.

The Coroner now on his way, he supplies the body bag

The Double sees his future, his broad shoulders heave and sag.

Take him away in manacles. Collusion leads to chains

Tiny cell under lock and key is now all that remains.

Good morning guys!

I think this is going to lead right back to Pouch.

So the solution did involve Ramon’s lack of children, and a desire for the Perenelle formula.

… though not in the fashion I’d imagined.

Expand and collapse comics? :P

So, “I’m not married” was the key to the whole thing. Ramon not being able to marry his chosen bride was the event that set everything in motion and Ramon was the mastermind of everything.

So, Brush would be out the money either way.

Was Double Am (barely?) on the straight and narrow before all this? I mean, he said he had killed 11 men, not murdered them. The double could have been in the military, or worked previously as a mercenary before Am hired him.

So, it does seem that Ramon knew Perenelle to be real and the immortality formula also to be real. At least, that’s certainly what he believed. There is nothing to indicate that Ramon was colluding with Perenelle in some deception.

Calling all trolls! Calling all trolls! Is it just me, or is this a one day Sunday wrap up for the whole story? // Assuming Double Am is telling the truth, and he hardly has any reason to lie now, we now know just about everything – and so does Tracy. // Oh, yes. There’s that budding romance between Spirit and Bonnie or Moon Maid! Should be a week of fluff.

Anyone heard what happened to Sam and the back up? http://www.yesemoticons.com/free-cool-d/4683-2/tiny-smileys-yesemoticons-015.gif

What was that note/letter that Perenelle was reading that prompted her to plan to leave the city the following day?

And where is Doubleup now?

Where indeed?

Several here have compared this story to an “Agatha Christie” type mystery, and I see what you mean. But usually in those types of stories we have the detective explaining how he figured stuff out. Tracy told Spirit “we’ve been duped” or similar words, but Spirit acted as if he didn’t understand, and then they both went to take Ramon and false Am in for questioning, and we see how that went. But, how did Tracy tumble to the fact that there was a double deceiving them, and how did he deduce that it was probably that same double who did the killing? I was hoping for some “I noticed. . .and that made me realize. . .” from Tracy.

RE: Art – Fantastic use of blacks today!!! Bravo Joe and Shelley!!!

Did Ramon fly in on the private plane with Perenelle? If he did, he sure worked fast. Like I said, there is a month’s worth of explaining due us. Looking up at the questions posted this morning is a good testament to that. All are excellent questions.

I am getting more and more confused (that’s ez to do!) What was in it for Fake Am to strangle her? Huh?

I was surprised to see Fake Am willingly confess today. I was so sure he’d develop a sudden case of “Am-nesia”!

(And I’m even more surprised that I beat everyone to that joke!)

O<|];o)

Death for Ramon and prison for Double Am. A fitting end for this foul duo. A Spirit crossover necessitated a sidelined Sam, so it’s puzzling that anyone would have expected him to burst upon the scene. Things moved swiftly after Tracy called for backup. The fisticuffs and lightning strike transpired quickly, even as time slowed down for readers. Sam’s a great side-kick, sure to return to his rightful place with Tracy once Spirit exits.

Storm-swept Siam has been a good location for this story. While I share others’ disappointment that Am bears few of the original’s characteristics, I like the use of a doppelganger to perpetrate the crime. As Tracy eliminated suspects through interviews and evidence, he deduced that it must be Am. Yet the true Am is an unlikely suspect for murder, which is in keeping with the original. Tracy decided double trouble was likely.

The art has been especially fine during this crossover, with excellent nods to Eisner and Caniff. Ramon had had enough of servitude, although giving notice would have been a better way out. Did the aim change from cash to elixir once Brush was foiled? I wonder if the elixir is now locked in the evidence room at headquarters. Or has a Siam employee taken the…initiative?

Thanks to Neil Wick, BobOscar, Gweedo, Vista Bill, 22ph, Night-Gaunt49, ave09, Chris Sherlock, morrow, Ray Toler and Jpuzzlewhiz for the kind words. Very much appreciated!

Okay. So Perenelle was really immortal and the formula is legit.

She nixed Ramon’s girlfriend, and refused to share the formula (no surprise; she never gave it to Ramon’s ancestors, why should she give it to him?). So he decided to kill her?

How did Ramon know about Am’s doubles? Quite a coincidence that this double happened to be a murderer in hiding. How did Ramon convince him to go in on it? What’s in it for Am 2?

And what about the formula?

Yeah. I know. Otis has the formula and the answers, along with the missing gold shipment, and the reason Silver and Sprocket came back to Tracyville after fooling everyone into thinking they’d drowned.

We’ll probably never know for sure if Perenelle Flammel had a formula for eternal life or not, but this storyline seems to have lasted about 500 years.

Double-Am is completely crushed in spirit by the Spirit’s success and Ramon’s frightening death. He has spilled the beans, telling all he knows, as he knows it. Apparently, Perenelle Flammel was “for real,” as may have been the Elixir of Life (her immortality drug); if so, so much the sadder that her interference in her servant’s love life resulted in her being murdered. So much for her immortality! And it should not take long for Tracy to identify the “local information broker” as Pouch, who seems to be likely to be back in the slam soon.

Some comments over on that social networking site suggest the next story should be starting on or around 11 April, and that appearing in it more than once will be beloved Chicago icon and MeTV horror host Svengoolie….

It was interference, but Perenelle saw any potential wife for Ramon as the mother of her next generation of servant(s). We still have Ramon as shocked over the death of Perenelle (with no bystanders around to fool).

It sounds like Ramon and Double Am were just going to rob Perenelle of the $125,000 earnest money, not kill her. Where is/was the elixir? Apparently Ramon didn’t know. Did Double Am, knowing from Ramon that Perenelle was leaving the next evening and thinking that the room was empty) enter her bedroom using the secret entrance, found Perenelle and choked her, perhaps by accident while trying to get the location of the elixir from her. But why didn’t Double Am tell Ramon immediately (before he would find Perenelle dead the next morning)?

Oh I am sooooo confused….

I really enjoyed the story. Except for the Brush, the robbery, the murder, and Am 2.0. The rest of it was fun.

Superb outstandingRemarkably incredibleTremendous Magnificent