Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for August 06, 2018

Hmmm …

Good morning™, waiting cabbies!

I found grave for a Pvt. James Wesley Malone, but he died in World War II at the age of 18 and is buried in Mississippi.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9917627/james-wesley-malone

The grave in our story seems to belong to a soldier of the Confederate States of America. I wondered if such a thing could even exist in North Dakota. I know that some Confederate soldiers are buried in the North, but I don’t know about ND.

Anyway, Sawtooth could have put a fake gravestone there. Maybe our Pvt. Malone is not even buried there. (I wonder if it’s a reference to a friend or relative of Mike Curtis.)

Google turned this up …

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9917627/james-wesley-malone

With Tracy and Sam on the way, will Sawtooth soon be hearing TAPS?

There were some skirmishes in the Mid West, but someone could have been from the Dakotas area. Still it might just mean it is a fake to anyone who would known or think of it . Obviously not many would even consider it an anomaly as to why it was used.

Still intriguing.

Looks like his money stash might be "buried "there?

While I would love to see AnyFace’s Spirit-styled underground lair, I think the “I’ll be back in a minute” suggests merely a hidden compartment for a fake passport and some cash to help Sawtooth get across the border nearby and into Canada. Wouldn’t it be great to see Tracy and Sam team up with Sergeant Bruce of the RCMP? This current story arc began with a theater showing the “Rocky Horror Picture Show.” Will it end at a theater showing “Rose Marie”?

Shades of “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”

Good morning™, soon to be interred cabbies !

I doubt any Civil War hee-roes would be buried so far north yet no one seems to notice. Yep, could be someone Mike has connection to, somehow.

A Mario “tribute” would be oblique as to keep the author out of the grave site himself. Sawbones will be running yet again after the cabbie bites it.

For the life of my i have no idea WHY people insist on trying to tie comic strip names/locations, etc to REAL LIFE instances.

Just accept it as “a name” anbd move on. WHat was that saying? Oh yeah (paraphrased) “SOMETIMES A GRAVESTONE IS JUST A GRAVESTONE!”

Would be a nice twist if this is a false grave for SAWTOOTH himself, thats his real name AND where his money from jobs is hidden

Since we will probably never know who the name on the grave marker refers to, let’s just leave him Malone.

The plot thickens.

Tune in tomorrow; Sawtooth meets Tuco, Blondie and Angel Eyes…and weird haunting music plays

A Confederate soldier’s grave in Minot?

Okay. Someone has to say it.

Confederates in North Dakota?

_Why not Minot!

Wasn’t there a Confederate General from Big Sur, named Lee Mellon?

Seriously? A CSA marker appearing in a comic strip., especially the week of the first anniversary of Charlottesville? Isn’t ANYBODY at the Tribune Company editing these strips?

Keep the meter running: Sawtooth does not plan on expending much time in the Hoagland Cemetery. It’s been a long time since he’s been there: whatever he may have stashed (or not), it’s from much earlier on in his “career.” Does the name on the tombstone have any special significance? —It might be one of Mike’s Real Life private references, or, as suggested above, it might even be Sawtooth’s real name, Or neither. “CSA” might simply be a way of making it stand out from most of the other graves there (Confederate burials in Minot being uncommon). Will Tracy and Sam nonetheless arrive there before Mario chauffeurs Sawtooth away? Could be….