Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for November 07, 2018

Say, how do I get Vortex to pay MY bills?

What a nice set up.

Good morning™, con jobbers !

Neil, being late, makes me have to pull the “TM” up and then type the good morning part aaand the comma ! ;-O

I wonder if Big Tex’s voice is as sinister sounding as his face looks in P. 3 ?  I am wary of a voice that has a sleazy drool to it.

Good morning™, contractors!

It seems that Mr. Pitchblende maybe should have read the terms of that contract a little more carefully. Anyway, I’m sure he has bills that need to be paid, so maybe it’s not all bad.

That last panel reminds me of Thor, the villain in HELL ON WHEELS!

Sure wish they went back to the Russian Jewish immigrants story. I was liking that.

No… NO…. NOOOOOO!!!! Not the fax machine! Anything but that!! I’ll talk! I’ve got money!… But dear sweet baby Jesus — NOT THE FAX MACHINE!!.. (faints)

Tracy’s out of his depth on this one. This looks like a job for:

FORENSIC ACCOUNTING MAN and his Ledger of Justice!

Fax? I’m surprised Vortex hasn’t moved up to Bitcoin scams by now.

Think he will take the money and run?

Last National Bank of Bunco

Man, this is sinister. I hope they don’t discuss the banking system!

So far this isn’t making a whole lot of sense.

Time for fat boy to call Dick Tracy.

Is this some sort of Ponzi Scheme?

The details of his scheme are still more than a little hazy, but that Piotr Volkov (a.k.a. Polar Vortex; Vorkov) is Truly Evil is made as clear as the art of cartooning allows in that intense close-up in panel 3.

I think the “contract” and “bills” in question are those having to do with the Deacon and Miller Festival, which the trust intends to support, but that is not really clear. Nor is it yet clear where Tracy comes into the picture: at this point, my best guess is that Vitamin Flintheart will see that something is going wrong with his pal Peter’s plans and will call upon “Richard” for assistance….