Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for April 07, 2019

Claims he teaches teachers all about the end of life

Closes off the windpipe for a deadly dose of strife.

Wendy tells all that she knows, which is not too extensive

Call him The Professor or the cost shall be expensive.

Elsewhere, see the school kids out on a fun field trip

Shake hands with a sports writer possessing a firm grip.

Bonnie is their teacher. Little ones are in her care

Unbeknownst to Bonnie, she is in the devil’s lair.

His ways are most seductive. Kind connection bids to make

Yet smiles like a serpent who’s a phony, fraud and fake.

Bonnie is in peril now, a fact to which she’s blind

Fooled by The Professor who pretends that he is kind.

What a crime

To waste our time

With this murderous eyeglass wearing geek

Truth be told

With suspense on hold

I could have better used my week

We’re to believe

That up his sleeve

Is the letter for victim number eight

And his master plan

Is to play his hand

And ask Tracy’s kin on a date

Time will tell

If this ends bad or well

I’m sure the professor will meet his end

Another week

Of yadda yadda speak

This surely ain’t no Beckman bend

Bonnie, tell him to contact you through the school!

Good morning™, smooth but deadly [sbd] operators !

Definitely “the boy next door” type, if you don’t get too close.

…..and we all know WHO is gonna rescue her….and their relationship, right?

…..in earlier days, we’d all have to fear for her, and wonder if she was going to live, lol…

Good morning™, smooth talkers!

He’s promising to do her a favour. What could go wrong?

And down the path of danger we shall go………….

“Sports figures” could include the San Diego Chicken and a box of Bobble heads

Sweet talking and promises, “Want some candy Little Girl!!!”

Be careful, the demeaner masks the true fiend’s intent!

Wouldn’t you think Barnabus would have been wary of making advances to a woman with the last name Tracy?

Place your bets, medames et messieurs – will it be… 1. Bonnie is in danger and will require rescue by Dad, Sam, and half the Metro Police Dept., 2. Bonnie is in danger and will be rescued by Joe, rekindling their relationship, 3. Bonnie is in danger, but not from Mr. Tar, who turns out to be a “red herring,” 4. Bonnie is in danger, but a new character rescues her, 5. Bonnie is in danger, but “offs” the perp herself, or, 6. Bonnie is not in danger at all, and Team Tracy posts a giant Sunday April Fool! panel.

I’m sure Bonnie has been “educated” by her father enough to know NOT to give strangers like Mr. Tar her personal information. I’m sure she’d give him her school email address. No Cellphone number, no home phone number, certainly NOT her home address.

Alt Script: 4- BARN: Hey kid. You look a little old to be in the same grade as those other kids. 5- ELLIE MAE: Well I ain’t. My cousin Jethro says you’re never too old to get a ed-u-cay-shun. And besides, my Pa says I’m only 18. 6- BARN: Really? Well then I feel safe to tell you that your style and your look are just what Glamorous Glamour magazine is looking for when they shoot next month’s cover. 7- In fact, you seem to be cutting edge like me. That au couant hairstyle fits my avant garde cardigan and thick glasses perfectly. 8- BARN: Kid, I’m going to make you a star! (ELLIE MAE off panel): You sound greasier than one a Granny’s possums just come out a the oven. BARN: Then it’s a deal?

Don’t do it!

Never give out personal information. If he wants to contact Ms. Tracy, then it is the school phone number and school address.

Bonnie should recognise this guy by name, at least:

https://www.gocomics.com/dicktracy/2019/03/11

Barnabas’ column is one of those love-it-or-hate-it features:

https://www.gocomics.com/dicktracy/2019/03/15

https://www.gocomics.com/dicktracy/2019/03/16

Bonnie falls into the hate-it category, so I can’t see her totally trusting this guy. Of course, he will turn up the charm. This is exactly what he is doing today by suggesting he could get some pro athletes to visit her class.

Joe and Mike have hinted in the past that they’re fans of the 1966 Batman TV series, so I think it might not just be my own overactive fanboy tendencies making the mustachioed gent in Panel 4 look familiar. He’s a dead ringer for the “Printer’s Devil,” henchman to Bookworm, one of the guest villains who battled Batman and Robin on TV. (Roddy McDowall played Bookworm; John Crawford played the devil. Here’s a still of him from that episode: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0519509/mediaviewer/rm1127680). If he’s not an homage to that character, the background figure is a blatant anachronism; he and his newsprint hat are a throwback to the days of lead type and Linotype machines, which haven’t been used in the news business since the 1970s.

DING! DING! DING!

Stranger Danger!

Bonnie, give him nothing, or at least nothing more personal than the school’s public general phone number! Do not let the smooth line cloud your thinking. You are Dick Tracy’s daughter and should be alert to this sort of dubious prying.

And whether Bar Tar is The Professor, or whether his brother is (I’ve noted your objections, Pequod), if Barnabas gets the information it is likely that one way or another Reggie also gets it. However this shakes out, what is clear from today’s set-up is that Bonnie will be in danger and will require rescue. Will rescue come at the cost of a life; of a romance?