Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for December 18, 2019

Well, that’s a relief…now that the bad guys are leaving, Tracy & the gang will be magically rescued.

I suppose Sam and/or Tracy’s wrist genie will transmit a signal that will allow their location to be traced, sice Claybourne and Splitface didn’t think to take them.

Even if the plan went off 100% as expected, I don’t think an alligator would be eating four adult men before sunrise.

The 4 beef burittos will not be eaten.

’Tis a fact!

’Nuf said.

But they have to hang around to be – I mean see – the main course….

Good morning™, business people!

They have more important things to do than to watch their victims die? Of course, that is going to be a mistake, no matter if they have better things to do.

“Hand me the shark repellent bat-spray” – Oh, wait… wrong story.

How exactly is lorenzo going to get thru the chain link fence to gobble up some gullible cops and reporters?

Maybe Lorenzo will eat the steak and call it a day. Tracy and the gang would be dead if Splitface could afford four bullets.

Ah……Dinner is served!!!

Lazily drawn hole in fence.

Luckily for Tracy and crew, the only one making stupider decisions is Splitface.

“…other business to take care of here”? Is he going to free the cats? LOL

doc1947g Premium Member noticed a glaring defect about 4 hours ago

I don<t know what is the problem, but I cannot access today(Wednesday) page. But I got the one from https://tribunecontentagency.com/premium-content/comics/dick-tracy/. So much for a Premium Member.

Having color on this one is actually an improvement.

I could not access any of the strips at turnover either. It is just as well since for some time now refreshing the page, opening all comments, reading the “Likes” and activating the widgets all came with a delay which seems to be working good now.

So reminds me of “The Wild, Wild West”. The bad guys (often Dr. Loveless) would always leave to let their killing devices work, giving James a chance to cleverly figure a way out of his predicament unobserved.

Good morning™, protected potential meals !

I hope the gator has “wire cutter” teeth since that sort of “hole” look in the fence appears more like someone taking a shortcut on drawing in all the links. Even near the center of the “hole” I see link lines connected to the bottom frame.

Same Bat-time. Same Bat-channel.

Someone didn’t check his Natural History: Alligator’s are reptiles so when the temperature drop’s below 70 degrees F or so they stop feeding, and when it gets much colder, alligators dig out a den in the bank of a pond or river and go dormant until it warms up again. Alligators can even survive freezing conditions. When Snow sticks to the ground it’s well below 70 degrees F.

Given that is is snowing, the gator is not going to be very active. But just the same, the way the “guest stars” keep appearing, Joe and Mike, might have Seminole chief, James Billie in Tracy Town for vacation and rescue them by wrestling the gator back into the pool.

It’s a nice touch to have the steak identified as such.

See ya later……….

Just want to take a moment to address everyone who’ve been commenting on how the villains always “leave to let their killing devices do their work”. There is a good reason why they do that: it’s so that they can establish an “alibi” — “I wasn’t there when the killing took place!” so to speak.

“I’m just going to leave and assume everything went according to plan…”

This arc proves Tracy and his friends, Mike and Steve, are pretty much the dumbest operatives ever to disgrace a comic strip. The only thing missing was a neon sign “TRAP THIS WAY!”

I’d like to thank Joe and Mike for pointing out the steak.

Looks like that gator is getting ready to take a bite out of crime fighters.

maybe he’ll be saved by Blackjack again. We haven’t seen him in a while.

that steak looks more like a brain

A tried and true trope. Not just the peril created, then also leaving.

1-GRANDPA: So, with two hats available for the taking, you’re instead sticking with The Pillsbury Doughboy? SHADY: It’s called the Henchman Grandpa. I told you that.

2-GRANDPA: Whatevs. Let’s go, my brain is cold. SHADY: Maybe you should’ve taken a hat. GRANDPA: Don’t sass me boy.

LORENZO: They left me a hunk a ham and a sign claiming it’s steak. My ancestors swam the Nile and were converted to Judaism by Moses himself. I KEEP KOSHER! And I won’t be eating those ‘pigs’ either! Maybe I’ll go see if a Florida game is on the tube…

“Did you remember to leave the gate open for the gator?”

“Probably.”

“Good enough. Let’s roll.”

I mean why kill them in such an elaborate way if you don’t even wanna watch?

For Gary Larson (The Far Side) fans—As of Tuesday (after a 24 year hiatus), he has new & vintage offerings on his online only website. You can Google it, but I believe it is something like TheFarSide(DOT)com Replace the word DOT with the dot/period symbol.

Mr. Tracy will be quite angry…they threw his hat on the ground

Even if the gator decides to go for some long pork, what’s the chance he eats more than one of them?

If this ‘gator is a linear thinker, Tracy would be the first munchie, Roper the last. But somehow, I’m pretty sure, that’s not going to happen.

Meanwhile, what “other business” do Splitface and Clybourne hate to take care of? And where is “here” in his teaser? The zoo? Tracyville?

I was wondering what could be more important than watching a mortal enemy meet his maker.