Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for February 08, 2020

“Worst dinner date in history!” Roboto is set straight

Abduction, not an interview. To break her chains felt great.

Roboto did not go to school to learn of all her skills

Mysta bold and cunning, now the author of his ills.

Calls Dick Tracy, as is right, yet active on the case

Toss some zappage on the thieves, and get up in the face

Of the masked armed robbers whose next stop is the jail

Roboto thought he was so suave. In all things he did fail.

Tracy slaps the cuffs on him. “Crime does not pay, you know”

Chimera a crime-stopper. Her antennae spark and glow.

Mysta is a heroine. Her character the beauty

Saw a wrong and made things right for honor and for duty.

Good morning™, publicity hounds!

Looks like Mysta didn’t make it for curtain time after all.

It will be SRO at the theater!!

A true heroine!

Good morning™, first edition readers !

timmy’s train has arrived, right on time.

With Mysta’s absence being forgiven am I correct to assume the play did not happen that night ?  Your tickets will be rain check honored, folks.

Exactly which “talents” are you familiar with there, dear Kandi? That’s quite a smug look there.

Will they allow Mr. Roboto to wear his mask in jail?

Enjoyed this story!

OK I was hoping for an unmasking of Mr. Roboto, maybe tomorrow?

Wait what? That’s it? This is so disappointing. Booooo!

The result weren’t that shocking typical Dick Tracy ending

Just wondered, was it eating the giant snails that gave the moon people the snail like antenna?

Usually the criminal’s mug shot is used in the media, which in Roboto’s case, would have meant without the mask.

Roboto shouldn’t have slugged her. ;)

Wonder what else is in store for Mysta after this publicity???

Hey, Neil, and all you other old timers! What is the name of the newspaper?

“The Daily”?

I was going to say – y’all do have an understudy for the part, right?

They’re probably upset that the takedown didn’t occur at the theater, where it would generate more publicity… and ticket sales.

Dick Tracy’s actions did not seem heroic because the villain, Mr. Roboto was just another insane character who spouts song lyrics (we’ve seen this before with the retconned Putty Puss—yawn) and he was not formidable at all. At the rate we have seen insane villains lately, it’s a wonder Mike doesn’t create Tracyville’s version of Arkham Asylum.

We learned nothing about Roboto’s motivation. The escape by holding one of his own men hostage was ridiculous and Tracy looked stupid for falling for it. All of that gunplay and nobody was hit. Boy, Roboto and his men were terrible shots. The screw calling card reference was wasted panels for an idea that went no further than one mention. Add on another abrupt ending.

Once again a promising and intriguing start to a story that fizzled out in the end. There seems to be a pattern here.

Hard-hitting news! They don’t have any interest in who id behind the mask?

1-SUGAR DADDY: Looks like I gave up on Handles too soon. She wasn’t shacked up drunk on moon juice somewhere like I thought. We be sellin’ some tickets now boy! Sorry bout cha Barber but we don’t need you tonight.

BARBER POLE: No big. I’m just glad we’re getting the Futura costume back. That cardboard box robot thing you put together last night looked like a kid’s Halloween costume.

SUGAR DADDY: Yes. The Halloween Hooligan would’ve appreciated it.

BOTH: HA HA HA!

BARBER: What a witty end to the story! No?

Does Mr. Roboto look like his mask is winking?

Seriously guys?

do we find out who Mr. Roboto really is? arigato

“It did not occur to either our reporters or the police to take his mask off. He is currently wearing it in prison.”

Everyone seems to be forgetting one part of the story—“Edison Lighthouse”, mentioned back on January 5th. Why bring her up and mention that Roboto can’t see her again if she isn’t going to be used somewhere else down the line in a later story?

And another Tracy story bites the dust, with another ending that seems both abrupt & drawn-out. At least the strips should be good for the next week or so, Joe & Mike are at their best starting a new story & introducing a villain. After that …. One thing’s for sure, in 3 weeks or so we’ll be back at the Patterson Playhouse.

Hmmm. The top feature story in The [Tracyville] Daily! What a headline! —Some editors would have ruled it “verbose” and eliminated the “Metropolis Star” line and maybe collapsed “Mysta Chimera” down to “Citizen.” But Vitamin rightly relishes in the free publicity. Kandi seems more underwhelmed though acknowledging Mysta’s prowess.

I guess Sunday will feature the start of a new arc….

And as our story concludes,Mysta Chimera can be heard singing.OH,.HOW AMAZINGLY UNLIKELY WAS MY BIRTHAND PRAY THAT THERE’S INTELLIGENT LIFE SOMEWHERE OFF IN SPACEBECAUSE THERE’S(CENSORED) HERE ON EARTH!!