Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for February 22, 2020

Tess isn’t about to be bullied around like the kids who went to school with Shaky – if anyone will be pushing back, it’s our hero Tracy…

Good morning™, Tess summoners tales !

And what a tale she has to tell. She looks doggedly determined in P. 2 and somewhat resigned at needing help from the Great detective by P.3.

Good morning™, problem solvers!

The only thing that makes this easier is that there will be no need to track down Shaky. We will certainly return to get his blackmail money.

Well, everyone who thought it was going to be another “kill Tracy to avenge a death” plot can be happy now…..

Panel 3 reminds me of an old joke: “Three pieces of string walk into a bar…”

I like the use of the black in panel 3. To me it seems to convey the mood of Tess perfectly.

(Sigh) Shaky must be a little naive. He’s messin’ with the wrong woman.

It’s a shake-down and Tracy is called in!!! Or is it a trap to have them in the same room, for Shaky to get his revenge???

hmmm… could a sting operation be in the works / though one would think that Shakey is anticipating that and its a trap setup like @Knightman suggested

“Anything I can do?”

“Why, yes. You could replace all these light bulbs that have suddenly burned out.”

Since apparently Tess is going to tell her husband all about Shaky’s extortion threat, I hope she has evidence to back up her story. I’m sure Tracy will believe her, but evidence is always nice. State’s Attorneys are particular that way.

This don’t look good.

Sure, he should know him. He’s a criminal type. You know—ugly!

Riffin Without A Script takes a shocking turn?

1-BLONDIE (whispering): you got me into this loser of a play, asshat, now earn your 10% and get me something with an audience

2-ROCK HUDSON: It’s very strange being alive and on stage again. Ya know, Liberace told me a story that I think would fit the circumstances of this play… BLONDIE: You knew Liberace. (Yawn). Color me shocked.

3-ROCK: Here goes. Ahem. When he and his mother escaped Europe just before WWII, his mom hid her jewelry on him. Where no one would ever think to look – if you catch my drift. And when they got here and she retrieved the strand of pearls…

BLONDIE: HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO RIFF ON THAT?!? ROCK: That’s your problem. I just saw your pearls and remembered the story.

BLONDIE: Ok. To answer the unasked question then…NO! YOU CAN’T BORROW MY PEARLS!

This may have been reported here before: Nicola Cuti, who co-created E-Man with his friend Joe Staton for Charlton Comics, died yesterday at age 75. https://www.cbr.com/nicola-cuti-obituary/

I’m beginning to think that Shaky is not going to be the real villain of this story. Just a gut feeling, but I think Shaky is being set up for Edison to be the real nemesis here, and somehow this will eventually tie back to Mr. Roboto.

Shaky has to have a more involved plan than this. He musta known that the first thung Tess would do is shout for Dick.

Is there a reason that Tess can’t tell her business partner that someone is trying to extort her?

Tess calls for Tracy; ponders; blows off Johnny’s offer of help. I think it would be smarter to have the whole team on this case and working to foil Shaky Mk.2….

Okay,she called Dick.Smart move.Has Shaky 2 taken Adonis into account?I always had a “meh” attitude towards him,but he might be the “wild card” here.