Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for April 27, 2021

Good morning™, slowed-down readers!

What is Rikki getting confirmation of? I can’t even guess. Buckman-j, you know everything. Please tell us the answer!

Will Riki take over that job?

Maybe she’s Catholic.

Egad! I hope she’s not pregnant with Abner’s baby!

Good morning™, Preggers !

What else could it be ?  Ab has lost his glee. A reverse order from Aces would surely bring it back.

When she affirms her Christian faith and becomes a member of the church?

Confirmation? She doesn’t look Jewish!

Is Rikki Pregnant?

Teaser.

Confirmation? Oh uh…. this is painful and interesting.

She’s taking a trip and wants to be sure which seat she gets on the plane?

She’s turning sixteen and being confirmed (a little late) into the church. And Abner has another criminal charge coming up beyond murder and attempted murder (and really bad acting).

Todays comic left ( fantastic ) in the starting blocks . Rikkis face in the first and third frames are just great . I wonder what she means by " confirmation " ? And Abner looks a little worried in the second frame . I wonder why ?

Meh!!! Meh!!!

Wait wait wait….Rikki is pregnant with Abner’s baby so..she’ll give birth to…. (wait for it)

LIL ABNER!!!!

Egads…Attitude Plenty was ‘plenty’ now Abner?

Abner’s eyes are very emotive. Yesterday they were evil and today they reflect sorrow and regret. Too bad the Oscars are over.

Holy Crap!

1-RIKKI T.T.: In her best Tom Waits voice Mind if I tug on your coat a minute?

2-A.B.: Whether tis nobler to suffer the slings and arrows of this mortal coil or you know, snuff it? How was that? I’m trying to convince Sugar Daddy to put on the Phantom Of The Opera!

3-RTT: _I haven’t seen this much ham since I got lost at Bob Evan’s pork rendering plant. I haven’t seen this much scenery chewing since I was at that 1500 cow ranch. I haven’t seen someone kill a role this much since Fat Archie (aka Coney) hit the bakery after a two day fast._ HE’D BE A FOOL NOT TO DO IT, A.B.!

Is there a baby Skeletor in the future?

Neil, It means she’ll get an extra name and some holy water. Stay tuned.

I’m just hoping that the disease finally takes Abner. If Mike makes him sympathetic or normalizes he and Rikki as reformed suburban parents with some sort of slightly eccentric Munster attitudes, that would be just too ridiculous.

Abner and Rikki are both murderers. It is sad but if she is preggers, the baby needs to be taken away by DCFS and she needs to go back to prison. Pregnancy does not trump a murder rap (especially in a “crime does not pay” strip) and Abner has worn out his welcome long ago.

I hope this story is not an attempt to rehabilitate this pair so they can stick around.

Very concerning is all this religious talk, ablution and now confirmation. Deliberate misdirection by Mike, for sure.

My take is, like Flattop, a former über popular villain, Mike intends to generate a “family” of Kadavers to make up for the well overdue demise of the current Li’l Abner (which I’ve been calling him for years).

‘Confirmation’ has sparked even more speculation here than ‘ablution’ did; but seeing as how Abner’s had no opportunity for recent Rikki-hanky-panky, if she is pregnant the dad would have to be someone else. (And if so, then whodunnit, huh?)

Just curious .,. considering that Rikki’s an escaped felon, how does she expect tp get her “confirmation,” whatever it is, without giving her location away?

Lots of speculation on what’s going down in today’s strip. But, humor aside, all hinges on what Rikki means by “confirmation” (panel 3). Almost anything could be “confirmed,” even a contract issued specifically to her to snuff Abner after he whacks Charlie 21! (My speculation can be as twisted and devious as just about anyone’s!)