Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for May 20, 2021

Good morning™, everyone!

A little girl talk, then back to our main story.

Did Crystal put some of that nail polish on her own lips between panel 1 and panel 3?

Good morning™, dogs daubers !

So languid and sanguine… If only they even suspected what is brewing…

Ah, how I remember being asked to the dance by my girl! We even had a Marryin’ Sam available at the dance and some mimeographed marriage certificates.

They still have Sadie Hawkins dances?

Astor Boyd, I had to look him up!

Just friends can dance. But other people will not understand that.

Oops, guess I mistakenly clicked on Gasoline Alley!

Who does team Tracy consult when it comes to teenage girl dialogue?

We’ve all been assuming that Abner would make his next attempt on Charlie’s life at the production of The Tempest. Was that a curve ball? Does today’s strip hint that the star-struck Charlie will be asking Tracy to the Sadie-Hawkins Day dance?

While Crystal and Honeymoon are gossiping, what are Abner and Rikki doing.

What happened to yesterday’s story? Just POOF!, and now it’s Ugly Crystal and Honeymoon?

A boy named Astor? Poor kid!

On another front, I wonder why she’s called “ugly Crystal” when the half of her face we can see is not ugly at all. What in the world can the top half be to earn her that nickname? Methinks it is not warranted at all. Perhaps jealousy by someone less attractive has caused our Crystal to have the most impressive bangs this side of the moon; unnecessarily, I would think.

Far out! They still have Sadie Hawkins dances.

1-DOUBLE UGGS: Do you think I should cut my bangs? I’m tired of running into stuff all the time.

2-MOONEY: No. In fact, if I looked like you, I would grow them longer and get a guide dog. Or become a devout Muslim and wear a Birka or move to India where the Covid rules now reqire a mask at all times or…

DBL: FINE! I GET IT – I’M UGLY! At least my fingers aren’t this stubby and my hands don’t stink like old cheese.

MOONEY Maybe cut your bangs for now and we’ll figure out the “ugly” later…

the plot thickens

Actually, the plot sickens..move on

Now, this is a diversion! What Astor Boyd (a kind of parody Astro Boy) might have to do with this story, if anything, is problematic in the extreme, unless he’s just going to show up to be with the girls when all the Bad Karma goes down. I don’t think the Sadie Hawkins Day Dance is likely to be a venue we’ll ever see, unless as a kind of reprise to a Kadaver Failure at The Tempest.

I suppose, in sum, that this could foreshadow a later plot complexity. Or, it could be much ado about nothing….

In Panel 2, I see a bewildered mixed up not yet mature young lady and a “woman of the world” confidence in her friend.