Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for August 16, 2021

Good morning™, guys!

Mysta is certainly “a woman on a mission” today as she stomps away from the window towards Archival, but Tracy blocks the way. Can he keep them apart?

Mike has a fascination with Frankenstein. It shows up a lot in his stories, but it is seldom referenced by name as it is today.

“Okay, good. Problem solved!”

Yyyyeah, that won’t stop her from grabbing someone’s gun and shooting him in the ring hand.

It seems Archival is about to make a VERY big mistake by “controlling” Mystra.

To those who wondered if Tracy would notice or see the ring…

Wonder no more, Archival revealed it himself !

Good morning™, Fiery Femmes !

He can’t repel a sock on the jaw, so go with that. This guy’s really full of himself. He paid too much for a ring he only got to use one time, before it gets taken away.

Well, Mysta is showing much more restraint than a lot of posters gave her credit for.

Ol’ Archie is one of the dumbest smart guys I’ve ever seen. He devoted a lot of time, money, cleverness and effort to turn his home into a personal museum (with a panic room!) but he’s so dumb, he thinks he can “control” Mysta right in front of two police officers! Calling her a “Frankensteinian beauty” shows he thinks she’s not a real person, with inalienable rights, so he can do whatever he wants to her and not be punished for it. What a character!

Methinks Archival should have kept his mouth shut about that ring….I doubt it was obtained on the “up and up”.

A good time for Sam to shoot the ring off.

I don’t think it is a good idea to flaunt the ring

Wouldn’t a real kidnapper be handcuffed by now? Oh….he’s rich; my bad.

Key point (IMO) in this debate. Don’t forget — Mr. Archival did kidnap Vera and Mysta. The ring was clearly used to control Mysta. No ring? Guess what? I doubt Mr. Archival could keep them at his compound.

Archival…not the brightest bulb in the criminal world, is he? Self-incrimination.

The third panel makes me think of a moment in The Truman Show when Truman, momentarily baffled by his ersatz wife reciting the script of a “placed product” commercial, nonetheless sees a glimmer of the truth. He says :

“What The Hell Are You Talking About? Who Are You Talking To?”

Did anyone, except us —the readers of this strip— “hear” what Archival just said?

Mysta should relate the ring’s powers to Tracy that me may take it off Archival and put it aside for safe keeping!

Archival seems to forget he’s under arrest—He just made a statement that can be taken in evidence against him

If yesterday’s strip wasn’t enough of Archival screaming, “I’m a complete moron!” Today, in front of Tracy, he shouts, “NO! I’M DUMBER THAN THAT!”

Archival is proof that comic collectors aren’t very bright.

Uh, Archival? Not a art-smay ing-thay to say in front of the ops-cay. (You are new at this, aren’t you?)

“oh did I say that out loud?”

Of all the men I’ve met, it’s that 1 who wants me to knock their teeth out. Momma didn’t raise no dumb gal-child here, he’s really the worse of the breed. Arrogant, self-centered, narcissistic, with a layer of rich. Phew, the smell of money makes me nauseous.

Tracy and Sam. I hope you help put this egg-sucking pond scum away for good.

Kidnapping and bodily harm if you include the ring’s effect on Mysta.

Magic ring?! Puh-leeze!

We were wondering where that thing went.

Will DT take his ring from him?

Oh, and by the way, Mister Stupid Big Mouth – you are aware that when you’re booked the Tracytown PD will take your “precious” from you, along with other personal belongings… right?

Archival; that ring can prevent Mysta from “Mind Zapping” you, but it can’t prevent her from swearing out complaints, filing lawsuits, testifying against in court. Plus, there’s Alldid. That ring does nothing against him.

Note that Mysta showed some sympathy for Vera there :)

Oh look! Archival now has Green Lantern’s ring! (I was trying to stay away from remarks about the bad weekday coloring, but I couldn’t help myself today.)

He’s not helping his case…

No hand cuffs on Archival. Free as a bird?

Daring b-j to come after me, noting what pretty much everyone else has already said, nothing like an unforced confession in front of the police.

Not to mention, the mention of another crime that, apparently, Tracy is still blissfully unaware of, the theft of Bribery‘s ring. (Whether Archie stole it or not is not the point, the point is, the ring itself has been stolen, and now Tracy knows it, too)

In the meantime, Tracy us shushing Mysta. Probably appropriate in real life, but drama sucking in this stage play.

This is a story that would have best ended yesterday.

This is getting painful to watch.

You know, confessing how you did your crimes in front of witnesses is not a smart move to make. Or are we into “Evil Overlord” territory now?https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EvilOverlordList

@Pequod:

Brock can’t control his mouth.

He’s like a “loose cannon”.

I’ll bet she can still pull his arms and legs off and show them to him.

Boy, he is stupid!

1-HORNY: 30 SECONDS OF FILTERED SUNLIGHT AND I’M BACK TO FULL CHARGE!

2-DT: Slow down there, Horny. You look like Shirley Temple in The Little Colonel Well, except for the parts of you that look more like Shirley Temple in The Bachelor And The Bobbie Soxer movie. The theme of that movie with the old guy and the High School student made me uncomfortable if you know what I mean. In fact, it had everything to do with me deciding that I could never be a High School teacher so I studied Detecting instead. Funny how a movie can change…

3-STAN LEE: WEREN’T WE GOING TO JAIL??? Your inane ramblings constitute Cruel and Unusual Punishment. WHAT’S HAPPENING?!?!? MY EYES? THEY’RE GONE! THERE’S JUST BLACK HOLES WHERE THEY USED TO BE!

HORNY: BWAAA HA HAAAAA! You’ll never see your precious comics again, Stan!

DT: GASP! In a flash, Horny attacked Stan and poked his eyes out with those horns!

HORNY: Huh? No I didn’t. I just flipped the light switch off for a second.

DT: Oh. Let’s go then.

Archival clearly doesn’t know the first law of holes: “If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.”

Even Mr.Bribery had sense enough to shut up when they grabbed him.

Anybody else thinking that Dick Tracy is going to confiscate the ring ASAP?

Tracy, knock Pseudo-Sauron out NOW!

“you’re NOT BIG ENOUGH to do this to Rocco!I’ll kill you!”

Newflash,Archival.They’re big enough.

Ooopsie!!!

I’m starting to get the feeling Joe & Mike should have wrapped this storyline. up yesterday … it’s been a fun summer story, no need to wreck it with a protected climax.

That should be “protracted climax.”

Now is the time to get that ring and give it to Mysta.

Prediction: Sam will bean Archival with a brick, in homage to Ignatz and Krazy.

Remember yesterday, when several posters said that Mike had forgotten about the ring? He hadn’t. Besides, I’m sure that in his scripts, he tells Joe what should appear in each panel. It’s probably Joe’s fault if the ring is on the wrong finger.

At this point (dumb, maniacal Brock Archival!), it’s time for Tracy to recognize and confiscate the stolen ring.

Then, if Mysta Chimera should happen to get a moment or so alone with Brock—well, “accidents happen,” don’t they?