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

Good morning™, everyone!

Well, I think the last frame is a nice transition to the next story, which I think probably involves Diet Smith in some way. If I’m not mistaken, Smith has a safe in the background where he will keep the ring safe from malfeasance.

Mysta and Vera finish on friendly terms, but they were never unfriendly to each other, except momentarily. So everything is back to normal and they didn’t end up married to each other. Also, Honeymoon did not run off and solve the case by herself, as some claimed was inevitable. Also, Annie never did show up. As Honeymoon mentioned back at the beginning, Annie was travelling this summer, so she wasn’t available to visit Honeymoon.

Despite some faults, this was the sort of story that I think Mike is good at and I’m glad to see that he’s getting back to that style. More details on that later. I didn’t get a chance to write up my comments on “The Collector” yet, but I will update this post throughout the day.

Good morning™, safety box deposited weapon of Mysta destruction !

Think Diet will sell it to another crook and then let Tracy recover it ?  I can see a sweet money making scheme with Tracy getting a cut every time the ring is “recovered”.

“One ring to rule them all”

Beware Diet, ring of power are dangerous

Sinestro Corps.

Why should Diet Smith get custody of evidence for more than one crime? I don’t get it. We’re not sure if Tracy even recognized the ring. Maybe Tracy gave it to Smith, but we don’t even know how Archival got hold of it in the first place. SIGH… Now I’m complaining about loose threads!

Now Mysta should say “I’m open to receiving a replacement for it from you though, Vera” for the #1 shocking ending of Mike & Joe’s tenure, lol….

If I were Diet Smith I’d be trying to reverse engineer that ring to figure out how to neutralize its effects….

And if Diet Smith portends a new story arc… I wonder if he will reveal the project that he hinted of to Tracy ?

NEXT TIME: Tracy and Samwise Catchem on a quest to Mount Doom to rid the world of the ring?

Possessing criminal tools was once fairly common charge. Lock picks in your pocket, for example, could get you arrested. Now lock picking is a hobby and simple possession isn’t a crime. Criminal tools are still a charge in Ohio and can mean about any object if the prosecution can establish criminal intent. Possession of the ring, with Mysta kidnapped, would establish criminal intent. We don’t know laws in Tracyville. We only know Archive purchased the ring at a huge price. Since it should have been in the police evidence lockup that means someone had to steal it from the evidence room, and Archive was in possession of stolen property. There is no real world reason to give custody of the ring to Diet Smith. But, if the police evidence room is subject to theft it may be reason to hand it to Smith in Tracyville.

Maybe I’m over-analyzing, but something about Diet’s expression makes me uneasy.

How will Mike manage to stretch this through Sunday – that’s the real mystery to this entire story line. It’s been wrapped up for days now.

So we have not yet returned to the 1943 scene with Flattop. Some people suggested that it was related to Archival’s comic strip collectiom, but that doesn’t appear to have been the case. Is Diet’s research on time-travel next?

1-VERA: So, what happened to that ring? I was hoping to use it to improve the odds of us getting’ together by tipping the power dynamic between us in my favor. JUST KIDDING! kind a

2-VERA: ANYWAY, it’s nice to be back to the ol’ routine – me working and you lounging around the pool drinking anything with vodka in it.

HORNY: That includes the pool – it’s filled with the stuff! It’s rough on the hair color though – as you can see.

VERA: What DID happen to that ring?

3-HORNY: The cops had to give it to… STAN LEE’s DAD! DUN DUN DUNNNNN

VERA: OMG! He DOES look like an older version of Stan! I never noticed! You don’t think he’ll use the ring to extend this story line…I mean, against you, do you?

HORNY: Well, his money has controlled me so far, so only if he goes broke…

THAT MORNING’S NEWSPAPER HEADLINE: DOIT INDUSTRIES UNDER SEC INVESTIGATION Cooked Books May Spell Firm’s Doom

So how long before Archie is brought back under the guise of the Mad Colourist?

This settles the question for everyone wondering where the ring is.

Good. The ring is in custody… for now.

Well as long as Neil is satisfied, I guess that makes this dog of a story okay. Really on edge of my seat waiting for that Collecter thing. Please folk, Flattop, the most iconic DT villain is long dead, please don’t ask for a resurrection, that will lead to another boring story.

“And soon it’ll be in Smith’s vast storage warehouse, along with the Maltese Falcon, the Holy Grail, and the pieces they sawed off of the Mona Lisa.”

That’s more like it!! Thank you!

Okay,they found the ring.THEY FOUND THE RING.Everybody get down off the tall trees.

Be with us on Sunday when Vera Alldid says—“I get all that great stuff now,right?”,andTracy kicks HIM below the belt.

For the uninitiated,Diet Smith LEASES the wrist-gadgets and other inventions exclusivelyto Tracy’s police department at affordable prices.

Fortunately for the cops,he’s come up with more winners than losers.

is it “Diet” as in diet soda, or “Deet” the german pronunciation?

Anybody else agree with me that the giant “fire fighting tank” he invented during the first Mr.Bribery storyline was his biggest “dog”?

The public loved it,there’s one in every garage.

DEAR DMITROI:Could you please drop “the block”?My only “crime” is providing accurate information toWIKI/FANDOM.

How about I only contribute one day a week so you can “be prepared?”.

Throw it into Mt. Doom while you still have the chance!

Mysta is reassured and at ease (even more so than serial womanizer Vile Alldone). But I frankly don’t understand how the Magic Ring would have been entrusted to Diet Smith. Even if he (or his minions) filched it from the crime scene, I’d expect the cops, once hearing Mysta’s account (she must have given a statement!), would realize that it was missing from their Evidence Room and forthwith confiscate it—even from multi-billionaire Diet Smith.—Or did Tracy release it to his techno-wizard old friend as the more prudent thing to do rather than risk its being stolen again?

One more day of wrap-up, presumably, then a new tale begins Sunday (?)….

In my opinion, they should destroy that ring!

Doesn’t anybody have the good sense to destroy this ring? I guess not.