Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for November 22, 2021

Good morning™, everyone!

I don’t completely understand The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. I suppose criminal conspiracy essentially means they are colluding together in “organized crime.”

Britannica Encyclopedia says:

“RICO defines racketeering in an extremely broad manner and includes many offenses that do not ordinarily violate federal statutes, such as any act or threat involving murder, kidnapping, gambling, arson, robbery, bribery, extortion, or dealing in narcotic or other dangerous drugs.

“In addition, RICO lists numerous federal offenses that the statute defines as racketeering: bribery, sports bribery, counterfeiting, embezzlement from union funds, loan sharking, mail fraud, wire fraud, obstruction of justice, trafficking in contraband cigarettes, prostitution and trafficking in people, bankruptcy fraud, drug violations, and obscenity.

There is lots of depth to the drawing today, especially the hands. I really like it.

Great strip today. Love that 2nd panel.

Let’s hope that Judge Ragsdale is not on the “take” & pre-warns the Apparatus.

Tracy’s getting a warrant!? Is that a first for the strip?

Are we going to get a Mr. Crime II style shootout soon?

Good morning™, assembled raiders team !

Sounds like that warrant will be coming along very quickly. I love the background in P.1. Flag to the left and then the shot out the window which shows remarkable detail in the neighboring buildings, for “just” being background stuff. That is some “Fantastic Four” in P.2. They are just short of drooling for some action.

Looks like the time drone story isn’t quite over with. I’d call this the beginning of the third and final act. Rose is getting off by testifying and will go back to running her “businesses.”

President Kennedy was assassinated 58 years ago today. I was six years old and living near Dallas at the time.

Yesterday Tsull commented and I couldn’t open the replies to his comment, when I refreshed the page his comment was gone. I’m assuming he deleted it, unless GoComics finally….;p

So Briar Rose has created a thorny problem for the Ace. Then she can get back to her other criminal enterprises. Win win.

Criminal conspiracy to do WHAT? What is the CRIME? (Also, note that Briar Rose never answered the question of why she “infiltrated” Diet’s facility, especially when they already had Sterling in place.)

Shelly , has once again shown her fantastic skills that she has , a wonder cartoon and the hands are especially cool for sure .

If only there had been some way for The Apparatus to foresee this outcome!

MCU Rollout

That is the only thing Rose had to reveal that the DA was willing to commit to prosecuting? I’m assuming they are hoping for evidence of more criminal activity, but that is amazingly little. The MCU doesn’t have evidence of any other crimes? Murder of Abner? Hiring hitman to kill Tracy? Theft of services from Smith’s time device is it? I’ve accused the MCU of sitting around doing nothing but drinking coffee, waiting for the next impossible coincidence to solve a case for them. It looks like I’ve been right. (And still not a word about why Rose was at Smith industries at all. Misrepresenting herself as a reporter is low-level fraud, not RICO at all.)

What if … enough time has passed….. and someone finds the money …. and it is “finders- keepers?” They cannot prove anyone had caused the explosion without proof.

The excellent artwork in today’s strip really showcases two of Shelley’s storytelling strengths. Her depictions of facial expressions add depth to the characters, while the increased use of perspective and foreshortening help make the action more visually dynamic. Today’s panel 2 could have been humdrum, but those above elements — especially when framed within a slightly angled perspective — give the scene added punch. Well done!

Wonderful strip.

So there must be at least one dummy corporation that the Apparatus works under that the city can charge with RICO violations. Doubleup works as an employee for them.

And Happy Thanksgiving to Curtis, Staton and Pleger! Thanks for making Dick Tracy vital and creative for modern audiences!

1-CHIEF: YIKES! When did you all sneak in here???

2-…Wait…is this a coup attempt?

DT: You three distract him while I reach over and grab the stars off his shoulder. Whoever has the stars gets to run the department.

SAM: OK Tracy. Hey Chief – have you heard the one about the Amish Cop who parks his police buggy behind the Burger King sign on 37? He’s never caught a speeder but the mowing crews have to cut the grass three times a week where his horse stands! No? How about the Jacksonville Jags quarterback, Trevor Lawrence? He has 300 tickets for failure to PASS EFFECTIVELY. No wait – maybe it’s his inability to hit the coin receiver at a Toll Booth. I forget…

DOLL: GROAN Hey Chief. Wanna see me and Daughter make out? DT: Almost got ‘em…

Team Tracy has done a great job so far handling with this storyline. I am curious to see where it leads. Curtis and Pleger are an excellent comics combo.

At any rate I continue to applaud Shelley’s art work.

Have we ever seen the City’s D.A.‘s in the strip anytime during it’s history? I know the D.A.’s office gets mentioned from time to time.

Not that I want the strip to go down the “Law & Order” Route, but it would be nice.

For that mater, have we ever seen the Police Commissioner, the Chief of Departments (Chief of Police) , and the Chief of Detectives, who’s be Pat’s Superiors. Pat appears only to be the chief of the MCS on and not the overall Chief of Detectives.

Isn’t RICO the guy who used to play shortstop for the Red Sox?. Let’s get Neil on that. BTW, someday the narrative will catch up to the art. Someday, not right now though.

Besides the warrant Chief Patton is going to get, MCU may want to proceed with S.W.A.T. teams accompanying them.

Now I’ll find out whether the Apparatus does shoot-outs or do they work with “Independent Contractors”.

The ones I saw in coats and ties didn’t come across as the “shoot it out” type.

Didn’t Sterling do more infiltrating than Rose? All she did was pose as a freelance writer.

How do you charge “the apparatus”, as a general thing. Do they have a mailing address where you can deliver the warrant?

No complaints about overlarge panels today.

Looks like a giant size raid coming up;but it’ll have to go some to top the 2015 raid on Mr.Bribery.Rose was probably obliging enough to provide an address.

2.)Jack’s body is still up at the deli,and it’s starting to smell like bad corned beef…

3.)Sorry,but Tracy looks like he’s got the mumps.

4.)The “Drooler Society” should have a great time with Lizz’s “Lana Turner Sweater”.

5.)Doubleup and Mumbles say—“Are we getting raided AGAIN???”

movie quote—-

“You have the money on Christmas Eve.Or come Christmas morning you’ll find your head in your stocking”.

Fred Clark to Bob Hope—-THE LEMON DROP KID—1951

The artwork is incredible…..Great job!!

Waaaaaaaaaaaaait… is the MCU about to serve a warrant to the Apparatus? At Apparatus HQ?!

I remember the old comics where Pat Patton was Tracy’s partner. His eyes definitely look different.

During “The Button” story when Tracy spent most of 1973 bringing down t his fashion-challenged Apparatus biggie;there was a scene where the very Jewish Sam Catchem disguised himself as an Oriental food deliveryman.(With tape to change the shape of the eyes).

Does anyone still think that Rose’s coffee was poisoned? This strip is clearly the next day, and she’s evidently still around to testify.

Love the panel 2 MCU lineup. Lizz is looking particularly seductive—hubba hubba! Great work by Shelley (though I still think Tracy’s chin is too broad—but that’s a matter of style and taste).

Chief Pat Patton has just got off the phone with the D.A., who gives the green light for arrest warrants for the Apparatus; now, Judge Ragsdale must come through (one may hope he’s a good judge and not on the take from the gang!), and Tracy’s Tough Team will be ready to take Ace’s house of cards down!

Tracy looks ready to reach out with the long arm of the law!