Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for December 26, 2021

Patty Cure fiercely did demur when told to run the brothel

Will lead the cops to headquarters. Masked miscreants are awful.

Inspectable collectables will fetch a pretty penny

Scruples to respect the law, these crooks fail to have any.

No rush on hit. Let’s savor it. Peruse the big collection

One last time. The king of crime won’t stand for imperfection.

Look to see top quality. Could that be Flattop’s tie?

The dead care naught for style and class. All worm food by and by.

Stiletta’s blade! Don’t be afraid. She cannot harm you now

Woo! Gosh! She’s six feet under. Ms. Nitrate take a bow.

There is a poster full of holes. Promotes Zelda the Great

Tulza Tuzon riddled Dolly. His small heart filled with hate.

Inkwell and gun. This place is fun. Let’s get this party started

Should Bones put Tracy on a slab, we’ll cheer the dear departed.

Good morning™, everybody!

Well, it looks like Mr. Bones has assembled together several newspaper clippings about Blackjack’s robberies and prison escapes. It seems to me like he’s been preparing for some time, but I think he just recently learned that Blackjack is out of jail. I’m still little suspicious of his claim that he has the stolen collection.

Is the Daily the only newspaper left in print in Tracyville?

Did the colorist run out of gray ink for his shirt?

Does the Daily cover any other story?

Does this story plan to have any suspense soon?

Well, I was wrong. The story did resume today. Okay.

That’s a rather ominous thing Blackjack said in the final panel. And I thought he never used a gun. Could he be saying that he’s sure he’ll be caught and sent to an even more secure prison? More disturbing: could he be contemplating suicide? That doesn’t seem in character for him, but it’s best to consider all possibilities.

Including murder.

Rest Ezeey Inn sounds like one of those budget facilities which serves a continental breakfast.

I want to see this collection for myself. Being that Blackjack and Mr. Bones are getting sentimental about it. They just don’t make crooks like they used to.

I do not see where the storage locker break in figures to the story, unless the Tracy memorabilia is stored there!

Blackjack is going to be a fall guy

Regarding the “Role of Honor” feature, being a paramedic is dangerous in ways that I hadn’t even considered.

Ambulances tend to be in a hurry, of course, but going too fast on a slippery road is never a good combination.

There’s a good little TV news clip here with a few extra details:

https://www.wsmv.com/news/family-member-of-paramedic-killed-in-i-40-crash-speaks-with-news4/article_9d34d9a4-f697-11e8-aaed-073d9d24b30e.html

I see that most others here this morning disagree with me, but I think all the dialog is Bones’. The lamp in story panels 1 and 2 appears to be the same lamp. I think we are getting one side of the conversation, with Blackjack’s responses implied by how Bones answers him. BJ must have asked if he should have helpers on hand for the unloading, to which Bones says no, he’ll help unload it himself. Either way, it is odd that we don’t have at least one view of BJ, instead of only seeing Bones.

A portion of Blackjack’s collection https://www.gocomics.com/dicktracy/2017/07/01

Is Mr Bones planning a Two-Fer? Pick Blackjack’s brain (which rogue REALLY understands Tracy better?) Learn what Black Jack knows, offer him up to Tracy, then blast them both! Blackjack is credited with a kill, Tracy is dead, and Mr Bones skips town with no one the wiser…

I want the story on how he escaped prison using a Pez dispenser!

1-TRAVOLTA: Hello, Blackstrap? I’ve been some background checking on you…

2-…you know, for initiation into our Scientology thing. It appears that you’ve been a baaaad boy…

3-…Now that doesn’t necessarily mean that we won’t accept you into the cult – I MEAN RELIGION! Even I get crossed up by the lame stream media sometimes…anyway…

4-…It just means that you’re going to have to come up with a much larger Initiation Fee …

5-…Luckily, I believe I have a way for you to earn it. What’s that? Does it involve anything illegal? Well, only if you believe that there’s value in a non-member’s life, which of course – THERE ISN’T! Whadaya say we discuss this over a couple of Royale with Cheeses ? What? Fine. Quarter Pounders then – are you happy now???

I would like to see a Dick Tracy story that reveals a mystery about him. Something unique and missing from his origin story until now. We don’t need a radioactive spider or an exploding planet…but something believable and relative to Dick Tracy’s life…maybe an evil doppelganger called Nick Tracy? The possibilities are endless…

One of those headlines really caught my eye. Did the cops ever capture that escaped garden hose?

And we end today’s strip with “Chekhov’s Gun”…!

Mr. Bones appears to be a truly ruthless killer…looks like he’s going to take out Blackjack to me.

a PEZ dispenser?!?!

Official notification:

All word balloons are Bones. We are only hearing his side of the conversation. All images are his motel room. Sorry if it is unclear.

Shelley did say she was trying to work with colors in this Sunday, having it be warm to start and get colder in each panel. I think Shane did a fair job of that.

The white around Bones arm should be black. The preview Shelley was sent was correct, not sure why the one here has white on it.

I think her artwork is excellent. Mistakes happen…they’re not the end of the world.

Blackjack did tell Tracy he escaped using a PEZ dispenser back in 2013.

https://www.gocomics.com/dicktracy/2013/01/06

and PEZ did make a realistic PEZ Walther PPK Pistol.

https://i.pinimg.com/564x/2c/f2/be/2cf2beba47efe32ce9692cf647d6a9f4.jpg

Attribution of the speech balloons and their content to either Richard Bonhomme or Blackjack is rather tricky today. But, in the end, it would seem that Blackjack is cleaning his (newly-acquired since getting out of stir) pistol. That would suggest he has some shooting action in mind (even if only generic self-defense), as hinted at in the second panel of the middle row. But who or what would BJ be planning to hit? A vendetta against the Apparatus? A bank heist to fatten his cash resources? Mr. Bones (after regaining possession of his collection, naturally)? The mysterious (to us) Ace of Spades?

Sounds like Bones is setting Black Jack up to take the fall for Bones’s hit on Tracy.