Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for December 10, 2021

Good morning™, artists and art lovers!

Junior is putting his drawing skills to good use, as requested recently by someone commenting in these pages. Unfortunately, the MC still doesn’t seem to know that Junior has red hair and the ends should be a little more jagged.

No luck from voice-printing the confession, but at least they do have it recorded, as many suspected.

I think we are moving on to something new tomorrow, maybe the sequel to the story just concluded. I’m pretty sure that this is where Blackjack comes in. I ought to try to update my website and I should see if I can summarize what just happened over the last few weeks.

I’m sure that sketch will be as helpful as this one-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Db3rluT76w

“Cat’s in the cradle . . . "

Once again, we see Tracy with his tie loosened and his top button undone. He does not wear a clip on tie.

Tracy sure has hairy arms.

The wrist wizard sure makes it easy for its wearers to communicate, but that can be both a blessing and a curse. I wonder if the WW has an off switch? “You tried to call me? I don’t wear my wizard in the rest room. I heard the beep, but I was occupied.”

I love seeing Junior doing something besides being Honeymoon’s father.

Yesterday is today, from the rock pusher.

Briar Rose’s jail-issue (?) bra doesn’t fit. Gripe gripe.

But, look! Who’s come to save the day? It’s Agent FritzAnn Dietrich of the FBI and her Man-in-Black partner!

Lee Ebony turns over her feisty little charge to the feds, who are going to insure she lives, which I suppose means Briar is going into the Witness Protection Program;   which can in some cases be as leaky as a sieve. Take heed, little red-headed canary! There are no guarantees, no matter what Agent FritzAnn tells you.

Luckily, Sam Catchem is out of sight and (as he may hope) out of mind….

Good morning™, expert sketchers !  (Goes for Shelley too.)

Looks like Junior can sketch and make alterations right on the screen with the stylus, a very handy method for getting a picture in a hurry while it is fresh on Tracy’s mind.

Tracy is going to meet the unmasked Ace in the mayor’s office. Turns out he is a big supporter of the mayor.

Howdee-Dooodee friends.

Colors might be off but the artwork is great today!

when did Junior’s hair go brown?

Great artwork!

I’d though Junior had red hair.

Any weekday now, I expect to wake up to Tracy as a platinum blonde with purple highlights….

So the Mayor is the Ace of Spades? Makes sense.

1-JUNIOR: Wow Dad. If this doesn’t get the guy caught, nothin’ will snark

DT: Yes, but maybe add a cigar. I think he likes cigars.

2-JUNIOR: There! And I drew two big circles under the end of it. Those are the…oh…his combination lighter / cigar cutter! heh heh

DT: Ummm, son…that looks kind of obscene for some reason…

3-…Well, go ahead and send that out – my glucose meter is spiking. Hmmm, so’s my heartrate. Oh. It’s just a flat line now so I guess it fixed its…

JUNIOR: Dad?

What happened to Junior’s red hair?

So… Tracy has realized that The Ace is the Mayor?

“No, but his natural voice is quite distinctive”. Makes me wonder if Ace of Spades comes from another part of the country with accents. The Southern drawl or a Northern speech pattern such as those who come from Massachusetts.

Whatever this meeting with the Mayor is it must be a hot button item.

One of Chester Gould’s talents was how seamlessly he transitioned from story to story, often overlapping the ending of one tale with the beginning of another. He could allow one storyline to logically lead into the next—like how the original Shaky story inspired the Breathless Mahoney story which eventually morphed into the Itchy Oliver story through a connection with the mother of Breathless and Itchy. Another example is how the Mattie Square story, which was a fully realized story on its own, was really the intro to the year-long Mr. Bribery story. There were not apparent starts and stops. Gould’s transitions gave the strip an amazing flow and consistency.

I don’t mind this falling action following the raid on the Apparatus. We see some of Rose’s fate in FBI protective custody. We see Junior involved in actual police procedure again. We see Tracy attempting to analyze the evidence he has at hand. In my opinion, this is the way to both put a final stamp on a story and at the same time leave room to revisit some of the situations later.

I can’t say that there weren’t some pretty silly things in this Time Drone/Apparatus story but overall, I believe it was pretty good with surprises, action, interesting characters, Tracy in disguise, excellent artwork from both Joe and Shelley and at least glimpses of Lizz and Lee (and now Junior). This tale was definitely one of the better stories we have had for a while.

Keep up the good work.

It’s nice to see Junior again.

Was it this year or last year that there was a Howdy-Doody looking villain/side kick?

Junior Tracy is on the job, doing what he has the professional skills and experience to do. If Dick Tracy’s description is good enough, Junior Tracy will produce a sketch likeness sufficiently accurate to help track down Ace of Spades.

We don’t know yet much if anything about the “distinctive” voice factor that DT mentions for the first time in panel 2, but it, too, presumably, will help in revealing the true identity of Ace of Spades.

Hold up on all the detective work! Mayor Armstrong just phoned! Tracy has to treat her with kid gloves, because she dislikes him intensely and has the power to do him harm. So, the question now becomes, what has she to say here and now?

And in a shocking turnabout, he’s revealed as Bernard Fox, BEWITCHED’S crusty Dr. Bombay!!