Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for January 13, 2022

Good morning™, all!

They’ve traded guns, but the real threat is that old Wrist Wizard with the volatile battery. Tracy knows all about how dangerous that can be.

Wait, what?! That wrist wizard has a self-destruct device?! Is it powered by a micro-nuclear reactor which becomes unstable when it takes a hard knock?! Doesn’t sound particularly safe to me. Does the consumer product safety board know about this?

Hey, guys, here’s a preview of tomorrow’s strip-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9m7hPlL-v4A

If Bones survives the battery explosion… He will be called “Stumpy”, “Lefty”, etc.

Do all the Diet Smith gadgets double as ticking time bombs now? From the weapon that did in Willie the Fifth at the beginning of the current run to the Time Drone, KABOOM seems to be their inevitable fate. Mr Smith, I’m sure you got a very low price on those Samsung Galaxy batteries that power all your devices, but . . . .

Good morning™, pending (2nd) Kerblooies !

Tomorrow should be the police covering BJ with a blanket.

In the midst of such violence it’s a nice touch from team Tracy to have the Tracyville Valentine’s day squad car show up to share the message of love!

Bones a split personality dude? First half of this story he was calm and cool as ice; second half a hyper drama queen……

“Oh, the old deadly watch trick! I’m not falling—” BANG

PAUSE

“You can’t handcuff me now, Tracy! Good thing I’m left-handed!”

I hope the fire department is on the way, too.

I do not think Tracy knows who Bones is yet!

“Not so easy without your gun…?”

Does Bones have Tracy’s service revolver? And did Tracy pull a gun that Bones is not aware of?

A Law of Movie Scuffles has been violated!! Their hats have been KNOCKED OFF! But the Zoot Suit still has a “Reet Pleat and Stuff Cuff”!! Miracles do happen. So much for logic. Why did archetypal criminals wear felt hats and tweed suits, anyway? Eeooo! So itchy. Maybe, they wore their pajama bottoms under the pants? (I did when went to Sunday School.)

Tracy doesn’t fight with his gun—he fights with his brain. Now maybe sending a pack of hungry zombies after him….

I’m always stunned by the artwork of this strip! And the stories too!

Are we setting up another incredible coincidence? The fact a battery design errors means an explosion might happen, doesn’t mean it will (or they would not have gotten out of the testing phase). 99.9% of them won’t. But that .1% will call for the battery to be recalled – no company can afford the liability of the damage caused by explosions. Is Tracy declaring he knows that .1% chance is about to happen now?

Is it just me or is the left eye larger than the right ? Cool images of the hand guns for sure .

think i know what happens tomorrow

Did they swap guns or, as would be wise, was Tracy carrying a spare?

blows? is there a self destruct thing pressed on it?

“Or I could just remove this idiotic time-bomb wristband and throw it near your tree and shoot you to death with your gun if you try to leave cover to move it or get away from it! Thanks for the info, moron!”

Good old Tracy. So solicitous of the well-being of even his mortal enemies.

1-1 ADAM 12: Dispatch – why are you sending cops to a house fire?

DISPATCH: OOOPS! I meant to send you to the location of the Wrist Wizard alert. I guess the fire truck I sent there instead will be able to help. In the meantime, pee on that fire or something…

2-TRAVOLTA: Even Scientology makes more sense than what’s happening here! We were on the ground, now we’re yards apart with each other’s guns. Not to mention you got 3 slugs in you with no apparent damage…

3-DT: That’s nothing! Your watch is about to blow your hand off. During the fight I noticed it was an old model that when knocked against the positive post of a car battery was prone to explosion. That’s the only circumstance under which that happens. Am I lucky or what?!?

TRAVOLTA: WHAT? Battlefield Earth had a better script than this!

DT: No it didn’t.

TRAVOLTA: No, it didn’t…

Story improves…the art remains e en better!

OK, so Tracy has Bone’s gun while Bone has Tracy’s gun. Read something yesterday about some new handguns that will only work if you are the registered owner, the Tracyville Police should have that. And why is Tracy telling Bone that his wrist wizard will explode? Never heard about that feature.

….I’d rather get the “message of love” from Chrissie Hynde and The Pretenders than from a police car………

Aw,Dmitrio—-I thought we were over that sort of thing.Just trying to help.

We’ve seen that “Panel2 expression” hundreds of times over the years.

It’s the look of somebody who’s so wrapped up in trying to kill Dick Tracy that he becomes deaf,dumb,and blind.You’ve already lost,Bones.

MOVIE QUOTE—

“And please,Dear Lord,don’t let somebody sneak up and shoot me in the back while I’m shootin’ at somebody from the front”.

John Astin—EVIL ROY SLADE—1971

What did Mr. Bones do? Activate some radio active parts on the wrist wizard when he rubbed against the engine block?

If he gets blown to bits, MCU will never get to those “big fish” in the Apparatus.

Does that gun Tracy is holding have any ammo left?

The wrist wizard is going to blow? Yikes!

This segment reminds me of one in the 60’s where a bad guy had gotten away from Tracy. He was outside of a vehicle with a handcuff dangling on his wrist. I cannot recall if he was trying to enter it but lightning struck and then boom. Bad guy was no more.

Mr. Bones has that look in his eyes and it’s not the look of love for his fellow man. Also has a made up mind and determined to get the rest of his money when he eliminates Tracy. The Apparatus is sure to be monitoring the television news reports and the daily paper for confirmation.

Looks like crazed Bonhomme may not be aware that Tracy has picked up Blackjack’s gun that Bones had taken from BJ. Even that little .22 will be enough to blow Bones away if he steps into the open. Kismet.

Meanwhile, as the patrol car with lights blazing and maybe also siren blaring approaches the scene of the epic struggle between Richard Bonhomme and Richard Tracy, the fire at Blackjack’s Little House is clearly visible in the background. I expect the cop car will have called for a fire department response to deal with that.

Looks as though this “Mr. Bones” phase of the story is near its climax….

So….if y’all were wondering where I’ve been lately, I got sick on new year’s day and it still hasn’t gone away, I’ve left work early and called out a few days…then finally went to an urgentcare yesterday to get checked out cuz my chest was hurting from coughing…got the q tip jammed up my nose…swear she took some spinal fluid with it, and got a call this morning confirming that I’ve got the rona…I sleep almost all day, havent eaten in about 4 days, and pepto isnt helping me out at all..I dont feel hungry at all but I know I have to eat…had a hot dog the other night and some ice cream today, that and some oatmeal yesterday is pretty much all I’ve had in about 4 days…just thought I’d let ya know :)