Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for February 12, 2022

Good morning™, everyone!

I wonder what Dick is trying to stir up? What is Public Relations going to do?

Well, it’s good to see they are studying the pictures from the murder scene.

Ok, now THAT’S an unusual drinking pose that Sam’s displaying in panel three. I dare any dude to admit to standing like that! LOL!

“How about some shirtless pics of Sam for your next ad campaign?”

Sam better watch where he’s pouring that coffee or he might be yelling in a few!

Good morning™, schemers !

Dick has a plan. The “actions” are great, for a bunch of “talking head” panels. I can’t get over how Sam is so well drawn and Tracy don’t look half bad either.

There’s a lot of blank space in today’s strip but I do like the panel sequence with that close-up of Tracy’s face in the central panel tying the strip together. On second thought, the blank background does give the strip a clean look so iunno.

I like Sam’s cute pose!

MC has an over supply of red ink :)

Well drawn today! Is the coffee black ? Looks like it !

Great strip today.

“Where do we go from here on the Moran case, Tracy?”

“We stir things up by calling public relations.”

“Oh… I thought we should gather evidence and analyze it like real detectives. Rich neighborhood, bet some homes have security cameras showing cars that go by – we could look. Maybe look at the invoices I stuffed in my pocket without telling you for fingerprints other than mine.”

D. T. seems to be talking to an “operator!” So, what the heck is an “operator?”

“Get me Geraldo! And after that, the BASELESS SPECULATOR! We’re REALLY going to stir things up!”

If we’re going to nitpick body position, why is Sam pouring coffee while not looking, and holding the cup opposite the handle, in panel 1?

(No, I don’t really think it’s wrong, but apparently today is “Why is he posing like that?” day.)

Just wondering…what sort of refractory material are police department coffee cups made of? It has to be a real marvel of materials science.

“Public Relations”? Since when does any government organization not use an euphemism for that office? “Community Relations,” I believe is a common one.

What is going on in the screen in panel 02? Those look like evidence tags in the top half, but the hand looks like it is about to open a filing cabinet. The bottom half looks like someone dropped their phone and it took a picture of their chin on the way down.

It looks like Sam’s wearing a skirt.

From today’s Comics Curmudgeon:

This doesn’t actually have anything to do with the Moran case directly; Dick just knows that the best way to loosen up and get his head “into the zone” as we go into the weekend is to hunt a PR guy for sport.

Hmm. I wonder what Yeti is up to while the Daunted Duo is up to? Making prank calls to the MCU? Frolicking with his spiders?

YETI: You have Prince Albert in a the can?

SAM: ( five whole minutes of silence as he works on this)

YET (impatiently) Well you better let him out. His lawyer just arranged bail. (hangs up giggling)

SAM: (five more minutes of deep cogitation)

Sam is nothing without his ten cups of morning brew.

Public Relations? Tracyville Police have a Public Relations Department? Better yet, rather than having a computer answer the phone, (like every other place in the world) the Tracyville police have actual telephone operators.

Have they been sick? They look pale.

\\//_

1-SAM: Morning, Tracy. You been here all night?

2-DT: Wouldn’t you like to know? smirk SAM: Ummm, no. Not really. Just making conversation.

DT: Hang on! The Chief is calling…TEN HUT!

3-DT: Hello Chief. It might interest you to know I’ve been working on this case ALL NIGHT! …What?…No, no progress…

SAM: How long do I have to stand at Attention? This coffee is burning my lips.

DT: Hang on a sec, Chief. I gotta tell something to Sam…DOES IT BURN AS BAD AS THE CAR MUFFLER DID WHEN YOU WHEN YOU TRIED TO BLOW UP THAT CAR? HAR HAR HAR!!!

Sorry Chief. Sam served up a hanging curve that I had to knock outta the park… No sir. I guess I should be solving cases…Yes sir. I’ll leave the jokes to Henny Youngman…Thank you, sir. Click THANKS FOR GETTING ME IN TROUBLE, SAM!

PREEMPTIVE CONFESSION; There may be some confusion coming up shortly (you’ll see it when it arises). I mentioned (erroneously) earlier that the headline on Day One referred to Moran. Actually , Moran is one of the clients Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb were to check on. This should allow a little clarity. I was starting a new sleuth story AND doing edit checks on one for an anthology at the time, and didn’t go in and pull up the script before replying.

My fault. Sorry for the confusion. Now put away those pitchforks and torches. Unless they’re Tiki torches. I always wanted one of those…

Nice! Just saw the cover at for the new anthology I have a story in: STANDOFF: COPS AND ROBBERS.

@Wichita.0,…,hope your story moves along better than this never-ender

Cue either “Mission: Impossible” theme or “The Entertainer”, I think I see a sting about to go down!

Oh, you said “frolicking” there.

Tracy’s scheme is for PR to do the work of MCU?

Huh?

While Sam slurps office coffee, Tracy (who is looking good today) comes up with some sort of sneaky idea, apparently hoping to smoke someone out into the open, somehow. I for my part will have to wait and see, because I don’t get it (color me Dense)….

Great art.She got the chin right again.