Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for June 09, 2022

Uh oh, Memry ain’t no stranger to Tracy.

It could be Paddington Bear for all we know, Tracy!

Good morning™, all!

It seems Mr. Memory somehow opened up a pathway by using the ATM? “Jackpotting” is a new word to me. I found a video about it, but the method in the demo doesn’t seem quite the same as what happened in our story.

https://youtu.be/cRmpbPl78ck

Tracy remembers Mr. Memory, though, and that could provide a lead.

wow, the talky dialogue continues… for a Dick Tracy comic strip, how ‘NOVEL’… yeah, it’s beginning to READ like one, LOL…

This is one of those cases, where the question is, why do you dress up if you give yourself away with your actions?

Good morning™, remembrances of crimes past !

Not the same modus but our “big Boy” is about to reveal himself. His electronics did not play havoc enough with the surveillance or did he even plan or expect his devices would almost cloud the camera ?  I think he was expecting his garments to do all the shielding.

Tracy’s making fat jokes?

The last acceptable group of people not protected by the PC police.

Another installment that raises more questions than answers. Yesterday Brock seemed to imply the thefts were connected to the single security service provider. Now, he’s saying the thief got into the bank’s system through an ATM. I’m no computer whiz, but that sounds pretty implausible. & how do they know he’s a “serial thief” unless they have other video evidence of his thefts? On a positive note, the artwork is superb & the story has some momentum going, now that Tracy & Sam can put a name to the “distorted” face.

Tracy’s definitely looking a little bit Vulcan or Romulan with those pointy ears…

So, Tracy already knows Memory. Looks like a short circuit to me (story telling wise, that is).

And the size comment sounds like another fat joke.

Ah, the humiliations that Victor Buono had to undergo.

And now, so do we.

Ok, the stuff I wrote yesterday about the ATM attacks is playing out right. The only link to the ATMs and a security company would be that either MM is a security guard and he has access to PCs in the bank offices, or that he’s obtained the clearances of a security guard he’s hacked.

By the way, for people wanting to know how companies check their security for this kind of thing, look up Red Team and Blue Team penetration testing. And the youtube videos of Deviant Ollam. Or just watch the movie Sneakers.

Finally, there is a way for the ATM hack to work. MM says he has an “implant.” Normally this means a simple passive RFID chip and antenna inserted under the skin in the fleshy part of your hand between your thumb and forefinger. This is not a transmitter, and there’s nothing in an ATM that would receive the signal anyway. However, if MM had a bunch of spare ATM boards and he added RFID circuitry to those – both the keypad boards to sense the presence of the correct RFID chip, and to the main board driving the cash dispenser – yeah, that would work. And, if he worked in a security company that serviced ATMs, he’d be able to swap his boards in. That could be plausible. Or, he could masquerade as a service tech for that company, just putting on a jump suit and carrying around a clipboard and a bag of tools.

Ooo…Tracy’s sharp today.

so Founders is the only bank with an overhead camera on it’s ATM? Most ATMs have them in the touch screens so we should see a blurry image of Mister Memory’s face, too.

Hacker Blob!!!

Seriously? SERIOUSLY? Dick Tracy names the specific culprit just on “fat guy good at computers?” I guess it’s only fair for Dick to be able to do this, seeing as Memory Man’s crimes defy the laws of reality as well.

Tracy making a pun?!

sounds like he already figure it out doesn’t it.

Tracy mentally sorts all villians by height and weight.

“Yes, let’s go down ‘Memory’ lane, back in the ’60s when we had a TV show.”

Well Dick Tracy is an amazing detective!

1-SAM: Somethings wrong with our TV…

2-…the picture is all fuzzy. DT: Sam, Sam, Sam…

3-…You’re probably watching an episode of The Outer Limits where they take control of your TV set for an hour. Just hang on a minute and it’ll clear up.

SAM: Dag Tracy! You’re right! That’s why you’re Chief of Detectives I guess.

DT: I know it’s why, Sam. SAM: Uhhh, it’s still fuzzy. DT: Well, gotta go! See ya!

At the ATM machine himself…the suspect that is…not enough customers came by whom he could hypnotize.

Terrific! Now Tracy and MCU are on the lookout for roly poly individuals with computer skills.

February 5th 1941….mean anything?

Tracy has a good suspicion from his one encounter with Mr. Memory.

Something also to remember about Tracy is that the tech hasn’t always been particularly realistic requiring a suspension of disbelief. I’m down with that.

In that vein, they could have gone the typical Hollywood rout with unclear images and told some technowizard in the department to “clean that image up”. “Oh, look, it’s Mr. Memory after all. You’re suspicion was correct, Tracy.”

MOVIE QUOTE—

“I would greet you properly,but I am bereft of spit”

John Wayne—THE CONQUEROR—1956

Okay,our villain isn’t as “unknown” to the cops as most readers assumed he was.

Hey,one look at most Tracy villains and you’ll categorize them in a hurry.Most under “unspeakably ugly”.

If Tracy is going to start remembering old villains who never made the strip (Memory is from TV pilot that wasn’t picked up), will we be seeing other movie old foes? The Spider/the Lame one from the ‘37 serial? Pa Stark from 1938… Tony’s Dad? Might Zanoff, 1939, cheat death yet again? The invisible Ghost, 1941? I’m tired today… have we actually had Cueball, 1946, or Splitface, 1945, in the strip? Boris Karloff can be brought back as Gruesome, 1947. Or there is Knuckles Nelson, 2008.

FLATTOP:(to Vitamin Flintheart;1944)

“You’re good looking.You’re handsome.Why couldn’t I have been born like that?

Just look at this SILLY face of mine!"

“Don’t bother, Tracy! You probably forgot him, but that’s Lint Man! I recognize his shabby bulletproof outfit! Looks like he’s moved on from just picking pockets!

OF TOPIC: Just got word from Japan that the artist I;d been working with on a cover for OTHERWORLD has has to back out of the project. Ow. This is a serious hit.

Geez, stop talkin’ and start chalkin’

You’re a smart one, Mr. Tracy!

Our detective’s good memory serves up a memory of Memory, jogged by the imperfectly disguised images on ATM video. Sam is along for the ride.

But what became of the implied weakness at IONOCLAD Solutions? Now we’re back to focussing on the ATMs and the early piddling test-robberies by our husky perp.

In any event, now Tracy has to track down Mr. Memory. I still think B.O. has a part to play in this….

Yogi Bear….y’know, smarter than the average……..