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

The Great Costume Scam Scheme…

Haven’t we already read some version of this dialog the past few days?

Good morning™, everyone!

A “newly discovered” de Vinci painting definitely has potential in the millions, but something is bound to go wrong. He seems very confident that no-one will suspect it’s a fake.

Good morning™, Gran_diose_ schemers !

Sue’s ‘womanly charms’ are skewed by the ‘stache. Art’s on his way to the big (house) time.

On a positive note we haven’t seen anyone drinking Tracyville coffee since Lee and Blaze weren’t playing hard to get!

Again, impressive illustrations by Shelley.

Panel 3: Sue looks more alarmed than delighted.

Is there anyone out there(other than Neil!) who isn’t bored with this story yet???

ten counterfeit ‘100 Grand’ candy bars.

“Sue Reel.” She’s quite the Dali.

She simply calls his Art, but he refers to her as Sue Reel. Call your neighbors by their full names. See the look they give you. “Hey, John Jones, how’s the new lawn mower?” Was any name necessary? Is there a Sue Unreal standing in the background we aren’t seeing?

Okay, it is done for the sake of the reader (but in that case she should be using his full name). But stilted dialog in any strip annoys me.

Surely there can’t be THAT large a market for Hollywood Costumes.

Somehow (just an intuition, mind you) I’m getting this strange and inexplicable feeling that Dekko has a ‘grand scheme’. Anyone else agree?

So Art Dekko, not satisficed with the returns on his counterfeit movie/tv costume “business” is going to branch off into an “allied” field that will, if successful, will net him “millions>” Unfortunately, all it will net him is time in prison, and,, numerous civil suits.

Give Neil credit he is our diehard Dick Tracy guy!

“And after THAT? PEOPLE! I’ll turn out MILLIONS of Stealin’ Sams, and they’ll steal this city BLIND!” (pathetic wimpy snicker)

IRRELEVANT: I hate wet, dankly dark days. Retooling a TRACY idea I didn’t use to the Japanese P.I. project, now that I have a full AI image line-up of the central players to reference as I typo feverishly away..

Kind of niche market, here. Unless you add paws and a tail to, say, Spider-Man’s costume. Or have we left furrydom behind for the nonce?Oh, swell. Now I have this mental image of Thor reinterpreted as The Grinch. Of Batman and the Boy Blunder as REN AND STIMPY (not necessarily in that order).

Selling fake movie costumes… I can see it now…Art Dekko being hotly pursued by disgruntled customers. He’ll beg Tracy and Sam to put the bracelets on him.

Something just occurred to me, Dekko will be using Cash App and Pay Pal to get his money.

Methinks this guy wouldn’t know a grand scheme if he tripped over it.

1-ART: Lookee here, Sue Eeeee. This guy has posted an original Da Vinci on E-Bay. I wasn’t sure how to best get the word out on my own DaVinci – A Polar Bear In A Snow Storm

2- …Now that I know I can just sell it on E-Bay, I no longer need your services…

3- …SOOOOO, do you want to submit your resignation or do I fire you WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE!

SUE: Ummm, I’ll take Door Number 1, Art. Do I still get paid for my work at the counter selling cels?

ART: If you insist. Meet me at Dock 44 at the end of the pier at midnight. I’ll have your money then. SUE: Thank you! I’m past due… ART: Actually, you’ve reached your EXPIRATION DATE, HEH HEH HEH

SUE: …on my rent. What? ART: What? I didn’t say anything. SUE: OK. See you at midnight.

ART: I’ll be the last thing you see! HEH HEH HEH

SUE: What? ART: Dam it!

MOVIE QUOTE—-

“In short,Sir,you are not only a bankrupt,you are an embezzler of the company’s funds!”

“I also beat my wife and skewer innocent babies when in my cups!”

Henry Hewitt&Jack Warner—A CHRISTMAS CAROL—1951

Neil Wick about 11 hours ago@avenger09I don’t understand

Obviously you didn’t.

Future tense, not past!

I’m I the only poet you feel comfortable questioning? LOL!

After reading through all the comments thus far, I must repeat:

It is a well established tradition in Dick Tracy, since the days of Chester Gould’s best work, that characters often repeat themselves, especially in the beginning of a new story. Sometimes this was used to establish the character’s quirk, sometimes it established the crime the character was involved in. Often it set the character up for a twist on whatever it was he or she was saying.

This fact, coupled with Shelley’s excellent POV variations, makes today an outstanding strip.

I’m most interested in Panel 3—-you might need a magnifyer to catch Sue’s expression,but she looks like she’s already looking for the nearest backdoor.

She’s seen Art’s grand plans blow up in his face before.

And Art’s gonna share the money with her….right?

Must be planning to sell an Action Comics #1

Fake movie (or TV: see Superman) costumes are good for a take of thousands of dollars. Not bad for a petty conman and his hirsute moll. But this new “Grand Scheme” will rake in millions (maybe; a fake Da Vinci is going to be subjected to intense scrutiny by specialists before it can be auctioned, although maybe a private sale could dodge authentication studies, though finding and especially getting in touch with such a loaded yet gullible buyer-bloke wouldn’t be easy for someone like Dekko)….

Get on with your scheme, Art!

Hey – Maybe Art should try to make a non-existent recording of Abraham Lincoln’s voice, and pass it off to a rich lady! Oh wait…

She won’t fall for that one twice.Try William Howard Taft