Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for March 09, 2023

Good morning™, everyone!

Cramer is looking a little grouchy. I guess he’s just happy he doesn’t have to deal with the antics of these two. I love the expression on Archie’s face in the last panel, too. Most of the background revealed in today’s strip, we’ve already discussed here.

Good morning™, grouchy talking head detectives !

Shelley does a good grumble and a good smirk.

This once-promising story is moving about as fast as Nero Wolfe walks.

The guy in the first panel kinda looks like Raymond Burr in Ironside……..

I was just starting to like those two.

As a fan of Dick Tracy and Nero Wolfe, I’m enjoying this story very much.

Quite interesting, I must say old boy!

Let the criminals deal with Nero . They will soon run out of money just trying to feed him !

Giving unnecessary background to the percentage of readers who already know who Wolfe is, and boring the living hell out of those who dont really care

how many readers do you actually groan audibly when Mike starts in on another self aggrandizing guest appearance crossover that barely anybody except him cares about?

Was the “A” intentionally left out before genius?

The inspector offers a fair, if less than impartial analysis for those of us not all that familiar with Wolfe.

Wolfe drinks beer (and lots of it). Archie drinks milk almost all of the time.

as to today’s installment, not much to say about nothing…

Cramer didn’t mention Archie’s memory,or, Saul Panzer, and, the rest of the extra help Wolfe calls in

I like the cut of Nero Wolfe’s jib.

“Wolfe is a genius…” sounds like if you got it flaunt it kind of guy.

Traveling today. I have a 5 hr. drive.

The ral question here is, why is Wolfe drinking blue beer?

Bill Shatner was going to play Archie in a Nero Wolfe TV show but it did not make it past the pilot.

This is great! The guys have got the Nero Wolfe characters DOWN! So far.

Guys who clown at their own funerals are the ones I like best.

Tracy has been dealing with B.O. Plenty for 78 years,so I think he can handle these two.

1-KRAMER: HELLO? TRACY! *YOU AGAIN?* I JUST HUNG UP ON YOU! YOU’RE AS PESKY AS THAT NERO WOLFE CHARACTER…

2-…HE WAS ALWAYS POINTING OUT THAT MY CIGAR WASN’T LIT – LIKE I DIDN’T KNOW IT!…

3-…AND THAT ARCHIE PAL OF HIS (YOU DIDN’T HEAR THIS FROM ME BUT I THINK THEY WERE INTIMATE), ALWAYS POSED WITH HIS HAND IN HIS COAT LIKE HE WAS NAPOLEAN! DON’T CALL ME AGAIN! CLICK

DT: Geez what a grouch! But I got the info I wanted without even asking about it! I’m amazing. I bet I’ll be CHIEF of Detectives some day!

MOVIE QUOTE

“Still following that star?”

“Better than a man with a star following you”.

James Stewart—BEND OF THE RIVER—1952

Wolfe’s theme song is “The Too Fat Polka”

Grouchy Cramer in panel 1 and with the supercilious Nero Wolfe in panel 2, warning Tracy of the smarminess of Arche Goodwin in panel 3. It is made abundantly clear that Inspector Cramer does not like either Wolfe or Goodwin, though grudgingly giving them their due. Highly expressive art renderings by Shelley, and fitting dialogue from Mike to flesh out the characters involved. So far, so good, but don’t let the pacing flag now!

The drinks look wrong, but I’ll blame the colourist.

Wolfe drinks beer, while Archie mostly drinks milk.

(back in the days when milk still tasted good and lots of people drank it)

I presume this is simply exposition for the readers that don’t know the characters.

@Dave1960 This strip has included everyone from George Reeves to Little Orphan Annie. If that guy is supposed to look like Raymond Burr, believe me, they’d call him “Leadbottom” or “Perry Masonry” or something.