Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for March 23, 2023

The brotherly love abounds.

Good morning™, everyone!

Big bro is the boss, or so her says. “Walter”? Did we know his name before? On the other hand, Flattop is no accepting his brother as the boss.

Walter… that’s a new one on me…

“I’m the oldest.” Is there a third brother?

Good morning™, Top Dog contestants !

I think Tracy and Wolfe wont have anything to worry about. Once this turns into a full blown brawl the whole plan(s) will fall apart and by then Dick and Archie will have evacced Nero to a fine dining establishment, according to the latest issue of Condé Nast.

The Dick Tracy Wiki identifies him as Walter “Blowtop” Jones, so I guess it’s part of the canon. Just don’t call him Wally. He really gets mad if you call him that.

What happened to Walter "Blowtop"s facial scar?

“I’m the oldest and you owe me respect!”

It would’ve been nice if they put in a text box with the word Flashback to remind people what they’re seeing or a small description explaining why there there’s a flashback.

That will ignite the situation……

Floyd Jones Sr aka Flattop

Walter Jones aka Blowtop

I guess Dick Tracy isn’t a smoke-free environment.

Woo, Gosh, indeed!

He burned a hole in Blow Top’s collar? Talk about a dis!

Sibling Rivalry at it’s finest

don’t mess with your older brother, you may end up regretting it later.

Please be a raincoat made of flammable material ! I would like to see some action.. any action !!!

“Yeah? Well, Mom always DID like you best! Which is why I tipped the Feds off to her.”

Wasn’t Angeltop a sister to these two?

woo-gosh?

If I was the colorist, I’d make Flattop’s silhouette in the first panel pink. So he’d be pink Floyd.

That’s probably why I’m not the colorist.

….and my mother looks more like Miss America than your mother does, and my dad can beat up every other dad on our street, and yours can’t, and I always get more stuff than you on Christmas morning, etc. etc. and so on blah blahblah……….

Unless something comes of this struggle for control, this was another Freddy Fender (Wasted Day and Wasted Night) My money is on it being a FF

OK, I’ll accept that Tracy is relating this old story to Archie. BUT HOW DOES HE KNOW WHAT BLOWTOP AND FLATTOP SAID TO EACH OTHER IN PRIVATE???

A lame effort which adds little to the story………

1-BLOWSMOKE UPYERAZZ: Why can’t you smoke cigars like a man instead of those girly Virginia Slims?

2-FLATTIRE JONES: They have a filter so they’re healthy! PLUS…

3-…The smaller circumference creates a smaller burn area resulting in less heat that makes it less likely to ignite a cheap polyester fiber (incidentally invented in 1941 and sold under the brand name of Terylene) suit you’re wearing– see!?! You’re not engulfed in flames like you would be if I did this with a cigar!

BLOWSMOKE: HEY! THAT’S SILK YOU STUPID MOTHER TUCKER! I NEVER EVEN HEARD OF POLYESTER!!!

DT: I might have taken some liberties in relating this conversation between Blowsmoke and Flattire. ARCHIE: No sh*t.

Blowtop: “DON’T flip your cigarette ashes at me like that. YOU KNOW I CAN’T STAND THAT! Whoo. Gosh.”

Gould’s original character was actually more prone to fits of rage over the little stuff. He would just sit and glare when reminded that he was stuck with 2 million dollars worth of marked bills that he couldn’t spend, but blow up if his underling dropped ashes into a coffee cup.

MOVIE QUOTE:

GROUCHO:(Pointing to Harpo)—“You love your brother,don’t you?”

CHICO: “Nah. But I’m used to him”.

GO WEST—1940

Eventually,Nero Wolfe will say“Who is that horribly vulgar person with the loud voice?”

“I like killing for pay and I’m good at it!”

Well,aren’t YOU the sweetheart?! I’m taking away your water wings.

When Tracy had a little spare time,he discovered the “Top”(Jones) family was a huge one scattered through rural communities and at least half of them were honest.

By the way,Flattop Jr.was living in South Dakota when he was introduced.

That guy needs to take a chill pill

Although I was intrigued at first by this surprise Flashtop flatback, it’s now dragging us way too far afield of the main plot (whatever that was), and may be setting the scene for yet another garbled train-wreck ending….

Neither of these characters ever had a first name when Gould did this strip. The odd names were part of the strips beauty, alas, long gone

Considering the crazy risks we saw Flattop take in 1944,you have to wonder just who IS the bigger hothead in this family.

As we devolve in this Jones Boys Feud, I wonder, how many of us still wonder whatever became of Nero Wolfe and the Wolfe story arc?

Or, to put it another way, Flattop versus Blowtop comic relief is more like comic pain….

AGAIN WITH THE OT: Second book in the Otherworld trilogy done and off for edits. I managed to stop short of 600 pages on this one by omitting the central plot and substituting pictures of bunnies I stole off the Internet. Hey, ogres/bunnies… Who’ll notice the difference?.