Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for June 19, 2023

“There’s this coffee shop you gotta try.”

Good morning™, all!

Well, it looks like Tracy is not going to just sit back and wait for the crime to solved itself this time. Lizz’s work tapping the phone has turned up “something interesting” that bears further in-person investigation.

Good morning™, Let’s Rollers !

If they are going to the call center.. All I can say is I hope Sprocky/Susie will be on a bathroom break, at the one way down the hall.

we know Dick’s REALLY after that overtime paycheck…

A thought occurred to me reading yesterdays strip. There’s more than one scam/nuisance caller, there are dozens. So how are they going to identify that one that tried to scam Gertie? Unless there’s only one in Tracyville.

I’ll give Tracy credit. He can pull an all-nighter & still look fresh as a daisy.

My guess is that Sam is paying for breakfast.

Sam’s face looks like he had a rough night! Java required!

In the last panel, Tracy shows he intends to hitchhike to where he wants to go.

Wonder why the chief of the MCU was handling a mundane task like that by himself. How many people in the MCU? And surely there is a tech who would have been more qualified to analyze electronic data than Tracy – who probably had Honeymoon program his VCR.

TRACY (to Sam): Now, who haven’t we hit up for free donuts this week?

Getting down to some police work today .

….Whoa! Sam looks all bright-eyed ’n bushe-tailed this morning! Fresh new toothpick ’n all!

Isn’t there some “junior detective”/newbie to do the grunt work of reviewing the recordings from the wire taps instead of the head of the squad. I’m sure he has more interesting, personal things to do. Ask Tess. (and, when did the squad get a judge’s approval to tap whoever/whatever’s phone lines?)

There must be a room with either cots or bunk beds. Since Tracy said he never left last night, sure racked up a lot of overtime.

If Tracy and Sam must go for a ride, can it be in an unmarked car? The siren on top will give them away if they expect to creep up on someone.

It’s a drag getting here before noon when the rest of you duffers finally wake up. Hardly any Comments at all.

1-SAM: What’re you doing? DT: Airing out the pits. I had to rush out before applying a new coat of deodorant – I was running late.

2-SAM: No. I mean why are you here so early. You usually nip in 5 minutes before the Chief’s 10:30 arrival. DT: Wait. What time is it? SAM: 8:15.

3-DT: DAMITTOHELL! If you need me, I’ll be at Thrifty Mart buying a new alarm clock. SAM: Thrifty Mart don’t open till 10. DT: DAMITTOHELL!

After his visit with Diet Smith, Tracy returns to work only to find that Liz has returned with the raw data from the tap. Tracy plugs it into the PC for some late night easy listening.

Apparently, the boiler room has been calling the Plenty’s… plenty. They’ve left literally hours of material to listen to and investigate. One of the callers has a voice print that matches escaped convict, Sprocket Nitrate. Tracy wants to pay Silver a visit in the pokey to see if she’s been in contact with him.

That’s my current guess, at least.

The time sequence between panels doesn’t work for me. Between two sentences spoken by Tracy, Sam teleports to his desk, unless Dick waited until he sat down on purpose, so he could immediately make him stand up again. (Also, where did the coat rack in panel 2 come from?)

I had a hen who could count her own eggs.

She was a mathemachicken.——-Recent T-shirt

MOVIE QUOTE—

“The anesthesia you get in these bars are never as effective as the customer hopes”

Rock Hudson—-MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION—1954

What happened to the moon space ship or whatever and Diet Smith?

Beware Panel One.The last time Dick relaxed in that pose, Big Boy was putting out the $1,000,000.00 contract on him.

“It’s nice to have the pressure off for a change”.

Hey Catchem ! Lucky called – he wants his suit back .

Regarding last week’s topic with Diet Smith, Team Tracy managed to fit what needed to be said in the available space, but I could imagine that in real life there would be more said. Sending a message, Diet Smith would need to know where the Moon Governor is, and perhaps Honeymoon or Mysta Chimera could telepathy send a message. (Also, I can bet that the material last week will appear again in the future.)

Sparkle Plenty and Junior Tracy’s home totally destroyed.

Small fuzzy Bigfoot seen fleeing scene

Sam really shouldn’t have fixed that ticket for his cousin. Oh well… new sidekick tomorrow!

BE SURE TO TUNE IN TOMORROW, BOYS AND GIRLS! GOSH ALL WHIZZIES! TRACY IS REPLACED BY A CHICKEN AND HER CANTANKEROUS LIVER FLUKE PARTNER, SID! AND HE’S DEMOTED TO TRAFFIC. WON’T HE LOOK FETCHING IN HIS METER MAID UNIFORM!

AS FOR SAM? HE REALIZES HE’S BEEN DRESSING FOR YEARS LIKE EDWARD NIGMA IN THE EARLIER BATMAN STORIES, AND TURNS TO CRIME. UNFORTUNATELY. HE CAN’T WRITE BRAIN TEASING RIDDLES, AND THE RESULTS ARE EASILY SOLVED AND JUST PLAIN BAD. SHYLOCK FOX WOULD SNEER AT HIM IN PASSING.

A SAMPLE, YOU ASK? WHY, SURE!

‘RIDDLE ME THIS, CHICKEN! WHAT LOOKS LIKE A WALL SAFE AT 141 MAIN STREET, IS FULL OF MONEY, AND WILL PROBABLY BE ROBBED AT TEN FIFTEEN TONIGHT IF I CAN GET THE HINGES OFF THE DOOR?’

UH….RIGHT…

I really can’t imagine what Tracy could possibly have gleaned from that rather lame wiretap. But apparently he found something of use, and now he wants Sam, who has just now checked in at the MCU, to take a ride with him, suggesting that he caught a clue as to the location of the scamming center/boiler room….