Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for September 21, 2023

“Dandruff! Eww.”

Good morning™, everyone!

It looks like the assassin overlooked the sugar. If you look back to previous days, the grains were shown.

Good morning™, tea service analyzers !

I like how Tracy is shown examining the leftover post killing bits. I doubt Sam is interested in pocketing crumbs so you’ll have to bag and carry that yourself, Dick. P.3. The tea cup design is nicely colored. Chalk one up for M.C.

look at those crazy intent eyes and that snowplow blade of a jaw in panel two…

cover the upper half of Dick’s face and it looks like a Dick Sprang-drawn Bruce Wayne jaw…

So Tracy took his gloves off to pose and socialize with the maid, then put them back on?

That’s been the most action in a week!

Sam: “What?”

Tracy: “This totally rules out the suspect being from California, because the material isn’t…”

Sam: “Tubular?”

We already learned 3 days ago there was no sign of forced entry. Hopefully we can avoid further redundancies & the narrative pace can begin to pick up.

Might have given them tea? So ya means there be more than one involved in murder eh. How’d he knews that?

Ah but did this sugar come from those little tear envelopes or was it a lump?

Granular material! That means Granny was there!

Explosive propellant remnants from the flying blade or whatever it is .

I wonder if the granular material is snortable material?

maybe Mrs Caxton liked to do a toot every now and then…

when she first started doing snortables, she didn’t quite know how to go about it, so she needed an instructor to show her how it’s done…

the instructor became her tutor and then SHE became a tooter herself…

Bits of KRYPTONITE! C-could it BE???

MOVIE QUOTE

“You losing your nerve,Birmingham?”

“I ain’t got no nerve to lose!”

Benson Fong&Mantan Moreland—-THE CHINESE CAT—1944

The granular material is silicon carbide, about 150 grit, used to rough out telescope mirrors.

Okay,who would replace a USED cup upside down like it was never used?Would they have time to wipe/wash it out,or remove fingerprints? But you can’t deny they’re being t horough here.

Okay,I’m going back to 1943 and Mrs.Pruneface;who was robbed of the Miss America title just because she was a Fifth Columnist.

After killing Emil(try doing THAT scene in 2023!),she cleaned out her hideout thoroughly butforgot sugar cubes with her employer’s name on the wrapper. And WW2 meant sugar was rationed,so the ST.Fude must have been some really ritzy,connected hotel.

1-SAM: Somebody order a Checker Cab?

2-DT: The solution is on this Tea Tray – I JUST KNOW IT!

3-…AH HA! SAM: Bless you. DT: I didn’t sneeze – yet. But turn down the A/C – my fingers are turning blue! ANYWAY – I’m certain that this here is poison and that furthermore, the Autopsy Guy will find that she died of poisoning and that the stabby stabs were POST MORTEM JUST FOR FUN!

SAM: So where does that theory get us? DT: Uhhh…our suspect pool is narrowed down to sick-o friends of Mrs. Biddy? YES! Get a list of them from Maid Marion, Sam!

Yes, kiddies! Its that pesky dandruff. And now for a little strategic product placement. Why, LOOK! A bottle of Scalp & Kidneys shampoo on the tea tray!

Clearly it was the second baseman!

Until we get a report on what the “granular substance” actually is (sugar? tea? cocaine? something else?), it’s value as a clue seems to me rather limited. Someone took sugar with his tea? So what? I like the detective work, though, and do not mind the leisurely pace of this arc….