Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for May 17, 2024

Is this wrapping up already?

Scarboy looks like a crotchety old fu…

well, you know…

Wow, the denouement is secondhand info from Sam. Spilled by the “accomplices” that we didn’t even see get picked up. This is one of those sweaty box ending.

is the time supposed to be 1972 when Scarboy was mugged at TPD lockup?…

panel 3…

Dick the blockhead dick…

that almost could pass for a Chet Gould rendition of Sam in panel one… to ME, anyways…

nice job on Sammy-boy, Sir Carlo…

Kind of expected a strip like this, filler material for the next few days until Sunday, when presumably a new storyline will begin. The art is really good, though. 2 stars.

Good morning™, all!

It doesn’t really say whether they arrested the accomplices or not, but I suppose they did. Story-wise, it’s a bit messier if they have to arrest multiple people at the same time.

It looks like this story is almost finished. A new story will probably start Sunday.

Nowadays, there’s probably more money in a gas station than a bank.

Good morning™, Memory Lanes !

Now it is official (known to some readers already), that Scar boy had gone out of the banking business and into the petroleum business. Tracy’s back of the head contour in P.3. is to laugh. LOL !

Scardol looks like he was related to Leonard “Little Face” Finny …….

Work his way down, huh?

Eh this one was too easy. Them crooks just walks into Tracy just like that. And even get a kick outta it all.

Scardol story ran from March to April 1939.

I know I’m not supposed to ask this, but is Dick Tracy immortal in-continuity? He remembers Scardol, who is apparently dead of old age, but somehow he’s still young and fit enough to beat up Croptop. The continuity doesn’t work even within this one story.

P3: Tracy, these days everybody’s gotta rob banks before going down to gas stations!

Everybody’s dissin’ Scardol for moving from banks to gas stations but I think he’s tough . Who’s harder to rob , some sissy bank clerk or a grease monkey with a monkey wrench ?

Accomplices? You mean the one guy Tracy didn’t arrest?

….well, with the way gas prices began their meteoric leaps into the upper ionosphere as the ’70’s dragged us through mood rings, pet rocks “invisible” dogs, and……The Village People doin’ “Y-M-C-A”, Scardol (that head! Oooofff!) must’ve figured there was more profit in knocking over gas-houses……..probably got the idea during the even-odd tag# days, while fuming inside his car with “Afternoon Delight” dribbling from the AM radio……..

MOVIE QUOTE

“It’s like looking for a pygmy in a haystack”

Nigel Bruce—-SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE SPIDER WOMAN—1944

That “small time crook” killed three cops and almost added Tracy to his score.

January 1972—-the ins and outs of buried treasure were covered pretty well, paperwork and all, with t he “Treasure map on Gertie’s Head” story.

Nice shot of Sam in Panel One. Ettinger should practice his “Shaky 2” art. A minor chiseler compared to the original, but he’s murder to draw.

I don’t remember him. Must not have robbed my bank.

“After that…gumball machines! Brrrrr! No penny was safe in this corrupt, lawless town!”

Observations looking back at this arc:

While we have a ways to go for good writing, this was an improvement. The pacing was okay, we got some action, Croptop as a new character was written fairly well. On the other hand, we had to put up with the fanboy “hatmobile” crap, and plot movement that was too easy to be generally compelling, though we had some days there where we were anticipating the next day. Those were nice moments. The sliding timeline is also becoming a bit jarring.

As for the art, Carlos Magnifico is in full stride and doing remarkably well. Kudos!

My only thought at this point is to beg Team Tracy: PLEASE PLEASE, don’t throw in a Minit Mystery now.

1-SAM: Croptop’s cowardly accomplices… DT: Accompliceez? Wasn’t he a Greek philosopher? HAR HAR HAR! SAM: Leave the jokes to Hatman’s nemesis, The Hoker…

2-…Anyway…they decided to turn themselves in and roll on Croptop because…well, who knows? Makes no sense. Oh. They also rolled on Scardol – remember him?

3-DT: That’s fantastic! Start working up the case on him. SAM: He’s been dead for 80 years. DT: SO DIG HIM UP! Do I have to do ALL the thinking around here???

…oh. And turn the lights back on, would ya?

NOTE: THIS IS NOT DIG AT MIKE OR THE CONCEPT. IT’S MORE MY THOUGHTS ON IT.

I’d kind of regret that (the quick wrap), if so. Not or this particular story as per se, but I prefer a story that builds and lasts several weeks at the very least, so it can flesh out. Shorter ones unfold, but not with a whole lot of impact (and this is not specific to TRACY — I get this impression in other strips and genres).

Perhaps a bit stronger on detection than with a couple of seemingly divergent sub-plots that merge at the end. Honestly, though, I don’t know how to have doe this up any differently, given the central Batmobile gimmick. and yes, it’s the coolest car in the universe!!!

Not that this story was a miss as such. To my tiny mind, it just had room to get some meat on the bones and maybe make stronger connections long the way. Maybe have the heavies plan to steal the BMobile so as to use its gimmicks to aid in bank job (and possibly frame B.O. in the process. That would give Tracy the job of solving the crime and vindicating B.O.

Or for three to have been mayhem and possible injuries during the escape. Or the kidnapping of a witness. Another crime left on B.O. doorstep?Just seems, given the MacGuffin du jour, that there could have been more to it than a chance meeting on the road ending things.

I enjoyed Mike letting me know the basic idea, as I’m also a huge fan of the series (especially Cesar Romero’s deliriously gleeful Joker). I just worry that maybe he was feeling washed out at the time, as well as planning the move, and didn’t go fully with the story.

But then I tend to overthink things. Never mind.

(brain cell pops) Give Tracy a new ‘Moriatry’ in the form of an equally adept but criminal detective!

This could be SAM’S BIG BREAK. Shifting from Stealin’ Sam to Sinister Sam! He could wear a bat-shaped bow tie! we’d also know about all the things he’s pocketed. He pawned them to finance a sprawling criminal empire!

……

Oh, is it time for my meds already?

How old is Tracy ? Is he working and collecting a pension ? Is he on NewGenics like Frank Thomas …lol ?

How ‘old’ can the old money be when the kid’s book from Scardol’s childhood was written in the 1980s – meaning Scardol was a kid in the 80s or 90s? And the suitcase showed no signs of being buried for more than a couple months?

Nice to hear Croppie & her accomplices get orange jumpsuits instead of red shirts.

BTW, I heard a vicious rumor that the strip’s going to Comics Kingdom. I hope it’s staying here, too. I enjoy reading all of your comments.

With a head like that, you’d think Scardol would be masterminding crimes for other crooks.

Congress finally agrees on something.

By a vote of 378 to 34,both parties agree to pass a law calling for increased safety in the manufacture of lithium batteries.

Are you listening, Diet Smith?

for getaway gas?

Scardol looks kindly. I’ll bet he was a nice guy.

Once you start a running gag, you need to really commit. This would have been so much better with another two weeks more of “hatmobile”. Those cool rockets should have played a critical role in capturing the bad guys! “If there’s a gun lying on the table in act 1, it had better be fired by act 3.”

From robbing banks to robbing gas stations?what a way to go down

youtu .be /a6nMO8cMJJ0