Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for May 18, 2024

Thief said to Micky Gainer, “Let’s have some fun.

Gas station robbery. I will get my gun.”

Micky said, “No.” Scardol said, “What?”

Scardol said, “You can do what you want man, but

The next time you see me comin’ you better run.”

Micky says, “Where do you want this robbin’ done?”

Scardol says, “Out on Highway 51.”

~

Now the robbin’ Scardol he was very bored

Trying to hatch a plan to steal so much more.

He found the Killer who nearly fell off the floor

Said, “I never engaged in this kind of thing before.

Have a care about what can be very easily done.

They’ll just pour fresh cement out in the sun

And bury you out on Highway 51.”

Need a rousing rendition of “Highway 51 Blues”.

So, apparently, the clues in the book described as “an urban legend.” If a legend, lots of people must have heard of it, but apparently not the guy with the book.

I don’t have the Scardol story, but I think a concrete wall fell on him. Here, they seem to suggest that he was incorporated into U.S. Highway 51, which runs more or less north and south from Michigan’s upper peninsula, near to Chicago and near to Arkansas to New Orleans.

I assume this is the last day for this story and we should see something new tomorrow.

Do we have concrete evidence of this?

Croptop using a children’s book found the buried loot. What is her fate now? No “finder’s fee” however a court date is on the horizon for bank robbery and assaulting an officer. Blowtop, your relative is going to need a good lawyer.

With Sam, are suspenders going to make a comeback?

Got the Jimmy Hoffa treatment, huh. I wonder if they will find Jimmy and his buddy under Giants Stadium, if the tear it down. Maybe even his car?

So you’re just going to leave a high tech (for the 60s) superhero car in the hands of B. O. Plenty? Mind you, I’m coming back to Dick Tracy after a long, long absence from reading it, but isn’t it fitting to bring things back to normalcy by taking the Hatmobile away?

Ah the one that goes through Area 51 eh. Now thees story is get reeeally misteereeyus.

Yes, he got buried beneath a concrete downpour according to one of the perilous stories in Tracy’s golden years!

I would suggest ‘Taps’ being played by a bugle as we kiss this mess farewell. It is not worthy of ‘Amazing Grace’ being played on bagpipes as we bury it. And far to late to ‘Wish Me Luck As You Wave Me Goodbye!’ (1939). That shipped sailed with Croppie walked into the bar and asked, “Hey, who wants to help me rob a bank?”

You could start a lot of jokes with, “Croptop Jone walks into a bar…” And we got the one with the lamest punchline… Although we did get a punch this arc. I guess that’s better than having her fall on her own sword. Of course we might have wondered where the sword came from – but nothing had made sense up until then, so why not add a sword?

If this is finis, it was a good story!

4 the record: Scardol is part of Hwy 51 somewhere between New Orleans and the Wisconsin-Michigan state line.

Highway 51 by Bob Dylan

Highway 51 runs right by my baby’s door

Highway 51 runs right by my baby’s door

If I don’t get the girl I’m loving

Won’t go down to Highway 51 no more.

Well, I know that highway like I know my hand

Yes, I know that highway like I know the back of my hand

Running from up Wisconsin way down to no man’s land.

Well, if I should die before my time should come

And if I should die before my time should come

Won’t you bury my body out on the Highway 51.

Highway 51 runs right by my baby’s door

I said, Highway 51 runs right by my baby’s door

If I don’t get the girl I’m loving

Won’t go down to Highway 51 no more.

1-SAM: Read any good books lately?

2-DT: Well, there’s one I took from Libris’s collection after she fell to her death – Galen The Saintly I couldn’t really follow the plot though. I can’t imagine why it was in her collection as someone had ruined it by writing in it…

3-SCARDOL: WHIRRRRRRLLLLLL! SOMEBODY STOP THIS SPINNING!!!

I seem to remember that back in the day when a storyline was winding down Chester Gould would start dropping hints of the storyline to come, often featuring the villain. I think Max Allen Collins did it too. At least the art today is good. 2 stars.

Is Scardol’s fate proven, or is it an urban legend, like various locations of Jimmy Hoffa’s grave?

If this is over, will there be a Minit Mystery tomorrow?

Scardol was a real cement-head.

Where’s the enemy?

You’re driving over him.

Imagine my surprise at seeing Galen the Saintly appear in all places. Galen is the comic adventures of an Angel Mouse written and drawn by G. Raymond Eddy. I belonged to a Christian comics amazing years ago and Galen made regular appearances within it’s pages.Now I’m trying to figure out the connection to the comic/creator and the DT creative team.