Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for March 15, 2020

Good morning™, everyone!

Crystal does seem to be familiar with bullet wounds. It doesn’t phase her.

Meanwhile, what is happening at the hospital. Is Tess going to be okay?

Doesn’t look good – but one can always hope for the best..,

“I can’t see what’s going on. Everything’s all shakey!”“Calm yourself, doctor.”“It’s not me that’s shaking, it’s the patient!

Emergency! Great urgency

Condition now grows dire

Tess a fighter. One tough gal

Though wounded does not tire.

Shall not leave her man to grieve

This true heart wants to live

So much crime robbed them of time

She has more love to give.

Distress for Tess. Shake owns this mess

He pulled on trouble’s braids

Harmed the wife of Tracy

Who shall put him in the shade.

The greatest wealth is robust health

Shaky robbed dear Tess

When Tracy gets a hold of him

He’ll be a bloody mess.

Doctor: This doesn’t look good…. your very expensive blouse is ruined and beyond repair what with that bullet hole and blood stains but you can go home after a few stitches. :)

This will be the start of Crystal’s temptation to the dark side.

Good morning™, emergency med victims !

Tessie will pull through. Panel 5 doc is just ratcheting up the drama.

That Shakey was shot in the arm seems to be a jarring detail for Crystal to hear. Could it be that news of the shootout has already spread between those in the Tracy inner-circle and she has finally connected the dots? If so, knowing that Dick would be at the hospital, would she call Honeymoon for help? Hmmm… I think I’m gonna need another tub of popcorn. Anybody want anything while I’m up?

What? I didn’t miss anything since last Sunday?

Highly doubt Mike would kill off a long time classic Gould character such as Tess…….then again, the Cubs won a World Series…

IF Tess dies, then stick a fork in me! I’m done with this strip.

I hope this operation goes well. but it does not look good!!! Is the bullet in a bad place??? We shall see this week what happens!!!

So, why isn’t the weird hair girl calling the cops? She an accomplice?

“In the arm?” As opposed to where else?

Liz has on dirty underwear.

Oh hey, how ’bout that…theres someone ELSE in this story besides Shaky… imagine that!

doesn’t look good? maybe if they hadn’t taken a week to get her to the hospital!

I very briefly thought that the last two panels was a brief shift to an upcoming storyline, and then I remembered about Tess.

Riffin’ Without A Script as brought to you by Sugar Daddy Inc

1-CRYSTAL BETH: I always say “invisible” instead “indivisible” when I say the Pledge of Allegiance. Then I laugh and laugh and laugh the rest of the way through it.

2-WHATSRNAME: Let’s get back to the set-up established a few days ago when Tracy shot Jay.

CRYSTAL BETH: Yeah. I was taking a smoke break behind the theater when that happened but ok. YOU POOR THING. I’LL MAKE IT BETTER.

3-JAY BOGART: You’re gonna patch me up IN THE DARK? CRYSTAL BETH: Yeah. I can’t stand the sight of blood – BA DA BOOM!

4-EMT: I’d like to kick the ass of the person who put steps into the Emergency Room! I’m gonna need emergency hernia surgery…

5-DOCTOR: CHA-CHING CHING CHING! I love these multiple organ damage cases! Just think nurse, if we were in Canada both spit into their masks at the word we would be making minimum wage for this.

NURSE: Not to mention the patient wouldn’t stand a chance because… both in unison

YOU GET WHAT YA PAY FOR! HA HA HA!

No drama music?

Yeah, I miss a lot. But it occurs to me: Is the green hair gal Bribery’s niece and Honeymoon’s new friend?

I’m betting Tess survives…..but will wind up in a wheelchair for many days to come…..

I remember – years and years ago – there was a chain of pizza parlors called Shaky’s. Too bad they went out.

The first news report Crystal hears she may jump to a dangerous conclusion.

“Is she that bad, doctor?” “Not really, but we’ve got to pad out another week…”

The doc is looking at her medical coverage; Tess’ll be fine, but being shot is a pre-existing condition.

Today we learned in comic strip class: Crystal is cool as can be, and a proficient de facto field medic. Shaky is a baby about pain. Edison thinks fast but has confused values. Tess “doesn’t look good.” And, I think we can deduce that Tracy will not be gentle when he catches up with Shaky….

The Sunday art never flatters Crystal.She always looks like a “Bizarro”.

Meanwhile,a short but maddening bulletin about Tess.And Crystal trying to keep things civilized so they’ll patch Shaky up and leave as quickly as they came.She hopes.There will be very few readers who feel Shaky 2’s pain.