Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for May 16, 2021

Chilling close call. Charlie did not fall. Rikki hits the gas

No time to play. Hasty getaway. Traffic she does pass.

Abner is beside himself. Reveals his arm did tremble

Once he was formidable. Agile, deft, and nimble.

Kadaver’s light now fading. The end is growing near

One more shot is all he’s got. Put one in Charlie’s ear.

Elsewhere, at the Patterson, rehearsals nearly done

Raise the curtain. Light the lamps. Time to have some fun.

The Tempest is arriving soon. All Tracyville’s a stage

Kadaver cold and murderous. Soon turning the last page.

To be or not to be, Charlie? A question so profound

One night at the Patterson could leave you underground.

Good morning™, everyone!

Charlie 21 is like a client of the make a wish foundation. Meeting Tracy was one of his dreams, but now he might be able to see his movie idol, the great Vitamin Flintheart (“star of stage and screen”) live for the first time!

And tonight the role of Caliban will be played by . . . Abner Kadaver?

Good morning™, play rights !

After all the excitement of earlier today, in Tracy time, the boys are ready to kick out the jams and nothing like a night on the town to see your favorite actor and friend doing a time honored classic to take away the strain of the last few hours of near death experience.

Charlie’s bubbly boyish charm will ensure his survival to the end of the story and beyond, in a witness protection scheme with a new name and residence.

What could POSSIBLY go wrong?

One attempt went sour

Let’s tempt our fate the next hour

We’ll take the target for song

How can anything go wrong

Our badges should be taken in a rush

Since our brains have obviously turned into mush

If Pat has any sense at all

He’ll nix this ludicrous call

Who puts a bullet in a persons ear???Makes me want to pass gas! LOL!!!!

Well, they got Kandy’s hair colour right at least.

Wireless GoPro streaming from the front row.

All the world’s a stage, and Abner is directing.

I don’t know why. But I have the sensation that this can end well.

Come on! Even considering taking a protected witness, who has just been shot at hours before, to a public theater. Who’s writing this stuff? Oh, that’s right, the only writer of Dick Tracy ever to have had actual police experience. (Remember when they touted that as part of Mike’s bio?)

Please, Mr. Curtis, don’t sell this comic strip short with a silly plot devise like that, just because you want to have Tracy and company at the theater (again).

Tracy’s Hall of Fame. A public servant doing what public servants do every day.

I feel a new chapter in this story is about to unfold at the Patterson Playhouse!

Charlie 21 is a guy who quietly knows the ropes.

Of COURSE! Being in the audience for a potentially lethal confrontation with criminals is part of the fun at Patterson Playhouse!

Leaving Sam in ‘charge’? Why? Were Tim Conway and Don Knotts busy?

Hey Vitamin? Smile! You’re on Kandi’s Kamera!

(Thank you, I’ll be here all week…)

Curiouser and curiouser. I remember when Dicko had good sense

For someone who I thought is a ham actor, he (Vitamin) sure has a fan club.

All these years and Charlie 21 has never attended one of Fainthearts’ plays…..the Apparatus must have kept him busy.

“Maybe we can work something out”. Something like covering the theater with plain clothes police officers like a blanket.

Someone tell me….Abner wouldn’t be so desperate that he’d bring his gadget to a play. Nah, do it like a 60’s episode of Burke’s Law. The killer used a rolled up program to blow his dart. Or from Kerry Drake, where a scientist used a mock cigarette from a pack he had to eliminate a pesky talk show host.

Time for a bit of Idle Speculation, since previous comments have covered most of the real salient points….

Are Tracy and Sam really thinking of taking Charlie 21 to the danger-prone Patterson Playhouse?! And if they do choose to attend, will the detectives also bring their wives? Or will quasi-undercover cops substitute for Tess Trueheart Tracy and Mrs. Catchem? —Lizz and Lee as wives-for-an-evening?

How will Abner Kadaver, assuming he somehow learns of the opportunity, get himself and a weapon into the Patterson? Could he cold-cock one of the actors and appear sans makeup onstage in The Tempest? Or, being ill, will he pass the baton (or other weapon of choice) to Rikki, who with a little change of costume and disguise could pass for a normal playgoer?

There are many alternatives open for this turn of the plot….

Ummm… Guys. I think DT thought he got out of going?

Sam has a new hat and is ready to show it off to the world!

So, how is Abner going to find out about Charlie’s big night out with Sam and Dick?

Will the lovely and gracious Miss Rikki be there? I’m starting to have stirring feelings when I look into those alluring yellow eyes. What does she see in that old fool Skeletor??!! I just know she would like me way better.

“the play’s the thing wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king,” but in Kadaver’s quote: “I’ll capture the life essence of the fink” Not Shakespear but … Meh!