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

Dead-man’s Hand!

I KNOW the storyline is boring when I can’t think of a dam-ned thing to comment on…

Good morning™, everyone!

The most interesting revelation today is that Flattop is not “the boss”! Any guesses about who is his boss?

So now we know,,, a few more days of all talk on a road trip until Team Kill Flatfoot! heads back to Tracyville.

Oh, joy of it all!

Is Sam still awake or is he curled up in a quivering fetal position?

Did Pat successfully make his getaway, leaving poor Sam to take the brunt of Tracy’s windbag style storytelling?

“We don’t want to wait too long to hit the bank, Flattop. The way things are going the bank could be shut down by the time we get to it.”

Good morning™, double jobbers !

Flattop likes the economy of “two for the price of one”. Zeck is too conservative. Good hand and cards layout in P.2.

First it’s Nero Wolfe, then a hit contract on Dick Tracy and a bank job. Now the possibility of the 52 gang if I read the third panel correctly.

Mike’s trying to “outdo” the Dekko can’t decide which counterfeit scam storyline to go with isn’t he?

Hmm. Was there a time in the past when the corner numbers of the Hearts and Diamonds cards were printed in black?

“Aces and Eights” – The “Dead Mans” hand! Forshadowing…retroactivly…

Aces over Eights—Flattop has a Dead Man’s Hand. (Allegedly the same hand Bill Hickcock had when he was gunned down)

Dead man’s hand?

“Shaddap. The Boss said A bank, he(?) didn’t say which bank.”

Harry Young, a bartender at the #10 Saloon in Deadwood, was present when Wild Bill Hickok was killed. In a 1915 book, Young claimed that Hickok lost his last hand to William Massie, Kings full to four 7s. but Hickok expert Joe Rosa doesn’t buy the Aces and Eights story either—nor any other claim about the cards Hickok held when he was shot. When Hickok slumped over, the cards scattered all over the place. the aces and eights version first appeared in 1926

1-ED: I GOT NOTHIN’ FOLD! FLATTOP: You got exactly what I dealt you. ED: You said you wouldn’t cheat this hand!

2-FLATTOP: I didn’t. I’m just one of those guys who makes his own luck! That’s supposed to be a good attribute to have. DAM! I slipped up! That Queen should’ve been an Eight!

ED: Can we just play chess from now on? FLATTOP: Sure. At $500 a game. And all my pawns are in “Drag” which means they can all move like the Queen – that’s a real thing of course.

ED: Sure it is. Lucky for you that we’re not in Florida…

Anybody have an accurate count on how many “Kill Dick Tracy” stories we have had to endure? How about a petition demanding No More! We Long Timers deserve better. Hire us a writer!

Aces & eights – - dead man’s hand

I remember when Tracy shot flattop in the head. Comics were $.10 apiece around 1952.

I get the feeling they do these flashback story arcs just so they can bring back Flattop.

I presume that, for purposes of this story, Zeck is the “boss.” But didn’t he just contract with Flattop to kill Tracy? And, what “Federal Bank”? The Federal Reserve? I guessing that in this story, the FBI didn’t have primary jurisdiction over bank robberies.

Isn’t that the famous “dead man’s hand”?

Who wants to play those eights and aces?

Who wants a raise? Who needs a stake?

Who wants to take that long-shot gamble,

Head it out to Fire Lake?

(Bob Seger)

How many references do we need to “The Dead Man’s Hand”??? ONE! WE ONLY NEED ONE!

Aces and eights…

Go get ‘em Flattop

Well, one thing for sure, the boss isn’t B.O. Plenty…….

Not quite the “Deadman’s Hand” but almost…

Oh course I loved the original Flattop Story-line. Isn’t he dead? How is he alive again? How many times did he die in this series?

My post where I had the audacity to critique Shelley today was removed.

Guess we know who’s got the real juice on team Tracy! LOL!

MOVIE QUOTE—-

“Where’d you learn to shoot like that?”

“I was marble champion of the Bronx”

Robert Armstrong&James Cagney—-G-MEN—1935

Just as the “Mister Memory”story was so we could see if Shelley could draw BO and Gertie right(she did),this one is soShelley can take a crack at “the Flat-Headed Moron”;as Gouldaffectionately called him.

Wake me up when he’s going down for the third time.

Just to clear up any remaining misconceptions:

This story takes place in the past.

And on the Moon.

OT: Really depressed today. we were going for a Soul days a new (okay, used) second car and our insurance company refuses to cover the for several years’ run due to an issue. They were supposedly okay with having a fix added, but now they say KIA won’t approve second parties doing the install. No car.

sorry I wasn’t out and about here on the board yesterday and today… yesterday morning, I had to take myself to LaGrange Adventist Hospital and check in at the ER pain section, as I was in such severe pain with my lower back and my right leg from upper thigh down to just under my knee… turns out I have a case of severe and acute sciatica resulting from my wearing a surgical shoe on one foot while wearing a diabetic shoe on the other for a month and a half, resulting in my walking in a sideways up and down gait like a penguin… the reason was that I underwent a shaving done further of a bone where I had an amputation of my left big toe, 10 years ago… over the years, a painful callous developed and an area had to be shaved down to relieve pressure pain there… shortly afterwards, I started developing the sciatic pain after a month and a half and decided to abandon the surgical shoe and resume wearing both diabetic shoes… and as a result of that, the sciatic pain increased to the point of moaning and groaning… my doc gave me hydrocodone and methylprednisolone, which helped for a bit until last night, where the excruciating pain had become just THAT… I went in and they gave me a stronger prednisone and a shot in my arm that I’ve never felt before, it BURNED like the devil and actually made me roar out in pain… and shots are nothing to me when I get them, but this was different… so as of now, I feel NO pain, but just a slight soreness, mostly at my upper thigh… but Dr, Larry Levon (a great guy who helped and was having a great time cracking up as he was listening to my bit of madness… yes, I AM this way in real-life and it’s NOT how I present myself here on the board alone) told me that all this treatment yesterday is only a mask for the condition and that I have to see a back specialist, as wearing that shoe jostled some of my nerves about in my back and leg… so I’m good now and just recovering after going thru some real hell with that pain…

Aces and 8’s.. dead man’s hand.

Be with us tomorrow for “The Ghost Of Hawker Davis”.

Got a call from Mike today, and he sounded really under the weather. I’m a little worried.

I’m sure he’d appreciate some well wishes!

He folded so why did Flattop reveal his hand ? When are the writers going to reveal their hand ? This is taking forever !!!

If the original plan is to hit the Federal bank, it seems to me a hit on Tracy became a distraction. Unless Flattop wants to double his profit margin.

I gather we can assume foreboding in Flattop’s holding some variant of the “Dead Man’s Hand.” Maybe this hit on the Federal Bank’s Tracyville branch will go sharply south and involve any of many possible bad turns for the Bad Guys, even though “we have a plan”….

Meanwhile, is Nero Wolfe still eating well?

Lure Tracy to scene with showy bank robbery,then blast Dick as soon as he shows up.

Aces and eights, dead man’s hand.

Well that man’s doomed. Aces & Eights! The dead-man’s hand!

Awesome plot twist, here!