Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for June 24, 2023

“You didn’t expect me to lie to Dick Tracy, did you?”

That’s Audie.

Hopefully Firedump doesn’t see the sweat on Antman’s forehead. Simple things like that rile him up! LOL

Gee, not much to complain about today.

Wickerman isn’t sleeping with the fishes,,,yet!!!

Where’s Neil with my “Good morning” line.

Oh well. If you want something done…     LOL !

Like I said before….with that look Tracy gave him, he definitely wasn’t going to deny Tracy’s request.

Good morning™, dead men walking !

Stop with the sweating. You can leave town before things get any hotter.

Are we to understand that the people to whom the consignment was being shipped are the same people who hijacked it?

Good morning™, all!

Does this mean that Tracy and Sam will be arriving at the call centre next? It can’t be that easy, can it?

So, you’re running an illegal operation like a telephone scamming operation (which hires personnel through help wanted ads) & you need some equipment, so you arrange to purchase the equipment, but then hijack the shipment of the equipment & have the seller of the equipment file a police report … because nothing will draw the attention of the police to your illegal operation like being involved in a crime like hijacking that gets reported to the police.

I am going to ask is the guy yelling into the phone at the address on record?

Are Dick Tracy and Sam going to enter the wrong house and shoot the occupants just like in the news ?

The problem here is that historically Mike enjoys “plot twists” too much that they get thrown in right at the beginning of the story, and everything else suffers for it…they’re nonsensical interjections that would be better served left out and the stories more streamlined and coherent…but that’s not the way this strip has run since Mike claimed it…even “guest writers” arent able to navigate the unending conflagration of absurdity and eke out any sort of logic…and still, we suffer

Maybe if you had asked to talk to your lawyer before making your business records available to the police you would have at least had more time to warn your fellow scammers.

Wouldn’t he say, “the cops were just here?”

This guy has a speaker in his nose?

…should’ve given him an address for an elite coffee shop in town……..Sam ‘n he would’ve dropped in, and been blissfully forgetful of their mission de jour…….

Excellent art work….

Relax, Mr. Anders. Try to remember the happier times. Look behind you at the photo on the wall. It was taken when the Publisher’s Clearing House Prize Patrol came to give you that huge oversized check. Remember? Those were good times.

and Anders’ panic ensues… let the mayhem now commence… consternation and uproar…

1-ARCHIE ANDERS: Who’s calling? I told my secretary to hold my calls but she thought I said “hold my balls” and…

2-INSURANCE MAN: I’m from Citywide Insurance calling about the 4th stolen shipment you’ve reported this week. Perhaps…

3-ARCHIE: HEY! I can’t help it if Tracyville has become a hellhole of rampant crime. I blame the Mayor! I’m voting for his opponent next time no matter what party or how unqualified he… INSURANCE MAN: Hold on. I’m just calling to tell you your premium is going to TRIPLE.

ARCHIE: Hmmm. So I’m losing money on this scam…UHHH…Ok. Thanks for calling.

Editor’s Note: I reused yesterday’s gag for panel one because I was unsatisfied with the response it got. I’ve had that gag in my gag quiver ever since I “accidentally” told an attractive co-worker to do the latter. It was before feminism so it was accepted in the manner in which it was intended. (Ha ha unless of course…)

Anders is doing his impersonation of Rodney Dangerfield…

all he needs now is something to mop that brow…

So the address wasn’t a fake location and it seems to be tied to the brains of the operation. When will we see him? Tomorrow? Monday?

I do have to say that the background color choices are interesting. That shade of green is what we’ve seen in Anders’ office the past couple of days. It was duplicated in the second panel instead of changed to illustrate a change in location, but the wall color in Anders’ office changed to yellow for the third panel.

I won’t spoil it for you, foks, but the true baddie behind the scenes ia…Nero Wolfe, He’s decided Tracy is unwanted competition,

I think brown tie’s in deep trouble.

One way or the other, Mr. Anders is toast! Either Audie will lower the boom on him, or Tracy will (eventually) arrest for his complicity in the phone scam as well as for insurance fraud. The weed of crime bears bitter fruit. Crime does not pay!

The Telephone as Instrument of Undoing. Smart crooks (although that may be an oxymoron) eschew telephony….

Anders is so nervous that he switched phone hands…

Panel 2 reminded me of one from the 1951 Empty story(trapped in a tree house)

That cat! That cat! How I hate that cat!!