Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for November 05, 2023

What has been seen at the crime scene with use of Luminol?

Blood drops found do now confound. More questions. That’s not all.

Across state lines another find: Collector stabbed to death

Dead men don’t speak. Fresh blood they leak, then take a final breath.

More bodies than clues sure to confuse. Seek out skilled restoration

“A subpoena, please, to gaze at these,” brings Lizz fast consternation.

Lee seeks to see. “It cannot be. Such things are confidential”

Unexpectedly: Help for Lee. Copy maker deferential.

Investigative grind means seek and find. Close in with the facts

Pursue and arrest. To truth attest. End deadly attacks.

Every day

I check this page

In hope that I will see

Something more

Than the regular bore

Of the funky letter Z

Ohhhh, a conspiracy, HOW EXCITING!!!

Ohhh, an informant, HOW EXCITING!!!

Ohhh, multiple panels of squinting eyes, HOW EXCITING!!!

Ohhh, several days of Lee without Blaze, HOW EXCITING!!!

Ohhh, months and months of a story devoid of any action/suspense/excitement, HOW EXCITING!!!

Ohhh, people asking me why I keep reading the strip, ZZZZZzzzzz,,

So yesterday’s 3 panels of Dick looking at the letter opener with a constipated gaze was nothing more than Saturday space/time filler.

What an insult!

Good morning™, sneaky informers !

Either he is luring Lizz to a trap or he is terribly risking his life to give what could be vital information. Nice background graphics. I like the tool room ones best.

Something is taking place at this restoration shop. The staff person glances at Lee as she exits. Thinking if she only knew what went on behind closed doors.

Good morning™, everyone!

It seems that Lizz isn’t getting anywhere, but Lee does seem to be about to get inside information from a helper from the back room on the down-low.

Eh so these two not knows procedures of law? They just goes around showing off badges eh.

This a case where Sergeant Cursive should be on.

Why didn’t they bring him back for a one off? Or is that only the domain of Mike?

Looks like the guy with the goatee gave Lee some info on the down low…..

Hard to believe Libris would leave any incriminating evidence in the form of rare stolen manuscripts or old books in the hands of an outside party, like a restoration service, unless maybe the owner was in on it too, but Libris comes across as someone who doesn’t trust anybody. Still, if criminals didn’t make that one fatal mistake they’d never get caught.

More or less off topic…. There are services that pursue technological procedures to preserve and/or restore old valued comic books. Preservation has included gas infusions to halt the action of destructive acids in most cheaply made paper. Think of that old mass market paper back that first turns yellow, then brown, and then falls apart over the years.

Some have been stored in sealed cases with pure nitrogen to halt such chemical destruction. I’ve even heard of comics stored in super-cold freezers to arrest decay.

And there have been cases of restored comic books being sold for tens of thousands of dollars as unrestored originals. There have been lawsuits and criminal prosecution over such activities.

Good to see they are doing it by the book……..

Would you look at that? They are attempting to restore a ‘The Complete Dick Tracy!’

If old Mr. Drucker there is this tetchy with the police, I hate to think how he treats his lowly apprentices….

Remember that in real life, as opposed to drama, insisting that police follow proper procedure to see confidential information is not an indication of guilt.

In real life most companies are willing to cooperate with the police. It’s just good policy (if you don’t the police may suddenly find a lot of code violations at your business or find some other way to show their displeasure). And the police know judges who are happy to give subpoenas to the police for this sort of information. A business asks the police what they want and, if it is not unreasonable or a clear threat to a client, cooperate.

If customer confidentiality is a very high priority (and book repair/restoration is not a business with a high priority expectation) or if you, yourself, are engaged in criminal activity (see creating slabs with fake comic books sealed inside as “near mint condition originals” above) a company would be reluctant to share. But in normal circumstances you would expect cooperation when Liz or Lee said “We’re investigation a homicide. Here are four books that have been stolen recently. We’d like to know if you’ve done work with any of the four.”

But that would leave us without any drama. We get to see two snobs reject the police request before a workman gestures to Lee indicating he has something to tell her. What will it be? “I’m an insurance agent, is your life insurance up to date?” or “Interested in cryptocurrency? I know the next one that’s gonna get hot?”

Shelley , your beautiful depiction of your characters today is just that , Beautiful : ) Thanks : )

Psst. Hey, lady, the doity books is back here!”

I found an old book that was literally falling apart at a junk store. It was a biography by a newspaper correspondent who infiltrated the Confederacy during the Civil War in order to smuggle newspaper articles to his New York City Newspaper. The pages were in good shape but the cover was falling apart. I debated for many years about what to do with it. I couldn’t find a value for the book because, I guess, there weren’t many copies still in existence. I finally bit the bullet and took it to a book preservationist. He hand-sewed the book back together and created a new binding for the book, salvaging as much as the original as he could. Cost a small fortune, but the book is now readable once again and might last another hundred years.

He who has nothing to hide has nothing to fear .

….well now, old William Demerest looking guy whispers: “Wanna see something REAL scary?”

Having color appears to be important in today’s strip. With color we can see that the guy wearing the cap is working at the same place as the second store, with a blue shirt and white apron, same as the others.

Another nice touch was not color but the placement of what turns out to be the guy with the cap in the shadows of row 2, panel 2. I didn’t notice that in my first and second looks at that panel.

YouTube has a video (search for 01Ytsmn4gv4 in the app) containing what appears to be a first edition copy of Shakespeare’s First Folio – the only one of the stolen books that’s actually been referenced in this story. Looks to be the size, shape and color as the book in the open case shown in the last panel. Nice job, Shelley!

smug bass-turd at Richelieu’s… if you’ve got nothing to hide or that’s incriminating, then why play the ‘subpoena’ card?…

I always DID hate ‘play by the book’ fooks…

Looks Ike the informant has knowledge of some criminal activity that may or may not lead to the murderer .. 乁⁠(⁠ ⁠⁰͡⁠ ⁠Ĺ̯⁠ ⁠⁰͡⁠ ⁠)⁠ ⁠ㄏ

Me, too, Gweedo!

Nice art all the way around the panels!

1-LIZZ: Can you restore my Police ID? I ran it through the wash. MR. RICHELEUS: NO!

2-MR. DRUCKER: I’ve never seen a person of color in Hooterville before. I may have to go lie down for a while. Take over the counter Zeb…

3-MORT: PSSSSSST

4-… (points the way out of the area)

5-… IT’S FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY! The people in the Birmingham neighborhood of Tracyville still cotton to the old notions. Didn’t you see the Stars and Bars in every window? They still believe Lincoln stole the election. They believe the 13th Amendment was pushed through with promises that financially benefitted those in favor. You probably have half a dozen AR-15s aimed at you right now! I’m sayin’ we’re kind of ignorant here…

He’s dead ! Move along folks nothing to see here !

Art—-A, Story—-F-

I wonder how many times they have worked with stolen goods.

get a Sopena? well thank you for your cooperation we’ll make sure we remember it.

Aha! Ad hoc Confidential Informant (a.k.a. snitch) is here to save the day for Lee and the MCU! Haughty Richeleus gave Lizz the brushoff (“get a subpoena”), and the front desk at the restoration firm Lee visited was uncooperative (not at all unusual in the art business); but that Little Old Printer/Pressman drew her aside and into the backroom. We shall see if what he has to offer is a worthy clue!…

He wants Lee to see his etchings.

Book the Books,danno