Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for November 15, 2023

Hmmm… I wonder what the phone call will be about?

Good morning™, everyone!

I guess that means that they have a connection now between Xaviera Libris and the out-of-state murder. The problem now is getting hard evidence that proves Libris is the killer.

So, now Tracy is complaining about coincidences? It seems like his whole life is coincidences!

Good morning™, ‘Bat phone’ ringers !

Better pick up, Tracy, could be the call that breaks this one wide open ……… or maybe just another plot line diverge ?  Isn’t it time for a Minit-Mystery injection ?  Nice to see the whole team together.

“The victim in that out-of-state cold case”? Don’t you refer to the victims by name?

Sigh, another day, another yakfest!

Who’s ready for another goat joke???

What is a mountain goat called?

A hillbilly!

Lol!!! THAT’S why hillbilly Gweedo loves goats so much,,, they’re kin!!!

Thought I’d give vengey something Not to complain about but then knowing him… ;-p LOL !

https://www.youtube.Com/watch?v=Opxhh9Oh3rg

What’s that grey thing with a wire on it, and why is it shooting lightning?

The incoming phone call will affect one of those coincidences.

Gee and very convenient coincidences eh.

He’ll pick it up “Your car warranty has expired”!

And the phone reveals the death of the book repairman!

I’m sure the phone call is about the deceased bookbinder…

Sweet Jesus….. and you thought MIKE wrote convoluted stories…this (sweatbox express) trainwreck just keeps spiraling downward into the muck and mire… and we STILL have almost zero idea of what in the holy hell is going on

Which fiendish fiend electrified the telephone?

“Your source did good….may he rest in peace,” cackles Sam, the criminal mastermind.

and there’s another one calling in

The conspiracy is between Libris and the bookbinder. She finds the books, does the murders, and the bookbinder redoes the binding for her so it ‘looks’ like a legit copy instead of the original.

Why is Lee holding one boob ?

coincidence does not stretch so far.

…..Lee’s source “did good” all right……..and lost his hat in the bargain…….

Next week, we meet the TRUE fiend(s) du jour, that infamous literary octopus of crime, the Book Of The Month Club (formerly Crime Club, but people kept miscategorizing them as disgruntled folks with real clubs, which was somehow demeaning).

I always like seeing Sam Catchem in Dick Tracy . The writers are missing out by not featuring him more prominently . Dick Tracy is The King of Detectives but every good cop has a good partner much like every ship captain has a good first officer . Sam could be so much more than the current writers use him for . Pete Malloy had Jim Reed and Jack Webb had Harry Morgan in Dragnet . So how about it writers ? Grab your ears and pull your heads out of your a-holes .

I read Sam as saying “Your source died good, Lee”. That made today’s strip interesting – for a nano second.

MOVIE QUOTE—

Five people were killed and we treated it with the proper respect. But that was yesterday!"

Reporter Frank Albertson—MAN-MADE MONSTEr—1941

RIDDLE ME THIS

Q>)“What do you get when you cross Basil Rathbone with an accountant?”

A.) SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE INVOICE OF TERROR

Look,enough canoodeling around. Set up a rare book as bait and wait for Libris to come after it.And wear a knife-proof vest.

One side joke I ’m thinking of is that hollowed-out books are a favorite trick of smugglers and evidence hiders.(See NETSEN RESTER narcotics story in 1971).

So when this is all over, somebody’s going to have to inspect EVERY SINGLE BOOK on Libris’ shelves to make sure they’re just plain books.

Any volunteers who d on’t know what to do with the next five years of their lives?

1-LEE: Sorry I’m late. What’d I miss?

2-SAM: Tracy found out that Libris and Caxton were “chums” a hundred years ago. LIZ: And we decided you could use that timely information to solve the case!

LEE: Yeah, right. That’s as likely as getting Sam to stop staring at my boobs. SAM: slobber Never gonna happen!

DT: Must I do everything??? PSSSSS. PSSSSS. PSSSSSS. Uh oh. It’s the Dick Phone. Grab it, Sam. SAM: Way ahead of you… slobber. DT: THE PHONE YOU DOLT!

Side notes: one of the goals I had in this story was to show the entire MCU team working together, and give each of the MCU members a chance to contribute. You’ll note in today’s episode that it was a combination of Lizz’s diligence in discovering the out-of-state murder, along with Lee’s quick thinking in dealing with the workman informant, that has led to a piece of evidence (the bookplate) that is potentially useful in building a case. Another point of interest would be whether or not, if it came down to it, the statements made by the deceased workman would be admissible in court. The statements made to Lee are classical hearsay, and in most circumstances, hearsay is not allowed into evidence. There are exceptions to this rule, and indeed, exceptions that revolve around when a witness is dead (see, e.g., Federal Rules of Evidence 804(a)(4)). Whether or not the particular circumstances of the workman’s testimony would qualify is a good question — the state would likely argue that its equivalent (if any) of FRE 804(b)(6) would apply. (States don’t always follow the FRE down the line.)

The ringing phone will probably be a call informing Tracy and the MCU about the death of The Little Old Pressman (Back Room Guy), stabbed in the rainy street.

Meanwhile, the accumulating clues will soon enough come together sufficiently to point at Xaviera Libris as Person of Interest at least and likely in fact as Prime Suspect….