Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for February 22, 2024

wow, what a surprise…

not…

really imaginative…

not…

Good morning™, everyone!

That’s a guilty reaction if I’ve ever seen one.

ERIC! STOP! ARE YOU MAD?

NO MORE DICK TRACY STORIES!!

Good morning™, Frightened Admissions !

How did Tracy know which hole to block ?  Had he blocked the upper ‘port’ would Palmer calmly, cooly, with aloof, as his previous demeanor was, accept and drink ?

Eric has shown he’s no Speedy Gonzales when it come to story telling. Lol!

Based on the recent stories presented here, and my proven abilities over on YouTube, I ABSOLUTELY deserve a shot at writing at least an upcoming Minit Mystery.

General Trelane, get the petition started!!!

Hey, ya gotta believe!!!

Why does today’s strip remind me of the poisoned wine sequence in the movie Princess Bride? ;D

Inconceivable!

I was thinking afalse eye-patch allowed him to see which cup was poisoned somehow so he could pick the safe one, but the trick with the pot seems pretty cool. I’ve got a “puzzle jug” somewhere which has a similar trick to it, though in that case knowing all the holes allows a drinker to suck the drink without spilling it everywhere.

Palmer looks like he’s been goosed!

Ahh, I see the trick! INteresting

Ah the old secret button below the trick teapot handle trick.

So, apparently all the teapots delivered to Popski had poison in them, and a routine cleaning could not remove it. Since Palmer could not have known which teapot would be delivered to their table. How many teapots in the delivery? How many people would have died of poisoning until someone got a clue and saw the obvious? Where would Palmer have been living at the time, and under what assumed name?

Obviously this is the classic style of teapot where, depending where you put a finger, a different liquid is released. I think they called it a Poisoner’s Pot.

I’m so done with this nonsense….

Is Tracy pressing a button with his pinky? Why is that guy wearing a black monocle? And why does is the monocle switched from left to right eye?

I don’t believe Lt Columbo would do something like this…

No, just thirsty.

MAKE IT STOP ! ! ! ! ! !

As we struggle through the current buffoonery, I bring a welcome whiff of Tracy past:

DIck Tracy Illustrations by Rick Fletcher, five softbound volumes collecting virtually the entire Collins/Fletcher run in crisp black-and-white on good paper, from proofs recently discovered in storage by his family. The books are 11 × 9 and over 160 pages, with the strips well presented at three per page in a horizontal format, self-published by son Ross Fletcher and available on Amazon for the astonishingly low, low price of $8.99 each.

These are high-quality reprints, with only minor and occasional fading and imperfections due to age and storage wear, and every strip is included except for two separate weeks of missing dailies in the Art Dekko arc.

Mine arrived yesterday, and I heartily recommend them to all Fletcher fans and those who miss the infinitely more authentic Tracy of those years….

So is the monocle totally blacked out, or just darkly tinted like sunglasses?

And, either way, why?

“I only drink FIZZIES! And only the grape ones made from the virgin grape fields off lower Sardinia! Dew picked and lightly garnished with lark’s vomit! and the teensiest twist of lemon.”

Is Tracy pushing a hidden button on the tea pot with his baby finger?

(shakes head until my tiny brain rattles) Sorry, but I just can’t get into this art style. Today is just too cartoony. Keep in mind this is strictly my reaction.

While some degree of humor has had a place in TRACY over the years, I’ve always seen the strip as being more serious, both to carry the story and to give the lighter bits added emphasis through contrast.

Again, just my slant.

Don’t mess with the workers on the farm! LOL!

https://youtu.Be/yZbEOKmLiEc?si=P17slJaT_J51WYuO

So, monocle guy complains that his business is pretty bad, and his china ware isn’t selling, so he figures a good, solid plan will be to use his chinaware to poison people. Why, sales should skyrocket! I wonder if Tracy’s little finger in panel two is releasing the poison or blocking it?

MOVIE QUOTE—

“My mother always said if you’re at a party for 30 minutes and a man doesn’t talk to you, you might as well go home and shoot yourself”

Peggy Ann Garner—-BLACK WIDOW—1954

I give full credit to Eric and blame the “smarty pants” in the Comments who knew what an “Assassin’s Pot” is. I didn’t so I would’ve still been wondering WTH is going on had I not been such an avid reader of Comments. But as it is, this story has been over for days now. I envy the readers who are still mystified (though Panel 2 today probably clued them in).

The culprit is revealed.

Nervous Norvus cracks wide open. Get the tape recorder.

That’s the trouble with first-time murderers/ They either brag toomuch or shake all over too much.

1-DT: Did you ever see that scene in The Deer Hunter where they play Russian Tea Party?

2-…No. Say, here’s a fun game: How many British movies or British Series can you name where they drink tea? I’ll start. Fawlty Towers, Bridgerton, The Crown, Downton Abbey…

3-HOURS LATER …Broadchurch, Midsomer Murders, The Night Manager… PERPSKI: STOP! I BEG YOU! I CONFESS! JUST SHUT UP!

DT: The old Columbo Technique works again, heh heh. PERPSKI: Just tell me what I was supposed to have done.

I like the story. Indeed, it’s more of a “how-done-it” than a “who-done-it” but I would have never guessed a killer tea pot like this one. Pretty clever. Kudos to the one who called it.

Eric Costello is he related to Lou Costello…………..Hey Abbott!

A lot of Negative Nancy’s and Debbie Downer’s here. I kinda like the story. It’s just a comic strip for crying out loud

??? Little button on the handle bottom? What does it do?

0T: Jeepers! Does anyone else love the IRS like I do? the outfit I chiefly write for and narrate for is giving me issues getting my tax docs and an issue on missing payment. I have now sent 12 e-mails with screen grabs in the last few days, and they keep passing me from department to department. My blood pressure is killing me.

Mr. Palmer: Stop! Are you mad? That’s not tea—that’s Lipton!

Don’t show that pot to Coffyhead,it might give him ideas

Now Tracy should hold him down and force the tea down his throat while yelling “Drink it! Drink every last drop of it!”

I would like this story then.

Whoa, 280 comments so far today— not too shabby for an MM week!