Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for April 19, 2015

At the city library, shelves lined with countless booksTo place the symbols on the page ‘tis harder than it looks.Travel back a thousand years to China and Bi ShengInnovation, moving type, the ease that it did bring..Ideas put to paper, metal pieces moved aroundEventually came Gutenberg with a new press to astound.Humankind, imagination, discoveries change the earthPrinting Press. Sextant. Medicine. Ponder their vast worth..Long after the wood block prompted thinking in reverseHot metal typesetting transformed the universe.More can read. This plants a seed. Vast idea disseminationRevolution in the sciences. Knowledge democratization..These days to some the tomes upon the shelves seem antiquatedBasking in the glow of screens, easy to feel satiated.Paper, ink and binding: an experience tactileWonders of the printed page commonplace yet all the while.There is a book never returned, a rarity it seemsRobbing the Rails in Jimmy’s hands: stuff of criminal dreams..

Love today’s picturesque poetry, Pequod77!

Good morning guys!

He Loves Only Gold …

Only Gold …

Trying to figure out why Jimmy’s cohort looks so familiar,

Could that be Frank Fontaine as Crazy Guggenheim? Joe the Bartender knows Crazy. Maybe Crazy will show Jimmy his latest Top Cat comic book, or sing him a song.

Re: Crimestoppers Textbook; Sgt. Jim, Charlotte and Mecklenberg County is in North Carolina, not GA.

How are they conveying the cargo out of state?

@fredville (yesterday)Right…….they’d borrow the book under their own name. Smart enough to steal a billion in gold, but too dumb to steal a library book…

Who says they didn’t steal the library book!?

Notice that the book has been missing for over 10 years? I wonder how long this crime has been contemplated, just waiting for a train with such a valuable cargo.

Happy Sunday DT fans!The train mistery deepensAnd has it happensThe gold thiefIs one for the books

The guy with the hat resembles Robert Mitchum!

Pequod77 called it.

Pretty sure that’s Crazy Guggenheim.

I don’t care how rare that book is — that is one knowledgeable librarian!

In a tangentially related note, found out that Stan Freberg – Who [I believe] performed the Frank Fontaine-inspired voice of Pete Puma – Passed away on April 7th.

He will be missed.

@Pequod77 – you do nice work! Rather an inspiration, indeed!

Blest Sunday morning everyone._______Pequot: you have topped all your previous poems! Way to go!_______Gweedo and Ashmael: good poems! Short but sweet!_______Be happy and healthy my friends.

Where is that interesting architecture shown in the library pictures? I can’t find pictures of that glass roof.

The library looks like University of Chicago’s Joe and Rika Mansueto Library. But they refer to it as the “city library”.

Is this the origin of Abe and Ongo? http://www.places-in-the-world.com/2402659-ga-2396821-ga-distance-from-abe-to-ongo.html

PQ, you did it again! You beat your best! You not only topped the Centerfield fence, you knocked the cover off the ball! And you conveyed a message that is worth more than all the gold in the world.

It is interesting to me that they would have allowed such a rare book to be checked out.

I have done research at libraries in rare books and the procedure was quite different. One would first check out a table in the rare book room usually by signing up on a clipboard list. At the library table you would find small chits where you fill out the information on the book you are requesting (ID, card catalogue number, title, etc.). Once completed, the chit is turned in to the librarian who then goes into the vault and brings the rare book to your table for you to read or do research. When you are finished, the rare book is to be left on your table for the librarian to put away and you must show inside your bags and briefcase before leaving the rare book room.

A few years ago I wrote a genealogy of my family dating back to 1609 in the Jamestown Colony. I spent many hours in the rare book room following exactly this procedure.

What a great plot line! Once again Staton and Curtis have me on the edge of my seat.

Looking out the window of the library we see Millennium Park. The crisscrossed lines are the overhead, state of the art sound system of Pritzer Pavilion. Free concerts begin next month and run through September. This places Sam and Tracy in the Cultural Center, across the street on Michigan Avenue. Years ago, this was the main branch of the Chicago Public Library. It now houses free exhibits, such as the photography of Vivian Maier. The main branch is now the Harold Washington Library, at Congress and State. Reserve a book on-line and it will be held for you in a room on the ground floor, off of State Street, that great street. .Around the time I started reading the comics, I was also watching The Jackie Gleason Show with my father. One of his sisters researched our genealogy, Ray. She discovered Scottish and Irish relatives who arrived in the early 1600s. We’ve seen Joe the Bartender in Tracytown. There’s only one hat like that, so I’m sticking with my call. Sing us a song, Mr. Fontaine! As for Jimmy’s shirt: I’m getting a Flintstonian vibe, right down to bedrock. Team Tracy delivers the goods yet again..Looks like even Flattop enjoys a good book, when he isn’t up to mischief. Careful with that binding.

Thanks to VistaBill, cpalmeresq, Night-Gaunt49, Ray Toler, GweedO, Neil Wick, ave09, RailScout, John Russell, Ken in Ohio, Willy007, Morrow, JPuzzleWhiz and Chris Sherlock for the kind words. Very much appreciated!

On Antenna TV yesterday, they ran the episode of “The Monkees” in which he appeared.“Monkee vs. Machine.” FamilyNet ran that one not long ago.

Maybe Tracy needs to get a Cliff Notes summary to find out the plotline. There has got to be one of those around! For that matter, he might consult Wikipedia and they’ll have it all laid out for him!

PQ77, you are da best, today….you been around Chicago Town for a long time now?

@Ray Toler: there is a similar routine at the local library which I frequent. I do most of my reading on an iPad. However, digital books don’t feel like a printed book nor smell like a printed book. And you can thumb through the pages of a printed book. Occasionally, I will purchase a printed book if it has not been converted to digital format. I have a small collection of printed books. I am certain that you as well as many others who frequent GoComics also have personal libraries._______Preserve history! Buy a printed book!_______Be well my friends.

By the way it is Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, NC not GA

I see the final three panels today as drenched in irony. Tracy jokes with Sam that they shouldn’t be chasing overdue library books, while we then see that if they did exactly that, it would lead them to the train robbers!

I wonder how much of that gold would fit in Rikki’s death coach?

That Jimmy Choo is a real genius, huh? He has to copy the steps outta a book! He needs to run with some real crooks like Batman does and he’ll be up to speed in no time!

So far, I’m finding this story very interesting. The story and illustrations are great. Take your time on this.

Thanks to everyone who reminisced and shared information about Stan Freberg.

I’d almost forgotten that he performed every voice in, and narrated/sung “The Three Little Bops”

I’ve never heard of that channel. I’m not sure ComCast carries it.FamilyNet is on Dish Network. Don’t know if any other television providers carry it.

NG, don’t call it successful quite yet! If he ends up like Sprocket, I’d say he failed!

Since it’s been mentioned that the Library of Congress has a copy, that may be Dick’s next step.

If he really wants to look at the book, Owen has a copy, but I think the trip to the library was just to see who borrowed it recently, so that trail was a dead end. We probably won’t be hearing more about the book. Owen knows the facts, anyway.

he will find you jimmy.

At the city library, shelves lined with countless books

To place the symbols on the page ‘tis harder than it looks.

Travel back a thousand years to China and Bi Sheng

Innovation, moving type, the ease that it did bring.

Ideas put to paper, metal pieces moved around

Eventually came Gutenberg with a new press to astound.

Humankind, imagination, discoveries change the earth

Printing Press. Sextant. Medicine. Ponder their vast worth.

Long after the wood block prompted thinking in reverse

Hot metal typesetting transformed the universe.

More can read. This plants a seed. Vast idea dissemination

Revolution in the sciences. Knowledge democratization.

These days to some the tomes upon the shelves seem antiquated

Basking in the glow of screens, easy to feel satiated.

Paper, ink and binding: an experience tactile

Wonders of the printed page commonplace yet all the while

There is a book never returned, a rarity it seems

Robbing the Rails in Jimmy’s hands: stuff of criminal dreams.