Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for September 13, 2015

Mini Moon Maid lets it fly, knocks Bigg back on his canNever would have been lit up had he been a better man.Mysta much more practiced, stops T-Bolt in her tracksAssures safety for Honeymoon, protects her from attacks.Bribery he crawls away, fierce buzzing in his headFears he sees deceased Nah Tay, a Wizard shows instead.“I don’t want to be a boss!” he cries to Mr. WizardTries to clear his scattered mind, yet in his brain a blizzard.Punjab frowns and walks away. Little Princess he must saveAs with her bold friend, Honey, Annie’s smart and tough and brave.Down below, wouldn’t you know, the gunplay has now ceasedWho waits to be arrested? From mortal coil who’s released?Sam takes point and leads the team, Tracy at his sideBlackhearts’ lair in shambles, nowhere left to hide.Méliès prone upon the floor, no chance for resuscitationApollo lifeless next to him: permanent eradication.Venus lies among the wreckage, drops her hot handgunThe Blackheart Queen defeated. Her wicked ways undone.Fishnet frayed, skirt torn and stained, red hair in disarrayTracy far from dead fish dead. He survives again today.

“It’s a gift”…Perfect last words for today’s strip!

She’s a survivor!

A carnage at Ace Tower!I say that’s Apollo’s cannon held by a lifeless hand. It could only be Apollo who’s holding it. He was true to his words – Nobody’s taking me to jail (8/22) – but somebody’s going to take him to the morgue.Looks like Venus is the only one left. From Tracy’s question, it appears that he knew everyone in the building. I still feel that Mumbles is still alive. He probably escaped again and went up to the fifth floor. Too bad he will meet Mysta and he will spend some time in the microwave.If BB-Eyes is on the 3rd floor, Méliès on the 4th floor and Mr Bigg is on the 6th, who is on 5th floor? Or what is on 5th floor?I hope to see what Mr Bigg is hiding in Suite 6B this week and if Mysta is already done with the microwave treatment of T-Bolt, who is probably a well done T-Bone by now. :)

Yes, but- WHERE IS ABNER KADAVER??

Good morning, DT fans!Great sombre strip, love Venus’ awed expression. Wonder how Dick could know her name? Is Mumbles dead now?

Good morning everyone!.What an ending! Well done, Pequod! G’morning 22ph, Gweedo, et al.

It sure is a gift….of luck……glad he realizes it…..too many outside rescues to call it anything else, lol

I have the feeling that Mumbles is still alive too. We should soon discover T-Bolt’s true part in all of this.

Good morning everyone.

Good morning, Vista Bill. Good morning, everyone.Another good summation of this week’s events, Pequod. Thank you.

blunebottle inquired,Yes, but- WHERE IS ABNER KADAVER??-—————————————————————————————————-.Shhhh, blunebottle… keep your voice down! Abner’s over at Gweedo’s sawing bones in his asbestos lined coffin!

Venus is lucky…..in this history of this strip, deciding to shoot it out with Dick Tracy is usually a case of signing your own death warrant.

Very nice poem. I like the rhyme scheme and fluctuating meter of the lines.I haven’t posted here for a long time so I am wondering if you have any other poems here I might have missed?

Wise of the very defeated-looking Venus to drop her revolver as Tracy stands over her with his assault carbine. The other two hands we see in part may or may not be dead fish dead, but they are certainly out of commission. It remains to sort out who is who, who is still amongst the living….

Gweedo stated,It took awhile to get him in, Bill. Hemlock tea always gets him drowsy. I poured most of mine in a potted plant so I could be awake for this.-——————————————————————————.Gweedo, did you give the tea to Audrey Jr.?

The luckiest Blackheart in this story is Blaze Rize. She was lucky because she was sent on an errand by Mr. Bigg and spent some quiet time with Notta. If she was in the building during the assault, she is probably on 6th floor. She would have been ordered to join the people on 4th floor to block the advance of the police. And you know what happened to people there other than Venus. And she could have been one of them.

@Pequod great poetry as always, Thank You!

If Mysta decides to give Mumbles a jolt will I finally understand him?

It takes teamwork. BTW, when is the last time Tracy single handedly took down somebody without all the backup?

So where’s Mumbles and Apollo? Did Bribery escape?

A good Sunday morning my friends.-———————-Pequod: You da man!-———————-Be happy and healthy everyone.

Tracy has a lot of hit points

“Is anyone left?”Well, the prosecutors won’t have much to do. The coroner, on the other hand…

Funny how Tracy has this Lee Marvin quality to his face in the next-to-last panel…

Tremendous summation, PQ. Tremendous insight, as well. Thank you.

@bluebottleYes, but- WHERE IS ABNER KADAVER??

Abner went poof. We’ll see him sometime later but probably not before this entire war with the Blackhearts is finished. That’s what I think, anyway.

How did Abner even get into the discussion? Did he do a cameo in the story? If so, I might have missed it. As far as I know, VB and Gweedo have a lid on him somewhere.

Personally i hope Mumbles is dead. Hes been around too long. Also If T-Bolt is Lee Ebony, I wonder if Moon Maid II’s blast actually helped Bribery escape?

Venus lives. And, of course, so does Tracy (“It’s a gift.”). Méliès and Apollo didn’t fare as well, so no need for EMTs for these two newly departed. Cold storage for the deceased duo. Good to see Venus survive. May she bribe a guard and escape into a future story. As with Tooter Turtle, Bribery tells the Wizard that he wants a different destiny. We’ll see how this works out for him. Can’t wait to see what’s in suite 6B.

Thanks to cpalmeresq, Vista Bill, Jonathan K., 22ph, Gweedo (nice!), Night-Gaunt49, Day-Day2001:), Willy007, William Weedman, Starman1948, Morrow, davidf42, JPuzzleWhiz and Chris Sherlock for the kind words. Very much appreciated! Abner vanished in a cloud of smoke…to return for Halloween?

“Morgue and Mindy”Good one!

Awesome poetry, as always, Pequod! Thank you!

Well, it seems Abner Cadaver STILL would have two outstanding contracts: One from the late Mrs. Flattop (will he get paid from a deceased contractor?)The Blackhearts (I suppose, if Mr. Bigg/Bribery survives, he would still be able to keep the contract alive?)

Yes, its a Gift. Love to You All…

My apologies, Tracytown! Abner DID have a cameo in the story, but I was on vacation cooling my heels! I made myself not take my laptop, so I missed it. (I might have made the right decision!)

Something about this ending just bothers me, perhaps because of all the real life incidents lately. With a little planning, they probably could have arrested and/or ended the Blackhearts reign without half of them dead. I see no effort made to ensure innocent civilians weren’t also in the building, either, as evidenced by Annie, Honeymoon, and Diet being there and lucky not to be hostages or even dead. Just Dick and company getting yet another power rush storming the building, violence their first option – they knew damn well some of the gang would fight back – after contributing to the problem by not doing their job earlier and letting it grow to the extent it was. I know everyone here will disagree. But, we’re all entitled to our opinion. Great, super entertaining story up to the ending, and because it IS a comic, not going to lose any sleep over it of course. But it would have sucked in real life…..

Taking stock of the major characters:

Blaze and Notta are presumably escaping, separately, till things cool off.BB-Eyes (injured) and Doubleup in custody.Mumbles and Rocket Munro were last seen planning to ambush the cops. Both of them are likely still on the loose somewhere, unless one of them is lying dead near Apollo. They may have reconsidered their plan to confront the cops by now.Sputnik and Satellite Munro were last seen a month ago and are likely working on something together.Venus has surrendered and is likely about to be taken into custody today.Apollo is dead or injured, along with some unknown character beside him. Méliès died some days ago, of course.T-Bolt got zapped by Mysta in the stairwell (or close to it). T-Bolt is likely to be lying on the ground unconscious. Mysta will be proceeding towards Honeymoon, Annie, and Diet.Mr. Bigg (Mr. Bribery) is headed away from Honeymoon, Annie, and Diet, on his way to escape via Suite 6B. He was zapped by Honeymoon, then briefly threatened by Punjab who was headed towards Annie.Honeymoon, Annie, Diet Smith, and Punjab seem to be safe for now. I’m not sure whether they are going anywhere at the moment.Tracy and Sam seem to be almost done on the 4th (and/or 5th?) floor and will eventually be headed to the 6th floor.Fritz Ann is in the care of the EMTs. Her condition won’t likely be known until the bad guys are dealt with.

I like Mumbles.

I’m going to miss Méliès. Pleased that BB Eyes is not among the deceased. Mumbles? Hmmm…

Once again, great job, Neil, with your summary of where everyone was and their known status. In a story like this with so many events going on in several locations at the same time it’s helpful to see where we’re at currently.

I’d like to comment on what Fredville said. I had similar thoughts about the carnage in the siege of the Blackhearts. Of course, we don’t know the information Tracy and co. had which made them choose such a violent assault. This was reminiscent of some of the raids Tracy did in the Gould era. I just wonder if they could’ve come up with a safer yet effective plan? If Fritz Ann were to die there will be some second guessing. I was looking forward to Tracy confronting Bribery for the first time since 1966. Looks like we’ll be waiting on that.

@Neil Wick: quite a list. Thanks for posting it. Have a quite night my friend.

Face it, Venus, the writers are on my side.

Mini Moon Maid lets it fly, knocks Bigg back on his can

Never would have been lit up had he been a better man.

Mysta much more practiced, stops T-Bolt in her tracks

Assures safety for Honeymoon, protects her from attacks.

Bribery he crawls away, fierce buzzing in his head

Fears he sees deceased Nah Tay, a Wizard shows instead.

“I don’t want to be a boss!” he cries to Mr. Wizard

Tries to clear his scattered mind, yet in his brain a blizzard.

Punjab frowns and walks away. Little Princess he must save

As with her bold friend, Honey, Annie’s smart and tough and brave.

Down below, wouldn’t you know, the gunplay has now ceased

Who waits to be arrested? From mortal coil who’s released?

Sam takes point and leads the team, Tracy at his side

Blackhearts’ lair in shambles, nowhere left to hide.

Méliès prone upon the floor, no chance for resuscitation

Apollo lifeless next to him: permanent eradication.

Venus lies among the wreckage, drops her hot handgun

The Blackheart Queen defeated. Her wicked ways undone.

Fishnet frayed, skirt torn and stained, red hair in disarray

Tracy far from dead fish dead. He survives again today.