Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for January 02, 2016

So, the Apparatus still exists! And, good ol’ Specs is just a small-timer. Yes, this story has gotten quite interesting! 2 minor points: (1) the Apparatus members have always been shown smoking, and that hasn’t changed; (2) I believe that this is the 1st time that a female Apparatus member has been seen (albeit in silhouette!).

.Good morning fellow DT fans!.So… Spice and Specs are not criminals (yet)!.Waiting for your VB t-shirt?

Gweedo stated,Good morning, Vista Bill, shirt tycoon-———————————————————-.G’mawnin’ Gweedo!.I am not involved in Neil Wick’s endeavor, Gweedo. I simply accepted his kind invitation to perpetuate the Vista Bill name.

Well, we’ve been waiting a couple years or so for Ponytail to do something, after her introduction, lol

An interesting twist to the tale…..and the Apparatus is evidently quite resilient

Hmmm…

Well, that explains a lot …

Gweedo stated,You stand to be immortalized and not vampire style.-————————————————————————-.Gweedo, just imagine wearing the same clothes for hundreds of years without them being cleaned!

I will go with Gweedo that the person on the left in panels 1 and 2 is most likely a man.

… even though I’m pretty sure it was established “The Apparatus” had been mostly wiped out by The Blackhearts.

Also …

… I’m sure I’ve seen the “We were trying to smuggle something out, only to have it intercepted by a dupe – or a dope” – trope somewhere before.

… though I’ll accept Jim in CT’s explanation, too.

So just as with THRUSH when one node or satrap is gone others take its place as leader.____________________

Nature does abhor a vacuum.

Maybe I should comeback tonight and count how many complaints this strip gets.____________________

I"m pretty happy with it thus far, though as I’d mentioned “The Apparatus” was supposedly pushing up daisies.

Guess maybe – Like TV’s S.H.I.E.L.D. – This is “The Apparatus” MK II …

… Leaner & Meaner!

I’m pretty sure there have been female members of the Apparatus before. (Maybe when they were dealing with Abner of B-B Eyes…)-Nice to see a complete explanation of the glasses and how they ended up with Specs.

Ugh …

… The Go-Comics Timeskip is majorly fragmenting my comments tonight.

And the plot thickens.We can now see (with or without any special specs) how Specs will become entangled in big-time crime before he even realizes what’s happening. The Apparatus wants “its” hot glasses, and Specs has them and intends to use them for his witless low-level criminal pursuits.The professional criminals will soon be pursuing him….

Gweedo inquired,Are we talking a self cleaning fabric here, Bill ?-—————————————————————————-.Dracon®… the wonder material! Nothing clings to it… dirt, blood, vermin…

It appears the Apparatus has been recruiting new members to fill the ranks since we last saw them.Specs wants to pursue a life of crime. It looks like he is about to get more than he bargained for.

So it’s just a coincidence that the X-Ray glasses actually did cure Specs’ migraine, because they came from an entirely different research department?

Also, is it just a coincidence that he is named Specs, because he had that name before he knew anything about the glasses he is now wearing?

And yep, a new piccy of me. Re-started chemo, and right after the first round of treatment, my hair started falling out. Good thing i am not vain, i got it all buzzed right away

Y’know, the Apparatus really should invest in some lighting for their smoke-filled rooms.

I went back and looked at the strips on December 29 and 30 with the test subjects – the first panel of each of those strips had people in silhouette! One of them must have been the Apparatus person! lol

I’m not seeing three people. I’m seeing 7 or 8. And they MUST be evil.

They’re gasp SMOKING! faints

This is what Dick Tracy was All about. Hidden faces of gangland crooks, smoking. Where do the Apparatus stand with the Blackhearts after the Big Bust???

Hah! just as I suspected! Specs is going to be a minor player in a larger drama. I’ll bet he will be going to bookie joints owned by the Apparatus, and he will be caught up in a bigger scheme when they find him out.

I am liking the way this story is shaping up.

The basic premise of “An Ordinary Joe & His Hot Girlfriend find themselves unexpectedly in possession of a high-tech MacGuffin that bad people want” reminds me a whole lot of this …

Gweedo remarked,My clothes, towels and bedding should be made-———————————————————————————-.Yep! Another bonus with Dracon® is that it is exremely long lasting material Claimed to last for hundreds of years!

Gweedo, we’ll pick you up in an hour. Watch for us..

Night-Gaunt49 inquired,Can you adapt it for off road?-—————————————————————.Certainly! It can be driven direct to the burial site and the Auto-Dump™ mechanism activates and dumps the body in the grave!

Ronco® Multi-Purpose Oven™ bakes pizza, cremates bodies, roasts, bakes, and more!.

Nobody has said much about what I was suggesting up near the top of today’s comments, but I believe that the speaker in Panel 1 is the hooded Ace of Spades, whom Willy007 was speculating about back in March. The logo on his shirt seems to have become blurrier, probably because Joe or Shelley didn’t have easy access to good pictures of what he looked like before, but I found a pretty clear copy for your comparison. (Compare to the blurrier frame I posted earlier, which was on the Dick Tracy Depot site.)

For those who don’t know or don’t remember, the Ace of Spades was the head of the 52 Gang, who were pretty significant on the world crime scene the last we heard of them:

Gweedo remarked,I hardly know what to wear to ride in such splendor. You honor me my friend !-——————————————————————-.Wear your finest, Gweedo. Most only ride in this beauty one time!

Gweedo stated,Once again, WoW !!! Wotta ride !!!-————————————————————————————-.A once in a lifetime opportunity, Gweedo!