Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for October 15, 2016

Bellowthon spews words of hate no more

Silence fills the air

She’s discovered lying on the floor

Filling her campaign worker with fear

An opposing figure she was, he shan’t easily forget

Who will carry on her cause,

Or fill her large corset

Facts don’t lie, they speak loud and clear

The work she began must not disappear

Time will be her judge her memory none can smear

Perhaps he should be the chosen one

His way to show that he cared

Three guesses Mysta will be blamed for this.

The above poem is submitted in PQ style as a gift of love to Willy, Mr. Chris “golly gosh awesome” and the rest of the Radio City Music Hall PQettes until the real thing comes along tomorrow!

.LOL!

And Gilligan.

I’m betting that Selfy is like some real criminals, and took a picture of himself posing with the corpse.

(But I don’t think he’ll post it on Facebook like some crooks have done.)

I just hope she is not fish dead fish or it is going to be bad news for Mysta as she was the last known visitor of Bellowthon

In the third panel, my mind added the jarring chord from Monty Python’s “Spanish Inquisition” sketch.

I won’t be surprised if Mysta will spend some time in the police department

Someone test for poison darts.

Maybe he did!

_

Good morning guys!

If the predictable is true, that Ms. B is dead and Selfy did it, what’s the likely motive for a campaign bundler to off his (er) bundlee?

Bellowthon’s been SCROOCHED! Put out an APB for Gidney and Cloyd!

So Ms Bellowthon has been blown away…

Note the lack of a palm tree.

I’m sure there’s a Norman out there somewhere who resembles an island.

Thought balloons are a rarity in this strip, wonder if it’s a way to automatically eliminate “Shades” as a suspect.

There’s also the possibility of accidental death.

Don’t see many whodunnits around here.

I really thought this was going to be a “white whale” gag at first. If Norman didn’t have his head lifted up, Ahab would have been going insane.

If the cause of death is ruled as “Heart Attack,” it might well have been natural causes.

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Mysta’s zaps would be looked into, as she did have means, motive, and opportunity.

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Selfie might only be guilty of embezzlement, and likely – though not necessarily – the poisoning of Coffee Grounds.

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Jumping to conclusions is something which Bellowthon might do, but which we shouldn’t.

… assuming of course that Bellowthon is dead, and not merely KOed.

So why is “Shades” wearing shades, anyway?

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He was in the background of the middle panel of yesterday’s strip as Mr. Narcisse was taking one of his trademark selfies.

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What reflected clue might have been captured in those lenses?

Uh-oh.

MAJOR uh-oh.

Mysta will be under suspicion for this. For sure. I have to think Tracy will realize quickly she had nothing to do with it.

And the winner gets a free MCU coffee mug….TBC

Norman aspires only to jut into the ocean, thus he eats exclusively Capes Suzette.

I’m thinking that Tracy will connect the dots once they find the tiny hole in her and the poison. Now, if they find lightnin’ burns on her, that’s another story.

“Dinsdale!”

Good riddance to bad rubbish! I think we are gonna need at lest 6 hefty bags to take out the trash!

I’m sure Bellowthon is dead. Only the hand is shown, which is usually how a corpse is depicted in the strip nowadays.

Chester Gould had no qualms about showing bodies with wounds or in various stages of decay. Joe and Mike aren’t allowed to present such graphic scenes. How times have changed for comics.

On the other hand, TV has become more permissive in its depictions of autopsies and found corpses. Compare today’s shows like Bones or NCIS to the 1970s Quincy, M.E.. Dr. Quincy’s performances of autopsies were always conveniently just out of camera range.

What is that wheeled object next to Bellowthon’s hand? Her desk chair?

I know it’s not the Pig on Wheels.

Well, that was totally expected. And the obvious suspect is Selfie. Personally, I think it would be a marvelous plot twist if Mysta really did lose her temper and do this to Bellowthon. Of course, she would later be acquitted because her plea would be “no jury would ever convict me…”

Mysta will for sure be a “person of interest” in this case. How much of one will probably depend on if Selfy knew she was there before him. If he did know she was there, he might have figured out a way to frame her.

Looks like Congressthing Blimp has been deflated. This was not unexpected (see yesterday’s Comments). Now, suspicion will be cast on Mysta (innocent, I should think), while Mr. Sunglasses, loyal to a fault, will try to carry on Bellowthon’s shady legacy—meaning, I expect he will suspect Selfy but not report it to the MCU (and FBI? Hiya, Fritz!), instead trying his hand at blackmail. But we’ve seen that Selfy doesn’t like to be pushed around and is quick to use deadly force. Mr. Sunglasses may not survive long enough to be arrested by Tracy. A Selfy-Mysta Showdown may be in the offing….

On another topic …

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Must admit I’m somewhat dismayed that the vocal pushback against the changes to the comment system here have died down. To a certain extent we’ve just adapted, but it still bothers me that our outrage wasn’t sustainable.