The trick here is when Coffyhead managed to hide the real drugs. It must have happened after 4/22 when Matt handed over the package and before 4/23 when Coffhead told Matt, “You did well.” I expect that Coffyhead would have checked the contents to make sure it wasn’t fake before congratulating Matt. He might have done that in another room where the hidden panel was. It was very perceptive of him to have a fake package at the ready.
As I was saying yesterday, Dot would have asked the State not to press charges. It would have been bad publicity, a scandal for her show, especially when her co-star was so involved in it. She wasn’t hurt physically, and I think she was only held for a few hours. It certainly was less than 24 hours, because that was Coffyhead’s deadline.
I’ll be posting my “State of the story” in a couple of hours.
If you’re thinking of the voice of Milton, that was Bob McFadden. Ernest T. Bass was played by Howard Morris.
I couldn’t come up with the actor’s name on spur of the moment and thanks for doing it. Bob sounds like a character voice on Magilla Gorilla. (I suppose you got a correction for that one too. LOL !)
Can’t wait to see dot and Mattie’s outcome on all this. All drug dealers who read DT have a new game plan for side slipping getting busted. Mike has done a public service, unintentionally as it may be. I wonder if the Ajax will be under covert surveillance at least for a time.
I did these things weekly for a short while in 2016. I’m going to see if I can get back to it. I was doing Saturdays, but I think I might start doing these of Tuesdays for now.
Where are we in the story?
A few of you figured that the story was over last weekend, but Mike really likes to use this “false climax” structure where everything seems to collapse for the main character just past the midpoint of the story and then they get a second wind.
I like to look at the characters first, because it’s the characters who drive the story in this strip. These are the main characters so far. As I always do, I list the number of days they appear or are at least mentioned in any way and the number of days they had some dialogue.
22/38 Matt “Tonsils” McCullar
18/26 Coffyhead
15/22 Dot View
14/14 Dick Tracy
11/12 Vitamin Flintheart
6/12 Luigi
0/10 Tonsils
7/7 Coffee Grounds
3/6 Sam Catchem
If we ignore the real Tonsils, who never appears because he died long ago, we see that all the main characters come in pairs: Matt and Dot, Coffyhead and Luigi, Dick and Sam, Vitamin and Coffee. This story arc is really the story of Matt. He appeared on the first day, he has appeared more than any other character and he’s the one who set the story in motion. The strip is about Tracy, of course, but this arc is primarily about Matt. Coffyhead is the B story.
The midpoint was on April 13 (day 33) when Matt was in seventh heaven. Everything seemed to be going so well until it all started to come crashing down. Once the fallout from that is complete (a few more days), Matt may start to “regroup” and we will enter Act 3 if we consider this as a three-act structure. If the midpoint was day 33, the story should end on about day 68. We are on Day 45 today, so we’ll see how it goes.
Luigi has lost his jacket and feels the chill. He did not have a jacket last week while he was inside the Ajax, but he put it on Sunday when the police burst in. Did the police confiscate the jacket as evidence? At least the snow has switched over to rain. Springtime in Tracyville!
Coffyhead routinely carries a dummy package physically identical to the one he’ll be brought (and which he hasn’t seen), and prepares a secret trapdoor in the floor to hide it when the police break in (who then are too dense to notice Javaface dropping the real dope and covering it up)? If he’s got precognition he needs to go into the psychic business.
1-LOOGIE: I’M FREEZING! My hands are so cold! COFFEE HEAD: I can help with that…
2-…I’ll drop one of my packaged steamers for you. Nice and warm and no smell. AND I don’t have to waste time on the toilet!
3-LOOGIE: BRILLIANT! How does that even work??? Never mind. Why don’t you market that instead of being a cheap hood ruining whole neighborhoods with drugs?
COFFY: RUINING NEIGHBORHOODS? I’m helping the ENTIRE CITY by not marketing my PooPouch! Just imagine those things lying all over the place! You’d be walking through a mine field everywhere you went!
LOOGIE: You are a good citizen!
COFFY: I know. Now throw our salute! LOOGIE: Uh…I’m good…
Going forward, Coffeyhead is going to have to find another supplier. Lest Matt really “sticks” to him next time. Also Ajax club which is defunct won’t cut it anymore as a drop off location. The police are aware now.
Do you realize that througout this whole story, we have only rarely seen Coffyhead drinking coffee from his signature saucer? It begs the question of, “why Coffyhead?” If he is not going to behave with the psychological gestures that are the quirks of his personality, why did it have to be him? Why couldn’t it be a new villain or any drug pusher, for that matter? Coffy was not particularly a major Gould villain who deserved a rerun and a revival of an identical-looking and similarly-named partner to one who was killed in an attempted prison escape. My advice: Let sleeping dogs lie as far as these (not really) nostalgic characters and re-used (but only slightly altered) plotlines go.
Good Morning, Clever Criminals! I gotta hand it to ole Coffypot, that was a pretty crafty ruse on his part. A drop through the hidden floor panel and they’re safe as houses, as they say. What will they do now? Without Dot, they have no leverage against Matt. No leverage = No blackmail and no more middle-man. Coffyhead will have to find a new supplier or come up with a better plan to keep Matt in line. Now that Matt is onto him, it seems like a futile effort now.
Aside from the ironclad rule that Flattop is dead,there’s another one—-Pruneface is dead.
Pruneface’s wife,granddaughter,and great-grandaughter all diedtrying to get revenge on Tracy in one form or another.
But there’s a “missing link”.During the Max Collins st ory where granddaughter Prunella teamed with Angeltop and Quiver Trembly to sabotage DietSmith’s nuclear plant;there was a one panel Sunday mention ofPruneface and Mrs.Pruneface’s SON.
Ashamed of his parents’ crimes,he joined the US Armed Forcesand died a decorated war hero during The Korean War(early1950’s).
This subject was never brought up again,but I think we could easily build a new house on THAT foundation.
Given that Coffyhead was surprised by Tracy, Sam, and Milligan when they burst into the Ajax, how did he have the foresight to have a dummy non-dope package; to have a prepared hidey-hole for the Real Deal in the Ajax floor; and to have been prepped for talking himself out of any kidnapping or related charge?
April 23rd coffyhead is smoking the cig, April 24th he’s holding it in his hand, April 25th he’s neither smoking nor holding the cigarette…so, are we assuming then that “the drop” occurs OFF PANEL?
By the way, for anyone who reads MY dick tracy stories…just a little “spoiler” for y’all…SOMEBODY ends up dying in the upcoming chapter (which I may write this Friday)
Brian Premium Member about 2 years ago
Turns out Tonsils didn’t double-cross CoffyHead. Everybody is ignoring the whole “Dot” business?
AnyFace about 2 years ago
avenger09 about 2 years ago
Dummy package, dummy plot! No abduction charges?
Brian Premium Member about 2 years ago
But he’ll get 20-Life for littering!
Neil Wick about 2 years ago
Good morning™, everyone!
The trick here is when Coffyhead managed to hide the real drugs. It must have happened after 4/22 when Matt handed over the package and before 4/23 when Coffhead told Matt, “You did well.” I expect that Coffyhead would have checked the contents to make sure it wasn’t fake before congratulating Matt. He might have done that in another room where the hidden panel was. It was very perceptive of him to have a fake package at the ready.
As I was saying yesterday, Dot would have asked the State not to press charges. It would have been bad publicity, a scandal for her show, especially when her co-star was so involved in it. She wasn’t hurt physically, and I think she was only held for a few hours. It certainly was less than 24 hours, because that was Coffyhead’s deadline.
I’ll be posting my “State of the story” in a couple of hours.
Gweedo -it's legal here- Murray about 2 years ago
JPuzzleWhiz made clear about 5 hours ago
@Gweedo it’s legal here Murray
If you’re thinking of the voice of Milton, that was Bob McFadden. Ernest T. Bass was played by Howard Morris.
I couldn’t come up with the actor’s name on spur of the moment and thanks for doing it. Bob sounds like a character voice on Magilla Gorilla. (I suppose you got a correction for that one too. LOL !)
22ph about 2 years ago
And I thought it was Sam :)
Gweedo -it's legal here- Murray about 2 years ago
Good morning™, free scots !
Can’t wait to see dot and Mattie’s outcome on all this. All drug dealers who read DT have a new game plan for side slipping getting busted. Mike has done a public service, unintentionally as it may be. I wonder if the Ajax will be under covert surveillance at least for a time.
ScottHolman about 2 years ago
I"m really starting to admire Coffyhead. Brilliant move!
iggyman about 2 years ago
Aha!
Neil Wick about 2 years ago
State of the World of DT Report
April 26, 2022
I did these things weekly for a short while in 2016. I’m going to see if I can get back to it. I was doing Saturdays, but I think I might start doing these of Tuesdays for now.
Where are we in the story?
A few of you figured that the story was over last weekend, but Mike really likes to use this “false climax” structure where everything seems to collapse for the main character just past the midpoint of the story and then they get a second wind.
I like to look at the characters first, because it’s the characters who drive the story in this strip. These are the main characters so far. As I always do, I list the number of days they appear or are at least mentioned in any way and the number of days they had some dialogue.
22/38 Matt “Tonsils” McCullar
18/26 Coffyhead
15/22 Dot View
14/14 Dick Tracy
11/12 Vitamin Flintheart
6/12 Luigi
0/10 Tonsils
7/7 Coffee Grounds
3/6 Sam Catchem
If we ignore the real Tonsils, who never appears because he died long ago, we see that all the main characters come in pairs: Matt and Dot, Coffyhead and Luigi, Dick and Sam, Vitamin and Coffee. This story arc is really the story of Matt. He appeared on the first day, he has appeared more than any other character and he’s the one who set the story in motion. The strip is about Tracy, of course, but this arc is primarily about Matt. Coffyhead is the B story.
The midpoint was on April 13 (day 33) when Matt was in seventh heaven. Everything seemed to be going so well until it all started to come crashing down. Once the fallout from that is complete (a few more days), Matt may start to “regroup” and we will enter Act 3 if we consider this as a three-act structure. If the midpoint was day 33, the story should end on about day 68. We are on Day 45 today, so we’ll see how it goes.
Tradewinds309 about 2 years ago
Luigi has lost his jacket and feels the chill. He did not have a jacket last week while he was inside the Ajax, but he put it on Sunday when the police burst in. Did the police confiscate the jacket as evidence? At least the snow has switched over to rain. Springtime in Tracyville!
Mlmontagne about 2 years ago
Can somebody please help me understand panel 2? What is the vaguely rectangular object next to Coffeehead’s foot as he steps out his cigarette?
LawrenceS about 2 years ago
Coffyhead routinely carries a dummy package physically identical to the one he’ll be brought (and which he hasn’t seen), and prepares a secret trapdoor in the floor to hide it when the police break in (who then are too dense to notice Javaface dropping the real dope and covering it up)? If he’s got precognition he needs to go into the psychic business.
pategar about 2 years ago
Hellooo? Kidnapping Dot? Is there a law here that says kidnapping is OK?
Wichita1.0 about 2 years ago
“Uh…Boss? I run’d out’a sawdust, so I used Smack and Angel Dust instead, an’ stuck in an easily traceable murder gun for heft. Is that BAD?”
Another Take about 2 years ago
1-LOOGIE: I’M FREEZING! My hands are so cold! COFFEE HEAD: I can help with that…
2-…I’ll drop one of my packaged steamers for you. Nice and warm and no smell. AND I don’t have to waste time on the toilet!
3-LOOGIE: BRILLIANT! How does that even work??? Never mind. Why don’t you market that instead of being a cheap hood ruining whole neighborhoods with drugs?
COFFY: RUINING NEIGHBORHOODS? I’m helping the ENTIRE CITY by not marketing my PooPouch! Just imagine those things lying all over the place! You’d be walking through a mine field everywhere you went!
LOOGIE: You are a good citizen!
COFFY: I know. Now throw our salute! LOOGIE: Uh…I’m good…
IvanB.Cohen about 2 years ago
Going forward, Coffeyhead is going to have to find another supplier. Lest Matt really “sticks” to him next time. Also Ajax club which is defunct won’t cut it anymore as a drop off location. The police are aware now.
IvanB.Cohen about 2 years ago
You walked away from this bust Coffeyhead but odds are that your movements will be monitored.
Tikatu about 2 years ago
Why are they walking? Didn’t they kidnap Dot? Or did she decline to press charges?
Ray Toler about 2 years ago
Do you realize that througout this whole story, we have only rarely seen Coffyhead drinking coffee from his signature saucer? It begs the question of, “why Coffyhead?” If he is not going to behave with the psychological gestures that are the quirks of his personality, why did it have to be him? Why couldn’t it be a new villain or any drug pusher, for that matter? Coffy was not particularly a major Gould villain who deserved a rerun and a revival of an identical-looking and similarly-named partner to one who was killed in an attempted prison escape. My advice: Let sleeping dogs lie as far as these (not really) nostalgic characters and re-used (but only slightly altered) plotlines go.
tcayer about 2 years ago
Walk? What about kidnapping? Conspiracy?
Phantomfire 01 about 2 years ago
I like the plot twist, but frame 2 could’ve been much better explained.
MuddyUSA Premium Member about 2 years ago
So Tracy sits in his office with the lab results. Coffeehead gets to walk? Not much tosay other than wait and see.
198.23.5.11 about 2 years ago
MOVIE QUOTE
“Do you know what my father once said to me?”
“Get out!”??
“BEFORE that!!”
Valerie Perrine&Gene(LEX LUTHOR)Hackman
SUPERMAN—1978
198.23.5.11 about 2 years ago
The number of undercover cops shadowing Coffyhead are 16 going on 17.
Somebody’s setting up somebody—-but I would like to hear what Coffyhead’s racket is;and why he risked coming back to Tracy’s town to do it.
Only sane reason the kidnap isn’t coming up is because Tracy asked Dot to hold back for the “greater good”.
markwillman4 about 2 years ago
Good Morning, Clever Criminals! I gotta hand it to ole Coffypot, that was a pretty crafty ruse on his part. A drop through the hidden floor panel and they’re safe as houses, as they say. What will they do now? Without Dot, they have no leverage against Matt. No leverage = No blackmail and no more middle-man. Coffyhead will have to find a new supplier or come up with a better plan to keep Matt in line. Now that Matt is onto him, it seems like a futile effort now.
198.23.5.11 about 2 years ago
CHANGING THE SUBJECT
Aside from the ironclad rule that Flattop is dead,there’s another one—-Pruneface is dead.
Pruneface’s wife,granddaughter,and great-grandaughter all diedtrying to get revenge on Tracy in one form or another.
But there’s a “missing link”.During the Max Collins st ory where granddaughter Prunella teamed with Angeltop and Quiver Trembly to sabotage DietSmith’s nuclear plant;there was a one panel Sunday mention ofPruneface and Mrs.Pruneface’s SON.
Ashamed of his parents’ crimes,he joined the US Armed Forcesand died a decorated war hero during The Korean War(early1950’s).
This subject was never brought up again,but I think we could easily build a new house on THAT foundation.
Wichita1.0 about 2 years ago
TRACY: Sam! This is a dummy package full of parts of Mortimer Snerd! We’re been tricked!
BreathlessMahoney77 about 2 years ago
Well, I asked for an explanation yesterday regarding the whole fake/real drug thing, & Mike & Shelly gave me one today.
Sisyphos about 2 years ago
Given that Coffyhead was surprised by Tracy, Sam, and Milligan when they burst into the Ajax, how did he have the foresight to have a dummy non-dope package; to have a prepared hidey-hole for the Real Deal in the Ajax floor; and to have been prepped for talking himself out of any kidnapping or related charge?
Loose logic!
tsull2121 about 2 years ago
April 23rd coffyhead is smoking the cig, April 24th he’s holding it in his hand, April 25th he’s neither smoking nor holding the cigarette…so, are we assuming then that “the drop” occurs OFF PANEL?
tsull2121 about 2 years ago
By the way, for anyone who reads MY dick tracy stories…just a little “spoiler” for y’all…SOMEBODY ends up dying in the upcoming chapter (which I may write this Friday)