Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for September 12, 2023

I hope Mike plans to use Sprocket as an integral part of this new story and not as the strip filler she was in the last mess of a story. There was no need for her to be there.

The Nitrates are my favorite Mike created villians but if you’re not going to really utilize them in the story then it’s best to leave them be.

Sprocket Spooked?

Sorry Shelly fanatics, but Sprocket is drawn terribly in panel two.

Good morning™, document makers !

Whether she intends to skip or use it to allow travel with Adam our Suse is on the job.

I wonder if Mike is back in the saddle again with this new arc…

Good morning™, everyone!

We now return to the exciting (?) conclusion of the story that was interrupted by the Minit Mysteries story.

“Susan” is going somewhere with a fake passport and she should know if it’s a good one because she’s experienced in that sort of thing. You will recall that her parents used to make fake documents for clients.

Perhaps she’s going to try to get her brother out of the country.

Hi everyone, I don’t usually post this kind of message, but begging everyone’s indulgence, I lost my father yesterday. He was a great man, who instilled in me a life-long love of newspapers & newspaper comic strips. Any thoughts or prayers to accompany him on his way to heaven would be much appreciated. Thanx.

May peace be upon your father and may peace be with you. Those moments and memories you have of him are precious and priceless.

So we haven’t seen the last of her. Figures.

Sprocket is going on a Mediterranean cruise

My guess is that Adam wants to take her on a trip to Europe or something, and she’s trying to make sure that there won’t be complications. There will be, but at least she’s trying.

Praying.

This might be a throw away strip to answer the question, “Did the three in the burning building escape in the last arc?” Answer: Yes.

This could be to reassure us that she’s fine and going on a nice holiday with Adam.

She should start working on a ‘real’ fake identity rather than just relying on fake documentation. Do a good enough job with the background and you can get a real passport for your fake self. (Off on a tangent: During WWII a German POW in the US escaped, and lived peaceably for decades – he did not want to get shipped back to Germany. His wife finally threatened divorce if he didn’t get a passport so they could go on vacation and he explained his history. Turned himself in, but there was no crime to charge him with – he had not entered the country illegally.)

Deepest sympathies, BM77. Perhaps Chester Gould himself will be kind enough to introduce your late dad to some other heavenly souls.

….“seedy side…….of a distant town”……..yeah, there’s a good workbench for plying your trade……..that EUREKA!! moment comes once again………

I presume that Sue/Sprocket needs a (fake) passport because her author significant other, is going out of the country, and, can’t get one one under either her real, or, assumed name. And, she’s using the blacklight to check for some embedded hologram that shows up only under blacklight, which isn’t in reality US Passport.

Here we go . . . .

1-In the backroom of the Pee King restaurant *ART DEKKO: That’ll be one…TWO thousand smackers.

2-CHAINRING: Hang on. Lemme extend the bionic eye I stole from Smith Industries…

3-…You spelled “U.S.” wrong. No. Wait. That’s right. Sorry my, my mistake. Can you wrap it up? It’s a gift. ART: No.

So she has to keep up the Susan ruse with Adam and also can’t do so as a wanted criminal. If she has a fake passport, it still needs to have a very real passport number that matches the rest of the information on the passport. It’s going to take a lot more than making a good forged document.

Sending out a prayer for you and your family.

You were fortunate to have a Dad like that. May he rest in peace. And may you be blessed with peace!

My condolences to you and the rest of your family

Don’t be sad that he is gone; be thankful that he was here. May light perpetual shine upon him.

Could be that she needs a “clean” passport since she’s got a record and wanted for escaping and her trying to get a passport will get her caught.

Deepest condolences.

Didn’t the two-week Minit Mystery all take place in a single day? Maybe we’ll find out how long the time jump between Susan and Alan’s departure and today’s strip was.

At first, I was thinking it might be that Lafayette and Crystal wants Adam and “Susan” to join them at whatever beach location they were vacationing at during the phone scam story. Two problems with that: 1) it means there hasn’t been much of a time jump and 2) Sprocket thinks that Lafayette will recognize her. Okay how about this: Lafayette and Crystal are visiting a country which has no extradition treaty with the United States – maybe one which Silver and Sprocket know has some money or resources hidden away. Susan sees this as an opportunity to help spring Silver and get him out of the U.S. and the law’s reach. Adam and Spocket plan to visit Lafayette and Crys. Susan gets the fake passport. Her dilemma – Sprocket needs to get into the foreign country before Adam’s brother meets and recognizes her. She also needs to hope that when Adam finds out her real identity, she can convince him to stay long-term.

Okay, now just 3 or 4 more subplots to add…just kidding!!!! LOL

(In best Ed McMahon voice) Aaand, here’s Sprocket!

Sprocket Nitrate is seemingly putting to the test and finding satisfactory the new fake passport she is buying for Two Large from a forger she knows (maybe from “the old days”) in a seedy part of a town distant from Tracyville, from which she has successfully split.

Has she also split from Adam Austin? Do her implicit travel plans include him? Or do they have such an “open” relationship that her going off out-of-country [that’s what the passport is for] by herself is a trivial thing that can be overlooked, knowing they’ll be together again at some point?

How much will this arc really focus on her, and maybe brother Silver Nitrate?

He’s there already, and he was welcomed.