Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for April 04, 2017

Hmm…enough time for a date with Mysta or Bonnie? LOL

I think there’s a “have” missing in the False Am’s sentence.

Guess we really are in the home stretch. :(

G’morning guys!

Mysta and Bonnie will be heartbroken. Thank god sam isn’t going anywhere other than dunking donuts.

“False Am” is only a “Was” now.

So, the false Am’s motivation was that he felt trapped in servitude to the real Am. That’s what Ramon and he had in common. They both felt trapped by their circumstances. I hAve no idea how they found each other but they chose the wrong way to solve the dilemma of their lives.

Slightly off-topic …

Mark Evanier is soliciting nominations for The Bill Finger Award For Excellence In Comic Book Writing, which – as you might have guessed from the title – applies specifically to writers of comic books, and is intended as both acknowledgement and celebration of underappreciated bodies of work.

There are two categories eligible for nominations: One for writers who are still with us, and a posthumous one for those who have passed.

If you’ve someone you’d care to suggest for nomination, or are interested in reading more about the award, check out Mark’s blog, http://www.newsfromme.com/

Feel free to repost, if you’d like.

Double-Am has wound up the murder investigation with his troubled confession. And so Tracy has a few hours at least to unwind as the danger-magnets Oliver “Daddy” Warbucks and the Dragon Lady skip town without further seismic disturbance this very afternoon. But the rakish Spirit will spend one more night in Tracyville. Why can I not help but expect that he will be partying into the wee hours with either Bonnie or Mysta or both, either simultaneously or consecutively? (Time enough to sleep on the flight to Central City.)

Case closed or ???

Warbucks should get back, he’s been away from Annie’s comic for too long.

But first…

Am Not’s a killer with 10 other murders in his past, so I doubt if Ramon was going to be living a long happy life. My impression was that the fake Am was using the job as a way to hide from the law, unless he considers that forced servitude. I didn’t see Ramon as a slave, either.

And we’re left with the mystery of the formula’s location hanging…

The second time today that I’m going to cry “Foul!” The first was in Endtown, where it appears that “schism syndrome” is going to short circuit the story there. I cry “foul” here because, again, I think we’ve been short circuited in this story.

It pretty much looks like all the bases are now covered. It’s time for Batman and Robin to part ways, and Team Tracy have pretty much suggested as much already. Kitchen/Brush already apprehended, Ramon already dead, and a confession from the fake Am. About the only surprise they can throw us now is if we find out that Perenelle lives! Even so, Tracy is right; his job is done.

One thing of interest remains, though: Am’s image is now besmirched. Does it bother anyone else that Am’s double would feel as if he were a “slave”? I know it bothers me immensely. His image is now tarnished. Is Am trustworthy?

What became of the formula… or was it just in her head?

I’m sorry to see this team-up come to an end.

I’m sorry to see this team-up come to an end.

They were a great team up. I’ll be sorry to see the Spirit go. I hope they’re able to get together again.

We hate to see you go Spirit. This has been a fantastic story arc.

What about the money? Where is it? Those people who swallowed the hook all put up $250K and by now have a hefty hotel bill. I’m sure The Siam doesn’t compete with Motel 6 and it isn’t like The Great Am to comp everyone’s stay. The only ones of the bunch “whose elevator goes to the top floor” is Diet Smith and Warbucks and they ain’t checking out without the formula or their money back.

I hope that they reveal to us the reason for Guang Dong’s interest in the formula, which on March 15 the Dragon Lady told the Spirit he should well know about. My guess: P’Gell is behind it. (And does the Dragon Lady now have the elixir?)

I said it the other day and I’ll say it again. I’m soooo confused. Lost too.

Why wait until tomorrow morning to leave, Spirit? Why not go right now?

Maybe tomorrow we’ll see someone hand the Octopus the copy of the formula that Ramon and Am Not couldn’t find.

@ MORROW: Did tsull2121 actually call this a “Sweatbox” ending? Whether he did or not, I would have to agree with the assessment!

I’m still concerned about the relationship between Am and Am Not. While it is certainly plausible that he might be seeking pity, somehow, that just doesn’t jive with what we have seen of him up to now. Don’t forget, he was ready to sacrifice himself to save Ramon. Also, he has said that killing Perenelle was not the plan – only that he needed to “silence” her – for all we know, like Bullwinkle pulling the rabbit out of his hat, Am Not didn’t know his own strength – and may have killed her by accident.

But, as with most Sweatbox endings, we will never get that nuance out of this story. Bad guys dead or caught, time to move on. Oh, well.

Time to move on???? Not without finding out if Perenelle actually WAS centuries old, and the formula real, or it all a big scam attempt. That’s really what the whole story is about, isn’t it? It should be, anyways…..far more interesting than a theft attempt, or murder whodunit….

Not going to get this scene, but …

It would be fun if Perenelle got up off of the slab at the morgue, recovered her things, and made a phone call to an off-camera confederate: “Time to change identities and begin again, I think.”

Then P’Gell arrives in a limo to pick Perenelle up and ‘Spirit’ her away.

Just found this brief article which touches on Dick Tracy …

http://www.heraldbulletin.com/opinion/columns/jim-bailey-column-calling-dick-tracy-a-blast-from-the/article_88f6312c-e7b4-5128-96d6-f6c8a8c9b85c.html