Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for March 04, 2018

Tracy has more questions that won’t wait another day

Arrives at the estate to hear what Pepper has to say.

Winrock resort hosts high-class sort of luxury and style

Out of the way the well-heeled play. Eat, laugh, drink and smile

In evening gowns, expensive suits, high-heels, silk and jewels

Hard to tell the worthy ones from bankrupt frauds and fools.

Chef says he’ll speak in confidence. “Let us go outside”

Hits Tracy with a rolling pin. Ghost says, “Let’s take a ride.”

Cuffs the detective to the car. A bumpy ride in store

Ten long miles of country road stops questions evermore.

Living load heads down rough road. Struggles fiercely to survive

He must break free lest he shall be much more dead than alive

Things look grim for Tracy. He’s been placed in a tight spot

A bloody trail? Shall Ghost prevail? Smart money says he’ll not.

Gouldishly Brutal.

Tracy is woken up by the snow in his face, draws his gun and shoots both back tiresand then the gasoline tank which causes Ghost to stop the car to see what’s happening. Tracy puts a bullet in Ghost’s head and the car explodes as Tracy unlocks his handcuffs using his keys, and scoots away to safety just as Sam arrives because Tracy had had the foresight to leave his wrist radio on all the time. All in a day’s work!

Tracy is woken up by the snow in his face, draws his gun and shoots both back tiresand then the gasoline tank which causes Ghost to stop the car to see what’s happening. Tracy puts a bullet in Ghost’s head and the car explodes as Tracy unlocks his handcuffs using his keys, and scoots away to safety just as Sam arrives because Tracy had had the foresight to leave his wrist radio on all the time. All in a day’s work!

The trailer hitch ball mount is clearly of a smaller diameter than that of the cuff. Tracy will certainly come to pretty quickly, and when he does he should be able to unhitch himself. He’s been able to escape far worse deathtraps than this one!

Good morning™, dragsters and draguees!

It’s going to be a bumpy ride! I like Ghost Pepper’s custom license plate: PPPRS. (I think that word I invented needs a U to keep the E from making the G soft, but it looks strange.)

Tracy, Tracy, Tracy….in all these years of fighting crime, why have you not learned never to go alone?

Ghost is a murderous maniac! And Mike and Joe gave us a great cliffhanger ending. This story is already feeling like a classic!

What a drag.

It’s been a long time since Tracy was last dragged behind a vehicle.

Tracy has experience with car-dragging. The famous “interrupted honeymoon” had him dragged by the foot behind Wormy’s station wagon, and, before that, Measles also pulled him behind a car. But this could be worse, being that it’s his arm that’s hooked onto the rear. RGGLICK has a good point – Tracy might be able to maneuver the ring of the cuff up and off that trailer hitch, if the force of the pulling isn’t too great, before Ghost gets up much speed.

Also, that’s his right wrist, so his wrist radio device (on his left wrist) will be free. He can call for help.

And here it begins. The car-dragging scene Mike’s always wanted to “re-play”. I think this goes back to the original Wormy story he 1st read as a kid?

I was enjoying the more investigative nature of this one, but like many of the current villains…Ghost is dumb. Why keep the chef around for Tracy to question? Have him leave town (“Sorry, Tracy, Pierre went back to Paris for the Annual Pastry Convention.”) or bump him off. Now he’s gonna kill a cop outside a political gathering? Well, gotta move that plot along, I suppose.

“We’ve found Tracy, and he’s been drugged !”“Yep, he was drugged all the way from Elm Street !”

Ghost should have been familiar enough with police procedures to know that someone was going to question everyone. The problems starts with follow-up questions.And note that not telling the truth to the FBI is a crime. (I know Dick Tracy isn’t FBI…)

The first movement of the car breaks Tracy’s wrist!

As I mentioned yesterday, Tracy’s death after he went to question Pepper’s chefs will only point them back to Pepper.

Shades of “Seduction of the Innocent!”

Talk about a cliff hanger ending!

One of these days, Tracy will face a villain smart enough to just put a bullet in his head while he’s unconscious. Also, didn’t Tracy bring backup?

Can someone please tell me, why does the trailer hitch have TWO balls? (Cue Floppenheimer). Is this just to give Dick something to grab onto when he wakes up and tries to rescue himself?

I guess the 2nd one could be a different size ball, that you could switch around if your trailer had the wrong size hitch. But does the Ghost really seem like the kind of guy with that kind of towing experience? Does he run a summer lawn car service and has a boat on the river?

“But M’sieur Ghost – I have been, how you say, up l’reading on this man; he is the star of the strip! People have been trying to kill him for years, and he is still here! You will only succeed in going back to prison. This is a mauvais mouvement, m’sieur; please reconsider!”

If and when Tracy comes to from his “luge ride”, all he needs to do is remove the hitch pin with his other hand and he’s free. It does not appear to be a locking pin. He could also pull his pistol and shoot the chain connecting the cuffs.

Why wouldn’t Sam just go with Tracy in the first place?

I know Gould wasn’t afraid to have Tracy beaten within an inch of his life, tortured even. Everyone’s wanting Tracy to escape this one. I hate to be a pessimist here, but there may be a strong chance Tracy’s going to the hospital on this one.

Looks like a stretch in the hospital is in Tracy’s immediate future…..

Unless the roads are iced over…I think. Roads here seldom ice over, but a couple of years ago when they did you could just slide on the streets like it was a skating rink.

Neither Wormy nor Measles were successful at his “drag race” so just sit back folk and see how Dicko dodges this bullet

I have a feeling what Pepper’s favorite album of all time is.

Things are not looking good for the Famous Yellow Trench Coat! And that’s a mild understatement. Ghost Pepper has seen too many old western movies, in which the good guy gets mercilessly dragged behind a horse to establish just how really, really bad the Bad Guy is. This is gonna smart, if in fact our Eponym survives!

If Tracy happens to be wearing a defective wrist wizard, it could explode and save his life. Or would that be too big a coincidence? ;)

Wait – Chef Boy-Ar-Dee is actually a French chef named Pierre? LOL