Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for October 18, 2018

Good morning™, historians!

Crutch was the guy who shot and killed Tess’s father, Emil Trueheart, in the very first Tracy continuity in 1931. Tracy ended up shooting and killing Crutch.

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ma05/cline/Dick%20Tracy/tracyphoto3.jpg

The long hand reaching way back in the strip history. Wow.

well, that explains why he hates Tracy…..and wraps up our story…..what’s next? Mole? B.O.? I don’t think Abner is returning, having been unmasked made him seem like a totally different character…..with Polar and Sawtooth the last two stories, I’m gonna guess we get a return from a villian of old, though I wouldn’t hazard a guess who…

it would be cool if they brought the real Moon Maid back to interact with the current kne, plus Juniors wife now.And…..this IS a comic – you can do ANYTHING, lol

Aside: Sunday’s strip is finally up, and Pequod has put in his Sunday poem. :-)

The dialogue in the second panel translates to “You horrid cop,” right?

After a shootout and a struggle, Pauly’s ciggie is still plastered to his lips?

He is shot and falls down and talks with the cigarette in his mouth?

I was going have Tracy say "Crutch? Who the “bleep” is Crutch. BUT obviously Tracy would remember Crutch. A cop never forgets his first. (Especially when it was the guy who killed your future father-in-law.)

OOOOOH!!! what a GREAT reveal this is!

(for the sarcastically impaired….)

So let’s see.. chronologically, if Pauly was say, 5 when his father was killed in 1931 that would put his birthday somewhere in 1926 which would mean by our time he would be what, 92? I gotta say… he’s remarkably well preserved for a 92 year old man

But seeing as Joe Tracy is continuously depicted here as being MAYBE 10 and he was born in real time in 1979 which would make him 39, i guess the “rule of thumb” in tracyville is youre about HALF your actual age… so Pauly being legit 92 would make him about 46..which i guess could work.

Underwear delivery for ‘I See Whener’ ;)

Last panel looks somewhat like Robert Crumb work to me, on Crutch’s son’s face, anyhow….

“The girls are safe”. Yeah? Where are they?

Well, now we know how he got the chain smoking habit!

From today’s Comics Curmudgeon:

Anyway, since “this” turns out to be “failing to kill Dick Tracy, keeping his granddaughter and her friend safe, and getting killed yourself,” it’s not exactly the greatest act of revenge ever and you might not want to proudly proclaim it as such as you expire in your family enemy’s arms.

So why did Pauly want to kidnap Honeymoon – to ensure Tracy’s participation? Why did Polar Vortex think that Tracy would be dead if Pauly got within a few feet of him? (Especially since when he did, and shot Tracy with two guns, DT gets off without a scratch?) Where did (does?) Crystal figure in on PV’s plan? (I assume Vortex is getting away.)

This was for Crutch. OK, so I didn’t get the job done. But I tried. GGGUURK!

Why tell him the girls are safe? You hate him. Tell him you killed them. At least he’ll worry a little.

“You @*! cop!” Vintage Gould

Not Crutch Cane?

So The Son of Crutch was supposed to eliminate Dick Tracy eh?

Polar Vortex should be banned for life from the Arch Criminals Union and the Society of Super Villains for this fiasco.

Stay tuned for “Son of Pauly” in 75 years or so.

Nice series of close-ups helps intensify the impact of today’s strip. Looks to me as though Sam is carrying a Sig-Sauer (panel 1); at least, it’s not a Glock. The dying goon curses his lifelong foe Tracy in panel 2, but in panel 3, manages to blurt out around his tightly-grasped cigarette that “the girls are safe” (they were never his target; he wasn’t that kind of murderous thug) and then gives up the Big Reveal as to his motivation. Meh. Revenge is not a wholesome and nourishing regime….

This ain’t over yet. PV may get away.

Well Pauly, this is for your father killing Tess’s father then.