Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for March 17, 2019

Jury still out on Barnabas. His readers quite divided

By some he’s hailed a truth-teller. By others he’s derided.

Embellishes facts and stirs the pot, securing fans and grief

Fancies himself a great big deal. His career just may be brief.

Tar has a date. It sure feels great. Daddy’s hot for teacher

Hook up through a dating site. Can’t wait to greet and reach her.

Teacher’s future is all used up. The crystal ball grows dim

A date with fate won’t end so great. No good shall come of him.

Good morning™, brothers!

I’m guessing that Reggie “Rocks” Tar and Barnabas Tar are brothers (note the stars). Reg seems to know about Barnabas’ crimes, although he doesn’t approve.

The question is how long will he continue till he tells the police? It sure happened, finally, for the Uni-bomber’s brother told the police.

While we weren’t shown his face earlier, this doesn’t look like the perp in the sportswriter murder.

Congratulations on Constable Lam for not killing the murderous mucker. Such people need to feel misery in their wretched lives for the terrible crime they have committed and since we can’t kill them 10 X it is better to suffer slowly as their useless lives degenerate over time in prison. Never to enjoy life again.

Barnabas Tar, man of many traits

Antagonizing writer, caster of baits

A regular chameleon is he

Sloppy or slick, what he chooses to be

I don’t think I like him, whether victim or cad

If he kicks the bucket

I’m not going to be sad

I won’t criticize, today’s strip at all

We’ll see if tomorrow, complaining I will call.

Good morning™, well coifed killers !

Waste of all that grooming if this guy is the victim and not the killer.

Admit it, how many were expecting a crossover with “Dark Shadows?”

Will we be seeing “The King,” I wonder?

Uh!!! The King has left the building!!!

I don’t suppose anyone still doubts that it’s the killer we’re looking at?

Is he going out on a date with Bonnie?

But Bonnie has a date with Joe…. Things are getting complicated….

I can see the lady now: “Barnabas, would you mind taking off your glasses? With the artificial twinkles, I can’t see your eyes…”

“Rocks” Tarr/“Rock Star.”

Alternative Script: 3- Ugh Barn. You got so much hair gel I can’t look directly at you. 4- Yeah. This stuff is powerful. It broke some teeth off my comb. 5- Let me try looking over this shoulder…no, no better. 6- I can’t look directly at you either. So there. 7- Whoa dude. That gel must be seeping into my brain. I’m seeing stars. Not all side effects are bad!

the plot thickens

For a guy who recently had a residence in Washington state, old twinkle tooth seems to have family in Tracytown. Rocks seems to know something about his brother’s predilections. I wonder how much he knows?

The plot thickens…he has killer looks, but is he a serial killer?

Let’s see…who could the school teacher be? COUGH Bonnie Braids COUGH

Well, I don’t want Brute, damnit! I’m a Fancy Dan man!

Could someone compare the hand of Barnabas Tar to the hands of the killer shown in the sneak peek during the last story. Does the hands match?

Barnabas Tar gets Bonnie Braids :)

jerry the king lawler?

Reggie “Rocks” Tar is the loca brother of the magically transformed and now assertive twinkle-toothed and sparkling-eyed Barnabas Tar, about to greet a date met on a teacher dating site. For her sake, I hope she is aggressively into sports. But I have a bad feeling that she exists for the sole purpose of adding to the Butcher’s body count. The lurking question is, how complicit is the Rock Star? And, to a lesser extent, will Jerry the King Lawler actually appear in the strip, or was his name just tossed out to show us that Barnabas actually does do some interview work for his dicey columns?