Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for March 01, 2020

In a word: Absurd

This Shaky bird

He flies into the lair

Of MCU and you know who

As if upon a dare.

He wants to shake

Give me a break

Whom does he think he’s fooling?

The blackmail scheme

A fool’s pipe dream

Let now begin the schooling.

Our “Crummy Cop”

Comes out on top

While Shaky frets and hates.

Why would he roam

When back at home

Ms. Edison awaits?

Makes no sense.

If Tracy knows nothing about this man, why the immediate hostility toward him?

Granted, WE know he’s an enemy, but Tracy doesn’t know that.

And refusing to shake his hand just might make an enemy out of someone who is otherwise neutral.

That didn’t go so well – looks like Tracy’s cop instincts kicked in with all kinds of alarms at Shaky’s new found gesture of “friendship”…

Good morning™, everyone!

It’s pretty bold of Shaky to actually go and introduce himself to Tracy. It’s a strategy not too many would try.

’Tis very rude

I have to say

To tell a dude

To go away

Refusing to shake

For reasons unclear

Makes Dick as fake

As a plastic bear

Good morning™, tainted handshake spotters !

Shaky just came from a #2 and Tracy did not hear a flush, nor a running sink.

He’s on shaky ground there…

I know reality in this strips is always kind of shaky, but smoking in government buildings hasn’t been allowed in decades.

A shake from Shaky would really be a shake, you think!

This was rude.

Another reality is that today a police station’s front desk would stop a random citizen from entering unless invited in.

The “I never met him” comment threw me, but a very quick perusal of the original story seems to confirm that Tracy was never actually in the same panel with Shaky. They were close, but kept missing each other. Tracy’s involvement came through Snowflake, and later Junior had a run-in with Shaky. The cops were chasing him, but he died before Tracy ever actually came face-to-face with him, unless I missed something.

Shake? Well, you’re shaking so much that you’re shaking for us both.

So much for that ‘like’ on the MCU Facebook page

That’s some bad/poor/silly/ignorant/useless Crimestoppers advice about changing your password every 90 days. If your password isn’t secure enough to go undiscovered in 90 days, you may as well change it every day. Academic research has shown frequent password changes (e.g. “every 90 days”) just increase the likelihood the password will be written on a postit note, or the new password will be easily guessed from the old. If someone discovers your password is KkPc~LfE1, changing it to KkPc~LfE2 isn’t gonna baffle them.

You’re shaking enough for both of us, mister…

How do you have a distant uncle? An uncle is a brother or brother-in-law of a direct ancestor (parent, grandparent, great-grandparent, etc.)

Tracy’s not rude — he sees right through neo-Shaky and wisely shows him the door to leave empty handed.

I mean, what kind of innocent person goes out of his way to barge into precinct HQ and impose himself on a famous high-ranking detective during business hours? An everyday joe who could win an unfortunate look-alike contest or a shady narcissist who demands recognition as an equal? I’d guess the latter and so does Tracy. Now, If neo-Shaky here wanted to do it right he would have arraigned to “bump into” Tracy at a community event — in that kind of social venue Tracy would have been rude to not shake hands. But like any public official, Tracy shaking hands with someone while on duty implies official recognition and acceptance. I think Tracy understood that Shaky craved that imprimatur and was wise to not offer it casually to someone he knows nothing about.

“Shake?”

“Yes, you do.”

Hey, wait. I thought Tracy killed the original Shaky, which is why Shaky II wants revenge.

Maybe Dicko (BTW, Welcome Back D) is afraid of the Coronavirus and didn’t want to shake hands. For one’s info, Tracy didn’t “Kill” Shaky, Shaky Froze to death under a pier when he was trapped by ice. Ken saved me looking up that “I never met him” comment, and I think he’s right. And why the picture of Mr. Roboto?

Is that Lizz in panel one? Haven’t seen her in awhile.

It’s the cornovirus flu! Tracy is nervous about catching such from a handshake!

Dick’s not that adept in social skills…

DAMN it, Dick! Thanks for telling everybody my password!

Not sure what Shaky was hoping to achieve by this not-terribly-rational action, but he clearly failed, as Tracy gave him the brush-off. Maybe he did hope to exploit Tracy’s handshake in some way (how?), or even to pass a disease to Tracy. Having Mr. Roboto on screen in the background is a nice touch, though, for it suggests the connection between Edison Lighthouse and Roboto prior to her moving in with Shaky and the possibility that the cops might use her to track him. This crummy crook should not disparage the Chief of Detectives and Head of the Major Crimes Unit!

Tess! Call home!

When this character was introduced, it was to get Tracy. Now either he has an agenda or his relatives whispered “sour nothings” in his ear. Anyway Tess surely told Tracy about this guy’s visit to her detective agency. Probably via a phone call that wasn’t shown in the strip.

Real state of the art security at that police station.

What the hell is a “distant uncle”?

This guy has more brass than The Chicago Symphony Orchestra.Hey,out of sympathy for Vitamin Flintheart and respect for the dead,I agree with waiting on the handshake.

Crummy crook !

Shaking his hand might cause friction burns. Speaking of which, I hope Edison’s okay.