Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for May 10, 2020

You can bat on that…

Good morning™, shelved for later considerations !

That bird is forever on ice.

ROTFLMAO

Tracy acknowledging the resemblance between Broadway Bates and Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot.

Good morning™, bat fans!

Sounds like we won’t have to worry about Mr. Bates any time soon. Next, back to Ms. Dyer.

Even Tracy made a reference to that other Superhero. I wonder will he make a special appearance in the strip like the Green Hornet did a couple years ago?

On the other hand, do we really want to believe that criminals are never capable of reform?

Remember the Mole…

Roll of Honor honoree James Parham’s obituary has some entertaining stories about the pranks he played on his younger brother while growing up:

https://obits.syracuse.com/obituaries/syracuse/obituary.aspx?n=james-w-parham&pid=128624

The Officer Down Memorial Page has more about what happened to him on September 11:

https://www.odmp.org/officer/15804-police-officer-james-parham

I notice a link on that page for a page about law enforcement officers who died as a result of contracting COVID-19 in the line of duty. There are currently 24 officers listed.

He just HAD to prove he has a sense of humour, didn’t he?

The Joke’s on us

Why make a big fuss

The Riddle is why

No Penguin can fly

A waste of my time

Like freezing red wine

This story’s two faced

Ike a cat making haste

In other words quality is sacrificed for quantity in Tracyville!

Someone said the other day that the Breathless story will continue on Monday (as mentioned by Tracy)…. well…. he is right….

At least he didn’t go “waugh!”

Love it!

Oh! Tracy said ‘Same Bat time. same Bat channel’!!! I’ve used that since I first watched Batman. I also use the ‘POW’, BIFF’, and ‘Holy (fill in the blank) ’. I remember Batman trying to safely detonate a bomb (it said bomb on the side) and kept running into nuns, marching bands, etc until he broke the 4th wall looking right at the camera and saying ’There are days when you just can’t get rid of a bomb’. Those were the days.

well bates try in 2 years .

Now for the breakout….

WAUGH, WAUGH, WAUGH!!!

Be back in TWO!!!

Didn’t help that he looks like the Penguin!

Five bucks says this little side story was put in just so Tracy could have an excuse to say that last line.

It might be borne in mind that “brother Oswold” at one point mused about visiting Tracytown. This might be part of that.

My first thought today: A three day build up (and interruption of a developing new story, not to mention wasting a whole Sunday page) just for a cheap punch line. If Mike started to put that much effort into the actual story, we might see some ripping good Dick Tracy!

Deffo the Penguin.

What… what just happened? Did we tke a break from our story again, just to do this?

(laughs) Tracy, you are too much!

Mike has been using what Denny O’Neil calls the “Levitz Paradigm” which long-time DC Comics writer and editor (and ultimately publisher) Paul Levitz developed back when he was writing LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES. This is how Denny describes it:

“The writer has two, three, or even four plots going at once. The main plot — call it Plot A — occupies most of the pages and the characters’ energies. The secondary plat — Plot B — functions as a subplot. Plot C and Plot D, if any, are given minimum space and attention — a few panels. As Plat A concludes, Plot B is “promoted”; it becomes Plat A, and Plot C becomes Plot B, and so forth. Thus there is a constant upward plot progression; each plot develops in interest and complexity as the year’s issue appear."

The problem is, this works well in a comic book where we get a couple dozen pages of story, where a brief detour to a subplot is only a minor digression and we can quickly return to the plot; but things play out a little differently in a comic strip where we get only a few panels a day and that brief detour keeps us stuck in traffic for another 48 hours or so.

Shades of Oswald Cobblepot aka THE PENGUIN.

most excellent

Only when Team Tracy needs to fill in a couple of days before the current story arc resumes…

I am hoping there is more to this little interlude.

Receptionist at the Tribune Media Services offices: “Sir, someone who says he’s a lawyer representing DC Comics is on line 1.”

1-BATES: Thank you for this honor, Mr. Edwards. Is my mother here? How about that woman I married, whats-her-name?

2-RALPH EDWARDS: Um, no Mr. Bates. Your wife refused to appear and your mother is still in solitary at Bedford Hills Correctional.

3-DT: I’m all you got Bates. How’s that make you feel?

4-BATES: Honored that I made such an impression on you, Tracy! Please remove these cuffs so I can hug you…friend.

5-DT: Sure. Lemme get my hazmat suit on. Oh, and I think I’ll practice hugging a porcupine first. Then there’s that prison delousing session you’d need to go through first.

BATES: So, I’ll see you later then?

Tracy seems to have become a smartass lately.

Hey, where’s Pequod™ today?

For a “Little” guy he was a Big Big man !

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/little-richard-dead-48505/

I’m surprised avenger didn’t pick up on this.

Re comment above, agree entirely, this ain’t a comic book, and the strip is deteriorating by the week. Sad.

And it takes a serious crime to get serious time or life. So the guy will be out eventually; and space inside is limited. So the board does have to consider whether holding this one is more necessary for public safety than holding that one.

I just gotta throw this out there.

https://www.gocomics.com/dicktracy/2012/11/29

Well, that’s that, then! He won’t be escaping or anything.

Three days wasted to build up to a forced punchline referencing a corny crossover. Great.

Tracy, Good that!

Either we have just totally and pointlessly wasted three days of strips or else this little homage to that arch-villain in another comics-Universe will in fact lead to something pertinent to the current story (so-called). Maybe pushy, self-entitled Fortuna Dyer in researching Breathless Mahoney will somehow for her rôle “need” to interview Broadway Bates (and maybe spring him, or become a hostage?). Or maybe Bates will somehow break out of prison. Something….

If not, I am going to feel really cheated by this detour-to-nowhere.

So, three days of material just for a TV Batman ’66 joke ???

Show Tracy that you’re truly sincere in your rehabilitation, Broadway, and he might bat for you. Till then, you’ll keep serving your time.