Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for August 31, 2020

Good morning™, doubters!

Well, at least Tracy is checking clues, but the only thing that tells him so far is that it probably wasn’t the crane. Off to see what Vitamin found out. Do you think Vitamin is okay?

Good morning™, cogitative reflective detectives !

Get off it, Tracy !  It is obvious that the crane pivoted and so didn’t need to move on its treads to lift, rotate and set the statue on the other side of the wall onto a flat bed trailer.

Where’s Sam’s Green Hat?

Peter Griffin continues his special guest appearance as Sam as he warily casts an eye over his shoulder keeping watch for his arch-nemesis, The Giant Chicken. Tracy, after referencing the standard Tracyville Police Department detective reference source, “The Hardy Boys Detective Handbook”, concludes that the so-called statue could not have been removed by the crane because, although it’s only three feet away from the wall, it’s common knowledge that construction cranes cannot pivot.

The only logical conclusion: it was stolen by a Zeppelin. (You’re welcome for the low hanging fruit re Led Zeppein jokes).

“Okay, Sam, I’m going to finish pooping and then we’ll head over to the Theatre.”

“We don’t have tickets.”

No, Peter, I mean Sam, we don’t need tickets, we have badges."

“Badges, eh? I’ll have to remember that the next time that I go to the movies.”

“Dangit! I forgot that I took my astronaut diaper off! Is there a spare blanket in the trunk that I can wear?”

“https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXCy0uA2f4U”

Tracy’s starting to look like Fosdick in this one.

I know it was Magic!!!

You mean the Vitamin whose about to get shot?

So, are the squares where the statue used to be?

so this is still going on, with art work that looks…stupid. see ya next week.

I forgot what the mystery is.

SAM: Why’re ya taking a knee? I don’t hear no National Anthem.

DT: I’m looking for clues, dummy. SAM: Call me dummy will ya? Well, yo mama’s so fat she needs this crane to get outta bed every…

DT: AHA! Our thief appears to have big square feet. To the shoe stores, Sam! When we find out who last bought big square shoes, we’ll have our culprit! SAM: Yo mama has big fat, square… DT: What? SAM: Nothin’

Sam’s eyes look like Garfield’s. That wasn’t meant to be a catty comment.

The marks in the grass where the bricks were suggest that the statue may very well be hidden behind and/or under some of them. If the crane wasn’t used to move it, the statue could be hidden right in front of them.

We learn yesterday that the mayor wants to call Presto’s bluff. It apparently didn’t work because today the statue is gone. Perhaps the Police Department should have put guards around it until Presto’s was captured or his threat blew over.

Could we please have consistency with the drawing of Dick Tracy’s face?

When first shown, the statue was on a rectangular base or pedestal. Now it appears that the statue and the base both have vanished.

It would seem that there would be a paved walkway leading past the statue so it could be viewed and where is the safety fence around the construction site and crane?

The base appeared to sit directly on the ground consequently wouldn’t have had grass growing under it. The grass is confusing to me. During construction, generally the ground is dug up and is not manicured grass—especially under the pedestal the statue sits upon which would have been concreted and leveled.

Best bet for the disappearance of Aurora Rising: a gang of non-union construction laborers hired by Presto build a segment of The Wall around it (yes, it’s hidden right under Sam and Tracy’s noses, so to speak).

Second best bet: a gang of non-union art critics, enraged at Bad Art, dismantled it piece by piece with the help of acetylene torches and dumped the remains where they sleep with the fishes….

Amazing the fan boys are really trying to figure this out. Neil..who cares about Vitamin? This is Bizarro world so he’ll be okay.

This storyline reminds me of an old “Banacek” episode, (remember NBC Wednesday Mystery Movies?) where a big heavy statue went missing right before its official unveiling, it turned out the statue was a fake, a balloon that the criminals deflated and then removed, the real statue never actually made its way to the pedestal.

Sam is looking a little thin. Has he been eating okay?

Wasn’t there an in strip parody of DT? Is this what we’re actually reading?

no, the crane could’t possibly just boom over.

I admit I booted it. In trying to make sure I didn’t put too much dialog in the last panel, I overlooked adding ‘fresh’ before tread marks.