Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for November 04, 2020

Good morning™, all!

Wow, with these colours, Yeti looks ever creepier than I imagined before. That is the biggest spider I have ever seen! Okay, “Daisy” to the rescue of the operation that Rabbit flubbed. He’d better pull it off without a problem.

Good morning™, awesome story writers ! :-)

I love the Daisy character; as a new and unique person, tho’ his ‘on board’ flower reminds me of Bribery and his fascination with them. His hat and style also smacks of Steed.

We have closure on the “late” Rabbit.

I like how this story is moving along.

Wonder if that is a real spider. See the picture titled “Spider in the hand” at: https://www.livescience.com/56525-goliath-birdeater-spider-photos.html

Steampunk criminals?

“Yeti,” “Rabbit,” and “Daisy.” Interesting names for this gang so far.

One of my favorite 3-4 pages,.

Big mistake. I said yesterday Yeti should claim a rival had slipped the poison in. By now Dick and Sam have figured out one of the sample bottles must be poison. Daisy will arrive (by coincidence) while Sam and Tracy are there. Fact Daisy is looking for a poison will tip off the detectives to source of neurotoxin and point to manufacturer. (We could even do comedy with Sam unconscious and the medics wheeling him out! What fun!)

That gigantic spider must be a new species. The eye pattern suggests it is in the Gnaphosidae family or Dictynidae. But all of those are rather small spiders with venom that is not medically significant. Therididae is another family the eye pattern is similar to (less so, but still similar), and that family contains the widows, so perhaps….

This story is off to a rousing start. Yeti the Albino Poisoner, who gripes about how criminals aren’t what they used to be and nurtures giant spiders (no doubt as a source of potent venom), is an excellent villain. [BTW, I’d guess he may have been in part inspired by the old monster flick, “Tarantula,” shown not too long ago on Svengoolie. https://tinyurl.com/y5rzm7oy ] Daisy is a promising henchman/dandy/fop with his trademark flower, filling in for the late lamented Rabbit (of whom I’d have liked to see more).

Now, the obvious question is, will Daisy and Tracy with Sam cross paths at the flower shop? Will Daisy be arrested? Or will we lose yet another henchman, this time at the hands of the Law?

I am ready for action: let the story proceed!

I just started reading the strip after a 45 year hiatus. It’s light years better now, in story and art. Are there newspapers that run the color version?

Ah, the plot thickens. AKA “It was a dark and stormy night”

And “Daisy” is bound to attract attention unless he can dress like everyone else…

No, don’t send Daisy on the errand, sent the spider!

Daisy, Daisy, look at the the things you do. You’re so lazy. I should just feed you to Stu.

(Lucky for this rhyme scheme, that happens to be the name of the spider. Odd coincidence, I agree.)

So far, so good, but too bad Rabbit, an interesting looking character left the scene so quickly. He reminded me of Squirrel, a Kerry Drake baddie.

I like this Yeti fellow.

Would “Yeti” be able to sell his poison to the likes of Itchy the mouse (The Simpsons)?

I think the reference to it being a “sample” makes me think it was packaged to look like a bottle used providing perfume samples to potential customers. (You know, EMPLOYEE: “Here, try this fragrance!” <sprays small amount on the customer’s hand>) That would explain why three (apparently unrelated) people have fallen into a coma.