Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for March 02, 2021

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Good morning™, rescuers!

Who figured out that Cheesecake was texting for help from Oscar? Probably no-one. So long as he doesn’t kick them out while he saves Auntie Bellum from the fumes, maybe it will be fine. Mr. Bellum does not really seem to approve.

What if . . . Oscar is Cheesecake’s brother? They kind of look alike.

Good morning™, damsels in distress !

It would appear Oscar keeps a loose association with somebody at Bedwell, that Cheesecake would have a number to that phone. I now wonder if she had been trying to call here and wound up leaving text ?

In the meantime, for some real detective action, today’s Luann!

Cheesecake could be their mole

Well, Tracy’s welfare check on Auntie is coming just as an emergency at the house proves they aren’t able to care for her safety. Or will Oscar arrive in time to lie for them? And am I getting tired of all these layers being added, and just want to see SOMETHING happen?

Verrrry Interesting…!

Wow!!! a lot is going on. Wonder if all this will converge at the same time???

Antsy Mr. B used yesterday’s cutaway to put on a whole new suit in bold primary colors; Oscar, however, calmly stuck to his classic (if somewhat funereal) look.

ALL RIGHT! ANYONE CLAIMING FROM THIS POINT FORWARD THAT TOMOOROW’S STRIP IS SURE TO BE FULL OF ACTION OR ANYTHING TO THAT EFFECT IS GOING TO GET FLAGGED! IT’S A JINX I TELL YA!

1-MR. BIGG BELLUM: I TOLD YOU TO BEAT IT. HEY! ARE YOU TAKING A PICTURE?!?! WAIT! LEMME GET A BIBLE!

2-BIGG JR.: Ummm, no…dad. I got a text. It seems your sister might blow up any second.3-MR. BIGG: DO YOU MEAN IN A GOOD WAY OR LIKE “IN POPULARITY” FOR HER LOUSY TELL-ALL BOOK?

BIGG JR.: Literally. I’ve got to help her. Powder thinks I can get across town without a siren faster than the neighborhood fire department can get there.

MR. BIGG: HMMMM. IN THIS INSTANCE, I LIKE THE WAY SHE THINKS! AND LOOKS! WOWZER! TELL HER SHE’S MY NEW DAUGHTER.

BIGG JR.: Ugh. I’m sure she’ll be thrilled…

MR. BIGG: WHAT WAS THAT? BIGG JR.: Gotta go now…

Holy Moly!

Friday’s strip showed Cheesecake using her phone (we now know she was texting) and then she went back into the house to get Auntie up. So, even though she is somewhat high, she appears to be thinking. But, Wildman is physically closer to the house than Oscar, unless maybe she doesn’t have his number, or he doesn’t have a cell phone. Really, with a gas leak, help is needed sooner rather than later – she probably should have dialed 911.

In a story much more involved than the last,

It’s hard to keep track of a very large cast.

So, how many characters do we see?

Tiger and Riger and Lizz and Lee.

There’s Ty and Tim and also Ted

And poor old Auntie in the bed.

There’s Bellum and Tellum and wrinkled old Pouch,

And a suck-up named Oscar (not the Grouch).

There’s Cheesecake, the cook, caught doing a line,

And Alex, in charge, who thinks that’s just fine.

I’ll throw in Junior and Tracy and Sam.

There’s more, but at this point I don’t give a damn.

I’ve said my piece so now I’ll go.

This thinking up rhymes isn’t easy, you know.

If she can’t get Auntie out I hope Cheesecake at least thought to open all the windows.

I just saw on the news that there was a gas leak last night at the Emerald Hotel in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood. The building was evacuated. The news footage showed the residents all milling around on the street during the evacuation. There were no warming tents or places to go. I suppose people could have gotten an Uber to go to another location but people want to stay and see what happens to their rooms and possessions so it appeared that all of the residents stayed around until the “all clear” was given by the firemen.

Somebody above says he hopes all these loose ends will “Converge”. Fat chance, as these guys probably have forgotten what this wandering narrative is all about. It’s amusing some commenters are still taking this seriously. I think Toler’s poem says it all.

Sure hope Auntie Bellum is not a smoker….

Unlike Conan Doyle and Holmes, Staton and Curtis are having trouble keeping Tracy an interesting character – Holmes never failed Conan Doyle. The other characters with their odd physiognomies and eccentricities are far more memorable. Holmes and Watson played off off one another beautifully – Watson usually dumbfounded, and Holmes leagues ahead in his analytic intellect. Perhaps, part of the answer is that criminals are more appealing to the public than the “goody two shoes” law enforcement officers. Holmes had his drug addictions and need for shag tobacco, and held the Scotland Yard officers in disdain. Whereas, criminals were stimulating. Henry Hill makes it plain in “Good Fellas” – those who work for a living are “schmucks” when money is there for the taking, and in so doing he “Became Somebody” rather than working a 9-5 job wasting a good part of a lifetime lodged in traffic on the way to his funeral. Of course, the criminals thwart themselves by going "too far.’ Religions were invented for the unimaginative so that they can endure this mundane life as “preparation” for the future life of bliss. Without doubt, none of us Tracy readers will agree with these philosophies. Gould had a sincere hatred of criminals he worked out “chained to his drawing board.” Criminals were heartless monomaniacs like Evil Influence, who forced an old man to lie down in his cold, damp dark basement with his head on a brick, musing “Ah! I am so comfortable!!.”

Little Oscar to the rescue! [Does he drive a Wienermobile?] The idea floated above, that he may be Cheesecake’s brother, is certainly interesting, but not necessarily so; and, yet, it would explain why her text message went to his phone (among others, I imagine).

Some measure of convergence still seems likely to me, though not immediately….