Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for March 16, 2021

Panel 2: “Where’s a dead tree when you need one?”

Panel 3: “Ah, there we are!”

He ain’t gonna make it!

Good morning™, fugitives!

The cop car is headed for the bridge, but Tiger Lilly has spotted an exit opportunity just before the bridge, so the police may be waiting for a Tiger who never shows up. I love the variety of angles and viewpoints in today’s strip!

Will he make it out? Maybe!

Good morning™, lucky breaks !

Tiger and Pouch just might get back together, if he moves fast enough. Wont this be something if all the bad guys get away ?  Peggy will do some ‘house cleaning’, Alex will be on the lam, Tim will become a presence while Cheesecake will be picked up for intensive questioning, unless she too disappears.

The walls of the canal are much higher here than where he fell in.

Anyone cheering for Tiger to escape? But knowing this strip Tiger will climb up the wall only to be eaten by a pack of wolves or something like that.

Told you to go up stream, Tiger…

Please tell me Pouch will eventually be killed or arrested. How long will this strip continue to let him get away with everything? It’s been a half century this year since he murdered Johnny Scorn.

Great strip today. I can’t find a single fault.

Finally!

First thing that popped into my head was that old joke:

Book title: 50 Yards to the Outhouse by Willie Makeit, illustrated by Betty Wont.

Great suspense.

Rotten cops… I could say what I’m really thinking, but this is a family comic strip…

The walls look significantly higher than they did yesterday, which makes more sense.

What’s wrong with me, that I’m kind of pulling for Tiger Lily to escape?

The way to continue an lengthy story line…have a fallen tree appear!

“Yes, no, maybe, I don’t know, will you repeat the question?” – From the theme to Malcolm in the Middle, which has seen an uptick in plays recently due to its parody in Wandavision.

I think the artwork is particularly good today.

Even if Tiger Lilly eludes the cops, he’s still soaking wet on a freezing night.

1-*FRENCHY: I GOT CHILLS, THEY’RE MULTIPLYIN’. AND I’M LOSIN’ CONTROLLLLL

2-…Dang it. I see the cops plan. They’ll pick me off from the bridge and call it sewercide – because I’m in a sewer. Kind of. THOSE FIENDS!

3-…HELLO! I’M SAVED! If my matches are dry, I can build a fire and get dry from the ankles up! NO! I’LL BUILD A CANOE JUST LIKE THE NATIVE AMERICANS USED TO DO IT. Yeah. That’s the better option. Wait. Maybe I could climb it to safety. NAH! Ma always said I’d break my neck if I ever fell out of a tree. Can’t risk that…

If the stories came anywhere near matching the continual excellent artwork, the strip would be much more interesting. Unfortunately, it tends to wander. Thank goodness Neil can explain what we can read and see.

Well, looks to me like a fall, either from the branch breaking, or a slip……and Tiger joins the guy he killed dead in the water….

Props to the colourist today.

Today’s dialogue in Panels 2 and 3 brought this to mind:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXt5Kz3Neh4

Ahh, the old “dead tree trunk hanging down the canal wall” trope. Or, “dendra ex machina.” Maybe Tiger can scramble out of the canal, but that still does not guarantee his escape from the pursuing cops.

No matter. It’s the manhunt that counts. The game’s afoot!