Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for June 06, 2021

Rikki struck! The lousy schmuck. Abner guards his lady

Apparatus underling is violent, dim, and shady.

Kadaver shot! The wound so hot. The dying of the light

Tracy apprehends the thug. Detective good and right.

Action gnarly. Sam guards Charlie. Tracy saved the day

Death, it creeps as Rikki weeps. She has something to say.

Light it fades. His vision shades. She whispers in his ear

He leaves behind a blessing. A child she’ll hold dear.

So did Abner die this time? And what did Rikki say to him? Anyway its back to the slamner for Ms. Mortis. Hoped she enjoyed her breif freedom

Good morning™, everyone!

Well, at the risk of recapping what you just read in the strip, I’m happy to see that Charlie 21 continues in protective custody, even though Tracy and Sam are now off the hook. At least he didn’t just get dropped. Tracy seems to be over his arrow wound incredibly fast, but I guess that’s par for the course for him.

Tracy’s condolences to Rikki seem to finally confirm that Abner Kadaver is truly dead.

The next story seems to involve Vera Alldid. I’m more optimistic at the start than I was when the Rikki and Kadaver story started, but I note one thing. Abner Kadaver was basically Mike Curtis. For anyone here who might not know it, Mike was a horror movie host on TV, just like Abner was, so he was semi-autobiographical. Now, we turn to Vera, who is a cartoonist. Mike is also a cartoonist, so this is another autobiographical character. Vera has writer’s block for his cartoon and it makes me wonder if Mike also has writer’s block lately.

“Thanks, Fritz Ann”?!? Howz’bout Thanks fer nuttin! Sure… now after Abner’s dead and Rikki and 10 of Spades are both in custody, NOW you come waltzing in like you’re doing Tracy a favor? Never mind that there’s never a US Marshal around when you really need one!

If Rikki is carrying his ‘Love Child’, I doubt she could keep it in prison or after.

That’s it. I’d be willing to bet (and my idea of gambling is driving on I-95) that the story was to have 10’s blow to Rikki make her lose the baby, and Abner was going to go out for revenge on the Apparatus. But – Heaven forbid! – Rikki wasn’t hit at all, just as Auntie Bellum had no scars from her terrible car accident, Tess wasn’t really shot, and Shaky 2.0 never hit Brainless Malarkey. I had high hopes after the last story, but once again, the Tribune Terror had other ideas.

The look of disdain on Rikki’s face in panel 6 tells a story in itself.

Can we be sure that Abner is (was?) capable of fathering a child? Only time (and Joe and Mike) can tell. Were Abner and Rikki married? I bet TMS would not allow an illegitimate pregnancy even for two villains.

“Elsewhere, in the offices of Staton and Curtis…”

If Rikki is pregnant – assuming Abner was even capable of fathering a child – were they married? Would TMS allow any illegitimate children, even for villains?

ZZZZZZzzzzzzz

The only thing that keeps waking me up is driving over all the holes in this lame story.

“Unfortunately the reports of Abner’s death have been greatly exaggerated”

AGAIN!

Good morning™, divergent path takers !

Charlie goes into what should be better protection tho’ I foresee a more restrictive protection; he will not call the shots as he did with Tracy.

Tracy: “He’s all yours, Fritzi. Good luck and good riddance.”

Rikki goes into ‘protection’ too. Protection from the means to prowl the town as an accomplice to murder. She could hire herself out for contracts on prisoners nobody likes for cigarette and cosmetics money.

Can I hire out Rikki to off Vera ?  His first appearance and he is already way more diabolic and dangerous looking than Abner could ever be.

As good old “Bones” McCoy would say, He’s dead Jim.

Abner never dies……this is the third time……he can always wake up at the morgue, mistakenly dead…

1) Fritz Ann doesn’t look like Fritz Ann—could she be an imposter? 2) When I saw Vera at teh end of the strip, my mind went immediately to Joe.

There should be a to be a “continued” sign….LOL!!!

All frames are just Fantastic again to day , the hat in frame one and Rikkis eyes are just ,super great . But who is the shady looking guy in the last frame ? And I’m not so sure about Charlie 21 ’s safety for some reason .

Abner lives…

Rikki looks pretty angry at Tracy, but it really wasn’t his fault Abner was shot.

aw..i like her

Well, I said at the beginning that Abner would meet his end at the hands of what he hated most, and while I was wrong about the HOW…I was pretty accurate on the WHAT

Why wasn’t Charlie21 in FBI protective custody already? Why was it the duty of Tracy and Sam to keep him safe?

If he was testifying to a federal grand jury, then why wasn’t he in the protective custody of the Feds all along? If it wasn’t in fact a federal matter, then is the MCU now just admitting that they’re no good at witness protection, and some excuse will have to be used to turn him over to a more competent unit?

How very convenient that Fritzy shows up just at this particular time and at this particular place. How did she know Charlie was at the theatre? Was the FBI tailing Tracy and Sam and Charlie? If so, why didn’t they see Ten of Spades and Abner come into the theatre? Deus ex machina! Pretty contrived.

No EMTs treating Tracy’s wound? Oh well, he and Tess have that instant heal factor. Wotta indestructible detective.

My Condolences, Miss Mortis?“ What about ”Take her away?" Oh, I forgot. Nobody is talks tough in Tracyville anymore. We’re all too genteel now.

A super hat day to end the arc. At least one fine chapeau in every panel—even the “Hall of Fame”! A tip o’ the cap from the Chief of the Hat Police to Joe et al.

And now for something completely different: A man with three buttocks. On his head.

I don’t care that this is a Sunday strip. I called it several days ago when I saw the yellow under the arrow shot. Tracy was wearing his damage proof trenchcoat under the tux. This proves it. Minit Mystery solved.

Are those yellow contacts in Rikki’s eyes… or has she gone Sith on us?

To this day I still can’t get over how they could tell a story on Sundays with just six panels! It cries out for twelve like it use to! The @#$% editors need to save on ink and paper at the sacrifice of comic strip artists.

1-FRITZ LANG: We’ll take him now you bungler.

DT: No need Fritz. Why would the Apparatus continue their efforts? If their most feeble, half-blind, tech-challenged hitman couldn’t get Charlie, I know they must be giving up.

2-DT: I guarantee you’re safe now, Charlie. SAM: From me anyway. The Apparatus’ offer wasn’t enough to persuade me to try. I can’t speak for all the other cops they made the offer to though…

3-RIKKI: No one is paying attention…maybe I can just slip away…

4-DT: HOLD IT RIGHT THERE, SUGAR BRITCHES! Where do you think you’re goin? Take her away officer. OFFICER HANDSEY: I’d better frisk her again. Yeah. I might’ve missed something the first couple a times…

5-VERA SEMILITUDE: Hmmm. Sam’s illustrated exploits of Dick Tracy don’t exactly rival those of Watson and Holmes but he sure can draw the babes. Maybe some hotties in my strip would get me syndicated. I GOT IT! A new character – BUSTY BAZOOMS! LET THE MONEY START ROLLIN’ IN LIKE A HIGH TIDE, BABY!

I may need someone’s assistance here. Did Sparkle dump Vera because she was taking a back seat to his career? He (Vera) is a cartoonist, right? Probably a frustrated one due to lack of syndication of his work.

Good to see Neil is now into ancestry, and may be correct about AB being an alter ego for Mike. However, unless Mike is pushing 70, I doubt if the Vera Alldid character and he are autobiographically related. BTW, Alldid may be the worst character in the Gould universe. Maybe he’ll get knocked off in this next, probably rehashed arc.

Ok,, I give, who’s the dork in the last panel? Is that his hair…or some kind of sick hat?

@Joe Stanton and Mike Curtis – Wait…wait…Hey you guys I want to know what Rikki said to Abner and…what did he look like without the mask? Don’t short change us! Give us the real deal!!!!!

Abner Kadaver from today is only Kadaver.

Lucky Mike. I was edged out of a hosting gig locally. Still, I favored better than the ‘sorceress’ who burned her hands when the book that was supposed to flash fire went off during her audition…

Will the child grow up to be the feared LIL’ ABNER KADAVER!!! (please don’t hurt me – it had to be said)

So, Tracy is shot with a, presumably poison dart, and nobody mentions giving him an antidote? No final words from Kadaver? This Sunday strip is about 5 daily strips too soon.

Pequod you are in fine form as usual! “The dying of the light.”

Place your bets, madames et messieures – is Abner Kedaver really a cadaver or not?

condolences? I doubt it, it is not the first time that Abner is considered dead and returns to the living!

A day Rikki will try to kill Tracy to follow Abner’s will.

Fritz Ann Dietrich showing up late to the show? —Well, sort of; but we need to bear in mind that strip time has run not more than a few days since Charlie 21 was assigned to Tracy’s protective custody while he was testifying to the grand jury. Still, doesn’t the FBI have a bureau in Tracyville? Is Tracyville such a small hick town that the feds have to fly in an agent from D.C./Quantico?Strange, for sure, but perhaps rationalizable.

Vera Alldid?! Yuck! Blech! I do not like Vera Alldid. I wish he were all done. I do not like the near stick-figure parody J. Straightedge Trustworthy, either. Fearless Fosdick did it so much better. Whatever his purported writer’s block portends, _I do not care. Powers-that-be, oh, spare me, spare!

Rikki? Not happy. Not free. Not pregnant (IMO). Not to be forgotten: she is a next-in-line “revenge on Tracy” featured villain….

So why didn’t The Apparatus skip the middleman and just send Ten of Spades to kill Charlie?