Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for December 05, 2021

Deep dark tunnels underground. They snake beneath the city

Doubleup and Ace escaped. Their flight it was not pretty.

Not pretty when the SWAT team comes a-knockin’ at the door

Ejected from the catbird seat, they’re living large no more.

No more treasures shall they find from gazing at the past

Shift of fortune overdue. The future changed so fast.

So fast the pair must scamper now. Given the bum’s rush

Tracy was disguised as Jack just when the gang was flush.

Was flush and rolling in the dough. The good times never last

Keep moving down the tunnel now. Forget about the past.

The past they slip. Now crack the whip. Law breakers on the move

Another day crime does not pay, as circumstances prove.

Notting Yonson? Any relation to more recent Notta fellers?

Mumbles switched his gun hand since yesterday.

Good morning™, everyone!

I absolutely love the colouring of today’s strip!

Tracy is very capable of taking down Mumbles. It seems like nobody told Mumbles about the secret emergency exit.

Ray Toler was exactly right about the tunnels under the city. The police will never find them there.

Good morning™, turned tables !

That’s showin’ ‘im, Dick. Don’t let that little turdkey slip away and when he sees you get the rubber hose out his jaw will acquire some much needed flexibility. I wonder if Mumbles was on a need-to-know basis re the secret ways out.

I must say, Tracy is looking very much like his old self today. Now let’s see what can be done for poor Doubleup. Doubleup.

Wouldn’t it be a twist if those tunnels lead to Ace’s doom and Doubleup’s near demise (gotta keep Doubleup, he’s a great character)?

Could that “walk back in time” line in the last panel be a hint that the Ace is Sterling Eliot, thrown back in time by the exploding drone, who used his knowledge of “future” events to take over the Apparatus.

The artwork, the shading, the fluid movement is awesome today! Tracy’s counter attack on Mumbles is beautifully displayed and I like seeing Tracy using what appears to be a martial arts technique to subdue Mumbles. We usually see a quick fist to the face from Tracy instead of this type of counter move and I like seeing Tracy utilize other fighting techniques to defend himself. Good writing, great color and shading and an absolutely gorgeous strip today. Kudos to Team Tracy!

Captain Williams (Roll of Honor) passed away while sitting in a chair at his fire station while on duty. He was 54. U.S. Fire Administration says his death was caused by an aortic dissection, a sudden tear in the inner lining of the aorta. It may have hereditary causes. He must have died fairly quickly, because fire stations tend to be full of paramedics who know what to do in cases of trauma.

Some memories of him: https://wfxl.com/news/local/camilla-firefighters-react-to-long-time-captains-death

https://youtu.be/CrzYkneZvo4

Tracy should have used that move on Doubleup and disarm him of his whip

Good move, Tracy!

“Hoo, this is awkward. Say, Mumbles, could you switch your gun from your left hand to right? We don’t really train on left-handed disarms too often.”“Yashrznotaprblm.”“Great. My technique is still going to be extremely unconvincing, so, uh, just kind of go with it. Thanks for being a sport about this.”

But now that the the police know that there IS an emergency exit, they should find it, even if they have to demolish the building to do so.

The way Tracy took down mumble is not logical. He had a gun on his back. To grab is arm, Tracy must turn his entire body 90 degree. Unless mumble was distracted or Tracy is ligth speed (real light speed) he should have a bullet in his body.

Great images again by Shelley today . The hand action in the third panel is just fantastic .

Mumbles always reminds me of Foul Ole Ron.

“M’lenumEckAhneChrimpf”

I knew Tracy wouldn’t simply surrender to Mumbles.

Mumbles fumbles, as expected. He was always one of my fave Tracy badguys, and it’s a shame to see him sentenced to slapstick stoogery….

What? Where’s the guy ho translates Mumble’s dialogue? How am I supposed to know what he said?

Plot Convenience Playhouse presents…

Perfect timing for bootleg tunnels to make an appearance. Today in history, 5 Dec, 1933, Amendment 21 passed, repealing Amendment 18. Prohibition was over.

“It’s like taking a walk back in time.”

No Time Drone necessary.

Nice move by Tracy to disarm Mumbles. I read some years back to never stand too close to someone you’ve got covered, lest they pull this sort of maneuver.

At first I thought Mumbles was just being uncooperative, pretending ignorance and not giving the cops anything more than he had to. But if Double-Up didn’t know about the exit either, (and as Ace’s bodyguard, he certainly had a reason to know), maybe Mumbles was genuinely unaware of it.

re: recurring comments about guns switching hands, the positions of characters, etc.

These are not mistakes made by Shelley Pleger. Accomplished artists pay attention to the overall composition of their works. They want to lead the viewers’ eye throughout the panels. This is done subtly by the positioning of limbs or the direction in which a character’s gaze is fixed, among other things. Readers will unconsciously follow these.

A perfect example is the third panel (the one in which Mumbles says, “Oww!”): the reader’s eye follows a path from Tracy’s head to his left shoulder, down his left arm to his left hand prying the gun out of Mumbles’ right hand, from Mumbles’ right arm to his leftward-facing head, to his left arm which points to the following panel. The “swirl” in the background also carries the eye counterclockwise back to the entangled hands, which is the focus of the panel… Tracy disarming Mumbles.

Go back and view this panel again, and you will now be aware of how your eyes zig-zag through the figures and then circle back around to the center of the image.

These are not “errors.” This is the work of an artist who has an excellent handle on composition technique. Shelley is to be commended, and I hope she remains a member of “Team Tracy” for a long time.

1-DT: Grasp the wrist, tickle the palm…

2-…that’s the way to crooks disarm!

3-MUSHMOUTH: Thtdint evn rime! DT: It kinda does. More importantly, it works! Now get me outta here before a more competent criminal comes along.

4-WHIPPY: Do ya think we’ll find Al Capone’s vault…? Oh. Sorry. vault

5-RATFACE: I’m more worried about running into Geraldo Rivera down here. They say he still haunts these tunnels. He survives on rats and the occasional corpse. He even ate Daisy or so the story goes. AND HE WASN’T EVEN DEAD YET!

WHIPPY: Uhhh, I think I’ll go back and surrender if it’s ok with you…oh…_you_

SIX PANELS?!?! MY CONTRACT CALLS FOR ONLY 5 ON A SUNDAY! WHAT IS THIS – A SWEATSHOP? I WON’T DO IT I TELL YA! What? Fired if I don’t? Plenty of people willing to do this kind of crapola…?

6-MEANWHILE… RATFACE: Knock off the crazy talk. There’s cops up there…_up there_ DAMMIT. NOW YOU GOT ME DOIN’ IT!

WHIPPY: heh heh! (heh heh)

Now watch them run into a giant spider! Yes, I lead a vast fantasy life, but in Kansas, what else can you do?

“Notting” Yonson must have been “Little Notting’s” uncle or older brother??

Fantastic depiction of disarming, that was cool!

Oh yes – the proprietor of a so-called weight loss restaurant who got killed in his barricaded office!

OH, WHO CARES!!! Bring back that cute Briar Rose!!! Too many Mugs and not enough Ju…..well, you see where my dirty mind is going. Ha-Rumph!!!

“Nothing” Yonson was a crime figure appearing in the Joe Period story arc. Called “Nothing” probably because he barely had a face. Neil Wick, our resident Tracy expert will deeply research this, and fill in any holes.

Barely recognize Tracy these days from the artist changes.

Well done on the artwork, Ms. Pleger!

Would Mumbles be so stupid as to allow Tracy to get that close to him? I thought he’d keep Tracy at arm’s length & use him as a bargaining chip to get away.

And, action!

—Yes, there is plenty of action today! Tracy easily disarms the helpless Mumbles, who was foolishly close to Tracy, who struck without warning but with lightning speed. There’s something to be said for Tracy’s years of experience in all forms of combat, including hand-to-hand, going back to his Naval Reserve days during WW II, not to mention his (presumed) daily workouts and keeping in shape.

Meanwhile, DoubleUp and Ace of Spades wend their way through the maze of old bootlegging and other tunnels under Tracyville. Will they ever emerge? Or will they end up like “Charlie,” stuck forever on the MTA?

https://tinyurl.com/29nxe3mx

Nice to see that they had enough time to stop and grab flashlights AND make sure they not only had batteries in them, but that they were working as well BEFORE they ran to the tunnels to escape in a hurry