Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for November 30, 2021

Good morning™, examiners!

The cross examination has not gone well. The Ace does not buy Tracy’s story any more than we did. Indeed, Tracy is in more danger than he should be. I hope Sam and the reinforcements are almost there.

This would be a good time for the cops to show up, just in time, right? (Just once, I’d like to see the good guys arrive early!)

As Scooby Do would say : “Rut-roh !”

I hope Sam doesn’t stop for a sandwich!

whisplicka, I most certainly have sympathy for Detroit Lions fans. Your last championship was about 65 years ago. I also have feelings for fans of the Cleveland Browns and the Arizona Cardinals, who haven’t had a championship since they played in Chicago. In the ’30s. I’ll bet that not a single fan at that game is still alive! There are other teams in other sports with similar stories, but I’ve made my point. Life ain’t fair!

Good morning™, to those about to be about to be savaged !

“Where’s that Dam Sam ?!” Any possible consideration that might be given DoubleTrouble has gone right out.

Who else noticed that there are 4 panels today?

Good point! I like this…

We never determined the connection between The Royal Flush Gang in Tracy with The Royal Flush Gang from Detective Comics…Perhaps, Mr. Wick can tell us?

The guy in the deli whose undercover may help Tracy out if the others don’t arrive soon…

In the real world: The mask mandates in many areas provides a lot of cover for more crimes such as all the California flash mobs attacking stores.

You know, I suspect that Briar Rose actually COULD do the feat ascribed to her here, circumstances permitting. She seems like a very tough cookie with little or no hesitation.

Mask mandates save lives. So do the Covid19 inoculations. The pandemic is not a political creation, but rather it’s a concrete and scientific reality. I don’t blame lackluster police work on mask mandates. That’s a ridiculous conclusion to draw. Nearly 800,000 people are dead in the United States because of Covid19. Wearing a surgical mask to stifle a deadly disease is merely doing one’s civic duty to preserve life. And l choose life over death. Far right myth-making does not cut it for me.

Jack took a gun to kill Rose, and then attempted to kill her with his bare hands? Even the characters in the comic strip are starting to see the plot holes.

I would have expected Tracy to have been better prepared for POINTED QUESTIONS! Someone may have already made that joke, but I didn’t check and I couldn’t help it!

(throaty-voiced background narrator) “Are Tracys’ chips about to be cashed in?” “Will Sam arrive in time to deal him a new hand?” “Win, Lose, or Draw, tune in tomorrow for the next exciting episode!”

I think the detective has been discovered! Shades of Nick Carter!

I would think that Tracy was doomed. Except that his name is on the comic strip, so probably not.

The plot appears to have gone a bit meshuga while I was on holiday break; as an infiltrator, Tracy is proving to be a worse actor than even Vitamin Flintheart….

1-RATFACE: A jury of your peers has found your story implausible.

DT: Implausible? Wait. So you can’t see me? NOW I CAN ESCAPE.

RATFACE: THAT’S “INVISIBLE” YOU IDIOT!

2-…anyway. You will be stripped of your rank and your cool Card Costume. ♫ Oh boys… ♫

3-DT: Hey now. I didn’t see my undercover operation ending in this fashion. UNHAND ME YOU FIENDS!

4-RATFACE: SCHNICK! (That’s the stiletto blade coming out) We can take the Costume off the easy way or the hard way. I choose the bloodiest way.

DT: Wait, Goldfinger. Do you expect me to talk? RATFACE: No Mr. Bond. I expect you to die!

MUMBLES: wat the…r weinna moovee now? WHIPPY: Why not, not. Makes as much sense as anything else that’s going on here, here.

RATFACE: I’ve always wondered what you really looked like, Jack.

DT: Wait. So you don’t know? Would you believe that all this time I’ve been a mole in the Tracyville Police Department finding out stuff that thwarts their efforts to catch you?

RATFACE: Sure. Why not.

DT: Well then, get ready for a big surprise!

If this were an old movie serial…we’d have to wait a week to see the outcome!

“She-she hurt my …soul. " (whimper) “Oh. Okay. I’m so sorry.”

His team already knows where he is and I’m sure they are ready for that “house call” even as Tracy feels the pressure of that knife at his neck. As Ninja-like as they dress, the cards aren’t so stealthy as to blacken the blade. That glint is plenty threatening.

Wait a minute….did Jack of Spades change his top? His insignia was in red Sunday. What did Sam use on the original? Stun bullets? Maybe Briar Rose blew kisses at him and Jack decided to have a brief affair with her. Maybe Jack is a bachelor and wanted to play the field. His playing days are over.

It is going to lights out for Tracy unless the calvary comes busting in.

Aha….I know what the Ace of Spades is going to do….use ultra violent light on Jack of Spades to look for passion marks.

Talk about taking risks on your own – wowee!!

I hope Sam waits until Tracy is out of the building before dropping the napalm.

MOVIE QUOTE—

“Big bait catches big rat”—-MARCH OF THE WOODEN SOLDIERS—-1934

I’ll bet he survives so sleep well fanboys

Joanne must have called in sick today. She’s missing all of the action—unless she is someone like Mrs. Pruneface, who loves to torture.

I have an out-of-print paperback written by the famous Warden Duffy of San Quentin;and the lengths some people go to to break the law is stranger than fiction.

One dandy is inmates who were running a counterfeit money ring from INSIDE the prison’s photoengravingplant;and slipping the bills to visitors to be “passed” on the outside.

Luckily,the FBI prepared in advance for this possibility as soon as they read about the plant’s installation in the papers.

Why do I have the feeling tomorrow we’ll see a run of strips featuring HoneyMoon & her friends at the mall?

Tracy’s line pretty weak. Clearly the plan was for it to be good enough to get in the door, and that’s it.

Let’s hope Sam is arriving in mere seconds! Tracy’s story has fallen apart, and now Ace of Spades is ready to carve him into little pieces—or at least to cut off his hood and reveal his true identity….

Was Briar Rose the Queen of Hearts in that deck of ‘cards’?