Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for March 28, 2022

Good morning™, all!

Matt McCullar! It seems like it took forever, but our impersonator finally has a name. I’m guessing it’s a tribute to this writer and cartoonist: https://en.wikifur.com/wiki/Matt_J._McCullar

“My, you are very similar to Tonsils. If we start dating, can you stay away from barracudas? And don’t set my hair on fire. At least not literally!”

Finally, after yesterday’s boring history debacle we get a strip with some gusto and progress in it! Coloring is actually splendid today. Kudos (today) to team Tracy.

Good morning™, budding romances !

A quick glance at McCular made me think occular, as a means of matching a name to an eye. After her meeting with billy bigshot yesterday she is raring to go with fake Tonsils or she is a really good actor while her stomach churns for a quick run to the ladies room.

Really playing up that eyeball today.

I think it was Neil yesterday asking whether it‘s makeup or are the two similarly deformed?

The deep black and purple of the 2nd panel is a nice contrast to the pastels in the other frames. Also, it’s sorta funny that Dot’s eyes in the first panel look like smaller versions of Tonsils’/Matt’s glass eye.

Slap him, Dot! Slap him!

Looks like Dot’s producer talked her into doing the gig.

Matt’s been sampling his own stash again.

Why does Popeye come to mind when I see him?

Dot delivers a dead-fish handshake…

Dot is definitely a Pro

Tonsils. Eyeballs. Waggely arms. How many other body parts will come into play in this episode?

I have it solved, gang! He’s really Jimmy Olsen trying to break away from hit underpaid, thankless job at DC! TheNo? Er…well, how about Bizarro Jimmy?

Both of mine would be “playing up” if I was looking at HERRRRRR……..oh, hubba HUBBA! Oh Ding! Ding!! DINNNNNNNG!!!!

It is hypnotic!

Hey, second panel Matt, if your hand is bigger than your face it means you are going to die soon

1-DOT DASH: Hello Viewers – if I can be optimistic for a moment. We have a special guest just for those of you who can get only this station because your Social Security doesn’t leave you enough money for anything but Basic Cable…

2-…IT’S A TONSILS IMPERSONATOR! AUDIENCE MEMBER: clap

3-ASTRO ANDREWS: Thanks for having me on, Dot. I… DOT: Wasn’t my decision.

ASTRO: Oh. Well, uh…my real name is… DOT: Don’t care.

ASTRO: Gulp Ummmm…should I sit for an interview or sing my song?

DOT: You can eat BLEEP and die for all I care.

PRODUCER: GO TO COMMERCIAL! GO TO A BLEEP ING COMMERCIAL!!!

ASST PRODUCER: We don’t have any sponsors for today’s show… PRODUCER: _I don’t need this BLEEP …

AUDIENCE MEMBER: SING THAT POODLE SONG!

Me wonders if her show is live before a studio audience….so in spite of her outbursts from a previous day…she has to “make nice”.

If all the people Matt could have impersonated getting into show business, why Tonsils? Someone must have told him “novelty acts” were making a comeback.

If he makes it big with Dot’s audience and Vitamin’s playhouse….then Matt could take it on the road….to Branson, Missouri.

I suppose just for this appearance on the Dot Show his back-up band “The Barracudas” are dressed up with coats and ties. Camera will probably focus mostly on the singer. The contact lens makes for an interesting gimmick.

MOVIE QUOTE—-

“I don’t think we spoke words coming down here.But I feel like I know you”

James Stewart—THe MAN FroM LARAMIE—1955

1.)The heck with the pony tail.That’s how Dot View is SUPPOSED to look.As one of the most beautiful women in the history of the strip.

2.)He’s got a name,and it isn’t even a gimmick name.

3.)I’d think both Dot and Tonsils got gypped back in 1952,and maybe we’ll have a happier ending this time.

4.)About 40 years ago in Florida(either Clearwater or Sarasota),I noticed a big crowd around a fishing pier.

Somebody had caught a monster barracuda.Even dead the thing looked like a nightmare.Gould picked his “devilfish” well.

Be with us tomorrow,when Tonsils 2 and Dot sing their new romantic duet—“I Only Have One Eye For You”.

Haha, the joke’s on Matt! That’s not the real Dot. It’s celebrity impersonator Lana Longhare. Come on, the real Dot would be 100 years old now! And here’s a secret, that’s not Lana’s real hair, it’s a wig!

Shelly’s artwork has really been sharp this storyline – and for once, the colorists with GOCOMICS/TRIBUNE have been doing decent color.

reminds me of TwoFace

I got curious about who played the “Giant Santa” in the Schwarzenegger comedy JINGLE ALL THE WAY—1996(“I’m gonna deck your halls,Bub”)

it turned out to be a pro wrestler named Paul Wight(THE GIANT)—who wrestled Mike’s pal Jerry Lawler a few times.

Are we about to have an “Oscar” moment on the Dot Show?

Dot View, diva, has submitted to SBN network pressure and accepted the Tonsils Impersonator onto her show, The Dot View Show, and although her show’s time segments are not defined here, it appears that he’s got the preferred spot as last guest (maybe not quite “the 11:00 o’clock spot” literally, but close enough). And, lo, he’s got a name! Matt McCullar is not a household name in Tracyville, but appearing on Dot’s popular TV show should give his career a push even stronger than appearing live at Vitamin Flintheart’s Patterson Playhouse will (assuming he remains live throughout his run)….

Is it me, or is the artwork kind of reflecting Gould’s 1950’s style? Shelly is in top form in this storyline.