Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for March 24, 2023

Whoo Gosh! It’s a fambly showdown! Who. Will. Win?!

Good morning™, spat breakers !

Finally !  A cooler head prevails. Now ‘maybe’ we can get on with some action. Nero eats while schemes churn.

What a contest, well may the best rogue win!

If the brothers look this different, what are the parents like ? That sounds like a case for Dick Tracy Geneticist !

Good morning™, everyone!

My prediction? Neither of them will “win” because neither will bring in money. At least, we know for a fact that Tracy will not end up being killed, so that one definitely is not bringing in a good price (if any at all).

Which “Top” will top the other Top and be ON top? Stay tuned!

Real sibling rivalry.

This major diversion has all the trappings of a “professional wrestling” kayfabe brother-versus-brother feud, with Smilin’ Ed and his rose-colored glasses keeping us suckers in the cheap seats focussed on “what matters” (which is mostly nothing)….

Never have I missed Nero so much as since Rome burned, he said archly as he fiddled Time away….

I suppose I’m the only one who finds this story slow, boring, and lacking any redeemable qualities. .

And still that old man wanders aimlessly thru his garage with an armful of “important papers”…Oliver warbucks still grapples with the notion of calling in a favor from tracy, 99 is still on the lam, art dekko may or may not be in jail awaiting trial, sue reel may or may not be in the women’s facility awaiting the same fate as art, we never got a plausible answer as to why Tracy’s Mexican (?) cohort was in Florida and why he was allowed to view a corpse he had zero connection to, nero Wolfe is still secluded reading a book, blaze has yet to figure out what to make Lee for dinner, and Abner Kadaver’s kid is probably in junior high by now

It is all going to go awry, because today is the day Dick Tracy does his banking.

Oh what fun! Let’s make a competition out of it!

Not to be the boy who cried Wolfe, but what the Chili Cheese Fritos™ happened to our regular storyline, no longer in progress?

Who will win ? That’s easy, Tracy will eventually, as he always does. Tracy is the good guy comic character who never fails. Flattop and / or Blowtop will either be shot or end up in a pair of darbies (handcuffs).

Watch, the guy who is intervening between Blowtop, and, Flattop will win.

“Also, if Flattop wins, Blowtop has to take an anger management course. But if Blowtop wins, Flattop has to sign up for smoking cessation.”

My moneys on Flattop go for it

Meanwhile, the guy with the glasses goes down to the bakery and asks for a large quantity of uncooked dough…

What happened to Zeck’s original hit request?

Good stuff!

1-ED: HEY NOW! I NEVER AGREED TO BETHE MEAT IN THIS MANWICH!!!

2- …I have an idea! Let’s settle whatever this is with an old fashioned staring contest…first one to blink loses!

3-FLATTIRE: OK but recognize that Blowsmoke has an advantage in that he gets to look at a pretty face while I have to stare at his buttface! SO, to even things up – I get to blow cigarette smoke in his eyes.

BLOWSMOKE: Go head! The smoke will cloud your ugly kisser! ED: Whatever. On 3. 1…

FLATTIRE: WAIT! I GOTTA TAKE MY CONTACTS OUT FIRST! They might melt. BLOWSMOKE: ME TOO THEN!

ED: Oh FFS…

Well finally some action will take place……maybe!

As the stomach turns, Wolfe, Archie and Zeck return to Wolfe’s pad to water his orchids. The strip, as they say, has “Jumped the Shark”

The third Top brother?

It’s just me but how do you bring in the most dough from a contract killing? The criminal underworld in Tracy land has a large pot of money just waiting for Flattop.