Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for February 23, 2014

I hate to say, “I told you so…” Wait a minute, apparently I don’t!

Gimme a break, people. I FINALLY got one right!

Lizz is a real cutie pie today.

Step right up. Tickets going fast. Enter the museum.A killer’s car the brightest star; folks still talk about him.He was a mechanical genius, the deceased Flattop, Jr.His wonder car one of a kind, infamy grants allure.Tricked out with grill, TV and fridge, plus a hi-fi playerNo fruition of his smarts, alas he was a slayer.He flung young Skinny to her death, her mother mourns her stillJunior indulged his wrath and rage: a senseless, shocking kill.His crime he fled, away he sped, in his wonder carThose who flee from Dick Tracy seldom get too far.Guilt caught him before the law, turned his black hair whiteGhost of Skinny clung ‘round his neck, causing deadly fright.Lizz found him by happenstance, reckless Junior drew his gunShe put a bullet through his brain, his crime spree then was done.Today his car was on display, just departed the showroomSprocket’s bare foot on the gas, racing madly to her doom.

Good morning everyone…

Nice work Pequod77!

I agree, Pequod77, great work! And by Staton, too. Love the retro cars (Batmobile yesterday!) and that we’re headed for a chase scene.

So, sure enough, “Flattop Jr.’s Amazing Car” is the car in question. Congratulations, cpalmeresq and whoever else figured it out. I thought I might have been partly responsible for adding fuel to the fire. I did think it was likely, so I’m happy to have that confirmed.

Pequod77, another excellent poem. You’re not only a good poet, but as always, you know what’s going on in the strip.

I does look like Lizz was just putting in time while waiting for the train, as I suggested yesterday. I’m sure she had no suspicion that Silver and Sprocket took the car (why would she?), but this new information about a barefoot driver can lead her to only one conclusion (especially since this car museum seems to be very close to the train station).

I notice that Lizz’s wrist wizard seem to be going off. I wonder if there’s a call coming in.

Silver and Sprocket seem to be heading into a blizzard. They might be hoping that they stocked up that built-in fridge in the car.

So, Lizz is on a private trip rather than being on the case. And the car in question that got her attention is the Flattop, Jr., car [congrats to those who saw these things coming]. Well, that clarifies things, except for why Lizz is off the clock when we saw her in the squad room as the MCU was deploying in the Nitrate scam case…. I guess she just had some off-time coming.

Maybe Sprocket was the oddball of the Jones family; everything was in her feet, not her head…

Well, you folks were correct! It is Flattop Jr.’s car.Second from last panel, lower right corner – is that the 50s style Batmobile? The one with the bat head right at the front of the car?

""I expect you to fast talk the snow into stopping until we get to the cabin! Gee, you’re so dense!"

It’s official – I have no clue where the story is going next.I know – the bad guys are heading to a cabin. But with the snow, will they get there? And what’s at the cabin to make them want to go there? And what’s that on my plate next to the waffles? Well, I can answer that last one, but I’m lost on the other two questions.

Pequod, every time I think your poetry hit its acme, you outdo yourself! Maybe Flattop’s ride has a hidden snowplow in case the snow gets too deep. I’m still reeling from the museum creator letting that car out. I can see SDM going to the Smithsonian telling them he’s Charles Lindberg and he’s there to claim his plane. But Silver Nitrate saying he’s Flattop Jr?

See? Batmobile. :D

Liz in the first panel looks like she could be a bad-ass bounty hunter. I expect to see weapons under that jacket. Nice composition.

What happened to the big horns on the fenders? They weren’t shown yesterday and they aren’t shown on the car in that flyer.

Come to think of it, Silver should have introduced himself as Bruce Wayne, and gotten the Batmobile. Much more tactical stuff on it! Maybe even a Cruise Missile or two.

I like the ways Team Tracy is meshing the old and new in this story. Vitamin has an important role and is savvier than we expected. Mary Perkins crosses over to the Patterson Playhouse. Flattop, Jr. is dead as a doornail, yet his wonder car is fully restored and on the road in a snow storm. The new villains have a deadly pet that may well dine again before all is said and done. While I can’t be sure, it seems safe to say that a wonder car on the road may soon be chased. Who doesn’t love a good chase? It wouldn’t be the first time that the wonder car has been pursued. Lizz is looking especially lovely, as others have noted. Talking about those green eyes… Here she is in 1972:Thanks to cpalmeresq, VistaBill, Willy007, Gweedo, Ray Toler, Neil Wick, morrow and JPuzzleWhiz for the kind words. Very much appreciated!

Judging from the tail fins, I’d say this model is from the mid-to-late 1940sYou’re right!. I didn’t notice those at first!.

Now, whatever reason Lizz had for being at the train station, she reported to Tracy that Sprocket had been spotted there. You would think the Police’s next move would have been to find out where her ticket was destined to, and have officers in that city waiting for her and her bother when they get off the train. Of course, we know that they got off early and doubled back. How did they double back. What means of transport did they use, before they got back to the city to pick up “their” car? Taxi? Bus? Another train? They should have left some sort of trail.

To paraphrase Ishmael, “Take my word for it, you never saw such a rare old craft as this rare old Pequod. To all the Pequod’s old antiquities were added new and marvelous features, pertaining to the wild business that for more than half a century it had followed.” Obsessive Ahab captains the good ship, Pequod, and the crew encompasses a wide range of humanity: the good, the bad and the ugly. They be hunting Moby Dick, the Leviathan, the Great White Whale. A wonderful tale.“Oh the rare old Whale, mid storm and galeIn his ocean home will beA giant in might, where might is right,And King of the boundless sea.”~ Herman Melville

Sprocket’s bare foot on the gas, racing madly to her doom.

Oh, no! She’s going to have to try a power approach!!

The only indication, as far as we’ve seen, that the Nitrates were going by train is that Sprocket was spotted in the station (or at least someone answering her description). We don’t know whether Lizz was summoned to the station or just happened to talk to Doherty while she was waiting for her train. It certainly seems possible that she just happened to be there. It doesn’t seem all that likely that the railway police would know that Sprocket was a fugitive. All the police know is that Silver and Sprocket were planning to defraud Vitamin.

@Ken in Ohio, that is in one of the “World’ Greatest Detective’s” rides, possibly from the 40’s to early 50’s. So where is the Green Hornet’s Black Beauty or the Arrowmobile?

Step right up. Tickets going fast. Enter the museum.

A killer’s car the brightest star; folks still talk about him.

He was a mechanical genius, the deceased Flattop, Jr.

His wonder car one of a kind, infamy grants allure.

Tricked out with grill, TV and fridge, plus a hi-fi player

No fruition of his smarts, alas he was a slayer.

He flung young Skinny to her death, her mother mourns her still

Junior indulged his wrath and rage: a senseless, shocking kill.

His crime he fled, away he sped, in his wonder car

Those who flee from Dick Tracy seldom get too far.

Guilt caught him before the law, turned his black hair white

Ghost of Skinny clung ‘round his neck, causing deadly fright.

Lizz found him by happenstance, reckless Junior drew his gun

She put a bullet through his brain, his crime spree then was done.

Today his car was on display, just departed the showroom

Sprocket’s bare foot on the gas, racing madly to her doom.