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

Otis, the Playhouse janitor, he works with mop and broomLife peaceful and predictable until he sealed his doom.Thought he smelled a sweet payout, got up in the wrong faceWhat happened next to Otis a hideous disgrace.For Mel O. Dee, serenity, ability to payThe debt he owes to Gruesome: he’ll live another day.The curtain’s dropped on Otis, his time on earth a wrapPut to sleep by Gruesome for a never-ending nap.Bundled as a stage prop, treated just like trashToo late he saw the folly of coveting the stash.Elsewhere, in his dressing room, Flintheart is excitedBasking in the warmth of praise, with Kandi he’s delighted.To have her here, close by his side, brings out his very bestTrue love has wiped away the years, erased the need for rest.Relishing playing Teddy, charging boldly up the stairsKandikane relieves all pain, removes worries, fears and cares.

Good morning guys!

♫ ♫ So long Otis, it’s been good to know you! ♫ ♫

And there goes Otis exiting stage right. Boy, Gruesome made quick work of him. He even cleaned up the blood.!

♫ ♫ Love is definitely in the air for my buddy Vitamin! ♫ ♫

Otis gets the best seat in the house.The window seat.

Looks like Otis won’t be getting any vacation paythis year.

Good morning Gweedo! I have plenty of ♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫s if you need any more!

Otis the janitor is now Otis the prop. Or bundle, whatever.

“Helping out with a prop.” Yeah, riiiight. Well, I guess we’ve seen the last of Otis, at least alive. I’m sure Gruesome found some clean way to kill him.

I notice that “Miss Kandikane” and “Mr. Flintheart” are still on a fairly formal name basis, but Kandikane’s actions in the last panel look very intimate to me.

I knew a Kandi Kane once. She was a stripper.

So, is this a real May-December romance across the age gap, or is she just hero worshipping? Or is there something darker under this?

Well, Otis didn’t last long. I’d guess Gruesome had to improvise some silent means of trash disposal; maybe simply strangled the janitor-prop.Meanwhile, Kandikane Lane continues to breathe life into old Vitamin, but her true motivation remains opaque. Does she love him? Merely admire him? Or is she playing him for an old fool with gobs of cash?

I usually don’t comment on Pequod77’s poems, but today’s seems to me particularly fine….

Morning, Tracyville!Nice one, Pequod! I don’t know how you do it, but you just keep coming up with new ones.

Alas, poor Otis, we did not know thee well.

Good morning VistaBill, davidf42, Gweedo and fans. It looks like we were right on the money unless this is a twist in the story. Good poem Pequod! Y’all have a blessed Sunday.

I like a good redemption story, so not ready to give up on Gruesome yet. His past certainly haunts him and he broke out of jail, but he hasn’t actually done anything bad yet unless he really did take out Otis just now. It’d be too bad considering how this story arc started with the misunderstanding in the parking lot.

Hoo boy. If Gruesome is going to hide Otis by switching him with the prop body used in the play, then at one point Vitamin, playing “Teddy”, will have to pick it up and carry it. I think he’d notice something was wrong.

I think the appropriate send off for the janitor would be:

“Mister Otis regrets he’s unable to lunch today”

If you don’t get the reference, google Miss Otis Regrets.

PQ, I never thought you could top your best! But today, you topped it! Thank you!

“Poor Otis, dead and gone…” (opening line from a Doors song)

Well if we take those 3 panels at ‘face value’ we’ve finally got a New Crime - but (sadly), maybe another WAIT - for the body to be discovered, to get those ‘resting’ feet at MCU up - and ♫ ♫ Moving ♫ ♫ ?

Do a Mrs. Peek, on their Score Sheet, covering these past 6 weeks . . . and likely - you see a Nothing Yonson face, looking back at you !

Then for Kandikane in panel 6 - an “intimate” description might be a bit subdued . . .Given her ‘physical’ hands on his arms placements, her ‘postage stamp’ body space, she’s being proactive, perhaps it’s more a CHARGE of the “Like” Brigade !

When every things finalized you get to wonder if (as with Snowflake) - he’ll take her away via Train, passing through Woodstock (?) And like ‘back in time’, (and shades of Measles) will a new Villain be introduced on the Train ?

No need to hold our Breath, but we’re not exactly Galloping forward, and with patience, we’ll eventually come to it !

This is a stage production. If it was a motion picture, the phrase “that’s a wrap” would apply here in more ways than one.

An bets it’s a mis-direction? That he really IS helping with a prop?

Love it, that’s one less weasel in the Dick Tracy world.

It’s curtains! Poor Otis, we hardly knew ye. A quick kill leaves an inconvenient bundle for disposal. Window seat? Alley dumpster? Gruesome could learn a few things from Mr. Bribery. He put Nah Tay’s corpse into orbit. No more corpus delicti. What goes around, comes around. Bribery learned the hard way when his stock plummeted.

The over the shoulder view into Vitamin’s mirror (his “vanity”) is terrific. Kandikane’s affection seems quite genuine, yet she calls him “Mr. Flintheart.” An intriguing level of ambiguity. I read his gaze not as back at her, but out at us. Is that the arched eyebrow of a sly old dog? .Thanks to Gweedo, VistaBill, Night-Gaunt49, Sisyphos, Neil Wick, davidf42, Starman1948, Sydney Phillips, Day-Day2001 (welcome back), Morrow, Ray Toler and Jonathan K. for the kind words. Very much appreciated!

Good morning Tracyville…Murder and Mayhem at the Theatre..

that’s ugly Christine with mr bribery right? Dang, Gould could sure draw some voluptuous women!

We know from Kandikane’s conversation with her sister Margot that she really is excited to be working with Vitamin, and it isn’t just a scam to bilk him.But a real romance between the two? And what expression is being hidden by Vitamin’s mustache?-—I wonder if Mel is next for the window box. He can’t stop calling Christopher by the wrong name. When Mel pays off Gruesome, Gruesome may silence him, too.

Happy Birthday.

@Gweedo: Thank you my friend.

One down, one to go.

“Goodbye Mr. Chips” is about a May December romance. But it’s world war II, and the old don’t always die first.

OK, who ordered the preserved ham?

It looks like poor Otis may have an appointment with a wood chipper. Or perhaps a shallow grave. Or both.

If , as Neil said, Gruesome found a “…some clean way to kill him”, my guess would be with a Stilletto with a nice sharp blade. The quiet killer.

Otis, the Playhouse janitor, he works with mop and broom

Life peaceful and predictable until he sealed his doom.

Thought he smelled a sweet payout, got up in the wrong face

What happened next to Otis a hideous disgrace.

For Mel O. Dee, serenity, ability to pay

The debt he owes to Gruesome: he’ll live another day.

The curtain’s dropped on Otis, his time on earth a wrap

Put to sleep by Gruesome for a never-ending nap.

Bundled as a stage prop, treated just like trash

Too late he saw the folly of coveting the stash.

Elsewhere, in his dressing room, Flintheart is excited

Basking in the warmth of praise, with Kandi he’s delighted.

To have her here, close by his side, brings out his very best

True love has wiped away the years, erased the need for rest.

Relishing playing Teddy, charging boldly up the stairs

Kandikane relieves all pain, removes worries, fears and cares.