Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for January 13, 2015

Mrs. Flattop is back.

Good morning everyone!

I’m rethinking going to the drive in theater.

And Blowtop, too!

OMG!!! This is one of the best surprises ever!

Good morning friends and fans. I didn’t see this one coming. This is going to be good. Y’all have a good day.

I won’t apologize to those of you who don’t like the many plot threads. Everyone is welcome to their own opinion. This little snippet today made me smile from ear-to-ear! C’mon!…Blowtop & Stilletta? What more can any Dick Tracy fan hope for?! WHEREVER this leads, Thank You, Team Tracy! You made my day!

Uh oh…..sounds like Silver Nitrate’s in BIG TROUBLE.

“Woo gosh!” It’s Blowtop, brother of Stiletta Jones’ late husband, Flattop Jones Sr., known for kidnapping Junior back in 1950 and later kidnapping Lizz. I hope that Baby Trey is being kept safe.

For those who are despairing of too many threads, there’s a chance that several of them are interrelated and are really part of the same thread. As I was saying, Junior has had a run-in with Blowtop before. As Kandikane was rhyming off just the other day, Vitamin has crossed paths with Flattop, Blowtop, Influence, and Angeltop. Blowtop and Stiletta are trying to get Flattop Jr.‘s car back from Silver and Sprocket (so I’m thinking they do still have it somewhere). we know that Agate Aggie will be involved with this story as the next “mark” for Silver’s scam. Of course, Abner Kadaver has already been hired by Stiletta to kill Tracy, so who knows who might pop up in this next story. I haven’t necessarily ruled out TBolt either. I did mention before that I thought he reminded me of Stiletta’s grandson, Hi-Top.

Totally agree it’s fun when the bad guys (and girls) go after each other. And we’ve got plenty to choose from right now! Great stuff.

Since Vitamin and Kandi will be in the death coach with me and Rikki driving, I would not want to take a chance on harm coming to one of them. Plus, we’d have to answer to Abner if the death coach gets damaged… although the pop corn is tempting.

Morning, Tracyville!

This is a fun story. I’m enjoying all the weaving in and out with the various subplots.

And we need a definitive answer about the official birth-date of Trey Tracy. Was he born on December 25, 2014?

The colorist over at Comics Kingdom did a terrible job today. He/She made Stilletta look Caucasian in panel 1.

Holy wrist wizards!!

Like the coy presentation technique, of partially shielding her face (and identity) in panel one - and then, revealing them both in 3.

Yet, as entertaining as their appearance may be, it reminds us of the heavy case load on Tracy and the MCU, and a disappointing ‘sense’ - that suggests, there’s little pro-activity in the tracking down of wanted felons (?)Almost a laissez-faire attitude of not dealing with the problem, until it lands forcibly on the ‘Front Step’ ?

To be fair, this does not apply to the upper echelons of the Blackhearts Group - (Venus, Apollo and Méliés). We - know of them, but it’s likely the MCU are not even “aware” of their existence ?

WOO HOO!!! BLOWTOP RETURNS!! and FINALLY Stiletta makes an appearance after what.. a year and a half, maybe two?

I still think Abner is dead. When Rikki got that call, wasn’t there an Abner hat and mask on the night stand? Maybe she’d hired someone to play Abner…

Liking where this is going to go. Although honestly, the lady has no claim on the car since it’s changed hands a couple of times.

Would be neat to see it roll across the Barrett-Jackson auction block..

Venus assured Griswold that Tracy would be “dead fish dead” within a week, so we know the Blackhearts took out a contract. On October 23, Venus tells Apollo that, “Our hit man, Abner Kadaver, vanished after failing to kill Tracy, but we know where he’s hiding.” We saw, through Méliès, an additional contract taken out on Apparatus members. We also saw Stiletta take out a contract on Tracy. Kadaver is apparently happy to be paid twice for the same murder, should he ever manage to succeed (not likely). Kadaver is a busy ghoul, especially with his Death Coach duties.

It is always a pleasure to see Rikki and Stiletta. Mr. Staton is extremely talented. What a pleasure to see his art on a daily basis. Last Thursday, Tarry Plaguer posted a great picture of Joe Staton with the tools of his trade, reminding us that “the pen/pencil is mightier than the sword.” Yes.

This is like WWF’s thing where they keep throwing baddies into the cage and pretty soon, it’s elbow room only…..

Nothing wrong with multiple, loose ends. It would be nice though, if at some points they’d get tied up. As the commercial says “While we’re young”— or semi-young anyway. Investigate folks..who hired Abner?

September 3, 1956:“Flattops’s ‘wonder-car’, now a heap of blistered steel, gets towed away.”It had been in a fire that Flattop Jr. had set in an attempt to escape. I did not know that when this car was introduced, but have since been able to read that old story in the IDW Reprint Books. So, how is this car the same car? Can anyone remember how Mike explained it’s initial appearance in these present day strips? Is this a replica, or did someone somehow restore the old car?

you just never know around here..

i just read n the dick tracy wiki page that there was some question as to why blowtop doesnt share the same noggin as his brother flattop or the rest of the jones family… what strikes me as odd is that stiletta has a (stylized) version of the same cranium… but both flattop’s parents have the trademark noggin… so this begs the questions as to whether or not blowtop REALLY is a legit jones family member (adopted perhaps?!!?) and HOW IN BLUE BLAZES does Stiletta share the same cranium if shes NOT a blood jones either? also, if i recall correctly, angeltop doesnt share the same feature as her father.. she’s got the chin and the eyelids and the same mouth.. but not the skull?

Anyone care to take a stab at clearing up this one?

Must have seen today’s “Close to Home” comic strip! lol

I seem to recall that Blowtop was helping people with anger management during the Fletcher/Collins era, about the same time Influence made his appearance. Can anybody clear up my memory?And I dont remember Blowtop kidnapping Lizz. Was that during the 1990’s, when I had lost track of this strip?

A Blast From The Past!

The thing I love about these two writers is they reference the old time favorites from the Gould era. I want them to bring back Flattop, Itchy, Pruneface, Big Boy and other classic villains. Who’s with me?

i just read n the dick tracy wiki page that there was some question as to why blowtop doesnt share the same noggin as his brother flattop or the rest of the jones family_________________________

The family has the same question…

The artwork on this strip is consistently fantastic and reminiscent of Chet Gould.Does anyone know were I can find the DT strip from 1985 to 2001??

Google has obtained the newspaper micorfilm/fiche archives of various libraries from around the world, and makes them available to read online for free. Many of these papers carried the Dick Tracy comic strip, so strips that have not yet been re-printed (say, from 1985-2001) can be read in that way.A lot of the archives are missing a day here and there, and the scans aren’t always great, and it can be time-consuming, but it’s better than nothing.

Ah! A confrontation between Stiletta and the Nitrates. This is going to be good. My money’s on Stiletta!

This is just a GREAT plot twist……wonder if they end up teaming up to take out Tracy, or Dick has to rescue the Nitrates? Abner Kadaver remains Dick Tracy’s most formidable foe, though….they’ve met twice, and twice Tracy was “dead fish dead” if not for someone from the outside saving his doomed self….

Hey Vista Bill, alligators and a spiked wall closing in on both sides that needed to be held open by that rod were what Dick Tracy faced when last confronted by Abner, remember? Think I’d consider Belle instead if I were you, after recent events she’s available now, and every bit as hot, ha ha…..(plus I doubt Kandi would like monster flicks, and Belle would probably like all kinds)

The mag. should show its publication on it wherever the barcode is.

On a lot of magazines that are “specials” rather than monthlies, it’s hard to tell the date.

She says, “If course, if anyone here manages to take out Dick Tracy, I have a nice ”gift" to send to you, or your beneficiaries. Sorry for the big strip.

I think the implication is that you stand a good chance of dying while successfully killing Tracy, but you’re welcome to try. If she truly thinks that killing Tracy is a suicide mission, that would explain why she hired Abner, who is apparently still intending to carry out the contract at the appropriate time and getting the reward from either the Blackhearts or Stiletta, or both!

!!!!!!!Blowtop?What or who is next?

I suppose I fell in with the wrong crowd, Gweedo!

Oh, what a tangled web we weave! All these murderous gangsters, slowly circling in their Dance of Death, all focused on Tracy, but willing to use or equally to kill each other in the process!Scorecards, anyone? You can’t tell the players without a scorecard!

I will not demand anything from the Nitrates! I’m afraid of Lena! Anyway, if the popcorn is good enough for Lena, it is certainly good enough for me!