Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for May 24, 2015

Lights out in the office. Darkness permeates the spaceJimmy jams a hot cigar into the Blackheart’s face.Doubleup he cracks the whip, payback for the burnJimmy slips out the trap door, this much he did learn.Elsewhere, at Lake Pratchett, Ted Tellum wraps his showFiercely hates the drilling rig that dealt his view a blow.Spies Jimmy with a shovel, digging for his gold in vainAsks him if he needs some help, but Jimmy can’t explainWhy he’s digging in the ground for gold no longer thereDesperate, angry and well-armed, succumbing to despair.While deep beneath the surface, salt miners hear gas drillingLook to see they need to flee ‘fore water sets to killingAll the miners underground earning an honest dollarMust move fast if they’re to last. No time to cry or holler.

Teddyboy could brag all dayHe loved to hear the words he’d sayWhat’s this? Perhaps a tubby fanWho’d love to shake his idols handA gun? Oh No! This cannot beHe had to find a way to fleeThis blimp claimed not to know his nameThe loss was his Ted had no blameHe needs a bath this this dastardly thugAnd Teddy nose could use a plugTo stop the stink that came on fastHow could somebody smell like pure gas?

Tracy and Sam better get there quick.

Happy Sunday fellow DT fans.

Good morning fellow DT fans!

What a day, salt miners, gas drillers, confontation with Jimmy and Ted… plus poetry from Pequod77 and avenger09!

Lake Pratchett springs a leak, and It’s Tellum who might get plugged!

So, this is what happened at Lake Peigneur, Nov. 20, 1980. The oil rig accidentally drilled into the salt mine below and the lake drained down into the mine sucking down watercraft, trees, even buildings, into a big whirlpool. It’s worth watching this whole 10 minute video: Lake Peigneur disaster on YouTube.

I forgot that Tracy is a naval veteran. Perhaps he could run across a certain ex-Navy SEAL who is now heading a special police unit in Hawaii?

Pleased to see Sgt. Doherty explain what Memorial Day is really about.

This is perhaps the oddest Sunday installment yet!

Uh oh…..disaster looms…..

Should have called “811 DIGSAFE” first!

Won’t all that water make the salt wet? And turn lake Pratchett into the lesser salt lake? The fishies aren’t going to like it—Maybe Ted was right on the environmental impact

“All that murder—for nothing!”

Can anyone tell me what newspaper/newspapers still print DT ? Thanks.

Hmmm, liquid gold coming soon!

The Houston Chronicle carries the strip. plus you can read it on line (in glorious black and white) at:

http://www.chron.com/entertainment/comics-games/

Blissful Sunday morning my friends.________@Pequod, avenger09 and the Illustrious Gweedo: thanks for the trifecta of most excellent poems!________Have a bountiful day everyone.

Thanks @Neil Wick for the fascinating history of Lake Peigneur. I wonder if Jimmy regrets killing all his staff who knew where the gold is buried.

Mine, Mine, Mine!

So, let’s see…Dick could meet ex-Navy SEAL Garrett from Hawaii Five-O (preferably the Jack Lord version); Thomas Magnum, Hawaii PI, last seen re-enlisting in the Navy; JAG lawyers Harmon Rabb and Mac MacKenzie; NCIS Special Agent Gibbs, Callen and Pride; and even Rear Admiral Al Calavicci from Project Quantum Leap (which I’m sure Diet Smith would like to learn more about LOL)

Seems to me the surveying team for the oil rig didn’t do their job. They would have and should have known about the salt mining operation. This is just stupid idiocracy at it’s best. .I’m grabbing my popcorn now and waiting for the fun.

Jimmy let greed and paranoia get the upper hand. He killed Fontane and Cork to silence those in the know, while increasing his share. Yet there is no gold to share, as nothing is buried there. BB offered Shooz the help of a Blackheart “specialist” of his choosing. That makes me curious. Did BB place a man on the inside? Jimmy is left high and dry, even as the waters churn. The gold that’s not there must be somewhere. Did the Blackhearts dig up the gold? Is there a free-agent working his own double-cross?.Jimmy isn’t the only one lacking a Midas touch. Mistakes were made at the other end of that drill. Neil’s link reminds us that physics is fun. The salt miners will need to skedaddle, as water won’t wait. Sam and Tracy were side-tracked by the gun-play at multiple bookie joints, but Tracy knows of Lake Pratchett. Might need to call it something else soon. .Ray, I recall the flooding of the tunnels in 1992. I took more than one late night walk to the river to watch the massive efforts to plug the hole and remove the water from the tunnels. Eventually, the water from the tunnels was drained into the Deep Tunnel system. Wiki offers an overview.

Chicago Flood 1992.Even more interesting than the leak itself, is the old tunnel system that was flooded.

Chicago Tunnels

Thanks to VistaBill, Gweedo (well done!), Night-Gaunt49, Starman1948, JPuzzleWhiz and Ray Toler for the kind words. Much appreciated.

Must be an awful LOT of traffic in Tracyville… Sam and Tracy left only minutes after Fat Boy Jimmy, yet Jimmy has been at the lake and begun excavation what seems LIGHT YEARS before Tracy and Sam ever show up

I am completely ignorant on the subject, but salt mining in the US doesn’t seem like this as depicted. I’d think that salt reclamation would come in either open pit or an enclosed process plant environment. But, who am I to say? If I was smart enough to answer these type questions, I’d be on Jeopardy making money instead of blogging with Gweedo, Av, and the gang!

Nice and descriptive, poetic verse today … to get our Sunday reading - on it’s way …

We hear from “P”, we hear from “A” …A combined ‘In-house’ ‘PA’, a system guide - so our thoughts won’t likely stray too wide . . .

So . . . Marcus ‘kicks’ the morning off, he waves a hand - to greet the fans …

And VistaB, possibly “addled”? (not yet saddled), he’s holding Rikki’s Ring of Diamonds, there - in loving hands …

As NighteShade points to a leaking Lake and in further deep, some philosophical “hereafter” …

Researcher Neil ‘pops out’ Lake Peigneur . . . his example, showing extended effect, by ‘similar’ disaster …

Atomivdog ‘barks’ at Hawaii?, but a need to be ‘specific’,yes, a Naval past, but here, a Mainland task, not out in the Pacific

Gweedo our ‘legal’ label rabbit, stepped briefly out of ’Jacket’’ . . . for his first time swing - at a “rhyming packet” !

Finally, Art-head-ed could see ‘ahead’, the Gold that Shooz was missing . . .Finders Keepers - “Mine, Mine, Mine” - and that is Fine . . .Until P trumps M in “Missing” - and the Blackhearts’ have you ’Sipping’*!*

They’d come just after, Guns clicking, hear - their Laughter …It’s forcing ‘quicker step’. to a place, NighetShade calls - “hereafter”!

Do the Tracy writers even know HOW to stick to a story arc without jumping around so much anymore?Gould would be ticked!

@Pequod: you are very welcome my friend. Keep up the good work.________@Gweedo: you are very welcome my friend. You will get better in time.

Jimmy is too hyped up chain-smoking the cheap stogies and goes for his gun way too quickly when Tellum shows up. It could be curtains for Tellum, but more likely it’s an earth displacement (not really a quake, but similar in effect) for Lake Pratchett. If Tracy ever does show up the whole landscape may have changed and Jimmy may have been swallowed into it….

FURTHER - Johnny Adonis -

Perhaps the Author has a Mrs. Flattop style “surprise” death in store for readers ?When they search for the Gold in this Lake begins, they’ll find the Adonis Body !

A Victim of Cement Shoes – ? ?

“*Cement shoes* is a slang term adopted by the American Mafia crime world for a method of execution that involves weighting down a victim and throwing him or her into the water to drown. It has become adopted in the US as a humorous term representing any exotic threat from criminals. This gives rise to the term of someone who “sleeps with the fishes”, a euphemism for the deceased. It was frequently used by the Gambino crime family in the prohibition era.

Cement shoes traditionally involve binding or incapacitating the victim and placing each foot into the two spaces of a cinderblock, which is then filled with wet cement. Sometimes a plain bucket or box is used. When the cement hardens, the victim is thrown into a river, lake or the ocean. It is unclear how often such a cumbersome and time-consuming method of execution was actually used, outside of Hollywood movies. It could also be used for aiding in the disposal of a corpse already dispatched by other means so that the victim is never found if deposited in deep water"

Excellent Crimestoppers today, Sgt. Doherty.

One thing that hasn’t been mentioned is the gold belongs to another country and to have it stolen can create an international incident. It’s surprising that federal agencies don’t appear to be involved. You would think that recovering the gold would be a higher priority. I would have expected Fritz Ann to show up as she usually does in these cases. I think this story is being rushed through now so they can get to the big Blackhearts story coming up.

@Gweedo: NG49 is giving you a pat on the back also. Poetry may be your hidden talent. Have a peaceful night my friends.

I have read all your comments on my post. However, I still contend while yes, Gould did jump now and then, you could still keep the story arc clear.

I’ve been wondering about Johnny’s condition since he got the crap beat out of him, but I guess we’ll just have to wait to see.

I’m sure there are more, but the only newspapers I’ve been able to find that carry Dick Tracy so far are the Chicago Tribune and the Reading Eagle in PA.

Lights out in the office. Darkness permeates the space

Jimmy jams a hot cigar into the Blackheart’s face.

Doubleup he cracks the whip, payback for the burn

Jimmy slips out the trap door, this much he did learn.

Elsewhere, at Lake Pratchett, Ted Tellum wraps his show

Fiercely hates the drilling rig that dealt his view a blow.

Spies Jimmy with a shovel, digging for his gold in vain

Asks him if he needs some help, but Jimmy can’t explain

Why he’s digging in the ground for gold no longer there

Desperate, angry and well-armed, succumbing to despair.

While deep beneath the surface, salt miners hear gas drilling

Look to see they need to flee ‘fore water sets to killing

All the miners underground earning an honest dollar

Must move fast if they’re to last. No time to cry or holler.