Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for March 21, 2016

Nice to see Jerry (and Toad), again. This must be the lead-in to the Mole’s wedding. Wonder if the person officiating at the nuptials will finally let us in on Mole’s real name.

Jerry please may I askA question about the recent pastWhy did yesterday March it seemedBut today some April sunrays beamedI read about Cuba before going to bedAnd owned a Casino in my pretty little headBut lo and behold today I woke upListening to you brag about a championship cupNo offense but it doesn’t seem rightI’d rather go back to the warm Cuban night!Today’s a mistake this I have to believeHopefully tomorrow you’ll get up and will leave.

A more sudden swerve, we could hardly have foreseen.

… unless this somehow ties into Notta’s vague threat against Tracy’s loved ones.

“We interrupt this story …” for a sneak peek at the upcoming wedding for a few days.

@cpalmeresq Didn’t we already hear Mole’s real name? I’ve forgotten already.

.Good morning guys!.I wouldn’t enjoy living in a sub-basement apartment. A crypt is fine, though.

Still don’t get why interuppting the climax of one stooy to start another is considered such a great thing to do…..I don’t think anyone’s planning on leaving right after the current one, and not sticking around…….

“Harley Race” was a real-life pro wrestler as well.

This might be the match to which “Jerry King” refers

Gweedo in his infinite wisdom stated,But, Bill ! …. A sub-basement is lower than a basement !-——————————————————————-.Drop in later, Gweedo. Anytime as long as it is after sunset.

And then we NEED to get back to Specs and Spicy and see whut d’ App’rattus gwine do ’bout dem !!!

D’ App’rattus ain’t gwine do nuttin’ if’n the detectives get to ’em first.

I’ve been looking for a clip from a ’90’s episode of General Hospital where Kevin O’Connor’s evil twin, rigged up in an explosive vest, crashes Kevin’s wedding as an example to illustrate the principle, but with little success. :(

I wonder if Toad intends to ask Jerry to play father-of-the-bride for her mom.

Will Tracy be “Best Man?”

And – Most importantly – Who Will Catch The Bouquet~?!!

That arc switch was so fast and hard, my neck got a kink in it!

Another “Soap-Opera-Wedding” trope is the inconvenient and ultimately untimely arrival of believed-to-be-dead relatives.

Might Molene arise from the ashes …?

Mysta would be a likely candidate as well.

In which case, I’d be pushing for a return for Posie Ermine.

It’s also an open secret that I’d favor a Mysta/Vera Alldid pairing, just because of the symmetry it would provide.

[ ’Course Vera would need to be run through the redemptive ringer a few dozen times first. ] :)

On the topic of Molene …

No body was ever found in the wake of the explosion which – presumedly – took her life.

A strong case could be made for post-concussive amnesia.

[ Also a popular soap opera plot device, one Mike’s already used at least once. ]

Even more thoughts about Molene …

She was introduced as The Mole’s “Granddaughter,” though for the timeline’s sake it might have made more sense had she been The Mole’s daughter, or – even more likely – an adoptive grandaughter, in a Susan/Doctor “Doctor Who” sort of ambiguous fashion.

Pure speculation, though given that pretty much nothing is known about her parents, tweaking Molene’s backstory in such a fashion wouldn’t exactly be bulldozing anyone.

Appropriate for Jerry to show up again now, as we are less that two weeks away from Wrestlemania.

Ummmm, what does Jerry The King Lawler Have to do with the events in Cuba? And I wonder if Notta has Blaze chained up in her basement?

All this wedding talk reminds me of the wedding of Reed Richards and Sue Storm in Fantastic Four Annual #3 (1965). It was the first time the whole Marvel Universe came together, with not only the FF but also the Avengers, the X-Men, Spider-Man, Daredevil, Doctor Strange, and Nick Fury/SHIELD, fighting Dr. Doom and a number of other villains. And FF creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby were stopped when they tried to enter the reception! LOL

Then tension builds as the suspense mounts. A savvy storyteller knows when to make ’em wait. Good to see little Toad.

this HAS to be an alternate reality.. Jerry The King Lawler NEVER beat Harley Race for a championship! lol

Abrupt? Not even a “meanwhile…” at the head of panel 1?

Seeing über-cute Toad again is nice. Let us note that (for legal reasons, presumably) she is talking to ex-wrestler Jerry King, not Jerry “The King” Lawler…. I guess Specs and Spicy will have to shift for themselves for a while down in Cuba (I hear there’s some other news going on down there just now).

Bizarrely, that story would be adapted – in part – into a 1966 Sub-Mariner cartoon …

See for yourselves!

No matter where this leads it’s good to see an old friend again. Team Tracy does such an awesome job of keeping in touch with the good guys as well as the villains.

Starting last night until just now I was getting “Server Not Found” when trying to do comments for any of the comics.

I think they’ve been doing some work on the site. It’s been offline once or twice in recent days for brief periods.

Little (Cough) continuity problem on this strip.

I think the next marriage after this one will be Kandikane and Vitamin Flintheart.

Actually, I was thinking that if anyone were to catch the bouquet, Kandikane would be a good candidate. I’m not sure their relationship is at the marriage stage yet and I’m not sure they are close enough friends with Mole to be invited to his wedding.

@tsull2121

this HAS to be an alternate reality.. Jerry The King Lawler NEVER beat Harley Race for a championship! lol____________________________The Tracyverse is an alternate reality where the past intermingles with the present. It is sort of an amalgamation of the entirety of the Tracy strip.

Don’t know if King ever beat Harley Race but will take your word for it. But in the Tracyverse, who knows. There are no casinos in Cuba since the Castros took over (at least no legal ones with flashy lights and signs as in our current story) but for the sake of the storyline I accept it in the context of Tracy’s world.

I think the next marriage after this one will be Kandikane and Vitamin Flintheart.*****************************************That’s quite possible.

Regarding Lawler vs. Race, there’s a post on this website that says Lawler beat Race for the NWA World Title in a match in Memphis, TN, only to lose it back to Race the next night.

http://www.tndeer.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=236851&start=0

RE: Jerry the “King” Lawler appearing in the strip as Jerry King:Caricatures of real people with altered names has been a staple of Dick Tracy since Gould’s day.Real life Spike Jones became Spike Dyke.Pro golfer Sam Snead appeared briefly as Ralph Smead.Even company names were subject to the treatment:The Fuller Brush Company became the Emptier Brush Co.(Fuller/Emptier – get it?)Gould seemed to enjoy this little bit of fun, and it was great fun for us readers to look for these gems buried in the overall story.

But lo and behold today nauseous I feltListening to you brag about a championship BELT!

There JPW,, is that better? LOL!

Gweedo reminded,Don’t forget the guest coffin for visitors, Bill !-————————————————————————————-.It’s a-waitin’ for your visit tonight, Gweedo.