Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for February 26, 2017

Good morning guys!

a tangled web.

“We each brought $250,000…,” said by the Spirit, seems to indicate that he was one of the bidders.

Apparently the Octopus didn’t have enough laundered cash to cover the $250K.

Tracy sounded surprised to see Brush involved, but apparently this was part of the ruse. Pouch must have been in on this with Tracy. So why wasn’t Tracy there when the money transfer was made?

It seems that Tracy already knew that Brush was planning to steal the money before he headed back to the hotel after dinner.

The Spirit’s wound is all sewn up, ‘twas just a little nick

Villains now know to lay him low bull’s eye you’d better stick

Carrion and Julia have been caught with bad bills

Origin the Breckinridge, too tainted to cure ills.

Earnest money must be clean, this bidder is unfit

Took cash from the Octopus whose word is not worth spit.

Most of us would like more life, please hand me that Elixir

Bedding down with Beelzebub one needs more than a fixer.

Now the cuffs are on his wrists, the truth is close at hand

Work for one so very vile and enter a dark land

Rank with foul corruption and an idol of pure gold

Story a familiar one, some truths never grow old.

Carrion is now dead meat who’s learned crime does not pay

Vulture nibbles at his ear before she flies away.

How about row 2, panel 1 for a list of all-time comic strip characters (from left to right): Oliver Warbucks, Dick Tracy, Diet Smith, the Dragon Lady, and the Spirit!

I like the ghosted images of the flashback frames.

The Spirit said that Tracy knew Brush planned to steal the money. Who tipped him? The Pouch? But then Tracy does not know who was behind Brush

Seems ‘The Spirit’ was indeed one of the bidders.

“Tracy learned Brush planned to steal the money”. Where did that come from? Some of you all this morning have suggested that Tracy was just feigning surprise when he captured Brush. Maybe so, but unless he knew the exact minute that Brush and Kitchen planned to strike, he was sure taking a big chance relaxing at home, having a casual dinner party. Even something as unexpected as a traffic jam could have messed things up bad.

In the strip for Feb 16, Tracy and Spirit are alone together. Tracy uses phrases like “I believe” and “apparently” – it does not sound at all like either of them knew in advance that this robbery was planned.

I am coming to agree with those who believe there are significant discrepancies between today’s and yesterday’s installments. But remember, back in the original Moon Maid story, we learned that Sunday strips have a tighter deadline than the dailies, perhaps an explanation for these errors. // As for me, it’s almost as this is a “wrap” for this story – and it’s a bit too neat and pretty for me. Two days ago, Brush says he’s not talking about who may have hired him and today, we’re talking as if it didn’t matter if he was hired by someone else… // Of course, there’s that ill-fated love triangle that was visited a couple weeks ago, Mysta, Bonnie, and the Spirit. It’s ill-fated because it has to be; Spirit and company won’t be around much longer as Team Tracy looks for another cross-over to pull over on us…

Did Tracy & ‘The Spirit’ need for a robbery to occur in order to legally inspect the bid packets?

I like the cast of characters and the pale colors of the flashback. I read Spirit’s explanation as covering much ground with few words (too few?). Suspicions regarding the possibility that Carrion’s bills would be ill-gained fruit from the Breckenridge robbery preceded the radio call Tracy received in route from his home to the Siam. Tracy learned that a robbery was likely in progress, yet I assume he did not know Brush was involved until they came face to face. More accurate would have been for Spirit to say, “Tracy was informed of a potential robbery and we stopped it together.” If Pouch dropped a dime on Kitchen we have not been privy to it. So, the bills could not be examined unless and until Carrion won the auction? The robbery made waiting unnecessary. A minor hiccup, imo. Spirit’s use of “we” confirms him as the 5th bidder. Brush is in bad need of a shave, while Julia’s meal ticket is headed for a stretch in the pen. She’ll have to settle for roadkill unless the MCU decides to bring back the menagerie.

Thanks to Neil Wick, Vista Bill, 22ph, Gweedo, Night-Gaunt49, Ray Toler, Chris Sherlock, Morrow and JPuzzleWhiz for the kind words. Very much appreciated.

As a proud resident of Breckinridge County, Kentucky, I’d like to say, “Wow!” Especially since it’s spelled correctly, at least today.

Wait until Tracy and the Spirit unmask P’Gell, um I mean Perenelle as the con artist who planned the auction as a scam. I’m guessing Diet and Oliver will have to separate the ladies to keep The Dragon Lady from pulling Perenelle,ah I mean P’Gell’s red hair out by its mousy brown roots!

It looks to me as though the cash brought by each bidder as an opener was examined by Tracy and/or the Spirit and Dolan separately, before the bids were merged into the $1.25M bundle (DoubleUp could even have helped them with this, whether Perenelle knew or not), since afterward how part of the money could be assigned to, e.g., Carrion or any other specific individual bidder is problematic.

The Spirit is being very laconic today, since he does not have the luxury of a whole penultimate chapter in a crime procedural novel to explain the deductive process (for example, we do not if or how much Pouch helped the coppers on this one). Apparently the auction will be allowed to go forward (minus one-fifth of the purse) in order to pin something on Perenelle….

And, another story comes to a great ending.

Or is the Spirit implying to the other bidders that he’s the 5th bidder when there really were only four bidders?

It would be funny if The Spirit’s ante came out of the police property room.