Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for February 19, 2020

Meanwhile, yesterday’s strip remains in glorious black-and-white. ✨

Tess needs to tell him to take a hike. Also, why would his parents give him the same name as a member of the family. Who was a notorious criminal??

Good morning™, helpers!

What’s to stop the “modest fee” from becoming a series of “modest fees”? He did move to the city, I suppose, so this seems like a long-term plan.

Good morning™, shifty eyes !

Tess should be overjoyed at finding real evidence that keeps an innocent man from jail. He is clearly employing a scare tactic. “Show me the money”, mister !!!

He is still looking for ceiling crawlers or maybe there is a big water stain that commands his attention ?

This sounds too simple and too sloppy for a good plan of revenge. A blatant attempt at extortion? Nah…..I’m betting he’s got something in mind that will ruin Tess Tracy’s reputation and perhaps put her in danger of going to THE BIG HOUSE.

But then again, no one ever got rich betting on criminals being too bright….maybe Shaky II is just an idiot.

Was James McQueen mentioned before?

Shaky shakedown?

I guess we need to find out who is Mr. McQueen to him???

I could say Shaky 2.0 needs to do better research on this sort of scam, but I’ll withhold judgment… for now.

Is that supposed to be a phone? Has fewer buttons than yesterday.

I was right the first time. Shoot him now.

So you have evidence that could exonerate your friend, but you’d sell him out for money?

Well, he’s following in his uncle’s footsteps…to the grave. Extortionist

Similar to a lawyer’s practice, Tess should be billing Shaky for this appointment and any follow up investigations proving or disproving his claims.

Riffin Without A Script will continue until that last audience member wakes up and leaves

1-JJSS: OK, well…I’m the most powerful producer in Tracyville madam and you’d do well to remember that…

2-…Who else do you represent? If you don’t get Rock Hudson on board with my new project, I’LL CRUSH THEIR CAREERS! They’ll never work in this town again!

3-BLONDIE: I represent Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Will Ferrell,…

JJSS: YIKES! The cockroaches of Saturday Night Live! There’s no killing their careers!!!

BLONDIE: You didn’t let me finish…KEVIN JAMES! JJSS: THEY’RE BULLET PROOF!

BLONDIE: Yep. The only time I overestimated the public’s desire for low humor was with Dane Cook. Oh, and the guy who suggests lines for ‘Riffin Without A Script’.

JJSS: Whoa! Bad move there. That guy couldn’t get a job reloading toilet paper rolls at the diarrhea factory. BLONDIE: Not if they wanted it done right…

Step one seems rather obvious.I’d tell him to t ake a hike,let alone Tess.But planting the “seed” that an innocent man might be in jail could get bigger later.I don’t think the TRACY AGENCY has been seen for 5 years,so on that score it’s overdue.And will this be a violent or nonviolent scam?Tess hasn’t been framed into jail since 1939,soshe’s overdue.“ModEST FEE”.Yeah,right.Modest the size of the Tribune Tower.

Tess should have him sit down, and then call the DA’s office, and serve him up as fresh evidence. If he doesn’t want to talk to them, the DA can serve him a subpoena. Either way, her next line should be, “mind if I record this?”

This is “The Plan”…geez, how creative

Do not adjust your set,the problem isn’t with you—-it’s him.

That’s his plan: getting a Tracy to submit to blackmail/extortion? Shaky, dumber than advertised!

THIS is his master plan? A half-a$$ed blackmail scheme?

Ah, some good old fashioned extortion! I like this guy already!

This really doesn’t make sense, unless they will explain more tomorrow. Usually a private detective agency does not work for the prosecution. They are hired by the defense to punch holes in the prosecution’s case. But here we have Shaky saying he could provide evidence for the defense, but will keep quiet if Tess pays up. Maybe he thinks Tess will cave in to save face – her agency provided most of the prosecution’s case, and they were wrong, according to him. But still, why was Tess’ agency working for the prosecution?

Maybe Tess was working for a different client, wrongly accused, and accusing James McQueen cleared her client? That could be, I suppose. A “Perry Mason” defense. Find the guy who really did it, thus exonerating the client.

As it stands now, this really could be explained better.

NOW—-THE TOPIC IS SMOKING.THAT ALWAYS GETS A RISE OUT OF EVERYBODY.Everybody was on Sam Catchem’s neck about smoking.But after his wife beat cancer,he apparently switched to chewing on toothpicks.It isn’t very bright for Diet Smith to go back to smoking cigars,especially if the heart transplant he had during the Collins years still stands.So let’s get on HIS neck for a while.

If Shaky contracted Parkinson’s disease, how could they tell?

Trying an old-fashioned shakedown, Shaky? If Tess is smart—and I hope she is—she will tell you to take a hike and then file a report with the PoPo bunco squad….