Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for June 14, 2020

Buckle up. Strap yourself in

In Shaky none can trust

Tried to blackmail Tess one time

Decidedly a bust.

Small time crook. Nickle and dime

Horned in on Quiver’s fraud

Collected cans of chump change

Dishonest, dim and odd.

Shaky is as Shaky does

A matter now of time

How long ‘til Bail Boy weakens

Commits another crime?

Good morning™, mallrats!

Your never know who’s going to come across you at the mall, talking belt buckle collecting with your new friend. I wonder if there is actually such a thing as “Oklahoma Days.” Does anyone here know?

Is Shaky stalking Edison to find out where she goes, when he is not around?

Well, we were complaining that Shaky was leaving Edison alone too much…

Good morning™, blockheads !

Last panel; is Crystal morphing into a chipmunk ala Gregor ?

Panel 2; Edison is not flattering in profile.

I looked up “Oklahoma Days” and found two different dates… April 22 celebrates “Oklahoma Lands Day” which commemorates the Oklahoma Land Rush… The other date, June 7, is National Oklahoma Day, celebrating the admission of the State of Oklahoma as the 46th. state to the US…

Getting back to Shaky, Edison, and Crystal… It doesn’t look good !

I wonder if Shaky knows about Layfayette as a police informer and being Crystal’s dad ? If he does… Is there a “mole” in the police ?

Good morning™, wonderers of who’s watching who!

So even though Edison would be well served to tail Shaky and see for herself he’s become Fortuna’s no-batteries-required boy toy, he has the gall to shadow her on her innocent trips to the mall. The nerve! The audacity! The poor time management!

Here’s hoping the louse still underestimates Crystal and thinks nothing of boasting about some incriminating details to the scheme he’s up to with “Breathless.”

I fear the strip is beyond any hope.

It’s probably stupid of me to expect anything better than this loop of lameness.

I am losing the strength to continue to expect a corner will be turned tomorrow.

It feels like a childhood memory is fading away.

Which one will he kill first?

An interesting turn of events!

OK became a territory in 1889 and a state in 1907. I’m guessing this is a celebration of one of these events (Likely statehood) So a buckle would be rare, but not ultra rare.

As far as the belt buckle, there is this-

https://www.etsy.com/listing/523511574/limited-edition-sterling-silver-cherokee?gpla=1&gao=1&

I’m warning you now-NO SMOKING!

Hey guys, serious question for all of you. You all know about the sad state of affairs our country is in and there’s a large anti-police sentiment. Several police themed shows are being cancelled like Cops. Are you worried our favorite comic strip detective might be next?

Shaky going to cross Crystal next?

Did Mike take the day off from drawing? Today’s artwork looks especially clunky, when compared to Mike’s usual work.

I was wondering when this was going to happen…

the plot thickens

Both Edison and Crystal seem awfully angular today.

1-WHATSER: Crap! Green Hair again. What are the odds? HI! GREAT TO SEE YOU AGAIN!

2-CRYSTAL BETH: I presume you arranged this meeting to take me up on my offer to meet some of my dad’s rejects? WHATSER: Huh?

3-CRYSTAL BETH: Gurl! You’re going to have to work harder than that if you want to be a beard for one of my dad’s exes!

4-WHATSER: Huh? CRYSTAL BETH: Even gay guys won’t wanna be seen with a girl who looks like a leftist gorilla fighter who just came out of the Bolivian jungle!

5-WHATSER: Huh? CRYSTAL BETH:* I understand though that you don’t wanna bother looking nice for that no-good, chain-smoking piece of sh…

JAY BOGART: Well, hello girls! What are the odds?

WHATSER: Huh?

Shaky’s jocular reference to the Wheeler district of OK City is the best knee-slapper I’ve seen here in a while. Nobody appreciates his gentle wit.

Looking into the future (perhaps in some universe out there), I foresee the murder of one of the characters in this storyline, and another character (who did not do it) being framed for the murder. And a trial, with a guest appearance by Perry Mason for the defense, while the police try to come up with clues (excuse me, clews) to find the real perpetrator.

[Translation: what would be cool is for someone to off Shaky, and have all the clues point to Tess. Who really did it: Fortuna? B.O.? Edison? Someone else?].

Paul Blart, legendary mall cop, swiftly notices the return of The Two. He resumes his dogged surveillance of Crystal and the comely and delectable Edison by planting himself behind the potted palm plant once again. He made sure this time that he didn’t have that nagging toilet paper tail and he focused in on the girls with his Inspector Javert like laser beam intensity. He doesn’t want to miss a second of their incriminating conversation so he borrows a parabolic microphone from The Source. Unfortunately, the headphones blocked him from hearing that the mall Target was being looted. (This is what happens when you name a store “Target”). The hunt continues…

“Hey, Crystal, Shaky didn’t even notice me in that hot outfit that you helped me pick out.”

“Huh. Okay, there’s a place in here where we can shoplift some belly dancing outfits and bling. Is Shaky into tassels”

“Dunno, but it’s worth a shot.”

Suddenly a familiar odour and the sound of crunching fabric appear.

“So, you two are real wheeler dealers, eh? Yeah, wheeler dealers, see? Yeah. see?”

“Shaky! Jeepers creepers, you gave me the jitters!”

“Belt buckles, see? Yeah, belt buckles…”

“BIG money in those, Shaky! My dad bought one at an estate sale for $10 and sold it for $20. Can you top that, Shaky?”

“Well…..no. I want in, see? Yeah, I want in…”

“Okay….you can start by hanging out in the men’s room and stealing belts from the stalls. Ditch the leather and keep the buckle.”

“Copy that, see? Yeah, copy that, yeah…”

That’s how the great Tracyville belt stealing caper began.

And so it goes, by gar, by gar…

Oh my, do you all mean to say that I’m the first to notice the nod to Rick Fletcher in the first, non-throwaway, panel?

Maybe after they’ve had their cup of Joe (Staton), they’ll pick up some new sneakers at Foot “Locher”? Then they can walk around, Kilian time until it’s time to move on?

I do believe I’ve struck comedy Gould today! d;o)

Once again…comments more “interesting” than the story

I am a long time fan of DT. My local newspaper stopped carrying it many years ago and I was delighted to be able to read it again when I got my first computer. Alas, the current writer does not have the feel of it(IMHO). He is not alone. New writers on several old strips just can’t cut it. One of them was cancelled. Another I have stopped reading and one only occasionally. The others, like DT I continue to read but not with the same enjoyment.

O/T: Anyone else figure the taco stand in the backgrounf figures into Shaky’s dining plans with Edison?

As already noted by several commenters (Gweedo, WilliamVollmer, Ray Toler), today’s art seems notably inconsistent with the dailies in the rendering of visages: Edison has developed a very angular and IMO unattractive chin line, while less extremely Crystal’s head has become almost purely a rectangle. Such is tolerable but not so likeable (it makes Edison less comely and delectable).

In view of Tarry Plaguer’s revelations (although veiled) about the mandated editing of this story mid-stream and of some other stories also, some of the criticism directed at Mike now seems unfounded or at least mitigated, and I for one wonder about the Only What’s Fit for Children censorship attitude at the Tribune Syndicate, which I find very disturbing….

My guess is that the Tracy strip is safe, if for no other reason than outside of us die-hard fans nobody probably even knows the strip even exists any more, if they ever knew about it in the first place.

Shaky doesn’t really seem like a guy who would go to a mall.