Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for June 26, 2020

Good morning™, buckle hunters!

Looks like Lafayette and Crystal have reported the theft to them. Lizz did say that they were already looking for Shaky when Fortuna called.

Buckle up..

Good morning™, buckle bandits !

This would be a good time to have a secret pocket to hold your ill gotten gain while ‘turning out’ the usual pockets. Snaky can never be accused of slight of mind. With the “quality” of bad guys lately cops who are still in academy could handle these cases.

Well, maybe it might make a good weapon.

Don’t think it’s worth much else.

Like the rest of this story.

Like he didn’t know police search you when they arrest you……hey, better to not kill off the Sawtooths and Abners if all we have to replace them with lately are lame ones like this…..

Joke’s on Tracy. Shaky couldn’t sell the buckle, so it’s holding up his pants.

Sure glad Tracy got back that buckle to help his friend screw someone who didn’t know any better out of $1,990…..

Okay, Joe, a silhouette with the white shirt, tie, and bowtie showing is absolutely brilliant. And I shall be stealing that for a future Groovy, Kinda strip.

Good morning™, steadfast stalwarts of this serialized strip!

With apologies to Churchill, it seems only fitting to finally observe that “Rarely in the field of fictional criminology was so much potential sown by so many characters for so little satisfaction.”

Even the continued guest appearances of the comely and delectable Edison just barely made it worth while. The most memorable part of this story was getting hints and innuendo of some real-life behind-the-scenes drama…

He would have got away with it too, if it hadn’t been for those pesky kids…

While having Shaky v2 turn out his pockets makes for a nice dramatic turn, shouldn’t Tracy, and, Sam (or, Liz,) have Shaky v2 brace up against the wall while one of them searches him? Wouldn’t that be SOP?

Buckle-up Shaky…..or buckle-down???

C’mon! He would be really stupid if……

and again, police procedures get dumped. It should be “Assume the position” hands on the case, feet appart, and as they pat him down they do or don’t find the buckle. in stead they arfe letting him put his hands in his pockets where there might be a hold out?

Play a game

Who’s to blame

For a story so lame

Not why I came

Tracy’s fame

Isn’t the same

Since that Mysta dame

It’s such a shame

Wouldn’t that be an illegal search? they have no warrant.

Wanna know what the REAL CRIME here is? The last several weeks

1-DT: Very sensible of you to drop the gun. Disappointing but sensible.

2-JAY: You’re infamous for your itchy trigger finger, Tracy. I don’t wanna give you a reason… DT: I perceive your shaking to be a threat to my personal safety!

3-JAY: DON’T SHOOT! I CAN’T HELP IT!

DT: Turn off your body cam Sam.

SAM: They don’t give me one anymore. I tended to aim it inappropriately when at the urinal.

DT: Really? I thought some of the videos on the Take A Leaky Peeky website looked familiar!

SAM: You’ve seen that! I had the most #1 “Liked” videos!

DT: Who was #2? JAY: Don’t be gross, Tracy.

Don’t they take care of that detail in the booking room?

Put. The. Buckle. Back. Nah, still sounds better if it’s ‘put the candle back’.

It could be very true that this story is convoluted and seemingly pointless because of the editors’ demands that we have learned about in the last couple of weeks. But even if it had been presented as originally written, where was the detecting in this police detective strip? Even if Crystal reported the missing belt buckle, how did Tracy know it was Shaky who did it?

I have just been re-reading the second appearance of Shoulders from Gould’s day. It’s one of my favorites because it was really the first complete story I ever read when I was a kid, having discovered it in my friend’s great pile of old comics in his basement laundry hamper.

Shoulders stole the top off an old marble monument in the park, killing someone in the process. He abandoned the truck he used, but the uniforms found the truck. In the truck was a whisk broom with marble dust on it (discovered in the police lab) and the name of the brush company. Leg work by Tracy uncovered that the brush and its mates had been stolen in a sample case from a legitimate brush salesman. Because those cases had snap locks, Tracy figured the thief would need a locksmith to make him a new key. More leg work brought Tracy to the correct locksmith shop, and while there a call came in that a little girl had accidentally locked herself into her “daddy’s” sample case while playing. The address matched with the address of the person who had ordered the new lock, bringing Tracy to the house just as Shoulders was attempting to retrieve the jewels that had been encased in the marble.

Later, Shoulders dumped a car, with the body of his erstwhile fence, into a lake which then froze over. Shoulders attempted to hide out in an old antique shop. Kis found the car while skating and called the police. Tracy, meanwhile, was coming to the location because the antique shop owner, one Miss Varnish, had alerted him to Shoulders’ being there. Coincidence came into play as the kids saw the cops cars and called to them, thinking the

The brazen buckle burglar is about to be busted. See what I did there? Oh…. ;)

Shaky will survive this. He’s already slated to do a sequel, SHAKY AND SHAKIER.

Aha! Tracy is on to the whole extent (such as it is) of Shaky Mk.2’s nefarious deeds lately committed (and partly obscured by censorship). But once again, the perp admits nothing. The court wil have to resolve things now (unless Shaky makes a reckless break for it….