Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for October 11, 2020

Get thee to the coffee shop. A warranty I’ll sell

Bad intentions are my deal. I’ll send this gal to hell.

Inheritance did burn a hole deep down in her pocket

Bought a sporty car with cash. Thing moves like a rocket.

Uncle Matthew did drop dead. Left the gals a pile

Payout should have gone to me. Now deadly is my smile.

On her way. Soon I shall slay the foolish, simple dope

Drain her blood and leave my mark. Steal all of her hope.

To drain brings pain. Delights the insane. Leaving her bereft

Must I explain? ‘Tis plain I reign. I’ll drain all she has left.

Good morning™, everyone!

… aaand the trap is set! Hope is only too happy to take the bait, but that is consistent with her personality that we’ve seen so far. Stokes is very slightly concealing his real name by changing it to “Stoker” but it’s unlikely she would catch on to that anyway. It seems that he may intend to target the car as well as Ms. Brown! Maybe he’s just talking about the warranty he’s going to talk to her about that she will need in case something happens to the car.

First responders: It’s a real tragedy what happened in Beirut. Ralph Mallahi was one of 10 victims from the fire brigade. I’m pretty sure that’s a clear face shield on top of his helmet that turned into a weird yellow-orange thing in today’s strip. You can see it in this balck and white photograph:

https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/6e6b3d1033e04dc99e107ed7b2eb60c3_8.jpeg

Here’s a report about some of the other victims:

https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2020/8/11/beirut-explosion-remembering-victims-of-the-deadly-blast/

“Protect-My-Car” ? Sounds like a fly-by-night company to me.

Since that’s a landline phone he’s using, Stokes’ office number is now on Hope’s “recent calls” log. Sloppy work, professor…

Good morning™, unwarranted claims !

I wonder if any of the unknown unanswered calls I get are by killers. Looks like the lunch meeting is the set up and appears to be in daylight. How will he catch her after dark ?

Stoker: I never drink…coffee. I’ll have a caramel macchiato with soy and a double shot of expresso, please.

Don’t new cars come with a warranty anyway?

Clever, evil Professor Stokes/“Protect-My-Car agent John Stoker” has already got Hope hooked. Sadly, it looks as though lunch hour at the coffee shop will become Death Hour for the radiant blonde sister Brown, so happy with her new car, so soon to be drained of her life’s blood—unless Tracy and team can intervene or the Tweeners effect a rescue….

An insurance salesman. This guy really is evil!

She’d have had a better chance with either a gecko, or a guy who walks around with an emu.

The girls may not have thought about an extended warranty, but the salesman should’ve, especially since he missed out on the commission from the finance company, he could’ve recouped some from the warranty company.

Okay, so suppose he kills her and her other sister – how’s that going to get him anything?

I’m wondering how he is able to learn that they bought a car? Was he watching their driveway? How would he know it was a purchase and not a rental? Even if he can see their bank account how does he know what a large cash withdrawal is for? Protect-My-Car is the best he can do? The IQ of this university professor appears to be plummeting.

So he’s a Leech, a vampire fan and a bloodsucker!

Great job today , Joe and Mike the toplight image is great again and the rest of images are great also . And what is that in the top left image ? A cape ? What ever it is it’s cool .

You’re going to meet a telemarketer in a coffee shop who called you about a warranty on your car? Really?

So….he’s going to kill her with the machine that he would have built if he had gotten the inheritance money instead of her and her sisters? But he didn’t get the $$$, so the machine hasn’t been built, has it? And if it has been built, why bother to kill her? Other than, you know, grins and giggles and a clue for Tracy to follow back to him.

I usually just hang up on those car warranty calls.

OH NO!!!!

Before the state will issue a plate to allow road use, one needs to show you have insurance [to protect others]. At the time she was buying that, the agent would have mentioned collision to cover repairs of her own car.

You can’t buy a warranty (it is given free by a manufacturer) – you can buy a vehicle service contract or mechanical breakdown insurance

I think he called me Friday. Wanted to talk about extended car warranty.

cue the ominous music

“Hold on there, Buster! Are you trying to sell me some fake thing because you think that I’m a dumb blonde?”

“Good heavens, of course not! This is a special offer that we reserve exclusively for former cheerleaders! This is in recognition of the outstanding community service you used to provide when you served!”

“Oh…yeah, those were pretty stressful times. It’s not easy climbing a pyramid made up of kneeling guys. It got easier, though, when the guys suggested not to wear panties to prevent chafing. They were always looking out for me.”

“Uh….sure, and that’s what we’re doing now.”

“Well, sounds good. Let me know how much it is and I’ll go to the bank during lunch and get more quarters.”

“Okay, call you back.”

“Boy, this is turning out to be a swell day!”

So, Hope is a working girl who goes daily to a job. Apparently the money was not enough to quit. This gives her a more honest quality and shoots down my theory about the girls being gold diggers.

Despite their lack of emotion and sympathy over the death of their sister, Hope, at least, seems to be on the up and up. We do not know about Charity.

Ummm…. new cars COME with a warranty!

1-THE SHARP TOOTHED INSULT COMIC PROFESSOR: Better check the “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” dating site on the ol’ IPod…Ahhh. She’ll do…

2-…Hello, Hope? Yes, Hope. It’s your lucky day. You’ve won a date with a locally known doctor, comic.

3-HOPE: How’d that happen. TSTICP: There’s this website that features pictures of blondes taken when they’re not looking. Somehow, they then tag the pics with phone numbers, age, true hair color, social security number and…

4-…type of car. I don’t know how…

5-HOPE: OH! So that’s who that guy on the street really was! He said he was from the White House and that they were looking for a new Press Secretary and that I looked perfect for the job. He needed all that information for a background check.

TSTICP: Ummm, yeah, well you sound perfect for the job geez, what a dummy. CLICK

HOPE: Does the website say anything about the Press Secretary job? Hello?

What a lousy, lazy lay out….

Hmmm…wonder how the real Protect My Car feels about having a homicidal blood-draining college prof impersonating one of their friendly and helpful auto warranty agents?

https://protectmycar.com/

Boy, she is dumb.

Is this story going to get dumb enough for us to wish the return of Annie and company?

She’s not the brightest person on the planet, is she?

P4: Fred McMurray decides to become a scam artist.

Don’t do it lady!

Be funny if the dead uncle were really Abner…

As a blood donor, I can confidently say that “sucking” doesn’t work. The blood has to come to the hole on its own. It can’t be sucked to it.

I take it you haven’t met my my sister.

Before you leave, Hope, spend 30 seconds Googling “Protect-My-Car” on that laptop in the final panel.