Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for October 15, 2020

I’m a bit surprised that she didn’t recognize him right off. She’ll figure it out, but will it be in time to save Hope?

Where did Brenda see Stoker before?

A little weird that, having given pictures of him to “those meddling kids™,” she doesn’t immediately recognize him.

Does this count as “padding”?

As in, she’s not going to Richard as quickly as some of us predicted?

Good morning™, suspicious police helpers !

Two is a ‘party’, five is a riot. Brenda will have company when she goes to Hope’s work at quitting time.

Reading between the lines of Ms. Starr’s thought process, I’d say she knew exactly who Hope Brown was and didn’t just happen in there by chance. But she did not immediately recognize Stokes, so he was not on her intuition radar as having any real connection to Faith Brown’s killing. That’s to be expected — it would’ve made her look callous and reckless to direct the girls towards him if he was a “person of interest” to her.

Good morning™, everyone!The investigative journalism begins! She’ll have it figured out long before her trip details are finalized.

Why is a professor selling insurance? Why is he going to a different business to sell it?

An ah-ha moment for Brenda!

Will Brenda put herself into danger?

I wonder if Brenda has connected the dots about Stokes, vampirism, exsanguination and the Brown’s other sister? Tracy needs proof, but the reporter can run down a hunch.

Lets see where this leads Brenda!!!

But why is he killing two of them…..is he in cahoots with the third?And to have the two victims of a vampire killer be sisters…..talk about limiting the suspects…..

Interesting twist here

What happened to meeting at the coffee shop?

Brenda is looking nicely sparkly today!

Hope does not know who Brenda is. Neither does she know who “John Stoker” is. Yet she is the one in most imminent danger.

Brenda is only just catching up to where many of us commenters were yesterday! C’mon, Brenda, make the connection in your mind—“Stoker is Professor Stokes!” Then, get on with with doing what needs to be done to save Hope’s life and bring Stokes to justice.

With today’s revelation that Brenda is only suspicious and has not yet made the identification, Hope’s Survival Factor dropped several points! But if Brenda gets it together, maybe with the help of the Tweeners, and with them goes to Hope to protect her while contacting Tracy and calling for him to speed over urgently, Hope might yet survive.

For an added twist, I cannot help but remain distrustful of Charity. She has seemed so curiously bland. Maybe that’s how she really is; or, maybe it’s a cover for her collusion with Stokes….

So Brenda wasn’t on to a lead. Her being there when Stokes unexpectedly came in was just the MOTHER OF ALL COINCIDENCES. Geez. Deus ex machina to the 100th power

Brenda casts a suspicious yet malicious glance over her shoulder as she leaves. No business cards? That’s a dead give away, sure as Bob’s her uncle. There’s no way that he could have run out and forgotten to stock more, or left them in another suit. No way, Jose. This is a clear sign that something wicked this way comes, and she’s not high on dandelion wine, Jack. This could be as big a story as her coverage of the Illustrated Man, the guy who was covered head to toe with tattoos and eventually retired to Gibtown, Florida. That story earned her the coveted Poolizter Prize from the National Enquirer, her second gig after she retired from covering the “Batboy” beat for the Weekly World News. But, first she has to meet Annie. She promised her that they could both get their pictures taken by the Halloween Tree in Ed Crankshaft’s back yard.

Yessirree, Brenda’s riding cowgirl on the comeback trail.

And so it goes, by gar, by gar…

1-HOPE: You’re boyfriend’s cute. Sorry I stole him. Heh heh

RED: That’s ok. Now I don’t need Biggun’s services. There goes your commission I guess! Heh heh

2-HOPE: Is there anything you can share on how to keep him? Oh. I guess not. HOPE SA-NAP!

3-RED: Little bee-atch There is! He hates red, two-seater sports cars for some reason. And bleached hair. I don’t suppose any of that will be a problem though… Double heh heh

The web becomes tangled! This story is better than I expected so far. I hope no one lets the air out of it! (ie. Coney and his gang).

nicely played