Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for November 03, 2020

Good morning™, concerned docs !

Detecting trail has begun. Will we see them at the “Fleur” shop next ?

Good morning™, all!

Well, I hope it’s not going to affect hundreds. Tracy had better be careful when he goes to visit that boutique. So far, it seems that Yeti is a step ahead of the doctors trying to treat the patients with the mysterious comas.

It’s a text-heavy strip, but I think it successfully avoids being a series of heads.

The disease of using too many commas in a speech bubble is spreading. Speech is airborne…. Mark, “What have you done?!?”

Wonder if this is their attempt to be topical by interesting a COVID-like disease into the Tracy-verse.

Interesting.

Opening speech balloon seems stilted. Is the “Chief Detective Tracy” really needed? Doctor doesn’t want Sam to know that also? How often, during a conversation, do you refer to the person you are talking to with their full title?

In panel 1, it looks like Tracy has been brown-nosing the good doctor.

Right in the middle, panel 2 is the guts of today’s message. The lead doctor identifies the problem to the extent possible. But panel 3’s warning to Tracy needs to be taken seriously. Tracy and Sam ought not to waltz into the flower shop blithely unprotected against potential airborne toxins!

Sweet smell of comas! [Not to mention commas, which Neil handled well.]

Mike Ditka as a doctor? Interesting…

I’d rather have a “text heavy strip” that gives us information and movement than 5 or 6 days of talking heads that do nothing to advance the story

If you don’t like explanations – with commas – expect the story to be slow while they spend a week to discover everything explained in 3 panels of dialogue.

I know Yeti is a new bad guy, but I seem to recall a similar plot line from not too long back with a toxic gas dispersed by exploding clown toys

The patient’s been exposed to a neurotoxin, and she’s not on a respirator?

Isn’t it sort of odd for a hospital to call a detective for this sort of thing?

Perfect amount of storytelling for a three panel strip, and clean artwork to match.

I suppose the albino looking criminal introduced in this past Sunday’s strip probably has the antidote. Hmm…what’s next? Entire city held for ransom? Nah…he does not come across as one who is in it for the money. Probably wants to make a contribution to science. What was the deal with the ray-gun type weapon? Did he “snuff out” the assistant who messed up or “vaporize” him?

Not to worry. It’ll be gone in April, when the weather warms up.

Regarding the use of the comma…

The placement of a comma can change the meaning of a sentence…

A funny example is : “Let’s eat, Grandma…” or “Let’s eat Grandma,” … ;-D