Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for December 22, 2020

An angry Pouch is a scary sight indeed! And what of Tiger Lily once gang leader and now bouncer for Pouch? How the (not much) mighty has fallen! But as I recall, Tiger was not so bright, killing a deer out of season and leading his men in a water intake basin.

So, have we gone back in time to Thursday and these two Magoo’s are continuing their conversation or did they go home, take a bubble bath, order out some Chinese food while listening to Bobby Darin’s “Beyond the Sea” before meeting up 5 days later to continue where they left off?

Didn’t Pouch make his intentions known before Tiger Lily guy got carried away with being a chiropractor? Who will hear about it? The police? Yeah Tracy and company have. They probably figured the “competition” snuffed out Dollar Bill. Is Pouch sweating bullets? Is he selling balloons without a business license? Say it’s not so.

Yeah, Pouch does look ticked off. Ideal candidate for an anger management class.

“When the other dealers find out…they’ll get the message. They could form an association and hire a hit man from out of town. What planet does this Tiger Lily live on? Does his “elevator” (also known as a brain) go to the top floor?

Good morning™, angry park rats !

Pouch sees the potential for having his entire operation at this park shutdown and is most livid over it.

“Tiger burning bright in the forest of the night’” Pouch looks angry eniugh to burn Tiger, and not metaphorically

Tiger Lily can just disappear. Pouch is the one who will have to answer questions.

With the strong shadows in panels 2 and 3, today’s strip will probably look extra special once it gets posted in glorious b&w…

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Pouch is familiar with Tracy. I think that is fueling his present anger.

Okay, police will know there is a dead dealer. No indication, at the moment, that they know anything other than they have a dead dealer at da dock. Might be easy to find people who say, “Oh, he hung around the park.” Pouch can say, “Oh, I saw him. Told him he wasn’t welcome here and he cleared out. I don’t know where he went,” or try, “I’m not here 24-7 and can’t see what’s happening in every inch of the park.” Is this time for gasp some sort of actual forensic evidence rather than wild leaps of assumptions? Real detective work? It would be nice. I’m going to guess, no.

Wonder if there will be a moment in this story to show newer fans exactly why Pouch is called ‘Pouch’?

Lemme get this straight – Pouch was afraid a drug dealer would scare off his lucrative fifteen cent balloon trade AND he somehow enticed Tiger Lilly, not previously known for his civic duty, to help him out in that regard? That whole scenario is as unlikely as a fifteen cent balloon in winter.

Also, Tigers have stripes. Leopard have spots. He should be Leopard Lilly.

Wow! Hang on to those balloons.

So, Pouch is concerned that his peaceful little park will be attracting too much of the “wrong” (i.e., police) attention? I’ve never seen him angrier than at Tiger Lilly in panel 3, but there is very little he can do that wouldn’t garner even more unwanted attention. For now, this is the Tiger’s insurance policy….

Right now to me it looks like Pouch has two choices. He can find another park to sell balloons or he can start a home based business for sales.

Stop talkin’ and start chalkin’. The original Tiger Lilly story was interesting and moved along. Not so much this one, just like all the recent ones. Please, hire a writer.

OK, I like the bubblebath and Chinese food just fine….but Bobby Darin?….Oh please.

Pouch better watch his mouth,or Tiger Lilly is liable to put him in a ‘’suplex hold’‘and then top it off with a ’’sleeper hold’’like he put on Dollar Bill.