Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for January 18, 2021

Ahhh, I’ve gone colorblind!!

Good morning™, early morning readers!

Looks to me like it’s 3:00 a.m. I have the feeling that panel 1 might be Auntie Bellum’s room because of all the curtains, but it could be the room of Cheesecake who we see sound asleep in panel 2. Tiger Lilly’s shadow looms across the verandah, so it must be time to strike.

Might have needed the [BLUE]→ sign if the balloon were in the picture.

Hmmm… in which darkened corner will a wide awake Aquarius be keeping watch? He’ll likely have the [BLUE]—> balloon strategically placed in plain sight like a chunk of bleu cheese in a mousetrap!

They turned off the lights AND colors! Whoa. They must have been doing some serious chemicals.

All balloons are gray in the dark….

Next panel: REEE! REEE! REEE! Cue the horror horn as Tiger Lilly is stabbed by Auntie Bellum with a butcher knife and falls backward down the stairs.

The colorist is sleeping on the job!

Ray Toler corrected about 6 hours ago

@Cheapskate0

You mean Donnie Pitchford not Don Preston.

Preston would fit right in with the cavalcade of criminals in Tracy world.

https://sotcaa.org/editnews/images/200motels_transform_dvd_tn.jpg

Good morning™, midnight creepers !

Does T.L. even know what room or communal area he is looking for ?  The longer it takes him the more at risk of being discovered he will be. Nice bold and stark in today’s. Might as well copy to keep before the color comes back.

You know, maybe they should forget the colorists on the dailies.

This is pretty good!

It is in color at the Seattle newspaper site.

only one creature stirring, it wasn’t mouse, the stocking all hung in one row with care, but the colorist was sleeping, his crayolas not shared

I guess its in B& W because its 3 am and the lights are out for the night!!! Making an eerie scene!!!

Tale is a little sketchy today!

Cheesecake has rather large hands!

This is a long hour to get the blue balloon back…Now it’s 3 am?

This is times I wouldn’t wish this colored. This is perfect how it looks. Much like what @anyface said. “…in glorious, Hitchcockian Black-And-White…”

Very strange today at best , but still great images . Is it me or are Cheesecake’s hands look little large ?

I wonder if she has a knife under the pillow ? That would be a nice surprise for the shadowy intruder .

Meanwhile the buyer has Pouch strung up, upside down, and is about to fillet him. Whatever “hot” info was in the balloon is stone cold by now.

As long as Tiger doesn’t accidentally open the door to the heavily soundproofed room where the commune’s nightowl lives.

Somewhere a trumpet is drearily playing “It’s Threeeeee O’Clock In The Moooooorning”…………..

I assumed Cheesecake would be sleeping with Aquarius.

So the bucket in panel 3 suggests that this old mansion either has a leaky roof or that it never got indoor plumbing…

3- FRENCHY: PEE YOOOOO! WHAT’S THAT SMELL?

We learn that it’s the latter

Did you know the entire world was in black-and-white before Walt Disney invented COLOR ?

Sleeping soundly, either Cheesecake didn’t get much candy that day or she changed her preference of candy types. Seems like a small-time operation if there is nobody looking out the blinds for helicopters until the morning, more of a stoner vibe that viscous drug war.

Tiger Lilly better hope that none of the hippies has to get up and go to the bathroom while he’s sneaking around.

Not a creature was stirring….they were all in the land of nod…unless Auntie Bellum has insomnia.

So Tiger Lily picks the lock…didn’t factor in the state of shock…when he saw Auntie Bellum in the kitchen raiding the refrigerator for a midnight snack. Tiger Lily muttering under his breath, how long do I have to wait this old biddy out before making my move? All those people I saw…what is this place…a mansion or an oversized boarding house?

So get the stupid balloon already….

I am in fact surprised that there seem to be no people up and active at The 1312 at just 3:00 AM. Do hippies all turn in promptly at 10:00 PM?!

In any case, whilst Cheesecake and presumably others snooze, Tiger Lilly is still skulking about outside, looking for an easy way in (that’s how I read panel 3, anyway). If he doesn’t crack in soon, daylight may be rolling around again!