Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for March 27, 2021

Good morning™, everyone!

So, Cheesecake has a real name, too! I never would have guessed she was Kelly.

They are still holding off on showing us Peggy’s face, leaving us to just “talk to the hand.” Oscar has brought her a nice plant with a microphone bug in the middle. Wasn’t that kind of him?

”Three’s a Crowd.” ✨

We now know her real name is Kelly.

Looks like Kelly decided to take her groovy sweater off.

Was she embarrased by it?

Today’s avatar shows me playing my righty Fender Jazz bass.

A long time ago.

Good morning™, sneaky buggers !

Thanks for pointing out the bug, Neil. I wonder why Oscar would bug the meeting ?  Is he working against the old man and is collecting what could turn out to be evidence ?  So, the two assistants get the boot. This bugging business has me wondering if Oscar isn’t some kind of undercover guy looking for dirt on Stephan Bellum. Steph may be up to his eyebrows in criminal work himself.

I found the transition between the panels rather awkward today. It took me a bit to figure out who was talking to who and why the question.

Brother: “Hi Peggy. I see you’re still on oxygen. Mind if I smoke?”

Oscar is a forked-tongued sly one, ain’t he!? He’s working all the different angles, never letting anyone on to his true motives. He’s hiding his distain for Peggy, who he feels is a “pillhead”; he’s secretly eavesdropping on his boss, Stephan; and he’s especially complimentary to Kelly who he probably has the hots for. Is he an undercover Fed, trying to take down a white-collar crime kingpin? Or is he a fixer for a competitor, working on an angle to steal the real-estate development from Mr. Bellum? I’d like to think he’s a crook and the encrypted data on Pouch’s blue balloon is part of the plot he’s involved in, but I guess that’s just the Romantic who enjoys complicated plots with hidden symmetry in me.

Tomorrow should be a good strip!

Kelly does look “ravishing” today!

I wonder who is listening in on the conversation bedside???

hmm… someone seems a little upset.

Well, I’m callin’ it a three-fer-three: The wimpish expressions on Oscar’s mug in all three panels are the gloopy-gimpy dopy-mopey glue that anchors today’s install………and: from “Cheesecake” to uhmmmm…..“Kelly”……almost like a spur ’o the moment…demotuion?……..

I see I wasn’t the only one who noticed the Chester Gould Universal Symbol for a transmitter emanating from the plant Friendly Oscar so thoughtfully brought in.

I don’t find it confusing at all, and that’s a great catch on the “bug” in the first frame. It’s just a comic strip. One I have enjoyed for years, but I don’t expect to find perfection here.

A bit of a confusing layout today. I wasn’t sure who said “Oh, who are you?” Was it Cheesecake or Mr. B?

We see now why Cheesecake dresses more conservatively than the hippies in the house. She may be Aquarius’s girlfriend but she is also there on a professional basis as a personal assistant. Apropos that her name should be Kelly which is reminiscent of the Kelly Girls who were and are hired for such purposes. I had a sister who worked as a Kelly Girl and was a personal assistant.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly_Services

As an addict, she has a dream job of working for a drug dealer who goes out of his way to supply her—even to the extent of eating up the profits. As assistant to bedridden Peggy she has little to do except read magazines on the sofa, make Monte Cristo sandwiches, and run errands. She is little more than a drugged up flunky who occasionally runs errands.

I believe Oscar just planted the bug and is playing both ends against the middle. Could it possibly have something to do with the blue balloon business? He is awfully anxious for Mr. Bellum to have his private conversation with his sister. The balloon could have contained encryption codes for all of the Bellum’s accounts (Peggy’s, Alex’s, and Stephan’s). Remarkable what you might hear in a private financial conversation between billionaires. As a personal assistant himself, he seems the type who would cut corners to climb the ladder quickly from flunky to pharaoh.

Oh, and BTW, did Mr. Bellum’s phoney moustache fall off in panel 2?

cue the dark ambient music with discordant overtones

1-AUNTIE: See this hand? If it’s not holding 3 Percocets by the count of 3, I’m gonna scream my lungs out. Step to it, lackey!

2-MR. BIGG: WOOT WHOO! (that’s a wolf whistle) You’re supposed to be watching my sister, not entertaining hotties!

BIGG JR: checking to make sure he’s strapped just in case Mr. Bigg gets physical Yeah well, you didn’t say I couldn’t! POWDER NOSE: Huh?

3-BIGG JR: Your sister is in the bedroom. Please speak loudly and enunciate into the flower.

MR. BIGG: You’re a strange, fussy little man but, ok. Now, SCRAM!!!

Not a friendly face.

Quick, before the Cops show up.

Anyone think maybe Kelly is Cheesecake’s LAST name? Neil actually did something constructive today. Mark this page.

I got to tune in tomorrow to see if Mr. Bellum and his sister are going to have a heart to heart talk or a knock-down drag out. Will Aquarius be satisfied with the results?

Aquarius already knows he has to relocate his “business enterprise”. Has to be a bummer….plus the soup kitchen for those street people who came in and out of 1312 Bedwell is shut down.

Auntie Bellum’s brother looks like the Old Diet Smith.

Could it be someone has gone into business for themselves or a blackmail scheme by the boss?

Kelly? Cheesecake has a “real” name! Now you know.

As Oscar butters up the old gal (a.k.a. Peggy Bellum), Stephan “Big” Bellum shows up, startles Kelly (!), demands private audience with his invalid sister. Obsequious Oscar complies, naturally….

Kelly?!

Yawn…..

Wait a minute, Kelly? That’s not the name I remember. What was it now…“Sweet Cakes”? Oh yeah! Cheese Cake wasn’t it?

Such intrigue! Things are perking up! But I do miss Shaky and Edison.