Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for April 24, 2021

“Damn. Usually I try to make minor hoods not-alive!”

”Witness Protection Detail.” ✨

Funny, he doesn’t look like a heavyworlder….

Good morning™, endangered spanner in the works !

A man who found a conscience late in the game. They need a back up plan in case Charlie gets popped.

Good morning™, everyone!

Tracy doesn’t seen overjoyed about this special assignment looking after some dorky-looking hood, but I suppose that convicting the Apparatus is very important, so he needs to be protected from being bumped off. “Charlie 21” seems like a strange name. I wonder where the name comes from. Maybe he cheats people at blackjack?

“Keep him ALIVE? I don’t understand!”

Ah…now we know what job the Apparatus has in mind for Abner.

And Abner will try to go for a twofer.

Probably no correlation but Ace and Queen paired-up, like we’ve mostly seen them so far, make for “21”.

Let’s see how this game of cards plays out!

So basically Tracy’s becoming a bodyguard.

Cue disco-era BeeGees!

Gee it sounds like Tracy and Abner both have the same target and will be working at cross purposes. No doubt Abner will see Tracy as a means to getting to Charlie 21

Is it just me or does Chuck look a tad bit like Mr Mxyzpltk or whatever his name is from the Superman comics?

“Let’s see, there is a witness protection program… No, not safe enough. There is protective custody… No, not safe enough. Oh, let’s let him walk around the city with the head of the major crimes unit – who’s an even bigger target for assassination than Charlie 21! That will keep them both safe.”

Well, Tracy’s eyes didn’t go wide at his new assignment as speculated here yesterday; instead they got even squintier!

any bets on who abner’s target is?

Tracy: unseen silent bubble: darn, there goes my culture night. I was going to unwind at Vitamin Flintheart’s play.

I was expecting our veteran crew to know who Charlie 21 is and post some links to previous stories of him. Is he really a new character?

Somewhere during the upcoming Abner Kadaver gets a consolation prize….killing Charlie 21. Contract may surpass the one he was offered to get rid of Tracy.

Weary days and weary nights….in essence babysitting Charlie 21 in a motel similar to the one Pouch stayed at.

I suppose Liz or Sam will be interim head of MCU while Tracy is on assignment.

“Let me get this straight. I have been working for this department for ninety years. I have brought in many of the most notorious criminals in our city’s history. I am the Chief of Detectives, and you want me to act as bodyguard for some cheap hood?”“That’s about the size of it.”“(Sigh) Six two and even.”

P3 – Tracy “Oh Joy.”

And now we know who Abner’s been hired to knock off.

Folks meet Charlie 21….and that is all I have to say!

Disguised as a bubble light, Cap’n Pat relates a different assignment to the out-of- scene, Dick Tracy…

1-CAP’N PAT: Here’s the craic, boy-yo…

2-…After you get that Cuban cigar “evidence” for me, you have to keep this man alive until he marries me darling sister, Saoirse.

DT: What? Why? Who would want to kill him?

3-CAP’N: Saoirse has lots of suiters, don’t cha know. That’s owing in some small part to her first husband, Connor Guinness, dying under mysterious circumstances and leaving her the brewery.

DT: OK, I have an idea! I’ll buy tickets for every performance of The Tempest . So even if a killer tracks us there, he’ll be easy to spot given it will just be us and him “watching” the performance!

CAP’N: I KNEW YOU WERE THE MAN FOR THE JOB! Now, get those cigars…

“Umm, keeping folks alive is not usually my forté, but I’m up for something new.”

I do believe that we have just found out who the Apparatus wants Abner Kadaver to kill.

From today’s Comics Curmudgeon:

I respect how utterly disgusted Dick looks in his final panel today. Keep one of these deformed criminal freaks alive? That’s exactly the opposite of everything Dick stands for.

He’s Charlie 21 because he’s the 21st clone created? Sorta like 7 of 9 but nowhere near as sexy.

He’s diabetic, has cancer and foot ulcers, so good luck!

I don’t usually see an “Oh, f***!” look so well illustrated on a Sunday morning comic strip. Especially not on the protagonist.

Charlie 21 sounds like a nickname.

Where’s Steve McQueen when you need him?

This guy doesn’t look so bad, but Tracy should be careful of his ventriloquist dummy, Scarface.

Now all we need is for Tracy and Charlie to hop aboard a cross-country train and we’d have an adaptation of the classic 1952 B-movie noir thriller, The Narrow Margin. The “protector” in that one was just an ordinary LAPD Detective Sergeant but the witness — who had to travel to Chicago for the trial — turned out to be an attractive blonde.

-Begorrah! Chief Patton has lost it!

Chief of Detectives and Head of the Major Crimes Unit, to serve as a “witless protection” bodyguard for some unlikely minor hood-turned-informer known as Charlie 21?!

The only possible explanation is that this is a device to facilitate Tracy crossing paths with Abner Kadaver again. Charlie Tuna—err, Charlie 21 must be Abner’s new assignment. How fortuitous! Abner gets to have a go at his New Assignment and Tracy all in one big ambush….

He looks like Dr. Caligari.