Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for April 26, 2021

Good morning™, fellow fans!

He’s raising his fee because he’s dying? Maybe he wants to leave a few extra dollars to Rikki in his will. I don’t suppose it would be easy for someone like him to buy life insurance.

Back in purple.

“You call this living?”

I think this is the first I heard Abner had some sort of disease. Is that the reason behind his wearing a mask?

Good morning™, soon to be weeping widows !

Abner will go down in the heat of battle. If Rikki avoids capture what new bad boy will she align with ?

Is Abner living?

So Abner’s days are numbered eh?

Good to hear.

Oh no! Poor, poor Abner!

Meh!!!

A very informative strip today, let’s see haw it turns out!

Health insurance is expensive for a freelancer like Abner.

As I commented yesterday, the opportunity to shot two birds with one bullet arrises. And I asked question whether DA’s request was simply stupid or he is working with Apparatus… Which got me thinking, has there ever been a bad law enforcement official in Dick Tracy? Seems like the police are always pure while politicians are frequently corrupt… Of course DA is usually an elected position.

It appears the being “among the living” ship sailed long ago….

Rikki: “Well, you do look like death warmed over, Abner…”

Frankly, he doesn’t look like he’s been among the living for quite some time.

By the looks of Abner, he should already be 6 feet under!

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU CAN’T KILL OFF ABNER KADAVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Soon, with these talking head strips like we have had for the last few days and with Abner’s body deteriorating, Joe won’t even have to draw Abner’s body, just his head. Perhaps he is streamlining the strip. Today he has dispensed with backgrounds in favor of easier-to-draw fog.

Old body wearing a bit thin, Abner?

….if he makes it to Halloween he could go trick-or-treating dressed as a “Mars Attacks” invader……

1-RIKKI TIKKI: So, what have you learned listening to the Chief through our shared wall?

2-ABBY: He likes Cuban cigars, he dyes his hair and…

3-…he’s starting to wonder where the orangey smoke sifting through our shared wall is coming from.

RIKKI; I guess he would! What is this stuff? It stinks!

ABBY: It’s my signature room freshener, Pumpkin Mist.

RIKKI: Your Pumpkin Mist is about to result in a PUKEY MESS! TURN IT DOWN!

ABBY: IT’S ON LOW ALREADY! RIKKI: YEAH? SO’S MY TOLERANCE FOR YOUR B.S.!

CAP’N PAT: KEEP IT DOWN OVER THERE! ABBY: Oops.

Where is Ras-al-Gul’s " Lazarus Pit " when it’s needed ? LOL X-DIt kept Ras alive for centuries… ;-)

But, death held sway over him in the end…

" I fear I may not be among the living much longer". How did this happen? One of his contracts involve working in a setting surrounded by asbestos?

Don’t know what the success rate has been on his contracts however I have to wonder if those who hired him paid for his efforts rather than his results.

Gee, thanks again Neil. Who’s worried about Ab dying. These guys never let anyone rest..BB Eyes, Shaky, Tiger Lilly etc. etc.. This is just Marvel World, only daily.

be back when this stupid story is done.

So the next time Abner dies will definitely be the last time?

Wait a second…… Eaten by Alligator, drowned in concrete, and pushed off a tall cliff doesn’t get him but a medical issue does?

you do look like death warmed over.

so the bad art contiunes for another week.

“Charlie 21?” “Yes, Rikki, don’t lose that number.”

“What’s your condition Abner?”

“Bad guy overusageitis.”

He looks to be ‘walking dead’ already.

Yes, Rikki we have a new contract, —And in panel 2 Abner confirms what everyone already surmised, that it is on Charlie 21 (an expendable character, though his testimony is desired). But the News of the Day comes in panel 3, as Abner reveals that he believes he is dying from an incurable (?) disease, whatever his “condition” is. I guess we can assume that it has resulted so far in his rotten looks (literally). Hansen’s Disease? An increased fee will, I suppose, provide for Rikki’s future, as well as covering funeral expenses for himself….

I have noticed that Rikki has not been wearing her star beauty mark in this adventure. She also does not seem to be acting with the glee she once had.

Even bad guys have health problems!

He’s got Boogie Fever, real bad.