Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for September 06, 2021

“Then again, I wouldn’t want to cross a Girl Scout selling cookies. Mmm, cookies. I sure could use some cookies. Thin Mints in freezer, that’s the ticket. What was I saying?”

“Not like the previous Ace of this massive crime organization. I crossed him all the time. Come to think of it, that may be why my car got bombed….and my parents were shot.”

Good morning™, fearful shopkeeps !

I don’t wanna cross him either but ,“it’s my job and I do it for pay”. Sam looks determined to bust a head and when it happens Ace will know he was hit by a “Hurricane”.

The hot dog is the most original thing in today’s strip.

Good morning™, tipsters!

I think the last time Sam got a tip from Barney Dhatkham (almost named “dot-com”) at the computer shop was about this time of year in 2012 (https://www.gocomics.com/dicktracy/2012/09/12 and the following day). It’s been a while!

Oh no, now he’s a marked card!

I was just thinking of Barney last week, when “Ace” was unmasked before the Shadowy Crime-Lords and one of them said something like: “Oh. It’s You.” Not, “GASP! It’s YOU!!!” but an underwhelmed “Meh”, suggesting that the person was someone the reader might recognize, but was someone unimpressive, someone beneath suspicion. Someone like Barney Dahtkham, maybe.

And now Barney has shown up. Hum.

Granted, the “Ace” we’ve seen looks taller and less couch-potato-ish than ol’ Barn, so maybe he’s someone else. Still, I think I’m going to keep an eye on Barney.

I wouldn’t want to cross Abbey Road. I’d risk getting knocked down by all those Liverpudlians coming from the other direction.

On that subject: The crucifixion. Send the time drone to the crucifixion. Or better yet, to the grave a day and a half afterwards.

How does a used computer guy know about the Apparatus? Illegal Spyware?

It’s Stony Curtis.

I appreciate comics that are new EVERY DAY.

Anyone remember in those cheesy Dick Tracy cartoons of the early 1960s that Heap O’Calorie (one of Tracy’s team of characters) would go to an informant he only called “Nick”, a stereotype of a beatnik? Nick always had the info that O’Calorie wanted, but never spoke. He would beat out some kind of code on his bongo drums that O’Calorie understood.

1-BARNYARD: I got some new triple X DVD’s in for ya, Sam. But tell me, why do you wanna buy ‘em when it’s all over the internet for free?

2-SAM: That stuff don’t have no story line! It’s all wham bam. I like some emotional content and a reason. You know – like when the lady doesn’t have money for the pizza.

3-BARNYARD: You old softee! Well I’m glad to have a customer willing to pay for this stuff.

SAM: Also I like to see the gals the way I remember them back in the day. I don’t understand those “Landing Strips”, “Chihuahuas” and “Brazilians”. It ain’t natural.

BARNYARD: Yep. You know Sam. I think your collection will ultimately be a valued donation to some museum. Imagine how shocked young men will be when the see what it really looks like!

SAM: Hmmm… The Catchem Historical Visual Collection Of… I’ll have to work on that last word… In the meantime – let’s see that copy of REALLY Dirty Dancing you got in.

Isn’t he crossing the Ace right now, by selling intell on him to Sam?

CDs and used DVDs? What is this, the 1990s?

In 2O12, hundreds of retail record stores closed!

The sign out front indicating CDs for sale should not have an apostrophe – the plural s is not the same as the possessive ’s, which does use an apostrophe.

Of course, Barney has never been depicted as being particularly bright. But Mike Curtis and Company, on the other hand, should know better!

If you don’t know who he is, why wouldn’t you want to cross him?

Say what? The newcomer is not a protégé of the original Ace of Spades but some wannabee?

Is the Apparatus being taken for a ride? (No pun intended)

I got to go back to the archives of my local newspaper…thought the Spade organization was wiped out when Tracy infiltrated them in the 60’s. Did somebody escape?

I hope Sam makes in home in time tonight so he is not late for Rosh Hashanah services.

Sam should buy a record.

So: an unknown Apparatus leader was replaced by another unknown one. Hot tip, indeed.

Hmm, thinks Sam. So, there’s a new “Ace of Spades” and his rep says he’s a meanie? That’s interesting….

An informant is always useful, to some degree. And Sam is doing some old-fashioned detective work. That’s all to the Good….

This is one of Sam’s pet informants,he hasn’t been used in years.