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

Mumbles:

“Jack of Spades? What happened? Ace of Spaces wants to know why you didn’t call in.”

What time is it?

“Time to see the Ace of Spades! He wants you back at headquarters.”

I guess he’s saying that Briar Rose dropped him. Good acting. Mumbles believes it all.

Avenger09 said it yesterday

I do not think that’s Tracy under the tights. His jaw is not square enough. I am sure that is not Sam because of his built. Definitely not the Chief. So who is under the costume?

Johnny Adonis? They might have outsourced the actor.

I looked back at November 15, and I noticed that the real Jack has no Jack of Spades on his costume in his only appearance. The “Jack” in panel 1 today does and it’s red. Did Shelley do this intentionally? Is this a clue that some Apparatus person will notice?

Good morning™, molemen !

If that Spades imposter were Tracy I think Mumbles would recognize the sounds he makes and that would blow the whole Trojan horse scheme right out.

As for who our mole is: The one character in the MCU who is most known for undercover work:

Drum roll please.

LEE EBONY!

“Ayendurstan, sbrarohs hitchufyootimes nthnyukildern dsposedothbodyn caimbakern feldownnthdflorn tukanap thoutreprtintace.”“Exactly. This is totally on the level and not even slightly suspicious. Let’s proceed quickly to your – I mean, our secret hideout.”

It’s gotta be Tracy under the ridiculous costume, the only appropriate thing for this ridiculous story!

As many here have said that Mumbles nor anyone else knew what happened, so they wouldn’t suspect this. But, if that is Tracy, wouldn’t Mumbles have recognised him?

Where does a hitman like Jack keep his gun? Where could he possibly conceal it? Did he go out in public dressed like that? A bodysuit would hide his identity, but it would draw attention. Did he go to the deli in street clothes and then change into his circus suit?

Nice to know the police keep Apparatus uniforms on hand, since the uniform of the Jack who was killed had a bullet hole and blood. Also reassuring that Mumbles (or whoever the Apparatus sent) didn’t know Jack – so the voice couldn’t give him away. (We must also assume the police keep offers in a variety of heights to fill the uniforms – unless they rely on coincidence to assure all Apparatus agents are exactly the same height as Dick Tracy or whoever is wearing it now.)

But Mumbles should be thinking, “If you shot her, at this range, how did she have time to get in some hits? And if you dropped her, where’s the body? And that still doesn’t explain why the deli didn’t answer when the Ace called.”

This doesn’t even feel like a real Dick Tracy comic strip anymore. It feels like an adaptation of an adaptation.

wait….they just left him laying there?

Story doesn’t make sense unless the jack of spade is abait left behind by the police

Umm… didn’t Sam SHOOT this guy? Why did the cops just leave the scene of an officer involved shooting?

Mumbles doesn’t even wonder what happened to the plucked Rose?

Johnny Adonis is the obvious suspect for a faux Jack, but Lafayette Austin has also gone undercover for Tracy.

As for the new Ace, could he be Polar Vortex?

At some point it will all hang out or at som pint it wil al hng ut.

So the deli guy is cooperating with MCU – probably in order to get leniency for being an accomplice to attempted murder.

“B-Briar Rose got some hits in before she dropped. What time is it”? Starting to wonder if Briar Rose was strapped. She must have bribed the deli guy to let her get a head start.

Maybe Sam shot him through the Jack of Clubs insignia on his outfit. All blood from the wound is clotting inside the suit. Stop the presses! Where is this guy’s weapon? Oh Briar Rose must taken it for a souvenir. I can imagine at her new sanctuary singing " I’ll have this moment to r-e-m-e-m-b-e-r".

Great images again , but I’m not quite sure what to make of this anymore .

Geez, I hope it’s revealed who is who real soon, so some of the “comme nters” can breath easier and get some rest. It’s a toon folk

1-DT: Wait…I see my contact!

2-…I’m parched. Let’s get a bean smoothie on the way to wherever the Apparatus has…I mean…to wherever we hid all that treasure we found when we misused the Time Drone.

3-MUSHMOUTH: I dnt havda figur fora card otfit. Youwoikout alot?

DT: Well, yeah. The Chief…I MEAN…Ratface don’t want us disgracing the uniform with fat rolls ya know. Sometimes I envy how you can go out and just have a good time.

MUSHMOUTH: Yeah buttnobdy respks me.

DT: That’s because no one understands you when you share a good idea.

MUSHMOUTH: I wndr why? DT: What?

Can we get a translator for mumbles? The storyline would go so much smoother.

I know someone else has said it, but I’ll echo it. If members of this community would read the posts before writing their own, we wouldn’t have over 100 posts – many, many of which are duplicates – for the rest of us to wade through. I realize that some post just to be posting, but it is frustrating reading through several posts in a row saying the same thing. Especially since what is being posted was also said yesterday. No, Sam did not shoot the guy and leave him behind. OK, soap box abandoned.

WestofthePecan: It’ a sort of „Which came first, the chicken or the egg“ situation: Was it, as you said, we are too lazy to read all the comments before making our own, or is it that morning readers do not have time to read all the posts already present?

Because so many people post, and the comics themselves post at 11:07 PM Mountain Time, if a reader first sees this in the morning, said 100 posts are already present AND said morning reader may not have time to browse all the posts to see if his comment has been duplicated.

And, since most of us are here just for the fun of it, anyway, oh, what the heck, if people want to leave their two cents worth for a chuckle!

Nice to know: As a sort of self-appointed moderator of this menagerie, most of the important stuff gets posted under Neil Wick s first post, anyway, beginning with his analysis and commentators thereto. Gweedo, Ray Toler, and LawrenceS also usually have astute observations and replies.

And let’s not forget boboscar who usually only chimes in at the end of stories with his ongoing running summary of the on-going Tracy saga.

I’d say, just reading these posts, you can get a good feel of what is going on in the current story – not to mention, a good idea if what you have to contribute may or may not be a duplicate.

Hope this helps.

(And a shout out to JPuzzlewhiz, who I’m sure will find a punny fing to say about this)

YAY!!! Dick Tracey has redeemed himself!!!! To quote the Carp in Star Wars, “IT’S A TRAP!!!”

DId he just say time to see hookers?

So, since that is either Dick or another detective under the hood, how do they know jack’s voice well enough to imitate it, so that mumbles doesn’t figure it out?

Mumbles was certainly not expecting a police ambush with a disguised phony Jack of Spades. So, he isn’t being overly cautious. The most glaring weakness in this subterfuge to me is the absence of Briar Rose’s body or any explanation of why it’s not there in the upper room. Mumbles should have realized that. Maybe he’s just in too much of a rush to get “Jack” back to Ace of Spades (which, of course, is just what “Jack” wants, too). There are probably more cops, or at least MCU detectives, lurking around the deli to follow Mumbles and “Jack”….

I have a very weird theory formulating, but it’s only a couple of hours before a new strip is uploaded, so I’ll wait till I see it before saying anything :)

Wouldn’t it have been easier for Briar Rose to give the MCU the location of the Apparatus HQ & they could just stage a large-scale raid than this completely unbelievable (even by comic strip standards) plot turn.