Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for December 15, 2021

Good morning™, everyone!

A plan starts to come together at … The Mermaid Lounge? It sounds like this could take a while, but Mr. Bones sees the SBN report about the upcoming Tracy exhibit, so that should be his next step.

Looking for complications? ✨

Never gonna beat what Putty Puss did to him before; making him PART of the exhibit……

Mr. Bones is probably going to break Tracy’s bones.

Bones seems too mellow to be a cold-blooded killer.

Good morning™, cogitative death dealers !

This is a man who exercises precision in his work. This job will have him as short work. Will it be a series of lucky breaks and coincidences that saves Tracy’s hide ?

A man of culture I see in P1.

I see he’s a connoisseur of art.

The mermaid is just background not a new character? Would have been interesting!

Foreshadowing? Bonhomme has a Flattop!

The Mermaid and Origami Bar?

Mr. Bones intends to do some research…get to know the patterns of his target. I don’t know if he’ll go as far regarding what kind of foods Tracy likes. What sort of home life Tracy has and other quirks if he finds any.

Blackjack is gonna end up killing Mr Bones in a shootout at the Gould Library to save Tracy’s life

Hey, isn’t that Phishface’s bar?

And one just presented itself.

Then, in a tragic miscalculation, he decides Sam is Tracy…

1-TRAVOLTA: Now those are some real fishnet stockings! I’d like to dangle my worm in front of her fa…

BARTENDER: HEY BUDDY! ORDER SOMETHING OR BEAT IT!

2-TRAVOLTA: Beat It? Oh my. You’ve recognized me and want me to dance to that tune. Regretfully I must demur. Now, what do your Scientologist visitors usually get when they visit this establishment?

BARTENDER: THEY GET OUT IF THEY KNOW WHAT’S GOOD FOR THEM!

TRAVOLTA: No need to get nasty. There’s a fine establishment nearby where I can get a Royale With Cheese Good day! Hello? I wonder if Ratface will be doing any filming at the Exhibit?

BARTENDER: 1…2…

TRAVOLTA: I’M GOING ALREADY!!!

Second panel, looks like Billy Joel !

Looks to me like the art work is slowly changing ! ?

I really like this guys’ approach to things! Also really digging the mermaid art at this bar!

I’m pretty sure that guy is Frankenstein’s grandson.

The fact that anyone trying to kill Tracy has failed.

Hey, boboscar! Looks to me like the last story is dead-fish-dead! Both time drone (and its blown-to-smithereens villain) and Briar Rose appear headed down Amnesia Lane.

I’d say this kill-the-Tracy plot is the only current story going on in Tracyville!

Today’s strip reminded me of an old Night Gallery episode about a fisherman who discovers a mermaid & keeps her on his boat. He makes a wish that the mermaid grows legs so she can walk on dry land … & at the end, the mermaid does grow legs, but her top half has become a fish. File that under being careful what you wish for.

On the_Pirates of the Caribbean_ ride at Disneyland, there’s a portrait of a mermaid in the cave section. It’s full frontal, with strategically-placed hair over her chest. The picture’s been there since 1967. It was the last ride Walt supervised.

Today, over at Bloom County, I encountered the “Bill the Cat Oyster Bar.” While Richard Bonhomme is not a patron of that particular establishment, he does seem to be in a rather fishy bar, with that prominent mermaid art.

And so it occurs to me that he has a drowned look, as the ship whose name his reverses. A revenant from Davy Jones’ Locker?

Heeeeeere’s a possibility: some big, hulking alien something -or-other drifts up, jags Bones on his shoulder, and then some human-sorta-guy with an impossibly deformed face says" "He doesn’t like you…….I don’t like you either!…….