Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for March 19, 2022

… you mean “Coffee Break.” ✨

Crossing the street to get to his car, Tracy is run over by Coffyhead. This is what we in Hollywood call a “cute meet.”

Good morning™, talking heads !

4 panels would make these parts go faster. 3 panels helps though. I hope Coffyhead is settled with a palatable drink by the time we get back to him. I don’t think I could handle a hot splash to the face from my monitor.

Good morning™, everyone!

So, will Tracy be pleased to meet Vitamin’s new discovery during his lunch break?

I think we’ve left Coffyhead for the moment until after Tracy and Vitamin meet. I doubt that Coffyhead is headed for the Patterson Playhouse. Do we know the address of the Playhouse?

New discovery? Probably the ghost of Shakespeare.

You’d think Vitamin, of all people, would see to it he got enough iodine in his diet. Which reminds me: is the scarf to cover up the goiter?

Tracy actually taking an out of office meal break? Things must be really slow.

Small talk throwaway day. Filler leading into a Sunday page. Here’s hoping that there is some action. It is a shame how many Sundays are wasted by small talk and no action on a canvas the size of 2 daily strips. We’ll seel.

‘oh swell, pick me up something too.’

Sam’s vexed expression indicates he’s again locked in mortal combat with technology.

Gee Neil. questions questions. Maybe you should spend a day researching this stuff

“Richard, I have a new discovery”! What does Vitamin do to find these people….place an ad in the paper and the internet?

1-SAM: YOO HOO! TRACY! Personal phone call for you during work hours!

DT: Oh give it a rest, Sam. The time you spend on personal phone calls was the only criticism I had in your Annual Review. Now, GIMME THAT…

2-…MAJOR CRIMES UNIT, TRACY HERE.

VITAMIN DEFICIENCY: Hello Richard. This is… DT: I KNOW WHO IT IS! You’re the only person I know who won’t say “Dick”.

3- VITAMIN: Well, it does have vulgar connotations that are abhorrent to a thespian like my…

DT: DID YOU JUST SAY “LESBIAN”? AND YET YOU WON’T SAY “DICK”! I find that mighty…

VITAMIN: LESBI… GOOD HEAVENS, NO! I WOULD NEVER… uh…I have a peculiar feeling in my chest…can’t breathe… THUD

DT: Hello? You there, Vitamin? Oh well.

SAM: So, what’d he want, Tracy?

DT: I think he was going to tell me about some lesbian he just hired. I dunno. LATER GATOR!

I can imagine an unseen thought bubble coming from Tracy, " Confound it, Vitamin…you and your discoveries". Didn’t Tracy get a call from him prior to the last encounter involving the making of a movie which never saw the light of day?

Hmm…Sam must be putting the finishing touches on their Yeti report. So Tracy gets to take his lunch break.

Vitamin might have a new discovery, yet the guy is doing material from yesteryear. It’s a wonder that sheet music is available for the band to work with. No scratch that….they play by ear….modern technology….just go to You Tube via cell phones for the Dot show.

Shakespeare wrote the overwhelming majority of his plays by himself…all kidding aside. And what great plays they are!

By the way, l still dig this comic strip, too…

I just read today’s Little Orphan Annie. There is a singer there, and she is crooning the following lyrics: “Muddy rainbow, Where’s my love?”

Gould had Tonsils sing that exact line at least once during the sequence where he was learning lyrics and trying to convince everybody that he could be the next big sensation. The LOA strip was written by Jay Maeder, who wrote the wonderful, tongue-in-cheek Biography of Dick Tracy, which has a chapter devoted to Tonsils and Mr. Crime.

It’s still a pretty big coincidence that particular LOA strip is running now!

Tracy seems to be leaving for lunch alone a lot. Doesn’t he ever take Sam or Junior?

I guess Vitamin doesn’t have Tracy’s smartphone number.

Hmm, only 62 comments as of 5:30 PM DST. Where is everybody today? (Or has the prospect of spending months with Tonsils Two and Coffyhead sparked a stampede for the exits?)

Let me guess, Tonsils is meeting up with Coffeehead.

Dare we say it? Things (and people) are coming together.

I dare say we’ll soon have a crime, or intimations thereof.

But does Vitamin need to call on Tracy’s presence just to announce the fake Tonsils, or does he have something of greater import in mind?

We shall see….

OK, so we get no resolution on Yeti, I guess.