Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for October 23, 2022

Just when he had wriggled free Steelface pulls him back in

Wee small hours boosting cars with rough and shady men.

Acting classes soon replaced car theft on the high wire

Now a debt has been called in. The situation dire.

Playhouse like a home to him. Would his big break be broken?

Sweetest dreams may turn to dust. Observe, he is not jokin’.

Liberation is cut short. Makes Robert want to shout

Steelface puts the screws to him. It does no good to pout.

Did go straight. Must this be fate? Now pay for past transgression?

Debt incurred. Events absurd. Won’t stand for life regression.

Good morning™, everyone!

So, we have another character who wanted to leave his criminal past behind, but he’s being forced to go back to stealing cars. It looks like he was younger in the flashback scene, but maybe it’s just the hair that makes me think that. I think it’s notable that he was the “top gun” and not just a minor participant.

I wonder what the sign says. Could it be “motor.” If so, the bottom tail of the “R” is missing, but maybe it’s something else.

So… Eleven vehicles a day is ‘way down’. My estimate of 4,000 or 5,000 a year must have been too low. And the cops haven’t noticed that volume? How/where do you sell that many parts, scrap metal, and rubbish a week with no one getting suspicious? (They’re not simply stealing a part – catalytic converters – but taking whole vehicles.) The MCU spends too much time drinking coffee and not enough looking at police reports.

So ‘Little’ Warbucks, a young man with an eye issue wants to quit his life of crime and go legit in the entertainment field but unc Steelwool says no?

Quite an original story we got here.(sarcastic grin on my face).

What’s with the purple haze today? Looks weird.

Man with electroplated steel skull blackmails Mr. Peanut!

See story, page 3!

so Robert is aware of Uncle Steely’s criminal enterprise, as he was formerly a part of it… now favors are called in… Robert is in a bind, forced to make a choice: continue to play it straight and turn Steely down and pursue his dream of acting in his favorite play or go back to his former ways by boosting cars for Uncle Arce who enabled him to have the audition that he aced for the part of Derby… poor guy, caught between a rock and a hard place…

Good morning™, Great Big Letdowns :-( !

Man !  His Opie Taylor act had me buffaloed big time. I feel a fool and now must go hide my head in shame.

Rob’s going to get his foot slammed by that door.

Looks like Robert is going to be moonlighting. He may end up getting too little sleep to perform up to expectations- both singing and scrapping.

Robert and Tonsils must have the same agent!

Still curious as to what kind of an “in” a professional crook like Steelface would have with the Tracyville theatrical community. But at least we have an engaging story now.

Robert’s shaven head is ‘role-appropriate’ for this The Fast and the Furious-style work, too.

Is it just me or is today’s particularly sharp and clear, after those two bad Sundays that needed the help of off site reposting ?

The top right image is just out of this world , Shelley has done it again , all are just super , thanks for the great images . : )

Oh beep! This is a rework of the Tonsil 2 storyline.

Does anyone here have a list of Mike’s tropes?

Car theft ring and chop shop, as someone correctly called it, and Robert wants to go straight! I think eventually Robert will be Steelface’s undoing!

He should have used his lock picking skills to get his foot in the door.

I guess we won’t learn what Robert does until the next day’s installment.

Call animal control. Do not call the cops for stray dogs. Cops aren’t trained in handling dogs.

“Ummm, sheer talent, scary man?”

1-ROBERT: May I sit? STEELY DAN: NOT HERE! GO TO THE BATHROO…Oh. SIT! No.

2-ROBERT: What you want? Ima be a star. Chop chop! STEELY: Yeah – right. But until that happens, you need money.

3-ROBERT: You mean…?

4-STEELY: Yep. Stealing driver side mirrors for me.

5-ROBERT _on his knees: No! I beg you Uncle. I haven’t been able to sleep ever since that guy tried to change lanes without a mirror to check ‘cause I’d stole it and… sob …there was a school bus and a delivery truck for NITRO AND DYNAMITE DELIVERY and…I WON’T DO IT – YA HEAR!

STEELY: Oh you’ll do it or else I ruin you chances of becoming a STAR!

ROBERT: Huh? Oh. Ok. Is starting tonight soon enough?

Sorry, I keep seeing Orphan Annie……………

Oh come on, yeah, he needs cars stolen. But there are other people to do it. He’s got an investment in this Robert guy in the theater. You don’t want to risk an investment like that by something as ordinary as stealing cars.

Chill out, Unc, wait until the kid hits it big time and THEN squeeze him for payback. What are you, some kind of two-bit piker?

Comment on the stray dogs…nowadays, many dogs carry identifying microchips, which helps Animal Control authorities track down their owners. In some cases, the dog simply made the Great Escape. In other cases, the owners dumped the dog, which is simple cruelty. In third and rarer cases, the dog never had a home, which means no microchip. The lesson is: when you get a dog, microchip it, in case it decides to jump over the fence to pursue that skunk.

Always the catch, right kid?

I save the cops inconvenience by shooting stray dogs myself! (One of the pleasures of life…)

As this story continues, it will be interesting to see how Robert deals with the computerized models. Also how does the alarm system get disabled plus the blaring horn.

Doggone Unc…would you have Robert boosting cars in between his time on stage? Nephew is your top gun…what kind of outfit does he run…not to have any backup.

Woe! Alas for Robert Parrish’s dream of going straight and becoming a member of the acting profession!

Uncle Steelface (whatever his real name may turn out to be) needs his “Top Gun” car booster back, because business has taken a downturn. Not Nephew Robert, the lead in Funny Papers at the Patterson Playhouse, but Booster Bob, car thief extraordinaire, is what “Uncle Steelface” demands, and what uncle wants, uncle gets (or else!)….

The crime’s afoot!

What do you suppose could possibly go wrong?

I feel sorry for him but he can’t turn down his uncle because he got him the part !!!

Somebody stole my car,but I’m not worried.

I got his liscense number!!