Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for October 17, 2022

Sam’s recollection of Steely back in the day…

“Sounds like a personal problem, Sam. Get me some coffee would you. I’m hooked on that snail stuff.”

Memories … ✨

The amount of yaking over the past few weeks is stagggering!

Good morning™, all!

Tracy learns what we have all learned, with the new information that Steelface has used several nicknames in the past. There’s not a lot new for us, but it has to be there for those who missed that Sunday strip and for those who have already forgotten the backstory. I’ve been saying that Mike Curtis needs to repeat important information to make sure that readers don’t miss it, so I can’t object to this.

Shelley draws a mean look of grim determination on Dick’s face in panel 3… Dick is gearing up for a collision with Steely soon…

I notice Sam’s eyes are back to being blue again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pnp5HR751w

Talk back corner…

Brian Premium Reader skwawked about 7 hours ago

What the hell? Sticking me with another web comic to read? Why do you do these things, Gweedo?

You never notice all the ones the Puzzler leaves ? :-o

Good morning™, honest to goodness investigators !

I guess they didn’t wear full face shields when arc welding back in them days. A welder guy I worked with always wore one. I tried it and you don’t see anything until you strike the arc and then it is dim enough not to blind and sufficiently blocks the Yoo-vees. Steelface should be blinder than a bat born with no eyes. I too like Tracy’s determined look in P.3. Mizz Pleger has “the touch”.

I bet Steelface does not fly, his magnetic plate would drive the plan’s compass crazy!

If Steelface is a nickname, why does the secretary call him “Mr. Steelface” (Oct. 5)? & why does the MCU have an updated picture of him on file, if the MCU has never heard of him before? Why does Sam say he “looked like this” if, when we saw the flashback of Steelface in Boston, he was a young man with no steel plate in his head? If Steelface is relatively new in town, why has he been in town long enough to have an in with the Patterson Playhouse? & why, several weeks into this story, we really have no idea what this “story” is really about?

Steelface’s kindergarten portrait in frame 2 is enough to unhinge the Moon from orbit…

Look out!!!

Note to colorist: Sam does not wear a jacket with one green and one white sleeve.

So now when he is brazing or cutting metals he has a convenient bracket to attach his welding mask .

“And it must be the same man, because as we know it is impossible for two people to have the same name.”

Magnetized metal plates adhering to the fragments embedded in his skin STILL doesn’t explain how his sidekick whatshisname got a key to stick to his cheek when he was introduced

Hmmph…..As seen on T.V!: People-head magnets! Keep those most important reminder notes handy right on your forehead! Free up space on your refrigerator door! Order now and get a SECOND magnet at only half price!! Call NOW!!

so why is it a problem now, if I may ask.

But why Steelface do this?

Perhaps if team Tracy was held accountable for all the plot holes their stories leave behind there’d be less plot holes.

Just a thought.

@Another Take:

HANG ON! So the plate is magnetized and NOT the steel in his skin.

Re-read Panel 2. Sam said “The metal plates [plural] are magnetized”.

SOOOO, why did that key stick to his NECK?!?

It didn’t. It stuck to his cheek, as seen here:

https://www.gocomics.com/dicktracy/2022/10/03?ct=v&cti=1028975

1-SAM: POW POW! I got him with my finger gun! DT: Nope. You missed. You need to go to the Finger Gun Range for target practice.

2-SAM: Safety Pins and Nose Rings were never enough for this former Punk Rock fan. Those other kids grew up and got rid of their “ornaments” but Steelface is stuck – so to speak – with his embedded ornamentation.

3-DT: That’s just sad. You can see the pain in his soulful eyes.

SAM: You’re not going to ask if we got any photos of him in tight jeans are you?

DT: No, no. Don’t be ridiculous! We don’t, do we? SAM: NO! DT: Oh. Good.

darn it

but are there any outstanding issues with him? if not he’s just a known criminal who may well have gone straight. he does have a skill.

Shouldn’t he be called “Steel Forehead” ?

“He usually looked like this”. Probably got a lot of girlfriends with that 5’O Clock shadow. Macho, Macho, man….

Far out…the classical career criminal. A welder…hmm…he must have worked at a “chop shop”. A stretch for me to picture this guy hot-wiring cars. But anything is possible.

A take-a-way lesson already…er…Vitamin…you are going to have to do a better job in vetting your patrons.

Used to be a hot car dealer? Probably still a hot car dealer? If Sam’s going to get back on his tail, he needs to do it quick before Steelface skips town again. Cold cases are often… cold, unless they have been having a new round of stolen cars in the area.

So he has a magnetic personality?

MOVIE QUOTE—

“I’ve very rarely met a murderer who WASN’T at the movies at the time of the murder”.

Detective George Raft—BLACK WIDOW—1954

We haven’t had a good stolen auto story since Collins gave us Lofty(and Upside&Downside) in t he 1980’s.

I smell an appearance by Sleet,Sam’s “frenemy” from Boston who was shown running a nightclub in Tracyland.

Sam could never forget a mug like that! Nor the handle that goes with it!

WANNA BE ILL?!? Well, I can HELP! The audio book is finished. Here’s the 5-minute promo clip for OTHERWORLD. Last I have to say on the subject. https://1drv.ms/u/s!AuAkHFRzO54mmH40Gjx87logHNk5

Real Detective Work being done here today, folks! This is what some have asking for!

Tracy and Sam review the shady past of “Steelface” (whose true name we so far do not know, though he has a nephew named Robert Parrish; in panel 1 Sam alludes to his having had several aliases Back in the Day [“real names”]. And alas for that bleached-out right sleeve of Sam’s traditional green jacket!). Sam reprises the Origin Story for the nickname (panel 2). And in panel 3 Tracy finds out how Sam’s sharp memory was alerted at the Patterson.

Some may call it “talking heads” (beautifully drawn by Shelley, BTW), but a lot has been accomplished in getting the MCU alerted to Steelface. We have still not learned of any new crime, however. Maybe it will transpire that Steelface still deals in hot cars, but that has yet to be established….