Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for November 08, 2022

Good morning™, everyone!

Well, Steelface has finally noticed that he has misplaced the Wrist Radio, but he hasn’t figured out where it went, so he must not have been keeping track of it closely. Tracy and Lizz have a chance this time. Again, nice to see Lizz out “on doing street work … where she wants to be,” as she said in the 3/17/2011 strip.

Unlike what some of you thought yesterday, Sam and Tracy do not immediately suspect Robert to be the one who returned the radio, though Tracy thinks that whoever it is may be involved in stealing cars.

Look out Unc. Stuff is coming your way.

now how could Dick have POSSIBLY come to THAT conclusion?!?… methinks the dick is grasping at those proverbial straws, even if he IS unknowingly correct… and as for Robert, well, NOW he’s in the chits, as Uncle Steely Arce will put one and one together and come up with ROBERT…

Good morning™, maddening discoveries !

Yep. Just as I thought. Steel trap was in the john, or maybe went to cop a quick squeeze with what’s-her-name and is now back to work but his favorite tool is missing while his other tool  has just made a delivery to a co fanboy.

P.1. When did I ever see Dick smile so good ?  Love the car shot with Dick and Lizz, speeding to yet another possible missed catch.

Tracy must be psychic! What a huge leap towards a conclusion!

Since we’re now being forced to endure blatant plot holes my psychic abilities tell me the story is very close to it’s typical rushed ending.

Why is Tracy wearing his wrist radio over his trenchcoat?

So, Steelface did not leave the wrist radio out on his desk on purpose, to test his nephew, but out of absent mindedness, & he also did not notice it was missing until now, hours if not a day or two later, going by passage of time in the story, & Sam still has not put two & two together (one — one of the actors in the cast has mentioned the name Steelface, two — his wrist radio went missing when his car was stolen outside the theater, & his wrist radio magically appeared in his coat pocket inside the theater). This story doesn’t have plot holes. It has plot craters.

“…be sure your sin will find you out.” – Numbers 32:23.

On the face of things, Dick and Sam are being legendarily stupid today in at least two big ways. I’ll let this play out a bit longer to take shape before breaking it down, but right now I don’t see how today’s strip can be salvaged.

the ‘Dick strip’ and ‘salvaged’ are two things that don’t work well together for the moment… rather instead of ‘salvaged’, make that ‘savaged’ instead… as that’s how the Dick strip has been for a few years now: savaged in so many ways…

Whoops….looks like ole Steelface is about to get burned by Lizz and Tracy….

Not on your wrist, that’s for sure!

Arceneux better haul Arce!

What really flummoxes me about this plot is the idea that it would actually matter if Steelface knew Tracy was fifteen minutes away (beyond him personally escaping). Is there anybody here familiar with chop shops? Could you actually move the evidence somewhere else this fast?

Lizz looking fierce. She wants this bust!

The police knew the gang running the chop shops were alerted to their coming, and should have suspected the wrist radios… But they’re still talking about it on their wrist radios? This is why you use code words/phrases (and change ’em up when the perps learn them).

Let’s hope Tracy is on his way to Steelface’s true location and will stop him before he figures out it was Robert !!!

Kind of seems a stretch of logic in the first panel. Maybe Jiggs spotted it on the sidewalk and quietly returned it into HQ so that Maggie wouldn’t know he was out on the town again.

Prithee, does it smell perchance of corned beef and cabbage?

Today’s Offbeat Trivia: How any people out there know where the name of Dinty Moore’s stew came from?

Hint: No, it was not originally called Dirty Moore’s Highly Questionble Mush.

Now wait a minute, where did all the paperwork on Steelface’s desk come from? He left the two-way in plain sight on an uncluttered desk. What shell game is being perpetrated here? Mike? Shelley? Somebody has some ’splaining to do.

This is the third suspected chop shop they are going to raid without an arrest. Where are all of these unwarranted suspicions coming from? After the third time, do you think they will get the picture that somebody is blowing smoke up their azz?

I think we need clarification of what exactly went wrong with the wrist radio. particularly since it is pivotal to the plot. Was Steelface only listening or broadcasting? If he was broadcasting why couldn’t they triangulate him? If he was only listening, where are they getting all of their bad tips for these honest auto repair businesses and where did Lizz get bad information on 10/30? Unless Steelface owns all of these businesses and clears them out before they are raided in which case, why did the cops not know about a chop shop ring as big as this? That many stolen cars would surely make the news but it took Sam’s car getting stolen for them to get involved in the case.

If (for some unknown reason) Tracy suspects Steelface, why not put a tail on him? He’s Robert’s uncle and Sam knows it. Why not bring Robert in for questioning?

If Tracy suspects Steelface, why not look for Steelface instead of trying to bust all of these honest auto repair shops that haven’t done anything.

No one can answer any of these questions without making their own speculations because we have not been given the information in the context of the strip. First-draft writing.

That’s so sweet of Tracy to pretend that he believes the watch wasn’t in Sam’s coat all along.

When Steelhead feels his forehead to see if he has a temperature, does it feel overly hot because the steel amplifies the heat OR does it always just reflect room temperature?

Does Steelface have brain freeze all the time in the winter?

When Steelface gives his forehead a dopesmack for doing something dumb, does he break a finger?

What does Steelface do when he needs a head CRT for the migraines Robert has been causing?

Was the Steelface character “invented” to satisfy those who miss the gunplay that used to be common in Dick Tracy. NOW, Dick can shoot Steelface until his gun is empty so long as the bullets all hit him in the forehead and ricochet away harmlessly. PIT-WHEEE PIT-WHEE PIT-WHEEE PIT-WHEEEE click click click

1-DT: WHAT NOW, SAM??? SAM: Now that I found my lost wrist radio, can I get my money back for the new one you made me buy?

2-DT: You’re sxxxxx break skxxxxxxxxxxx -ing up. We’ll talk later. To Liz He won’t even remember later. BOTH: HA HA HAAAAA!

3-STEELY DAN: GOVERNMENT PAPERWORK!!! WHY DOES THE GOVERNMENT HAVE TO REGULATE CHOP SHOPS TO DEATH! I’M VOTING RED! Oh…it’s Voting Day! I hope I’m not too late…AHHH – IT WON’T MAKE NO DIFFERENCE ANYWAY. HEY UNNAMED SECRETARY – WHERE’S MY CIGARS????

It continues to amaze that responders still seem to think this kerfuffle of an episode should make sense. Which one has the past 3-4 years.?

Lizz looks pretty focused.

Ah, the game’s afoot in Tracyville!

Interesting that Tracy is partnering with Lizz while Sam bumbles about at the Patterson (or maybe by now he’s returned to HQ), trying to figure out what the dealio is with his disappearing-and-reappearing wrist radio.

If this raid was not known of in advance by Steelface, since he doesn’t have Sam’s old wrist radio anymore (thanks to Bobby’s daring snatch), maybe Lizz and Tracy will be successful in the case of this particular chop shop, even if it is only a small part of Arceneaux’s apparently large and widespread operation….

SHOCKING lack of fashion decorum by “World’s Greatest Detective!!” There goes ’22 “GQ Law Enforcement Category” Award!!

MOVIE QUOTE—-“Was that your head or the treasure chest?”

“Couldn’t be his head.This has got something in it!”

Charles Laughton&Bud Abbott——ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET CAPTAIN KIDD—1952