Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for November 14, 2022

Good morning™, everybody!

Well, he’s still alive and he’s been able to control the bleeding. He didn’t get wheeled in on a gurney, so I guess he didn’t come in the ambulance that we saw parked outside. It looks like the air bags didn’t work or maybe that car didn’t have them.

As for his claim that “they’ll never look for him there,” how can he be so sure? I guess he got away from the accident scene without anyone identifying him.

Who knew hospitals could double as asylums?

… so to speak. ✨

without the plate attached to his head, Steely looks like any other average run-of-the-mill punk thug… and that’s a peculiar thing to say…“I broke my head”?…

Not exactly at death’s door.

He “broke” his head? Like firestrike1 says, a strange way of saying he injured his head.

Wow! Dick Tracy is now taking place on Fantasy Island!

“De plane, De plane!”

Good morning™, E.R. walk-ins !

Here’s an Ibuprofen now go sit over there along the wall (points a finger) and a doctor will be with you in about 4 hours.

Yeah, the police will never think for looking for the driver of a stolen car who left the scene of an accident right near a chop shop at area ERs….

Remember to read Friday’s comic to finally see him get treatment.

Great comments here by a lot of people, yesterday!

Looks like Steelface no more … unless they can order the part for his brain… but it took me 9 weeks for the body parts to come in for my car repair !!!

From Steelface to Metal Muzzle since it looks like he needs a grinder to shave !!!

He is going from villain to victim … the hospital will overcharge him that he will have to shutdown his operation because of their operation on him !!!

You ask a man with a bleeding head why he’s in the Emergency Room at the hospital? To order pizza and a flagon of mead, obviously.

Usually they ask for ID and insurance information right away!

This is a criminal who has eluded law enforcement for decades, huh?

Doesn’t he have magnets in his head? It’ll be interesting when they call for an MRI to check out his “broken head”.

And then every piece of iron and steel in the place ker-whalloped his face. Weighed down and unable to move, he was quickly identified and hauled off to jail.

Perhaps significantly, the ton and half of metal they peeled off him vanished from Evidence that night, and Sam was sporting a spiffy new bow tie and driving his new Bow Tie Mobile with the neon-trimmed everything the next day.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm.

‘Broke my head’? Is hims got a boo-boo?

“Well, sir, it looks like we’ll need to run a few tests on you. First, an MRI…” If he wasn’t hurt bad, that could kill him.

“Please have a seat, we’ll call you”. With admittance procedures being done electronically nowadays, Steelface must have an alias close at hand. His medical insurance…probably Blue Cross, Blue Shield.

Two plans for your getaway, Mr. Steelface…one of them is a shave, the other is a trip to Goodwill for a wardrobe upgrade.

Mr. Steelface seems to be a quick healer. Most of his forehead appears unscathed, and that hanky doesn’t have a speck of blood on it. Maybe he’s just there to donate blood and get some orange juice.

1-FOREIGNER SONG PIECE PLAYING ON LOOP OUTSIDE THIS DOOR: _URGENT, URGENT URGENT! EEE-MERGENCY! _

2-STEELY: Can I get a band aid? RECEPTIONIST: Why? Did your Roadies quit? HAR HAR HAR! Sure. Have a seat. We’ll be right with you. HAR HAR HAR! I’M ON FIRE TONIGHT!

3-STEELY: The wait don’t bother me. I GOT NOWHERE ELSE TO GO! I WANNA FLY JETS, SIR! What? What’s with the unbidden Officer And A Gentleman quotes? I may need more than a band aid. WHERE’S MY USELESS NEPHEW???

OFF PANEL – ROBERT: WHADAYA MEAN I NEED TO WALK THE MECHANICAL DOG BEFORE I LEAVE??? UNCLE STEELFACE NEEDS ME!

SAM: Uncle who? Sound of gears turning

The metal plate is gone…no blood?

MOVIE QUOTE—

“Back home,they ask more questions when a dog is run over”

Glenn Ford to stubborn cop—AFFAIR IN TRINIDAD—1952

Okay,all sorts of traceable possibilities here

The truck driver probably got a good look at him

The wrecked car was left at the accident scene

And it’s always a risk for a guy on the lam to go to a public hospital.But it’s even more of a risk to sit around your hideoutslowly fading away(Remember Laffy?)

Spent the weekend re-reading the 1960 strips where Spots and Ogden were hiding out in the Army tank and I was laughing my head off.

So, who had the most metal in his head, Steelface or Sawtooth?

He left that metal forehead plate behind.

OK gang, I know, I know, I shouldn’t have to explain, ya-da ya-da, ya-da. All will become apparent in the following few days, but just to clear up.

SPOILER ALERT – UPCOMING STORY ELEMENTS REVEALED. STOP HERE IF YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW HOW STEELFACE GOT TO THE HOSPITAL.

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There was no accident, or at least not one bad enough to damage the car to the point it could not be driven. After slamming on the brakes and bashing his head into the steering column (air bags didn’t deploy, if equipped), Steel face took off the plate that had pretty much just smashed itself into his forehead, and tossed it. He then backed out of the alley and drove to the hospital parking structure and self admitted himself for a head injury.There was no accident, so no police looking for the driver. This will become apparent, but I just didn’t want you all to be confused on the chain of events as shown. I know I was confused.

Where’s the metal plate?

Arcen(e)aux is not too badly damaged, it seems. Only his magnetically attached forehead-plate has been lost; otherwise, apparently only minor abrasions and contusions….

But is he really so well hidden from the popo?