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

“Digging your bowtie, by the way.”

“Yrstu”.

That’s pretty lucid for Mumbles. He goes all out when Sam is there.

Yeah, Art Dekko didn’t get to where he is by allowing cops to stand in the way of paying customers.

Good morning™, everybody!

Mumbles: “I’m a furry, Tracy. Didn’t you know that?”

(I’m sure I don’t need to provide a translation, since it’s easy today. No “Chipettes.” But I did it anyway for completeness.)

Anyway, I’m sure that many of us are as surprised as Sam is, and Ray Toler is probably disgusted, but I think it’s kind of funny.

Looks like Sam may have found an actual fake cel, maybe.

Good morning™, inquisitors !

These mugs sure are nosy

Help !  I’m being deprived of my livelihood.

You have to love the look of cynicism on Mumbles’s face in panel 2; & all 3 facial expressions in panel 3, these are illustrations that speak volumes. It’s also great seeing Tracy & Sam having an encounter with the bad guys that’s not through the barrels of guns, but actual face-to-face dialogue, a dynamic that seems to have been used less frequently in recent times in the strip. It’l be fun to see where Mike goes with this.

Mumbles a furry? No we dinno dat atall…

#MumblesDidNothingWrong

Guys, a wild, crazy theory just popped into my head.

Mumbles’ smirk suggests he’s lying about his reason, and probably has a criminal reason for being there. And since Mumbles is currently a member of the Apparatus, his real reason might involve them and their mysterious, masked current leader, the Second Ace of Spades. And it hit me:

What if Art Dekko is the Second Ace of Spades (Ace2)?

Art Dekko is short. So is Ace2.

In Dekko’s original story, he worked with an Apparatus hitman, suggesting he has Apparatus connections. Ace2 was already an Apparatus member when he took over by killing the previous leader, the original Ace of Spades. When he revealed himself to other Apps’ higher-ups, they unmasked him and recognized him.

I can think of 2 problems with my theory: 1) Tracy commented that Ace2 has a distinctive voice, and so far nothing indicates he recognizes that voice as Dekko’s, and 2) Dekko and Mumbles don’t seem to be working together. Although that could be an act, or it could be that Mumbles hasn’t been clued in on Ace2’s identity.

Just a fan theory. If I’m right, I get bragging rights when it’s revealed. If I’m wrong, well, it’s a fun theory to have.

How is Mumbles still walking around free? Every time we see him he’s up to his eyes in no-good, but always seems to avoid jail.

But he didn’t come in as his Fusona

Are they flashing badges ? How is that affecting that scumbag Dekko ?

Guessing Mumbles doesn’t miss Neki & Hokey Ozone beating him up!! Rumor has it they grew up to become pro wrestlers~~

What a moment here, Sam and Mumbles are definitely “rocking the bow ties.”(fashion) The “greens” have it also. Sam; regular or forest green. Mumbles; sea or olive green.

“Hey, I’m trying to make a living here…” Translation, can you all take that drama someplace else…it is cutting into my profit margin.

Judging from their looks in panel three, Sam and Mumbles have a mutual dislike for each other. Probably a history behind it.

Don’t chat in front of the convention booths, unless you’re buying something. Or at least don’t do it for long. It is a business after all. Be polite is what I’m saying.

Oh! Shady Origin! My favorite Flintstone character!!!

Hey…I thought Mr. Spock had pointy ears….

And so, and unholy alliance was formed between Mr. M and Stealin’ Sam. Shortly thereafter, dealers began to return from coffee breaks to find out that not only had their ware vanished, but their tables had been sold.Tracy was nonplussed, but still not suspicious.

Yeah, Mumbles, we can see that you’re a furry. I love the costume. You look like a rat.

A taxi or a plot complication, Tracy.

Are the fake images copyrighted? If not, he could just be selling souvenirs.

WHAT ‘shady origin’?! It’s simply an ultra super rare closeup from the much venerated INVISIBLE MAN AND GIGGLES THE TAP DANCING WEASEL show! With that great backup cartoon PERCY THE PERSISTENT PIMPLE. Gosh, if only that’d go to DVD in an exclusive Director’s Cut. Only they try to keep the director away from sharp objects since the Cleveland incident.

Why, look at the fantastic detail! You can almost see his dimples! HEY, ARROW GUY! GET ON THE STICK! ;)

1-DT: What’re you doin here, Mush Mouth?

2-MUSH: Eeetsht, fuznutz. I don gotatel you nutn. SAM: _OOOH!. This one of Mystique reminds me of the mural I had on the side of my ’78 Dodge EconoVan!_

3-SAM: I’m going to have to take this one down to headquarters for a thorough vetting. It doesn’t look legit to me. ART: Like you’re an expert on anything!

SAM: Oh yeah? Well just ask Punjab at Punjab’s Authentic Jewish Kosher Deli! I instantly spotted his kosher pastrami on rye as horsemeat on wheat and now he’s doing 5 to 10 at Reeker’s Island!

ART: HOW? I KNOW you ate the evidence anyway.

SAM: Well, yeah – of course. That’s where the DNA of my next stool sample sealed his fate.

MUSH MOUTH: Datza shtty storree. ART: Yeah – that stinks! SAM: Whatevs. I’m taking this cell thing.

MOVIE QUOTE—-“I am the sanest man who ever lived!”

Bela Lugosi—THE RAVEN—1935

An old fashioned “Chester Gould Arrow”—-haven’t seen one in years!!

Mumbles must have had radical plastic surgery again—-he looks like a freaking teenager!!

Possible plot twist—Mumbles spots the phony merchandise and tries to blackmail Dekko.

Tomorrow is “National Pastry Day”——throw a pie at Art Dekko.

Back when I was in college there was a regional art gallery specializing in animation art which would come on campus maybe a couple times a year selling animation cels. The good stuff was out of my price range, but it was always fun browsing through them, and I did once snag a cell of Harry Mudd from the Animated Star Trek series.

The most affordable cels they carried were from Warner Bros. cartoons which had originally been made in the 1930s in black and white, but which had been “colorized” in the late ‘60s by tracing new cels over the old art and painting them in color. If you’re of a certain age, you might remember seeing some WB cartoons on TV with a flashy, jarring opening set to a psychotic cover of “The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down”. The cartoons themselves looked old and dated, but they were in color, so they were good enough for television, I guess.

The gallery was up front about the provenance of these cells, but I can see someone with little experience thinking that these might be valuable pieces from very old cartoons. Methinks that Dekko would happily carry these sort of pieces and let the customer assume whatever they liked.

Mumbles is a Furry?

And remember—“Mumbles never had a speech impediment.Only sloppy speech habits,which don’t derive from HEREDITY”.

Mumbles is a furry ? Thanks, I hate it.

Is Art Dekko modeled after Frank Cho?

Why does Dekko remind me of Gilbert Gottlieb?

Ha! Izz Mumblez snarking Trazee in pnl 2?

Sam retorts perfectly in panel 3.

Meanwhile the little Con con Dekko is practically furriess (sic) that the cop banter might be interfering with his fraudulent sales. Wait ’til the MCU brings down the hammer on his racket!

Mumbles’s deadpan claim to be a furry is right up there with Rick Blaine’s claim to have come to Casablanca to take the waters.