Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for February 09, 2023

Good morning™, everyone!

It does sound like Tracy has already heard the verdict of the expert panel on the painting. I guess that Art Dekko’s overconfidence that it would pass was misplaced.

99 is still a puzzle, even to Dekko. Is it her that he thinks he underestimated?

Tracy loaded Art Dekko into the driver’s side of the car yesterday, but he suddenly switched places with Sue Reel between the first frame and the last frame of today’s strip. It’s that old mirror image problem again. It seems to be one of Shelley’s weak points. At least they are all wearing shoulder belts today.

He’s on the driver’s side of Panel 1 in today’s strip! That’s really bad consistency.

is Art starting to doubt Sue’s loyalty?

I wonder if,,,,,

Not quite sure why Sue Reel was arrested as well, when Tracy showed up with the arrest warrant he clearly said it was for Dekko (January 30), if they had evidence implicating her as well she would have been named on the warrant as well. Also not sure who ordered the hit on Dekko, the obvious (if only) suspect would be 99, but she clearly said (to herself) she was going to wait until after Dekko completed the sale (January 25). Maybe Mike will explain all this, maybe not. One thing’s for sure: I think we’ve hit the limit on Art Dekko telling us how he got where he is.

Gweedo back home!

http://www.rivendellmeadows.com/uploads/6/2/1/2/6212235/1728089_orig.jpg

PROGRAMMING NOTE:

Friday nite TCM is offering a Dick Tracy mini-movie marathon, beginning at 8 PM Eastern time. The line-up includes Dick Tracy (1945, not 1990), Dick Tracy vs. Cueball, Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome, & a documentary on Tracy in the movies. Start making your popcorn now!

Good morning™, inverted perps !

Amazing ! …How in the SAME panel yet, we see the suspects change seating places. I’m sure Mike threw that one out because he wanted to ‘see the fish take the bait’. LOL !

Yep, unfortunately Shelley goofed on p3

It’s a wonder and probably a miracle that Art Dekko got anywhere. Which he is…booked, fingerprinted and wearing a prison jumpsuit.

Well golly and shazam…won’t we the readers ever get a peek at this counterfeit Da Vinci? Oh wait a minute…Dick Tracy as a strip would then turn into pay-per-view. Teasing is free. Nah…to borrow a song from Gladys Knights & The Pips " I’ve got to use…my imagination".

Did counterfeit Monalisa had a moustache too?

Does 99 have a mustache ?

I like Sue’s apprehension expression last panel!

It’ll come to an interesting conclusion soon!

I figured the phony painting would be discovered, too bad the artist had to meet his sad fate, well not so sad he was enjoying his vacation!

Meanwhile Sue is off in La La Land, still wondering who Da Vinci was in the first place.

Panel Three: Mind reading moment, judging by the eye-rolling look…

Art Dekko got from a storeroom hideout to the back of a squad car. He got where he is by being overconfident in his instincts.

I wonder if they will ever break down and hire a writer for this strip. Ever since Max Allan Collins left, the stories have been abysmal.

Well, Art Dekko, you got where you are now, by not knowing everything about your “associates.” You don’t even know the story behind Sue Reel’s mustache!

That’s it, Art! Get good and paranoid! That’ll show ’em…_

“…underestimating his enemies.”

Apparently 99 was his enemy. Krypto was his ally – until he wasn’t.

….oh Art-sy, seems like you “got where you are” by steppin’ in a lot of dog-piles along the way………

1-DT: We got a reliable witness ready to testify that YOU are involved in that fake Da Vinci that suddenly appeared on the market. Sure, she’s done time before and -sure, she cut a snitch deal because she was part of the scheme and sure, it’s just her word against yours and sure, she won’t appeal to any man on the jury due to a hideous facial hair problem BUT WE GOT A SOLID CASE!

2-ART: Who could that be…?

3- … I was so careful getting rid of anything that tied me to the painting. I BET IT’S SISKEL EBERT! He got cold feet when it became obvious the Da Vinci was a fake and he folded like a card table under questioning! I’d better establish my innocence right now!

I NEVER HEARD OF SISKEL EBERT OR PAUL THE PAINTER. JUST ASK MY TRUSTED ASSISTANT, SUE REEL!

Sue’s eternal silence is starting to look a bit suspicious.Could She have…..?

I hope not.But it would be understaNDABLE.

Sue’s on the tail end of this thing.You can hold somebody for 48 hours without charges.

Police will no doubt fine comb the shop,hacking computers and checking phone records.We shall see.

Mike’s been taking a lot of hits lately,so I think I’d better speak up.The big sin in my department is boring villains.Mike has come up with a few over the years.

But the last two stories have given us villains “we love to hate”,and to me everything else is negotiable.

Try and name memorable original villains in between Collins and Curtis.There were darned few.

Would the critics care to go back to the Piggy Butcher era?(And will somebody PLEASE bump off that worthless lump?)

“I want a husband.Not a trophy I have to defend over and over again!”

Mona Freeman to Robert Mitchum—-ANGEL FACE—1953

I can’t tell if Art Dekko is starting to doubt himself or if he’s just that gloriously oblivious in the third panel! He’s such a fun villain XD

There’s too many blurry horizontal lines in this strip today!

Keep your enemies close, as they say…

Oopsie in the positions of Art and Sue, panel 1 versus panel 3.

Ferret-like Art cogitates (it’s hard for him, but he didn’t get where he is by not thinking himself superior). Meanwhile, The Mustachioed Lady tries her best to look totally innocent of anything. And Tracy asserts that the “experts” (Siskel Ebert and who knows who else) have reached the verdict that the “da Vinci” is a fake, and that Dekko will be booked accordingly.

The weasel has reminded us of 99, and we are within our rights to wonder if she will reappear in this story, who she really is, and what stake she holds in what has so far transpired….

We don’t know the story Dekko told the expert panel about the provenance of the supposed Leonardo. Unless Sue Reel testifies that he actually commissioned the work (and she might), a story like,, “Gee, the guy who sold it to me swore that it was genuine, and I was conned,” might work.

And what about the old guy cleaning out his garage? It was so long ago that I’m thinking that maybe it in was another strip.