Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for February 25, 2023

A mysterious voice on the phone. Will we find out more, or will “99” fade away for now?

it ain’t Charlie Townsend and she ain’t no ‘Angel’…

Good morning™, everyone!

So, she’s in the taxi, she removes the pinstripe jacket and disposes of that and that shoulder bag with the spotchy pattern. As she walks away, you can see that she’s wearing a very short skirt. The woman that was running for the plane was wearing a knee-length skirt. This short skirt could have fit under the pants that were paired with the pinstripe blazer.

We are “all done now” with 99 but I think she’ll be back one day. The real question is, “Who is she talking to on the phone?” I have no idea.

and that’s IT?!?… three days of seeing 99 get outta Dodge and here I thought we had an ongoing mystery, but instead we get a closing arc leaving us with a mystery cliffhanger… I have a feeling that NOW this IS the end of the arc… how disappointing… back to the usual letdown… should have known better… Mike strikes again… yeah, strikes OUT…

Waved farewell to Tracyville. Left town on a jet plane

Landed in Miami. Incognito she’ll remain

Until she’s off the radar of those who serve the law

Best forget Art Dekko and the evidence she saw.

Paul was skewered in the surf. A shame he did not listen

Thought he would be living large. Terminal condition.

Krypto paid to silence Art, to off the little creep

Tracy shot him off the roof. He fell. He did not leap.

Her confidant so nonchalant, says she’s one step ahead

So listen very carefully, be wary where ye tread.

Good morning™, doppelgangers !

Other than the clothing, as Neil pointed out above, the ladies look very similar, now that “99” has doffed her disguise. That other voice seems to come off her head. Is this a Ghost and Mrs Muir, with “99” in the lead role remake ?

I am loathe to speculate continuance with the “99” story line when that mash up thing has to be nudging at the gate. Garage guy is very cross at the line cutter.

Ray Toler, there’s something I feel the need to discuss with you before we know for sure the next story’s started.

First off, thanks for the Like you gave one of my Comments a few days ago. I appreciate it, especially since that’s the first contact I’ve had from you since the 2/11 strip in the replies to *jonahhex01*’s Comment.

To say our last conversation wasn’t pleasant is an understatement. I don’t wish to discuss the initial topic with you any further. Rather it’s your behavior to me, which I found disturbing. It didn’t feel like you were debating me so much as personally attacking me. I never thought I’d get that from you.

You distorted my words against me, casting me in the worst possible light, and it’s hard to believe you weren’t doing that deliberately. I said I can’t stand the hate Curtis is getting, you framed that as me hating people. You used the term, “Curtis haters” so I used it right back, only for you to act all outraged & indignant that I used it. Your replies sounded more & more enraged with me, till you revealed much of that rage was based on you misreading one word. When I pointed out your error, you didn’t reply. So the last word I heard from you was, “The point is, you like to call names. Does it make you feel superior?”

No, I don’t like to call names. But I like even less interacting with someone who’d treat me like that. I’d like to hear an apology from you and assurance you won’t treat me like that again.

Ah the old changes your clothes in the taxi trick. But waits, wasn’t them same that we sees yesterday.

She must be using a bluetooth to communicate but with who? Maybe this is hope for this storyline, if Mike can manage “the moving parts”.

Is that a knock-off she just put in the trash can? Hopefully she had the foresight to clear it out real good. Don’t leave a trace of anything…not even lint.

Nitpick alert! Who is she talking to? Herself?

If as suggested above either it’s a mobile phone or a Bluetooth device that she is speaking into, where is it? It should’ve been shown or indicated by a description box. I hate to say it, but I have to say an oversight by Shelley today. Especially if today is the coda for the arc.

Fantastic visuals today!

Ok, I ALMOST thought there’d be LOGIC in this story…shame on me….99 is wearing the same outfit she wore running thru the terminal 2 days ago, and yesterday when she got off the plane…very CLEARLY yesterday she was standing NEXT TO the old woman and the taxi driver…and TODAY she IS the old lady?

C’mon already Mike…learn what the word CONTINUITY is…hell, while you’re at it learn what LOGIC and GOOD WRITING is too because you don’t seem to comprehend ANY of them

and now all of a sudden theres a “mysterious voice” talking to 99 giving her directions? Seems that this story went off the rails sometime around when 99 showed up…can someone PLEASE give Mike his ritalin BEFORE he starts (not really) plotting his stories…his A.D.D. is out of control

now just watch… SOMEHOW this entire thing is gonna tie in with the two other dangling plotlines of the old man in the garage with all the papers and warbucks’ problem

Is it just me or did the second panel start to get " sweet " ? : )

Agent of Chaos is in Control…

Or, riiiight! That is where we get set for a flashback to when she tripped on a bus and accidentally got one of Tracy’s wrist sets stuck in her ear.So many years back, but I remember it now!

Which leads to the new storyline in which he pretends to be a consulting/advising spirit from the Great Beyond named Percival Twotonsils, and slowly pranks her to sheer madness!

Just saying, Shelley Pleger is awesome at drawing side-characters.

“But as you said, he didn’t listen” It sounds like 99 and the phone person are the ones who had Paul killed. Now THAT’S interesting. Art is INNOCENT OF THE MURDER AND HE WASN’T LYING. That’s the most clever, intricate ending to a story that Mike has every written! Right up there with the movie The Usual Suspects Well, no but that’s an extremely high bar to jump but just a couple of feet short of it!

It’s a good thing Chef Boyardee is driving.

1-CABBIE: This ain’t HBO’s Taxi Cab Confessions lady.

2-99: Hello, 99 speaking. ???: You screw up like that one more time and you’ll be running from me instead of the police.

3-99: I don’t see how you can call this a complete screw up. Sure – we weren’t able to steal millions from Art on the fake Da Vinci sale. And sure, our best painting forger had to be killed for getting greedy. And sure, I’m on the run and trying to hide in Miami with the palest skin this side of Canada but, uh… there’s always tomorrow???

???: Did you remember to kill the cabbie? 99: Uh…Talk to you later. I gotta catch a cab.

First time I’ve seen what a contemporary phone call looks like in a cartoon.

Got to hand it to that taxi driver. Very professional! Eyes on the road and not on the rearview mirror while the young lady changes in the back seat.

to NOT be continued.

Don’t know where to leave this. Read Dilbert this morning. Now Poof. Like 99 from Tracyville?? Tracy going to Miami now?

Curtis succeeds once again in jerkiing readers/responders around. Keep taking the bait guys, it’s amusing

Look at the shape of the arrow coming from the text box pointing to her left ear in both panels 2 and 3. That pretty clearly indicates to me that it’s coming from a telecom device of some sort. For those wondering to whom or how she’s talking.

Did GoComics drop Dilbert ? The Cleveland newspaper did because of the writer’s racist remarks. It appears that GoComics has followed suit. I wouldn’t have noticed that it was gone from my Favs list had I not read an article about the newspaper dropping it.

Well, shame on me for for my wrong opinion about which of yesterday’s ladies was the real 99, and a kudos to Neil for having sussed it out correctly right from the start.

I do think we were kinda suckered, though, because the “old lady” not only looked old but also stout; because the faux 99 did look the part (whether a deliberate decoy hired by the real 99 or just a very far-fetched “coincidence”); and because after her back seat strip in the taxi, the real 99 comes out not only looking very youthfully attractive but also remarkably similar to the faux 99.

Her Bluetoothy conversation as she gets out of the cab and walks away is a mean tease if the arc is now over, leaving us with a clean escape by an assassin, a mysterious mentor to her, and a hapless, beaten Tracy and MCU….

We’re getting more leg from 99 t han we’ve gotten from Lizz and Lee in the past 12 months

CALLED IT!!!