Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for March 13, 2023

is THAT how you speak of your employer, Arch?…

“Why, in the old days we’d a cleared $37 in lard from a hog that size! Wellll doggies!!”

Good morning™, everyone!

Well, I guess they didn’t need to go to the train station, but Wolfe was asking a newsstand guy about orchids, rather conveniently.

firestrike1 expressed a left handed gratitude 9 minutes ago

“then why do you have cameras for different angles, lights, a wardrobe person and a makeup person”

You made good dough on those rentals and you knew what they would be used for. Told you they would all be cleaned before returning, for my FULL deposit.

Good morning™, light hearted levities !

Is Dick trying to stifle a smirk ?

This boring, mind numbing story has gone on for what feels like weeks and weeks!

DT fans, the threshold’s been crossed.

As I mentioned yesterday (those who read it can skip this paragraph), DT debuted on Sunday, October 4, 1931 with Chester Gould as its creator, writer, & main artist. The next strip was a week later on Sunday, October 11, the first daily was a day later on Monday, October 12. Gould retired with his last strip coming out on December 25, 1977, having been writer/main artist of the strip for 46 years and 77 days’ worth of regular DT strips.

Today, March 13, 2023, is 46 years and 78 days’ worth of regular strips since Gould’s retirement.

The DT strip has now published more regular strips without Gould as its writer/main artist than with him.

Nero was looking for orchids at a news stand?

I guess the telegram was sent by Eliza Doolittle.

Tracy’s hat in panel one is waaay too big for him. Hoss could wear it at the ponderosa!

Is there some significance to black orchids?

I wonder where the big boy is?

Isn’t the term “Fatty” politically incorrect these days?!

Apparently there was a bank robbery case solved while we weren’t looking.

Follow the cracks in the sidewalk Tracy !

Archie’s legs look “stunted” in the first panel

He could be referring to Kim KarTRASHian’s butt !

Next look for a 24 hour diner that ran out of food !

The newspaper headline in panel 2 says “Bank Robber Jailed,” which proves there are some exciting crimes happening in Tracy’s town.

I’ve never read any of Nero’s cases before, so I’m going on information that Mark Jeffrey has so graciously provided concerning Nero and Archie themselves… but can some information and background be provided as to the history that Nero has with Zeck?… how did their relationship begin?… what were the circumstances?… what sort of hardon does Zeck have against Nero and/or vice versa?… is Zeck one of those antagonists that always manages to pull off a last-minute planned escape, ala Wo Fat, Dr. Loveless, characters like those?… or can Nero just not be able to gather enough evidence to successfully have Zeck apprehended and arrested?… is Zeck THAT clever and THAT good?… have they actually faced one another or not?… is Inspector Cramer aware of Zeck’s existence and what’s HIS take as to Nero’s efforts to bring Zeck to justice?…?… what IS the lowdown skinny on Nero and Zeck’s cat and mousing one another?… my enquiring mind wants to know…

It’s worth it to take a couple of seconds to enlarge today’s strip. Shelley has put a lot of background detail in there. I could see Life Magazine, “Crime Story”, “High Heel” – plus a couple I couldn’t make out. And there are some folks under a street lamp in the first panel.

Tracy is either smiling or smirking?

…….or it’s “Two Ton” Tony Galento?

1-DT: See that chick in the blue coat? I nailed her once. ARCHIE: YOU DOG YOU!

DT: Yep. Caught her red-handed with the shoplifted goods. I bet she swiped that newspaper she’s reading…

2-ARCHIE: Hey Shorty. Is your wife (holds finger and thumb a couple inches apart) this big?

3-ARCHIE: I just burned that runt of a newsstand guy big time! I’ve hated newsstand guys ever since the one in my neighborhood refused to sell me the Blue Boy magazines he had under the counter. DT: Blue Boy? Some art magazine dedicated to Gainsborough?

ARCHIE: Not exactly but it did feature a lot of nude models. DT: So, like Michelangelo’s David? ARCHIE: Bigger but let’s move on, shall we. DT: OK. I’ll get to the bottom of this Blue Boy mystery on my own time…

ARCHIE: “Get to the bottom!” That’s what HE said!

DT: What? ARCHIE: What?

MOVIE QUOTE—

“He doesn’t know North from South. He gets lost in broad daylight. And furthermore,he is a swine”.

Joseph Schildkraut—THE GARDEN OF ALLAH—1936

An outdoor news-stand.We ARE in the old days.

Loved panel 3,these two are getting along great.

So far,Wolfe’s expressions suggest there’s nothing going on he doesn’t think he can handle himself.

Didn’t the “powers that be” edit the books of Roald Dahl because he called some of his characters “fat.?” Talk about censorship.

He went to a newsstand looking for orchids? Next stop, Home Depot looking for underwear.

In the world of this newspaper vendor, everybody is slim and trim. No wonder Wolfe was obvious given his dimensions.

“I’ve never seen one BIGGER.”

I used to be heavier than Wolfe’s 1/7 ton (286 pounds).

As such, I consider the news agent’s statement to be very VERY questionable. I suspect that he was in on the plot.

I like the image of Tracy in panel 3 a whole lot better than that in panel 1; sometimes matters of perspective don’t work as well as intended. (Though really it is Tracy’s belt-line on his Famous Yellow Trenchcoat that seems most amiss, placed too low.)

While we are in narrative Past Times, seeing an actual newsstand is a charming reminder of how common they used to be, particularly in the Loop, as I recall from my youth, when it was safe enough for a kid to go to theart museum and then to his favorite bookstore just a block or so away, practically every week. (Now, I avoid downtown like the plague it has become, hyper-expensive and crime-ridden.)

But I don’t see the news vendor’s skinny being much help to The Search for Nero Wolf….