Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for March 14, 2023

more backtracking Nero’s footsteps to his ultimate destination… and it has taken a week and we’re still not there…

Tracy Meets Doctor Fix

The Final Chapter(maybe)

Tracy, knowing he was out of options said; “ Alright, what happens after I tell the news the truth?”

Crystal smiled a wicked smile and said; “Don’t worry, the world loves and adores you. We’ll make sure all the newspapers put a positive spin on everything, and how brave and noble you are for coming forward. You’ll be a hero!”

Tracy, liking the sound of that then asked; “And what happens to us here?”

B. O. walked over to Tracy, put his arm around his shoulder and said; “Hey, there’s always room for one more in the gang, and having an inside person such as you is always helpful!”

Tracy, realizing he really had no other choice, smiled and said; “Sounds like a plan, let’s do this!”

“Great”, Crystal said, “I’m glad this is over. Do you hear that jingle outside? The ice cream truck is here. Now let’s get a Vanilla cone and figure out our next move!”

As Tracy left with them, he made a promise to himself to never rest until he figured out a way to make these two moronic misfits pay for dragging him into this rag tag outfit.

Besides, he has always hated vanilla ice cream!

The End! For Now! (Thankfully!)

I reserve the right to continue the story if Mike doesn’t pick up his game!

Good morning™, everyone!

So, I guess it’s confirmed that the newspaper man saw Wolfe, and that he got into a Metro Cab taxi. That’s some progress.

Everyone’s grinning in the first panel because they know the tricks on us for thinking this story will eventually pick up speed. A snail marathon is faster than this colossal bore!

Amazing how clean the streets are!

No small details like litter from Shelley today!

So … some criminal genius decides he wants to kidnap Nero Wolfe, for whatever reason … so first he sends Wolfe a message through a public medium like a telegram, then apparently arranges to abduct Wolfe on a public street, using a taxi, where there are plenty plenty of witnesses around … yeah, that’s some criminal genius …

Fine art today as usual, we get to see Nero in profile!

An Automat? wow

Yawn, move it along!!!

“Should be a cinch ta track him down, fellas. Th’ cab bottomed out when he got in, so you just follow th’ deep scraping line own th’ street.”

What is Zeck enticing, or, holding over Wolfe that would have him (shudder) take a train all the from NYC to Chicago, (even more shuddering,) actually let some unknow person drive him to who knows where?

We are seeing Tracy doing actual detective work these last few days, even if it is in a flashback story. That’s something.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a taxi waiting area called a “Hack Stand” before

The cab pulled up and called him “Wolfe.”

I am assuming it was the Cabbie who called him “Wolfe” and not the cab that pulled up. So, wherever Wolfe is now, his “captors” ordered a cab to meet him and that is why the cabbie knew his name? Wolfe got into that cab instead of crossing the street to the cab stand.

Cabbies keep records of fares and locations—especially called in orders would be recorded by the dispatcher. It shouldn’t be hard to discover where Wolfe went.

1-NEWSTAND GUY holding thumb and forefinger 2 inches apart: Mine’s this big. DT: We asked about a fat guy – not THAT!

2-NEWSTAND GUY: Oh. My mistake. He got into a Metro Cab and left. DT: Now we’re getting somewhere! What did the cab look like?

3-DT: Hmmm. That wasn’t as helpful as I had imagined… ARCHIE: Let me handle this: *ANY OF YOU GUYS PICK UP A FAT GUY RECENTLY???

SMART ALECK CABBIE: YEAH! I TOOK HIM TO YO MAMA’S HOUSE! SHE LIKES THE BIG BOYS!

ARCHIE: AH HA! A LEAD!

MOVIE QUOTE

“My show will still be running when Foy has slowed to a walk!”

“When I caught the show Cohan had slowed to a crawl”

“You heard the applause,didn’t you?”

“Every time you waved that American flag!”

James Cagney&Bob Hope—-THE SEVEN LITTLE FOYS—1955

An AUTOMATJust how old IS DIck Tracy

The last Horn&Hardart gave up the Manhattan ghost in t he mid 1970’s.I’m old enough to have eaten there.

And a line of taxicabs??Try and find THAT these days,outside of a major hotel.

In the old days,cabbies were PROFESSIONAL drivers who noticed everything.

Why is Tracy even bothering with this? Wolfe left his home of his own free will. He came to Tracyville of his own free will. He got into a cab of his own free will. He went to wherever he is of his own free will. He is not missing. He did what he wanted to do and went where he wanted to go. He has done nothing wrong. Tracy does not know him so Archie’s story is only upsetting to Archie. Tracy has no reason to believe Wolfe has done anything suspicious even after calling Cramer.

While we’re on the subject of cab drivers,three cheers for the hero in 1941’s Littleface story

This story is horrible, Horrible I say. I don’t know why I keep reading. It’s moving along about as fast as a TV soap opera, where you can miss two weeks and not miss anything.

Nice to see a very clean streets.

Honest-to-goodness shoe leather detective work is being done. Isn’t this what we often say we want to see Tracy and the MCU doing? In this affair, however, it’s Tracy accompanied by private operator Archie Goodwin out of NYC, now here in the mean-but-clean streets of Tracyville, where the observant news vendor recounts seeing a Metro Cab pull up, call for Wolfe, and then carry him away. Tracy properly proposes to question Metro Cab HQ next, to see if its records might reveal who took Wolfe where—after questioning the cabbies at the “Hack Stand” across the street (surprisingly colloquial signage where “Taxi Stand” or “Cab Stand” might have been more likely); even Tracy himself calls it “the cab line.”

I am satisfied that progress is being made in the story, and Shelley’s art is a strong element almost always. I’ll point out once more that we in the Tracy Commentariat are overdosed on our own collective wisdom, knowledge, history, and insights and are made impatient because we are such fidgety know-it-alls! Try to imagine we are reading the comic strip without Comments….

Uh, won’t it depend on how busy the guys on the cab line were? Then come to think of it who could say Wolfe was picked up in a genuine Metro cab. All of them look a like.