Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for March 27, 2023

Good disguise Flattop. No one will have any idea it was you!

Great disguise, Flattop! Nobody’s gonna recognize you or be able to give the cops a good description with that bandanna over your mouth!

I wonder if this story has one more cross-over in it… Inspector Harry Callahan, emerging from a cafe across from the bank, upset because his lunch was interrupted, stopping the Flattop gang in their tracks. “Ask yourself one question. Do I feel lucky? Well, do you, Flattop?”

woo gosh

^I’ll Judochop the guard!"

Weird color scheme for the bank!

Will we FINALLY see some action tomorrow, or will we switch back to tubby, hairy legs?

Good morning™, everyone!

I guess Friday is a good day to rob a bank since they would have a lot of cash on hand to cash people’s paycheques. I suppose that one side of the bank building in in the shade, but those are still some expressionistic colours they used today!

I’m assuming that the people in this town have never seen Flattop before (he’s not from here), so they wouldn’t recognize him, but they certainly might be able to give a description of him afterwards.

Good morning™, 10-64 and 10-65 coders !

10-64 = Crime in Progress   10-65 = Armed Robbery

I got the impression that each of them would do their respective jobs separately and the one who got back “home” first would be the winner ?

Re the bandana on the mouth. Since the story takes place in the “dim time” (“The Apple” – STTOS), Flattop is not known so far and wide to law enforcement(?). He may not have had his real first arrest other than that stuff he did as a minor.

An armed robbery at the bank, a classic to get quick money or a sentence of 20 years!

3 men to rob a bank that has only one guard ? An it’s a Federal Reserve Bank or is the name just Federal Bank ?

The cars suggest we’re in the middle of the 20th century.

With the masks on, in COVID time, no one would notice!

The date when this is set is interesting question. Tracy, in the strip, isn’t as old as he would be if he were a real person who started police work in 1931. So whether something would, or would not have existed, in a flashback has to ask “When would this supposedly have been possible in the new time line?”

That is the preface to my thought as I looked at this, “Not a tail fin in sight on any car, looks 40s.”

who’s that driving the getaway car?

OK, let me get this straight- the guy standing to win “boss” if he gets more money from his hit than his brother’s bank heist is in charge of getting the money from the bank heist??

MEANWHILE: While our heroes prepare to make a very unscheduled withdrawal at the Frostbite Falls National Bank And Feed Store, Nero Wolfe produces a pen knife and threatens to badly cut the flowers if he doesn’t receive $20 million and car fare. And 60 triple anchovy pizzas.

P2, beginning of a comedy sketch?? … https://www.google.com/search?q=monty+pypthon+guars+in+castle&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS880US880&oq=monty+pypthon+guars+in+castle&aqs=chrome..69i57j33i10i160l2j33i10i299j33i10i22i29i30l6.10824j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:8d661b2a,vid:ekO3Z3XWa0Q

Friday? Didn’t that used to be when you got your paycheck? LOL

Masks? I thought Sam joined the MCU before COVID :)

I’ve been loving the art in this sometimes-confusing story, and today is only an exception because of spatial confusion. Is the getaway car in panel two one of the vehicles in panel one? If so, which one?

I read the obscured sign in the window behind Flattop in panel two as “Cafe,” which would suggest he’s not in front of the bank. (He could be across the street, but a holdup plan requiring crossing a busy avenue twice would be criminal incompetence.)

If we assume Flattop is in front of the bank (maybe the sign says “Safe”?), the window’s flat top indicates he’s on the sunny side of the building (the shady side has arched windows). That in turn suggests the crooks’ car is the one at lower right in panel one. But that’s a “radio car” (note the antenna) with lettering on the driver’s door—most likely a cab or a police car. I suppose the crooks could have stolen either type of vehicle, but more nondescript wheels would be better for a clean escape.

Maybe the locations in each panel are totally separate, and the robbers are just departing from their hideout, but in that case Blowtop’s instructions would seem premature. I’m feeling a bit lost.

Good idea wearing a bandana to hide your identity….cuz the droopy eyes and unusually shaped skull arent memorable at all

I think mask or no, Flattop will be easily identified.

Just walk right in…………

I was going to mention this yesterday and forgot.

I am impressed by Shane’s coloring of the Sunday strip. The downward shadowing and bright white from above in the room indicates that Wolfe is being kept in a place with overhead fluorescent lighting. Fluorescent lighting was commercialized in 1938s and was a big hit during the early 40s and was utilized more frequently then than now. I have never seen it portrayed in comics before especially in this excellent manner. These are considerations I have to think about when I design stage sets for other time periods so these things tend to stick in my mind. This attention to detail are rarely given notice by the audience but generally and psychologically add to the atmosphere of the story. Excellent work and research.

1-FRIDAY, JOE FRIDAY: It was a hot, muggy day in Tracy Angeles. People with common sense stayed on the shady side of the street. I was standing in the sun in a wool suit and hat. I carry a badge. DUN DUN DUN DUN!

2-BLOWSMOKE: Knock off the Dragnet schtick ya moron! This is serious bidness!

ED: Ok, ok! Geez! In a moment, the results of that bank robbery…

MOVIE QUOTE—“One of the bulls thought I was sitting on him too long,so he decided to sit on me”

Elvis Presley—TICKLE ME—1965

Hey,Flattop—-WEAR A HAT,YOU IDIOT!!

Is this taking place in the 30’s or 40’s?

this story is even vague by tracy standards. flatop or nero wolf?

Here comes the action,with Archie having a bird’s-eye view from across the street,

And if Tracy is on time for his appointment,he may walk right into it.

Did you know Bonnie and Clyde never made more than $2,000.00 on a bank job?It was the Depression&The Dust Bowl and even the small town banks were broke.

The late comedian Andy Kaufman,famous for a “mock” wrestling match with Curtis’ old pal Jerry Lawlor;will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

He was supposed to have used a “piledriver” on Kaufman,described as “an illegal hold”.

That Thunderheel demands a rematch.

Gosh, it’s been DAYS since Kenny G. has felt the need to;

correct/reprimand/disagree/disapprove/Scoff/dispute

any of my comments.

I must be slipping!!

This flashback story of Tracy’s has more legs to it than a centipede. Mike and Shelley can retire the Minit Mysteries. When there is a slack period at MCU, let Tracy talk about his previous encounters.

I guess due to the time era, those streets are devoid of people. Probably due to rationing which took place while a war was being fought in Europe and in the Pacific.

Hold the phone somebody, is that a police car just around the corner? Nah…I am imagining things.

Panel 1 is a striking piece of art work, with its sunny side and shady side. But it seems incomplete, lacking appropriate shadows on the sunny side of the street. And there may be some inconsistency, if the black-topped sedan in panel 1 is the crime car, with rectangular rather than arched windows visible behind Flattop (I recognize him despite his mask!)—unless we are seeing the other side of the street and that window-lettering really is part of “CAFE”!

Blowtop is a “take charge” guy, and either isn’t using a mask or hasn’t put it on yet. Everything seems to be going well for the bank robbers.

But wait until tomorrow….

Oh, like Flattop will never be recognized with that mask on!