Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for June 12, 2023

“I wonder how my old friend Garage Guy is doing?”

Diet Smith has one day retirement a week fair for a guy surely past hundred by now. Wonder what other turn this disjointed story will take?

Seriously??? Another character insertion into an already clumsy story?

What’s with all the purple containers?

Neil, please tell your buddy Mike to keep future stories simply. There’s a better chance of a more enjoyable outing.

Oy Vey!!!

Diet’s gotta work on his girlish figure!

another sub-plot has been added to this arc, I take it… or is this a portent of things to come?…

It turns out, the tray is for Nero Wolfe, who’s locked up in a room with some black orchids.

Good morning™, everyone!

It’s good to see Diet Smith worrying about his diet again. That was always his character. He’s taking some kind of pill with a glass of milk, I’m sure. I assume that most of what’s in his fridge is more jugs of milk, even if the weird non-Team-Tracy colorist made most of them some shade of purple.

This order to stay home one day a week also works with his chronic health problems of old.

what the fook IS that under the thought balloon in panel three?!?….

He’s a talented boy if can (assumed) whistle or hum and thing to himself at the same time.

Good morning™, ‘Diet’ restricted big shots !

Without bold new inventions how does Smith Industries stay so big ?  Will Diet invite Adam and Suzy over for dinner, along with a secret surprise unannounced guest ?

What happens now? Is Diet Smith going to get a call from the center offering him a prize? If that’s the case they leave no stone unturned as to who they contact.

For someone named “DIET” he’s looking pretty rotund

And THEN, with no warning at all, the mansion was literally filled to the eaves with the Smurfs, bringing their special incessant, shrill merriment, and madness ruled. Cthulhu, who had been on the verge of devouring Tracyville, fled…screaming like little girl.

His household help was working 7 days a week???

Eh one day off a week for him is too much for him? Me not beliefs it! Me can always uses more holidays a week!

@avenger09 – I concur!

Purple containers color~coordinated to purple mansion??

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, . . .

This is like the intro to the Bugs Bunny Show with EVERY character marching across the stage .

For a man called Diet he looks fat !

1: Meanwhile, back at Prince’s Paisley Park mansion…

2 DOIT: Doh dee doh. Brrrr! My backside is cold for some reason. I’ll press this button to summon the hired help. They’ll come running or it’s back to South America Amigos!

3: Sometimes I wish I didn’t have hired help to do everything for me excepting bodily functions. Well, they do hold it for me and wipe for me but other than that, it’s all them. I think I’ll pretend to be at a grocery. Oh. Bananas! I better get a bunch…

MOVIE QUOTE—

“The whole town is plastered with posters offering a reward for you!”

“I saw them.A measly $500.00. Every one an insult!”

James Cagney—THE OKLAHOMA KID—1939

We haven’t seen Diet since his plant went blooey two years ago.

It’s been emphasized since The Moon Era started thatDiet lives “on site” in a penthouse at his main plant.We haven’t seen his mansion since his 1946 origin.I was wondering if Shelley referenced the original strips forthe house.

Also,Diet had a heart TRANSPLANT during the Collins years——a captive Tracy was supposed to be his new heart—-things kinda got postponed.

Is this still in continuity?It was also when an old fellow named Steve The Tramp got back in the game and helped expose an organ harvesting ring where homelesspeople were being murdered.

And remember,Diet was BO PLenty’s “get out of jail free card”. He might be here to serve the same purpose forSprocket.

O.T.: Kansans plays by their own fast-and-loose ideas of reality. Case in point, we were driving home from the supermarket yesterday, and I got stuck behind a pickup truck.

With a SPOILER mounted on the back.

Driven by an old man who looked to be 90. And good LORD, he must’ve cranked that baby up to 20 in spots!

Yeah, a spoiler. Now THAT was a good investment.

ANOTHER OT: Driving my new Soul yesterday and, in taking the turn to the car port (Teri’s car gets the garage), I managed to scrape against the house. Seven nice white streaks on the rear side panel. Using wet paper towels and a fingernail, I manged to clean them off in 30 minutes, but I am STILL hearing about it today.

Smith doesn’t look like he’s on his Diet any more….

Welcome, everyone, to America’s game – WHEEL – OF – PLOTLINES!

It’s good to see Diet Smith back on a diet. And by the looks of him, the old savvy entrepreneur really needs it just now; he’s way too rotund!

But, yeah, as many are wondering, what does this have to do with the plates already spinning at the tops of poles in this vaudevillian episodic arc? How might Diet at the Smith Mansion relate to the boiler room telemarketing scam, or to Sprocket/Susan’s fugitive status, or Adam Austin’s scandal-mongering series of novels, or all those inmates of the Tracyville (or state?) slam we saw initially?

In fact, how does the whole bunch of strands tie together? We can only hope for some skilled weaving….