Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for June 26, 2023

“Drone Patrol! Now in Color.”

Good morning™, everyone!

A snipe hunt, a/k/a a “wild goose chase” in my preferred phrase. So, he “had to” give them the address on the invoice, but that was only the long-ago-closed “Tony’s Ribs.” Riger’s drone is back! Looks to me like it has a snazzy new paint job.

Could it be that what they are looking for is actually hidden out of sight in that abandoned looking building, and maybe the genuine address. Otherwise, why would the guy at Argos be shot for giving out a phony address?

Good morning™, no more “Ribs” !

An old Black man used to run one of those micro ribs places here in town. There was always a heavy smoke coming out the chimney when they were cooking.

Too bad Tracy doesn’t have the kind of technology where they could run an address through some sort of computerized device that would quickly bring up information on that address, like it’s a residence or a place of business & the name of the owner or resident & maybe even include photos of the exterior … maybe, someday….

Just maybe they will find Yeti or Daisy in there ?

Okay, lost my brief moment of surprise, here. Bit of a revision. I had T & S still driving back, when Tracy was addressed out of thin air. Sam looked out to find a drone they hadn’t been approach flying low and alongside the car. Then a report came in via radio that there was an an incident at Argos, so they headed back.

I also didn’t have Tracy physically checking addresses until a day or so before the end of the fill-in. I had them continually moving until they got lead from another source and narrowed the possible center location down to two options.

I assume the 6 requested weeks are being trimmed back to make room for another writer’s fill-in.

Ruined Racks of roasted meat! Wrack and Ruin!

I hear that and i think back to he episode of ‘Cheers" where the guys take Frasier on a snipe hunt’ to tease him and he shows up at the bar having left t he other guys in the woods.

A flying triple pizza cutter .

Uh oh…Tracy and Sam were the last ones to see the victim alive! LOL

At first I thought that the “police” label on the drone was a speech bubble.

“Drone dispatch?” Who dispatched the cars?

1-SAM: Maybe they just this instant closed and they haven’t tossed out the unsold ribs yet? Can’t we at least kick in the door to see, Dick. Please, please, please? DT: Siri – how long has _Tunt’s Ribs been closed? SIRI: Tunt’s Ribs closed the day after it opened on February 20, 2021. DT: Will you shut up about it now???

2-Meaaannnnwhile SWAT COMMANDER: Swat Commander calling Tracy – we’re in position to take down this car repair shop for giving you a bad address. Over. DT: Yeah…maybe hold off. I think Sam might’ve just wrote down the wrong…

BANG BANG BAM BOOM! SWAT COMMANDER: GO GO GO! RAT TAT TAT TAT Location secure, Tracy. Looks like that Anders character committed suicide before we got here. And ditched the gun afterwards.

DT: Gulp Uh – good work, Commander. Just throw some crime scene tape around and call it a day. Sounds pretty open and shut. FYI: I’ll be outta town for awhile… SWAT COMMANDER: Roger.

SAM: Yes? SWAT COMMANDER: ??? DT: Your name is “Sam” SAM: Uh, never mind, Commander. SWAT COMMANDER: Roger. SAM: Yes? DT: DON’T START THAT AGAIN.

That went bad, fast.

Now the snipe is a goner and…..and….and……….so it goes!

MOVIE QUOTE:

“Dingy? Don’t let this worry you, but we’re both gonna get killed”.

Buddy Hackett—IT’S A MAD,MAD,MAD,MAD WORLD—1963

It’s interesting that the term “snipe” refers to something non-existent when in reality it’s a species of bird.

It’s an extremely difficult bird for hunters to hit, requiring expert skills in marksmanship and camouflage. The is where the term sniper came from; it originally referred to a hunter who possessed the ability to take down one of these birds:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snipe

A situation at Argos..an employee discovered the body of Mr. Anders. That person phoned the police. From what’s being shown in the panel, police units have arrived. Until they get inside, it is not known what awaits them.

The last phone call Mr. Anders made, he paid with his life. What happens now? Does the corporate office send in a new plant manager?

The ribs have been peppered with homicide. And I say you can only have a situation if somebody’s alive. Dead people are no trouble.

Dick appears to be looking a bit stocky today… to me, SOMETHING seems to be off as to the way he’s drawn…

The rib place closed because Oodles was their last buffet customer

GoComics was acting hinky, if at all, for some time earlier this evening when I had intended to sign in. Instead their “server problems” have forced me much later! Harumph!

Anyway, it looks like Tracy and Sam were either misdirected by (the late) Mr. Anders, or that they have not investigated the Toni’s Ribs venue carefully enough (I’ll go with the former).

Meanwhile, (hooray!) some actual tech appears prominently, as the flashy police drone of the Drone Dispatch unit has guided a couple of squad cars to Argos, where “a situation” is reported—which we surmise to be the bloody body of Anders on the floor in his office (but note that we never saw him being shot, nor heard a shot, nor saw his body: everything is derived from the Sunday throwaway panel of a gunman at Argos and the panel of a startled Anders headshot [not “shot in the head” but “headshot” as in photography]….