Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for October 22, 2023

Enter now the library. The World upon the shelves

Knowledge, art, and history. Societies and selves.

Chandeliers light tomes held dear. Such pages to be turned

Take a look inside a book. So much there to be learned.

Xaviera a haughty hostess. It pleases her to share

Acquisitions studied. Her reading room so rare.

Tracy gazes and does see more than does meet the eye

Murder victims count on him to solve the who and why.

smug, braggadocious show-off bi-t-ch…

Now I see why he uttered “ye gods” yesterday. That library IS impressive. I wish I had one like that

“It’s the sort of collection one would kill for, or so I’ve been told. Not that anyone would do that literally, of course.” smirk

I’ve tried very hard to keep my disappointment with this story to myself.

But, “Ye God’s” what an unbelievable waste of a Sunday strip!

There’s more manure here than at Gweedo’s farm!

There’s more hot air here than in Firestrike’s restroom!

This has got to be the most boring story in at least a decade.

Oh, and the artwork ain’t so spectacular either!

Good morning™, everyone!

Now, that is an impressive library. It looks like it belongs to some ancient university, complete with display cases and long reading tables. It’s about as panoramic a view as you could get in the Sunday strip that has to be flexible for various newspaper formats.

Ya got a first edition of the “Magnalia Christi Americana”?

That would be impressive.

Tracy: “Yes, I am. I’ve seen the evaluations on your property. And the level of tax fraud here is very impressive.”

Reminds me of the Butler Library at Columbia, where I spent many an hour during my grad school seminary days. The long reading table is an interesting touch … does Libris get many visitors?

Like • Reply

Where’s the old bat’s torture chamber ?

Good morning™, voracious readers !

Libraries like this are status symbols, what more could they be when you know darn well the owner hasn’t ever nor ever will read Aallll those books.

“Please feel free to borrow any book you’d like, Detective. But please know the fine for overdue books is quite severe.”

Truly ridiculous. It would take hundreds of lifetimes to read that many books.

I wonder if the students at the high schools and universities in Tracy land patronize her library when they get class assignments or must write term papers. They won’t lack footnotes and bibliography pages. On second thought given the layout, only those doing in-depth research get admitted to a place like this.

I’m sure she’s got a book on S&M, BDSM and other perversions there.

Other wise very disappointing.

That one under the glass looks like a little kid’s schoolwork. Wonder what it’s supposed to be.

Darn. I was hoping she was taking him into her “play room.”

Eh see me is tolds ya yesterday. However this also look like little museum along with humongous library.

Why yes of course me is impressed. Impressed by the fabulous artworks by Shelley. Splendid perspective artworks bringing to life a three dimensional cartoon world of realistic depths and details. Reminds me of fabulous FoXo’s classic, his brilliant wordless wonder BOZO. Here except for last panel with one speech bubble everything else is fully just beautiful artwork telling the story of this extravagant library of the lady. Too far fetched perhaps for a house of one person but the gloriously impressive artwork masterfully portrays the scene as if we is watching pictures from a scene shot in an actual location. Pictures here indeed speak a thousand words. Ye gods indeed!

Well, I don’t know about Tracy but I sure am!

Some digs!

The artists outdid themselves today!

With the many chairs and lights on that one table, I guess some people come here for research purposes!

There was never any solo trick or treating when I was a little kid.

“Not really. I’ve seen National Treasure”.

Ye gods is right. When I first saw the 1st panel, I thought it was a street in a city! Now I know where I want to be buried and haunt for eternity! I’ll be like the ghost librarian in Ghostbusters.

(Giggles) I wonder if she has a mint-condition copy of Action Comics #1, Detective Comics #27, and Marvel Comics #1?? One can only dream!

NYC Public Library main branch comingled with UPitt’s Leonard H. Axe Library.

Shellys images today are just beautiful for sure , I just love the expression on the beautiful ladies face in the last panel : )

I wonder if she has any Junie b. Jones.

Dang! I dunno about Tracy, but I’m impressed!

…she has a rosary?…

Yes, you look terrific in that outfit.

I don’t see how you can explain the long reading/examining table unless X has had a whole group there that Owen is not familar with…maybe from the Pfeister Institute? :)

I wonder if she is competing with the Pfister Institute ?

Shelley Pleger does not disappoint .

Any bets that classic library has a hidden chamber, or, an hidden staircase to a cave beneath the mansion?

woof, that’s a big library. :D

So – when did you buy the original city library building?

Aaaaand, Tracy’s vanished. Must’ve found the Baby Huey and Little Lotta archive section. HE’LL be gone for a week. Bring in Sam with his Very Large (but totally not suspicious) Self-propelled Dumpster.

Hey! Think of all the shelf space he’ll open up!

It reminds me of when the Beast first shows Belle his own library in Disney’s original Beauty and the Beast cartoon movie.

Beautiful artwork. Kudos to the artist. And colorist.^5

Dang. I thought for sure it would be a collection of Funko Pops…

So am I!! Wowee!

“Oh the Crystal Chandeliers light up the paintings on your walls, The marble statuettes are standing stately in your halls, but will the timely crowd that has you laughing loud, help dry your tears, when the new wears off of your Crystal Chandeliers "! (Charley Pride and others)!

Impressed with her yes. No one cares about the library

Just in from Sgt. M. Willman.

This one might be it pending y’alls approval.

https://Flic.kr/p/2paQmsn

And third level, fourth aisle on the right is the world’s largest collection of Dick Tracy books. Next aisle after that is Krazy Kat.

if it’s her private library why is there a reading desk for multiple people?

Seriously.Do people ever do anything but complain?And, if you have nothing but complaints, why read the strip?

She has everything except “HAM RADIO” magazine, Volume 1 #1 dated November 1967, and I’m looking for that one.

That collection apparently has a copy of the Declaration of Independence and maybe a Gutenberg Bible?

The library is indeed magnificent, wowsers!

“Would you happen to have a Ben-Hur 1860?”

Hmm. That big rear building wing that we saw from a bird’s-eye view on Wednesday must be this library, and its roof is not glass after all—maybe metal? In any case, different in material from the roof of the main building, signifying a modern addition to an old mansion. And the height of that addition is a good match for the four levels of shelving we see today. Once again, very nice artwork (in both strips) by Shelley.

Maybe somewhere in there X has, um, “obtained” an autographed copy of “Profiles in Courage” by fellow Choate alum John F. Kennedy. (In fact, maybe Tracy should contact the school’s library asking them for a list of books missing since the 1980’s LOL)

TRACY: “You should see my collection of my yellow hats with gunshot holes.”

X: “Well, here’s a previously-unknown coffee table book detailing each of those hats, originally commissioned by a Mr. Blackjack.”

I loved reading comic books (yeah, I know: “graphic novels” – I called them comic books…) when I was a kid. This reminds me of the fantastic places depicted in some of these comic books. It’s all very classic, and classy, artwork.

The story has slowed a little to time this reveal in a Sunday strip. Maybe it will pick back up after this. No real action but we have a coherent and mildly interesting plot and have been having some reasonable pace to the story.

I’m bothered by why X-butt wants to impress Tracy. She has this place for her own pleasure and intentionally wards off any visitors except by her very selective invitation. She obviously impresses herself, which is odd because familiarity breeds contempt. We had a CEO once who was very wealthy. He picked a conversation with one of my coworkers: “So do you like to ski?”

“I’ve been skiing once or twice.” (We live in NC. He’s been to Beach Mountain. It’s fun, but it isn’t exactly a world-class ski resort.)

CEO, looking pleased, asks, “Have you ever been skiing in Switzerland? It has to be my favorite place to ski.”

You see, people often normalize their condition thinking that it’s similar for everyone else on some level. X-butt is the last person who would be impressed by this such that she would think others should be impressed. It’s like me walking into my bathroom and being impressed that we have running water and the toilet flushes when a nomad from the plains of Mongolia who doesn’t have those things. I wouldn’t think that they should be impressed with my bathroom, but they just might be.

So if she shouldn’t be impressed enough to lord it over Tracy, why is she concerned that he be impressed? Is she trying to obscure some aspect of her guilt that she doesn’t want Tracy to detect? (“Why would I steal what I wouldn’t have any trouble buying?”)

Ye Gods!

I won’t presume to speak for Detective Tracy, but I am certainly impressed. For a personal, prIvate library, this easily exceeds all expectations! Parsimonious though she may be, Xaviera Libris must employ a large staff of full-time librarians just to maintain, organize, catalogue, and curate this magnificent library, which recalls the appearance of some of the finest old European university, state, and research institute libraries (I’ve seen a few). The long reading table suggests that she at least sometimes allows researchers to make use of her extensive bibliographic resources. One is lead to wonder why in fact she even needs to make use of the Pfister Institute Library?!

Xaviera seems suitably proud of herself in the final panel.

What next, pray tell?

https://m.facebook.Com/>

https://m.facebook.Com/>

https://youtu.Be/EUhVqp13xYM?si=jfKB3RzAGAHGOh-T