Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for October 16, 2023

So the “perp” didn’t take the cup?

Good morning™, all!

-Mrs. Caxton’s visitor was hoping to make his or her presence unnoticed, but the sugar crystals (particles they noticed) on the saucer were a giveaway. Perpetrator probably wiped the fingerprints off, because the gloves apparently only appeared when Mrs. Caxton offered a second cup of tea.

Good morning™, police work summaries !

Love that they are seen going over test results. We’re not in the lab where it actually happens but getting results is a big step in the right direction. :-)

But the absence of DNA means they tried to clean the scene of the crime.

“The 3rd…no prints. But small silva sample from unknown individual”. What did the perp do? Drool over the cup? Besides their 2-way wrist radios and weapons, Tracy and Sam are going to add cotton swabs to their arsenal. When detaining a suspect, the words “open wide and say ah” will be a part of their vocabulary.

And they test it further and the saliva from cup #3 turns out to be feline.

So, be on the lookout for the unknown drooler.

Very Interesting! They are hot on the trail now!

Artwork is simply splendid here.

Gent, I agree! I think Dick Tracy is getting more handsome – his face has more character and is less just slashes of ink to indicate a face. I like this improvement a lot!

Also, I think Sam is less typically Irish and more suggested Irish. (direct Irish descendent here!)

If all those casefiles Tracy brought back have links to the current murders, our killer’s been racking up victims like Jason Voorhees on a Friday….

It’s lonely here, without Avenger complaining, to begin my morning.

Sam and Dick are going to bust this wide open .

Of course, it would be too easy if the DNA sample from that saliva had a match from CODIS.And, paper files? Don’t the towns where these other artifacts where stolen believe in digital files?

looks like the wheels are already turning in D.T.’s head: so: D.T., when you visit X-Libris, simply get a saliva sample, if you dare: wink, wink, nudge, nudge!…….

The perp wore gloves! . . . Obviously!

MOVIE QUOTE—-

“Well, do I look fairly human?”

Joan Crawford—-QUEEN BEE—1955

unknown individual – So someone we haven’t met yet? Or someone who is so cold that her saliva has to be melted to test it?

One thing I don’t get with a collector thief is that if someone is stealing rare items to add to their collection, they can’t very well show off their collection without getting caught. If the issue is money, how do you sell it without letting people know you have the real one to sell? Why would someone buy a high-dollar rare item that they know is stolen since they wouldn’t be able to tell anyone about it? The item goes back to whoever it belongs to and the buyer is out what they paid for it.

From today’s Comics Curmudgeon:

Dick Tracy loves gadgets, of course, but I assume he’s bored and vaguely disgusted with fancy “forensics,” because they allows detectives to learn information about criminals with zero investigatory violence to speak of. But his face in panel three looks truly deranged, like a lot of horrible things are falling into place for him. “Fluids, eh? You’re telling me this fancy detecting machine needs bodily fluids from suspects in order to work? I bet I know how I can get some.”

1-SAM: Seriously??? You returned with cases that no one else could solve? Can you ever just say “NO”? DT: Well, they were all cases we failed at originally so we’ll just fail again and give ‘em back.

2-SAM: Oh. Hmmm, interesting…uh…I left my Readers at home. What’s this say?

3-…WAIT! I just made it out. The Cold Case Crew wrote: If Tracy and his squad aren’t going to try to solve this, why should we? Send it back to them! DT: WHAT? We’ll show them! We haven’t even begun to not try to solve it!

SAM: Huh? DT: What?

Four MCU members investigating the case from 4 different angles.The villain is a cooked goose,whoever he/she is.

Killers who distribute their crimes among multiple states are always murder to catch—-it can take a long time before somebody makes the :connection".

Uppward-Lee Mobile and Trendy invited Tracy into their “parlor” to lull suspicion, and look what happened to them

A message to Major Matt Mason.

If I provide you my email address, can you send me a message with yours so I can forward the final badge design? I promise not to share it. I was wondering if you might correct the sandwich border once again as I had to redo the badge? Thank you once again, Major.

TRACY : Your mission, should you decide to accept it (your job is on the line), is to get a spit sample from Miss Iceberg.

The murderer had Quasimodo as backup.

I wonder if X knew Ms. Caxton. Apparently she knew Aldus M as well…However, that all wouldn’t fit with the cold-case courier.

TRACY: Oh well, maybe one of the other four cold cases I brought in will have some leads, since this one is going nowhere!

oh no! not The Unknown Individual!

no spit sherlock

The DNA from the saliva sample will be helpful only if A) the perp is caught and his/her DNA matches; or, if B) the saliva DNA can be matched with someone’s that is already on file/in the database. Meanwhile, Tracy has yet to share with Sam the clue from the cold case murder years ago that has the same M.O. and a similar stolen object (Shakespeare folio).

With these clues starting to pile up, and with Tracy’s impending visit to the Libris lair, we can only wonder if Xaviera is really as guilty as superficial appearances suggest (collector of rare books and manuscripts; skilled fencer=likely user of a bladed weapon to kill; patron of the Pfister Institute Library, like Manutius was). Or is she being set up as a Red Herring, covering for someone else who is the real perp?…

Today Sam has his trademark toothpick, but Shelley has done an excellent job of hiding it. Kudos, Shelley!

Lately, I am starting to get this coming in on the second act feeling. Take the first panel of yesterday’s strip for example, looked like Tracy and those individuals wrapped up their cold case session. Hello Mike? Guest Writer? Don’t the readers deserve to be kept in the loop? Other than New York, did additional cities have a common denominator of someone being stabbed for a manuscript?

Interesting version of you show me yours first and then I will show you mine.

The clues keep pointing to Ms. Libris. The diary can be thought of as an appoinment book. X heard about Ms. Caxton having the prayer book. Both women are rich, X may have arranged to meet Caxton at some event and get an invitation to come for tea and see the book. Caxton wrote about meeting Xaveria and her upcoming visit in her diary. However, why the housekeeper didn’t know about the visit may be a hole in this logic. I was originally thinking that the murderer was an unexpected visitor.