Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for November 24, 2023

Goat Joke of the Day!”(To continue until there’s one honest to goodness panel of real, slam bam ACTION!)

to help you survive the latest episode of; “As the Worm Inches Along!”

Q. What did the goat that hated celebrating Christmas say?

A. “Baaaa-humbug.”

Tune in tomorrow,

Same goat time, same goat channel!

Good morning™, everyone!

Sam finally found something on the closed-circuit cameras and it looks like Ms. Libris to me. The contents of the long thin case is probably key.

Shelly’s been drawing Sam like a doofus. He’s not THAT dumb!

the General will be glad to hear you say that…

The long case is intriguing. Is she using a sword? A two-piecer? I guess that would make sense, as I don’t see why Ms. Caxton would have been so disconcerted by a letter opener. I don’t know if such a thing exists.

WOW, 7 straight days of leading the pack in replies. That’s gotta be a record!

Too bad that record and a Firestrike fart will still only bring me nausea!

Sam in panel one… deeply intense scrutiny on his part…

Sam in panel two… startling realization and/or recognition…

One case has a flute and the other a clarinet. Libris is going to blow this joint.

Ooo, Oooo, I know the one on the left is a carpenters level in a custom carry case.

No wonder there are so many cold cases in TracyVille if it takes this long for the MCU to check the CC feeds in the vicinity of major crimes.

Looks like the writers finally got around to correctly using the periods in M.E. so the medical examiner is no longer “ME”

In one case is that missing diary and possibly the stolen manuscript….in the bigger case is a short sword.

So it was a pointed remark….

Is that the reflection of eyeglasses in panel three? Doesn’t Libris wear glasses?

Looks like a woman. Just like the January 6 pipe bomber.

Yessiree. Me was right. This so gialloesque all right.

I’m pretty sure they’re pool cues.

Last panel well drawn, and spooky!

Sam had an epiphany!

Good morning™, startling realizations !

Sam’s hot on the trail now !!!

Whatever is in those cases, this person will fade into the night. Gone and out of sight.

Oh My God ! She is smuggling cigarettes !

Sam sees Palestinians from Gaza … insert political comment here !

It’s a map to the hidden Library of Alexandria

I don’t know what is in those cases, but it is probably not coffee. Keep looking, Sam.

…ain’t no Swords ’O Damocles in them thar cases………said Barney Fife or somebody like him…….

Panel 2: Sam realizes he doesn’t need coffee when he has a bottle of bourbon in his desk drawer…

Sam Catchem – Detective Extraordinaire and Dick Tracy’s right hand man .

Heyyyyy, I recognize that long case…

Egad! Stabbed with collapsible pool cues!

SAM: (excited): The deli now has EXTENDED HOURS! Wott’m I doin’ HERE?! I’ll just pilfer something from Evidence, hit the pawn shop, and it’s time for my nightly NOSH!

(thinking): Now, where’s my Hawaiian shirt with the orange briskets on it?

1-SAM: Ummm…password? Oh yeah! P…A…S…S…W…O…R… ummm…oh yeah. D!

2-… sniff Ooops. Good thing I’m the only one who has to work the day after Thanksgiving. I wonder why that is?

3-Meanwhile, a hooded, trenchcoated, door to door sextoy sales person makes her(?) way to DICK TRACY’S house with some gadgets that are sure to interest Tess.

Everybody is out investigating but wait Sam has discovered something…….

Two blocks? Probably not coincidence, but it is too far to make a connection. And is there enough detail in this footage to identify X and link her to being present at Caxton’s?

In the long case, maybe her pet Cobra?! Sorry!

she’s like Darryl Hannah in Kill Bill…

she’s part of the Viper Assassination Squad…

Wait… the killer is a Jawa? Now that twist I did not see coming!

Note Sam’s comment about where the CCTV footage was from: a few blocks away from the Caxton residence. It would have taken a bit to track down and obtain the footage, but now that Sam has it and has analyzed it, he’s found something potentially interesting. Keep that third panel in mind.

The mysterious figure appears.

Okay, my question of the day. Go back to the first strip in this story, on Sunday, September 17, and look at the panel (5th sequentially out of 8) where Ms. Caxton is opening the safe. She is partially obscuring a frame which shows a figure with long blond hair, flesh-colored skin, and a grey overcoat – like the one on the person Sam sees in the video on the last panel today. Coincidence? Probably.

Payoff time for reviewing all of that surveillance video! Just as fatigue is about to set in, Sam sees a segment of interest from some two blocks away from the Caxton manse and at around the time of death per the Medical Examiner! This has jolted Sam fully awake. The figure in the video wears a long hooded outer cloak and carries two “cases,” one seemingly about the size to hold a book (in the right hand) and the other (in the left hand) longer, able to accommodate a bladed weapon perhaps. As it appears, Sam has come upon some significant evidence; are the gleaming eye-openings light reflected off someone’s eyeglasses?…