Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for January 15, 2024

wow, that was fast…

both the poison and the trip to the hospital…

“Sam, Lizz, someone’s trying to pretend she stumbled across a crime. That’s what the crooks always claim. Pick her up and close the case.”

Oh snap, that was a faster acting poison than the first!

Oh snap, Tess has GOT to ease up on the Botox. Her lips look like Mick Jagger’s

Good morning™, everyone!

Since she’s at the emergency room, that means he’s still alive, or at least that he was still alive when she found him. It’s a good thing that she got back fairly soon before the poison could do even more damage.

POOR JOHNNY

Good morning™, deadly discoveries !

Love the pacing in today’s. My prediction: Johnny’s gonna make it.

Like !

Hopefully, the hospital will have the specialists and access to the antidote.

Being late for that appointment saved her life.

Now Fata must produce a plan B. Would the second time be a charm? The old volunteer in the audience trick. Hold the phone, does her magic act say she has e.s.p. ?

I’m sure Fata’s employer is not going to be amused by this incident.

Think the episode of Quincy when the hit man poisoned Quincy with a prick from the tip of an umbrella. Then Dr Astin, his mild boss, flipped the hit man and forced the name of the poison out of him. Maybe Tess will do the same to the hit woman !

Gee if killer no plan to keel with poison like she claim then why she take loaded poison pen in purse?

Pen mightier than sword. Murder she wrotes. With a pen. This an o-pen case that not close yet.

Uh Oh!

Could the pen have been a blow dart/air gun where she presses a button or blows at the end? Meaning that the nib of the pen is in fact the “dart” or “bullet” that’s coated with the poison and Johnny being scratched by “nib” only has a slight dose of the poison enters his system, because the only way that poison could work instantly is if it’s fired directly into the body.

Tess added, “Oh, and by-the-way – the appointment was with the magician Fata Morgana, and the security footage for the building shows her entering the building, and fleeing right after the poisoning, and our office security footage shows Johnny collapsing after he picked up something she dropped. You should arrest her!”

Dick clucked in a condescending manner, “Tess, please leave police work to the police. It is simply a coincidence she happened to be there at the time. It is was even her and not someone wearing a mask as a disguise. We’ll drink some coffee and get to it in a day or two. No hitman could be that stupid. He probably had a bad doughnut at the coffee shop.”

LOVING Dick’s personalized Ring Tone.

The evidence against FM is piling up quickly – just one more reason that AM radio needs to be preserved! LOL

Fata Morgana has already made two major mistakes – the Patterson Playhouse worker almost handled the poisoned box, and now Johnny used the poisoned pen that was intended for Tess. Something doesn’t add up…

I love how she used that Jo Jitsu voice when she called him!

MAN! WORST case of writer’s cramp EVER!

….they’re not THAT big……….ah, poop……

The situation is dire for Johnny and Tess is probably still in the crosshairs . Dick and Sam and the whole Armchair Detective Division are at DEFCON 2 .

Talk about a poison pen…………….

I might critique often, but I also give credit where credit is due. Good pacing today as has been noted already by others. Nice image of Tracy responding to the watch. It may seem unrealistic, but the “Calling Dick Tracy” reads as classic to me. I like the classic lightning bolt in P1, the contextual vignette in the background of P2, and the illustration in P3. Even the MC did well on the floor gradient in P3. Nice job on today’s strip.

Tess must already suspect foul play. She could just be calling Tracy for GP, but it feels urgent as though she thinks she may need to get the MCU involved in this.

1-DT: AWHHH SNAP – IT’S TESS. Yeah? Whadaya want?

2-TESS: IT’S AWFUL, DICK! I was late for work because I stopped by for a Brazilian. Johnny, being from South American, loves those and…

3-…when I arrived I found Johnny on the floor – LIMP AS YOUR NOODLE! DT: heh heh Gee that’s a shame. Where should I send the flowers? TESS: HE’S NOT DEAD! I NEED YOU AND THE SQUAD TO FIND OUT WHO POISONED HIM!

DT: Oh. Ok. I’ll put Sam on it. TESS: SAM!!! BE SEROUS! Give it to Lee and Liz. I want this villain caught! DT: Fine – geez!!! And when they find the perp, I’ll pin a medal on ‘em and buy ’em a first class ticket outta town!

So…an informant set to testify in a high profile trial WASN’T kept in protective custody at a safehouse somewhere and instead allowed to attend a magician’s performance WITHOUT anybody knowing where he was at all times? Typical Mike writing style, and now they seem to be gearing up to Johnny THE MAN Adonis being killed off…lovely.

hey, while we’re at it why not have Lee Ebony’s lesbian lover disclose that she knows who Fata Morgana is and what her “profession” is…after all, they’re BOTH murderers and have a connection to Mr Crime so logically, one hitman would know of another..especially ifnthat “other” was Abner Kadaver’s so-called “understudy”

Relatively speaking, this tale is moving, less days of talk, and something has happened twice already

I wonder where I can download the “Calling Dick Tracy” ringtone.

Tracy reminds me of Claude Akins in that first panel for some odd reason.

Wait…..hold the phone. I thought the plan was to kill Tess! What’s Johnny doing on the floor?

Why do I suspect Fata Morgana will be getting another red shirt from the person who hired her to kill Tess?

Oopsie Whoopsie. Well, at least a pen is a murder weapon that can be easily disposed of. And no ballistics.

Tess is rightfully concerned for her partner, Johnny Adonis. She got to the hospital PDQ and has phoned her husband, Chief of Detectives Tracy of the Tracyville PD. And the hospital staff has been commendably quick to recognize that Johnny was poisoned. Good work all around today….