Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for April 19, 2024

just one look and she’s spotted the clues?…

come ON, already…

Good morning™, everyone!

The deal is done and she sees the clues she’s heard about. It’s all in knowing what to look for. I assume motorcycle man doesn’t know that there are clues. Gweedo, is this guy a relative of yours? The beard looks familiar.

So, if I understand this correctly, CropTop has been robbing banks to get money to buy an old children’s book that may contain clues to where money is hidden, money that came from …. robbing banks. I have the feeling that everybody in the Jones family of Crookson Hills appreciated CropTop because as long as she was around everyone else knew they’d never be the dumbest one at the dinner table.

firestrike1 barked 2 minutes ago

@Gweedo it’s legal here Murray

and village idiot, as well?… LOL…

I learned from the best (worst ?) ;-p

and it’s a biker who’s the seller of the book?…

how did HE happen to come by it so conveniently to be able to sell it off to Croppie?…

and how did Croppie know who to approach for said book in the FIRST place?…

Good morning™, Tricky Transactions !

In P.2. shouldn’t she be saying that in a whisper ?  If biker boy is not aware of what he is letting go he shouldn’t now be having reason to suspect he is letting go of something for such a low price, if at all, had he been aware of the significance of what might on the face of it look like random scribblings. Is that supposed to be a particular make of bike or are we going for generic, like the way cars are usually done where they are a mish mash of two or three makes and models ?

Wouldn’t mind seeing the biker around longer, maybe he’s a cop or a fed.

Oh my, the spellbinding excitement is too much to contain!

Wait until Croptop finds out that Scardol’s loot was already recovered by the (second) Ace of Spades using the Diet Smith time drone. . . . So many dangling plotlines left to be resolved.

A bag of thousands of dollars for an old children’s book? Couldn’t she just buy that on E Bay for 10 bucks?

Like others has pointing out already, if ol biker is knews book so expenseeve and it is rumours that clue to hidden treasure in it then why he not go gets it himself? And how he even able to biking with all those humonginormenormous plot holes all over this place.

Say me never knews ol Gweedo was biker. Nice cameo eh.

No one buys a children’s book from a biker, when there’s one at the library for free! Ridiculous plot contrivances aside, I’m taking a break until this story is finished.

Gweedo looks like Billy Gibbons or Dusty Hill here. I could never tell the difference in their appearances.

I don`t think Croptop can smile.

Oooo! Oooo! Look for an X!

Well, at least the flashbacks seem to have run their course for now, thankfully without detailing the life (and afterlife) history of Saint Galen Cloudmouse….

Charles gots his bikers down cold . I like it .

a biker keeping it on the downlow?… with no cut?… no patch?… no way…

OT: Boy, will I be (possibly) relieved on Tuesday. I have a colonoscopy scheduled this morning. Having had cancer and surgery once, The last month since I made the appointment has been one big anxiety thrill ride. I’m about to the point of not functioning now. Editing to get a script to a narrator is stalled, with only 70 of 504 pages to go.

Guess once you get it, you never fully relax.

………..and he’s about to say “but there’s a story”……but…..Chuckie didn’t make it for panels long today……..

MEANWHILE……..nice purse the cycle guy’s about to stuff his winnins into…….Ooooh! Oooooh! Perhaps he snatched the purse from some old lady on the way over to “the deal” (anyone remember a model kit done to exploit “The Six Million Dollar Man” T.V. series? It was called “Evil Rider” where a n’er-do-well biker does a two-wheeled heist of a lady’s purse, and Steve Austin, our hero, does a bionics-thon to “teach the guy a lesson”. Just askin’)…….

1-CROPPIE: Is that the autographed and illustrated version of Mein Kampf that Adolph signed? HAROLD ON A HARLEY: Sure… suckaaa!

2-CROPPIE: Scribbled swastikas on every page – LOOKS LEGIT! Hey – why didn’t YOU follow up on the clues Adolph left indicating where the art and gold he stole is hidden? It was never recovered!

3-HAROLD: Uh…I can’t read kraut. And I’ve been busy. And I don’t have a passport.

CROPPIE: But he wrote the clues in English! AND one of them says something about Tracyville? HAROLD: Really? Uh. Gotta run! Nice doing business with ya. Good luck! BLATT BLATT BLATT…VAAA-RRROOOOOM!

I’ve got it!

I suggested this is a scam being pulled on Croptop a couple days ago. I wondered, at the time, if it might be Art Dekko back with another forgery dodge.

It’s not our pal Artie.

It’s another Tracy villain back from the dead! It’s none other than Scardol!

He never was a bank robber. He was always small time gas station bandit, but he wanted a big score. He started the rumor he had robbed banks early in his career and hidden the loot. He started the rumor he had hidden the location of the treasure in the margins of a children’s book. And he put out the name / number of the person who had the copy of the book with the information. Then he waited for a sucker to call.

Put on a helmet and grow a beard as a disguise and he sells a copy. And, since Croptop will be too embarrassed to admit she was conned Scarie may be a number of suckers and a pile of cash as large as the one he supposedly buried!

The restrooms of cheap bars all over Tracyville have graffiti in the stalls: “Did you hear about Scardol’s treasure? I’ve got the book that tells where it is. Call me…” followed by the phone number. And the real mystery of the strip will turn out to be what Croptop was doing in the men’s toilet.

Looks like a Sporster with a moulded tank or possibly a Vrod tank.

I think this arc is inspired by a real fellow who hid a treasure (I forget where, but it’s in America), and wrote a picture books with poetic clues as to where to find it. This was back in the ‘70s, if I’m not mistaken; it has yet to be found.

And in a surprise twist, a Karen mom comes rushing over, snatches the book out of her hands screaming “My darling baby needs to be read to right now so I’ll take this.”, Croptop kills her which leads to her downfall.

I’m thinking that speech bubble in p2 would have been more plausible as a thought balloon. Either that, or we’ve learned that Croptop doesn’t know how to keep quiet (maybe an influence from her brother Blowtop?).

And the cyclist rides off to meet Peter Fonda for hamburgers….