Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for December 16, 2024

now where were we?…

Good morning™, all!

Now, back to our show, already in progress. So, this is an interesting development: a connection to Hitler, during World War 2. The plot thickens.

Great! We’re finally finished with our two weeks in rerunville and are back in snoozeville! ZZZZZzzzz,,,,,

Totentanz? Death dance?

Good morning™, Gott In Himmels ! :-o

Has the nice old man we have been seeing due to repenting of past deeds ?

Going for a “Reich” ride.

So that’s where grandpa probably got the money to start business when he came to the US.

HA!!! He’s a Nazi! I knew it!!! Told you guys he was a Nazi! Also, loving the “Two days later” when it’s been two weeks! Way to rub it in there!

Why yes of course he look familiar. Look like me see em in some Hollywood movie.

Yow! He must be at least 110 years old!

Why did Liszt write Totentanz?

Liszt’s biographer, Lina Ramann, claims that the work was inspired by The Triumph of Death, a fresco Liszt saw in the Campo Santo during a visit to Pisa. It seems, however, that the inspiration for the Totentanz may have been a series of Holbein woodcuts depicting the dance of death.

Okay, most of us had already figured out a connection. I mentioned the fact the US was pretty good about letting in Nazis because they hated Joe Stalin as much as we did. It still tells us squat about the clock tower and the murder.

We can assume it doesn’t hide evidence of grandpa’s past. You’d burn that stuff.

Looted art? How’d grandpa get it into the US? Why keep it. If you can sell it to someone in Europe you use the $$ to fund yourself on reaching America. You don’t bring it with you and then store it here.

And what does our bank robber and freelance terrorist have to do with whatever it is? International terrorists hired the nut job? The descendants of the owners of the stolen art (how would they know what was hidden where, and how did they find out now)? How did our murderer know freelance terrorist was looking for it? And how did he pull off a miracle murder in the middle of a (not terribly) secure TA center?

Honestly now, would ANYONE have noticed or cared if they just dropped this story and moved onto the next one after that less than half hearted rehashed minit mystery? Only problem is, what’s waiting in the wings is undoubtedly worse…we’re stuck between a rock and a side cabin on the titanic…tho the cruise DOES sound nice

Yes, he looks just like Dick Tracy. What are you suggesting, Sam?

Le GASP! Totentanz (Death Dance) is a NAZI? Who’da thunk it?

Eric Costello returns to continue where we left off before the 2 week Minit Mystery rerun break.

SAM: Naah! Bypassed the protective software Tracy installed. It’s Naughty Dames of T-town, VOLUME 5!

Grüß Gott, ich bin der Tod! Tanz mit mir!

Sam’s been working .

Totentanz – death dance?

Did Sam get this file from the Wiesenthal Center? (I’m surprised my incorrect spelling of the name was as close as it was. AutoCorrection actually knew who I was thinking of.)

1- LEE: Whacha doin’, Sam? SAM: Just digging into my family ancestry on line…

2- : … Here – this is what I’ve learned so far. It’s an interesting read – you’ll enjoy it! LEE: Yeah – I bet…

3 SAM:* And I just learned that Great Uncle Heinrich was a decorated military man! See? LEE: Did you ever take a History class in school, Sam? Maybe seen Schindler’s List or Sophie’s Choice?

SAM: Did the “List” involve a bunch of girls Schindler was dating and was the “Choice” between two boyfriends? I don’t like Rom-Coms. LEE: Yeah…NO! Moron

To be, or Nazi to be.

Is the clock working? Or am I in the wrong story?!?

Being a cop, Sam can afford to be politically incorrect, but we ordinary mortals need to remember to use ‘person of hench’.

I’m surprised that this has not been brought up, but could it be possible that the grandfather changed his name upon entering the US of A to cover up the fact that he might have been a Nazi war criminal?

In order to remind myself what this story was all about (because, honestly, I couldn’t even remember that there had been a murder, which brought Tracy and team into it) – I went back and read it all from the beginning in one sitting. I have to admit, reading it all as if it were the first few pages of a graphic novel, rather than a daily strip, it’s fairly interesting.

A lead-in featuring the buildings and architecture of Tracy’s City, leading to the focus on one area of the City being renovated by the Totten organization. Then an apparent jump to a turn stile jumper, who turned out to be carrying fake IDs linking him to the Totten group. When he was killed under very suspicious circumstances, and the Transit Authority called the police for help, Tracy and team were called in. Since the Totten name was their only lead, they started looking into their activities, and also ran down the identity of the dead man, who turned out to be a freelance explosives bad guy! And now Sam has uncovered some WWII background on the Totten name. (There you have it – our story so far.)

He’d be hopelessly too old by now, like 120+ ?

OT: Feeling netter. Now two of my photos have been selected for possible use in a mag with a 200,000 circulation.

Told you. Hotsy totsy another Nazi.

Man, there’s a particular brand of American who LOVES Nazis, isn’t there?

What would you people do without them?

I swear, in a 1,000 years from now, you’ll still be talking about Nazis.

It’s a religion. Just replace the Devil with a Nazi.

You NEED Nazis, it’s the only way you think you look good, by comparison.

Panel 3 the guy looks like George W. Bush!

Heinrich Himmler….one of the most evil men in history. He said that it was permissible to practice genocide, but not for profit. His satraps profited anyway.

He was obsessed with the occult, sending people to Tibet to find the origins of the “Aryan race.” That obsession kept him socially apart from his master with the dust-bug mustache, who thought Himmler’s ideas were loony, even by Der Chef’s questionable standards.

Himmler tried to be a tough guy, but failed. The “Grand Inquisitor” nearly fainted at watching a mass execution in Ukraine. He competed in SS sports events, and the judges inflated his scores. He buried his chin in his hand in photographs, as it didn’t make him look fierce.

Ultimately, Himmler tried to save his own skin and Germany’s by bargaining his last prisoners to the Swedes in return for a surrender to Eisenhower (but not the Russians) and being kept in charge of Germany and its police force. Ike ignored the offer. Der Chef found out about it and fired “Der Treu Heinrich” three days before shooting himself.

Himmler shaved off his mustache, fled to Schleswig-Holstein, and offered his services to the new Fuehrer, Doenitz. The admiral waved Himmler away. Heinrich wandered around, and was captured by a British officer of Jewish descent. While being searched, Himmler bit down on his cyanide capsule, and died. Having spared the International War Crimes Tribunal one more case, the British buried the “Grand Inquisitor” in an unmarked grave.

Sam just got VERY interested in this case