Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for December 18, 2024

Something is very “Totten” in “Tracyville”.

“Well, this sticks out for me, for sure…”

A sentence you’ll never hear Firestrike say!

“Well, this sticks out for me, for sure…”

What exactly are these ladies talking about???

Gotta love the names on the sheet.

Eric/Chucky, my favorite team!

Although the idea of firebutt visiting me is scary!

Looks like Firestrike and Vengy finally got themselves in a Tracy strip!

Surprise! Maybe not Earth shaking, but possibly a first for the Tracy strip. The honor goes to our own firestrike and avenger, who have made their names into todays iconic Tracy strip. Maybe even to be added the the list at the Tracy Rogues Gallery? However, they may now be prime suspects for the security cameras being rigged and made useless, as they were present and there during the time the murder was committed. They may expect to be subject to to thorough questioning by Tracy and Liz, as to the reason for their presence. It could be just a case of firestrike bailing out a drunken avenger. I assume they will do a color copy and framing of todays strip. Congratulations to both!

Good morning™, Weirdo Character Suspects !

We got us a couple of live ones here, Pete. Lizz: Don’t call me Pete !

In the spirit of the season, I’ll be charitable & say today’s strip is poking satirical fun at the characters & the mystery genre & is intended as a tribute to Jim Abrahams, whom we recently lost.

Good morning™, everyone!

“Firststrike” and “Avengeroq” are the highlights today, though the visit by Fred Totten is the important clue for the characters. Homer Simpson always calls Bart “The Boy,” so I thought that was funny, too. The visitor on the third line needs to work on his or her handwriting!

Stanton and Fred Totten’s reason for their visit is blank. A coincidence? Maybe yes, maybe no.

and I see that bon-bon eating bimbo, Peg Bundy, is at the top of the list…

which is where she always wants to be when it comes to Al…

“gee, Al, why don’t you ever buy ME flowers on Valentine’s Day?…”

“but Peg, I don’t even LIKE ya…”

As I said would happen yesterday.

Partially completed visitors logs are more oft’ the norm rather than the exception. Since Totten will say, and the TA will confirm, he was there to get a real Totten employee released there should be no reason to assume anything other than the sort of massive impossible coincidences that occur every day in Tracyville.

I detailed the logical problems with this yesterday.

Nice Crimbo spirit to lighten the mood.

Nice to see our commenters get the recognition they deserve!

JHC,. I don’t know who’s going to be more insufferable, Vengy or Firebutt?

This means that both of them will have to shut their complaining now. HA!

Charles what have you done????

They missed a trick with Peggy not visiting Al at noon.

If you’re a fan of the show then you know what scene I’m talking about.

And why would he sign his real name on there?

Also, it shows Fred Totten signing in at 10:05 hours with no reason for visit. He never signs out.

As several others have pointed out, the names appearing in the strip today are Firststrike and Avenger oq. The writer and artist must have done that on purpose. There can be no question who they are referring to, but they seemed to have deliberately tweaked the spelling.

This calls for a VengeyTale !

All these spoof names and Eric still won’t give us a real name for Lt. Misty Fying….

I noticed the easter eggs, yes.

Their name will live on in perpetuity!

Is this supposed to be humor?

Poor security. Some names on the log have no entry or exit times. Two of the names are definitely suspicious.

This strip is moving so Mary Worth-esque slowly that I’ve completely lost track of what they’re looking for.

I’d like to have listened in on the Homer Simpson, “the Boy” conversation.

The log itself is a mess. First, note the dates. Fred Jr. was apparently the only visitor to the police lock-up on November 15 (in fact the only visitor between 11/12 and 11/16), entered at 10:15 (pm?) and did not sign out. (The log book at the museum in the Libris case was also like that, but it was mentioned in that story that members did not always sign in or out. You would except a little more strictness at the police station.)

Another problem is the entry on 11/7. It looks like an old-style physician was in prescription-writing mode! LOL

Now, what in particular stood to the ladies in all this?

1- LIZZO: Whadaya think about this, Lieutenant?!? THE HORE WITH NO NAME: ARRRRGGHHH! PUT THAT AWAY! I like dudes!

2- LIZZO: Ooops. Looks like my plan to get transferred to Homicide has failed. But you look so Butch! THWNN: Why’s you wanna transfer here?

3- LIZZO: I finally figured out that nobody in Homicide does anything because you punt every case to the MCU. I like not doing anything! THWNN: You sound like Homicide material all right. Here’s our duty roster. As you can see – our average time on duty is less than an hour. Think you can keep to that rigorous schedule? LIZZO: It’s a bit longer than I hoped but yes – I believe I can. But what’s with the blank times?

THWNN: Oh. Firststrike implemented a convention whereby if you’re here only long enough to sign in and then immediately leave, then you only fill in one time box. LIZZO: Wow. He’s captain material! THWNN: Yeah – not really…

Anyone else getting popups from McAfee and “I’m not a robot” from the GoComics website that prove to be malware if you click on them? Not does GoComics have the slowest servers on the planet, they’re also CORRUPTED.

peg and al bundy?

You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave.

I wonder if the Simpson listed there refers to Dana?

Flashback: On 11/15 Fred Jr. goes to a TA facility with both a drunk tank and a few other jail-cells for temporarily holding sober offenders like Sprengstoff, bringing Spider-Ring Guy (SRG) with him, but out of sight. Junior signs in at 10:15 pm, he waits for paperwork while the drunk apologizes. Meanwhile, SRG sneaks in and gets his chance sooner expected: when Sprengstoff goes to use the facilities, SRG sets off a video-jamming device and easily gets by an unobservant officer in order to get in the bathroom, kill Sprengstoff, and come out again.

In the commotion after the dead body is found, Totten quickly leaves with the drunk (not signing the log for deniability of exact time he left), sends the drunk home in a cab, meets SRG in a getaway car. Another unsolved mystery! Except that the log entry sticks out to Lizz and Lt. Nameless…

For the those saying it’s Firstrike, would you let Firestrike in?