Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for December 23, 2024

looks like Lee is FINALLY going to solve the case with some detecting…

if so, what a pleasant change for someone OTHER in the MCU besides Dick or Sam…

“Hmm, he was there for valid, verifiable reasons. Highly suspicious!”

“Malibi Mike.”

Good morning™, Suspicious Timings !

Is this a convenient story coincidence we can allow ?  Is that man begging to be spared a heinous punishment ?  Totty looks as innocent as a newborn baby Goat, he would never do a bad thing like killing people.

Yeah, any would-be killer would go to a law enforcement facility to kill his victim, & be sure to leave a paper trail documenting his presence around the time of the murder as well. Move over, Brain, there’s a new super-smart criminal genius in Tracy’s rogue’s gallery!

Good morning™, everyone!

So it seems that they can jam receipt machines as well as other things?

That was real smart of rotten totten feller. But why cops not noted it already till now? This shouda be one of the first theeng thems was done. What utter incompetence.

Bad planning…even if Fred Jr was expecting the receipt machine to fail, there was still the logbook. So as in the Libris case, the logbook puts the murderer at the scene of the crime.

Yesterday: “The cameras aren’t alone in getting jammed.” Yet today, the receipt machine wasn’t jammed.

Paid a…ah…sort of a pre-incident brib…er…atonement. Well, he’s cleared then. wink-wink grin-grin.

Paid a fine?

MOVIE QUOTE—

“Besides that, I got tired of shoveling all that mules—h—*—t”.

R.G.Armstrong—-THE GREAT NORTHFIELD MINNESOTA RAID—1972

TO DMITRIO—whoever and wherever you are—-

THE RITZ CLUB certain WAS in the main strip continuity-

in 1933 Stooge Viller took Tess there to dazzle her with his charm—-and win her over for spite

Why didn’t they do a holiday themed mystery? This one is quite boring.

dear Santa, here is my wish: an actual story from Tracy.

Crooks—-AND honest citizens—have no idea how many “hidden cameras” are out there——if you’ve trying to skip town they’re all over interstate toll booths and they read liscense plates

1- DRUNK TOTTEN GUY: URP! WOW…You haven’t aged a day since…urp…since…since you were on the Mission Impossible TV series!

2- DETENTION CENTER CLERK: Don’t forget your receipt, big guy. I wrote my number on the back – if you’re interested…

3- DT: So – how’d you get this receipt if the Clerk gave it to Fred Junior? LEE: I seduced him and stole it. I deserve a medal for that distasteful effort! DT: And what does this receipt tell us that we didn’t already know?

LEE: Uhhhh…well- nothing. BUT when Totten includes it as a business expense on their company taxes, we’ll swoop in and bust ‘em for unsupported deductions! Maybe even FRAUD! DT: Sigh…maybe we’ll get a Christmas miracle and Springsprong’s killer will come in and confess.

LEE: OR A HANUKKAH MIRACLE! Do those exist? I’ll go ask Santa… NO! SAM-TA! GET IT? DT: Get out…

PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER—December 19,2024

6 in Catalytic Converter Ring sentenced to prison.

Leader Michael Williams(age 53) ran the racket with his wife—sentenced to 2 and a half to 5 years in prison and ordered to pay $125,000.00 in restitution to his victims.

Between 2020 and 2023,Williams was buying $10,000.00 per night in stolen converters. His total haul was over eight million dollars.

One of the people hired to steal the converters was named Michael Evangelist.

And they say Gould’s names were funny.

A couple days ago, Fred Jr looked like a 1940’s palooka who had taken too many shots to the head. Today he’s a combination of Arnold and some ’40’s action star.

COULD FRED JR MAYBE HAVE A TWIN WITH BOXING RELATED BRAIN DAMAGE WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE MURDER OF SPRINGSPRONG?!?

Merry Christmas and a Joyous Hanukkah!

The slow-moving plots we see here basically have this kind of format:

1. Someone commits a crime.

2. Police work to solve the crime while the perps try to remain undetected.

3. Police solve the crime.

4. Perps either are brought to justice, die, or get away.

5. Some loose ends are tied up as not everything was explained along the way.

The faster-moving plots basically have this kind of format:

1. Either someone commits a crime, threatens a crime, or escalates a crime.

2. Police pursue the perps either physically or cognitively, while the perps actively work to thwart their efforts in a way that is believable and compelling.

3. Someone placed in jeopardy makes the action rise and complicates the pursuit.

4. Perps are caught or killed. Justice is done. No one escapes justice.

5. Falling action celebrates success, sees the recovery of our heroes who were harmed, mourns those who fell, recovers those who were lost, and potentially leads into a new arc.

Remember to grab your share of the Christmas Cookies before Oodles steals them all.

There was a British tv series named Unforgotten that dealt with a series of cold cases. At the beginning of each season, we viewers would be introduced to a bunch of characters who seemed to have no connection, and, over the course of the season, various connections would be discovered by the intrepid detectives, and the murderer(s) would be revealed.

So far here, we’ve seen a number seemingly unconnected characters and situations—the TA arrests, the TA killing, the clock tower, the Totten development, even an apparent Nazi connection. Although it’s unraveling slowly, I’m willing to have faith that the story will all come together. I have lots of time, and nothing in my life is critically dependent on a quick resolution of this story.

Of course, if the resolution of this story is as dumb as reading writing impressions on a pad, then I reserve the right to get mad about it.