Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for July 13, 2012

I hope Dick is wearing a bullet-proof vest . . . but it looks like Mylar’s escape has been foiled. Is it time to wrap up his career as a criminal mastermind?

Good morning all…

The weed of crime bears bitter fruit.

Morning All!Uh Oh! It looks like Panda hit Tracy hard enough to knock his hat off. That can’t be good.Tess isn’t going to take that! She lets off quite a barrage, unloading her little pink gun at Panda.It looks like one of her shots ricocheted and has hit Davey. Mr. Crime isn’t getting away without something to remember this encounter.

This shoot out has been amazing. Looks like Davey is in a world of hurt.

Good morning, Bill.

Tess comes into her own finally.

I concede to Tarry that shotguns go BAM and handguns go BLAM! LOL

I agree with Margueritem! This shootout delivers!

I said it before and I’ll say it again: Years from now, fans will speak of this story arc as the moment when Staton and Curtis’s Dick Tracy truly hit its stride.

Looking closely at the last panel, it appears his shirt is shredded at his shoulder. I think this indicates that, in a phrase from the old Westerns, it’s only a scratch.

If I have one complaint about the direction this story has taken, it’s with Blaze.She’s gone from popping ol’ Flakey Biscuits, to becoming spongecake with Davey. (I can’t help it – I was hoping he’d become chum for the ‘cuda, or vine mulch, or just pureed by Panda’s Mossberg… Yeah, I’m a tough audience.)

Uh oh, a separation of hat and head

I hope this doesn’t mean Tracy’s dead

Tess, ever so quick on the draw

Shows Panda his plans fatal flaw

Determined she is to avenge her man

Emptying her pistol just as fast as she can

Return fire she is seeking to suppress

I have no doubt she’ll meet with success

The ricochet makes and ugly whine

As it flies to sever Daveys’ spine

For Davey there’s nothing Blaze can do

So it’s time for her to say toodle-oo

Will this experience make her change her criminal ways

And will she learn that anything but white collar crime never pays?

You know, just between me and you

I think there are more deaths here than in Hot Shots! Part Deux.

Thanks to Doc 1947G, ElGuapo and Gweedo Murray, for your comments.

OMG! With little to go by save sound effects and stills, it is possible Dick has lost another fedora but not been wounded. Or, he may be badly hit and down. Either way, Panda’s three-shell shotgunnery has raised the spousal ire of Tess Trueheart Tracey, and she has loosed a lethal volley! It looks and sounds as though Davey has been stung by a ricochet, apparently one of Tess’s .380s, but how severely is not yet clear (flesh wound to his left shoulder, or more serious wound in upper left chest?). So much action, so many casualties! —This will surely go down as one of the all-time great shoot-outs!

Is it too much to hope that this will be published in a collection? Because it’s the best Dick Tracy in some decades.

So, Davey boy, you wanna play Mr. Crime, ’eh? To borrow from our esteemed poet above, crime never pays. Now Davey gets to pay the piper. Following his major stint in the big house, he may turn straight like Leonard and Mole. But then again… And yes, Tess looks great when she means business.

Number 17 today.. improving somewhat ;)

Looks likle Panda may have gotten Tracy with at least one shot, but good ol’ “Dead Eye Tess” seems to have taken him out while a ricochet hit Mr Crime himself. Wouldnt she get something like bonus points for that? lol! Blaze aint gonna be too happy, and I can see a shoot-out between Mrs Tracy and Ms Blaze looming!

All in all its just another Hat for the Wall….(no apologies to Pink Floyd)

Interesting to note all the major gunfire volleys on the law enforcement side have been via the “supporting cast” women ie. Lee Ebony (Kadaver after Lizz hurt), FBI lady (DoubleUp after Sam hurt) & Tess (Panda? Mr. Crime-lite after Tracy supposedly in harm’s way).

Not sure if that’s Tracy’s profile in 1st panel. Definitely his hat but maybe Kadaver survived above & was creeping up to him w/ cane-knife when Panda unloaded.

Do agee w/ earlier comment— hope Blaze doesn’t get all dopey. She was established as sterner stuff.

Hoooray for Tess! Whoops, poor Davey! Good Morning, VistaBill!

True.

Did Tracy get out of the way of the gunfire or was he hit? Did Tess hit Panda? Whoever was responsible for it, it looks like Davey got an appropriate souvenir of his visit. What do you know, crime comes with a price! Once again, can’t wait for tomorrow!

Oh, yes, we do…Re-read the strips on July 6 and 8…

The core group has taken a beating – Pat, Lizz, Sam, and now Tracy?Very unlucky for Davey to be hit by the ricochet, but it IS Friday the 13th…

So, what is the difference between gun that goes “Blam” and one that goes “Bam”?

Ok, I’m gonna find out how to complain to The Trib, and to my daily newspaper, about this comic strip. It just does not belong in a family newspaper, or in ANY newspaper. Chester Gould would hate it! I’m 74, and I’ve been reading Dick Tracy since I was a kid, and I hate what has happened to this strip.

@tsull2121:Someone fired a shot before Tess reacted – or, that first “Blam” in panel one could still be from Tess’s gun. In other words, the first shot was fired “off screen” before the “camera” swung over to show her firing.

Davey getting “just a scratch?” Maybe.But what is that blue “Ping” in Panel 3?

I’d just like to point out something here:

Pat: shot.Lizz: stabbed.Sam: whipped by Doubleup. If that doesn’t sound so bad, keep in mind that Doubleup has boasted and demonstrated he can fatally break the neck of a person with one crack of his whip. And he whipped Sam in the neck. In the neck.Dick: apparently shot.

That’s the entire main cast of the main crime unit!

the artwork today is stupendous

ww: great stuff

@jackdohanyThe Tracy strip has always shown crime-doesnt-pay violence so I don’t what strip you think you’ve been reading all these years but it hasn’t been this one. Aside from that, what kids are reading comic strips these days?

I think that @jackdonhany is a 19-year-old kid who stumbled onto this site, found fans of the strip, and just wanted to “stir the pot” so to speak. Looks like he got his wish. I’m going to ignore comments like his from now on.

Am I the only one who secretly hopes that Davey & Blaze escape, realize that the weed of crime bears bitter fruit and so decide to open a little comic book shop somewhere where nobody knows their names? Maybe get married and raise some rugrats to be honest productive members of society?

H’mmm…

Is that a note of actual concern in Blaze’s voice?

Whoa! look at Tess taking up for her man! Could it be Hot Rize now has a thing for Davey?

Man, can you imagine all the paperwork that’s gonna have to be filed after this is over? They’ve been slingin’ lead for three or four days now! Most cops I know have to write up book-length reports if they pop off so much as one round (which is why a lot of cops won’t shoot injured animals on the roadside any more — who wants the hassle?).

jackdonhany is kidding, right?

Remember when Tracy basically disintegrated Intro back in 1968?

“Where’s the enemy?”

“You’re BREATHING him!”

As Chester Gould put it in a classically illustrated, symbolic panel (I wish I could find it), far more graphic than anything seen in the (outstanding) current battle, “Violence is golden, when it’s used to put down evil.”

Ah, the ’60s…

Seriously, this is wonderful stuff, and everyone involved with the strip is to be congratulated. I can’t recall who among the group recently said something to the effect, “The suspense is terrible… hope it lasts.” (An old Willy Wonkaism.) But I echo the sentiment. Reading Tracy is a genuine highlight of my day.

…..c’mon, guys, we should only read what “Jack” thinks is appropriate for us. (seriously, he’s got to be a troll……those Gould comments cemented that…..those days were waaaay more violent. And lots of characters we liked died horribly, back then, too…….Moon Maid, Tess’s dad, Junior’s fiance Model, heck…..the Summer Sisters (loved t-h-e-m; too bad they can’t “re-surface”, lol) If I had a complaint, it’s that the ratio of violence between good and bad is a bit unrealistic. Liz has a sword nick on her shoulder, and Sam a welt; and that’s it ……up to today, all the bullets at the Panda Agency scenerio have landed in bad guys bodies. This despite the baddies having the advantage of knowing where Tracy & Co. are, and they in turn in unfamiliar territory. (for example, out here in Cal. in a real life very similar scenerio, one gunman tragically took out several SWAT members before they were able to shoot him) Also wonder if kadaver’s smoke screen in fact helped to level the playing field instead……….anyways, Mike and Joe, you’re doing grrrreat…I think 99% positive comments are the best ANYONE can ask for, and you’ve got that!!!

Talking of extended scenes of violence in Chester Gould’s day, just remember the shoot out with Flattop’s gang. Bullets were flying through bodies and I believe Ed the gunman was shown being shot in the head and bleeding for days. One wonders how Gould got away with it when it took movies twenty more years to catch up.