Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for July 05, 2013

Good morning all! Hope you had a happy fourth!

Is Bardoll related to Abner Kadaver?

Bardoll remembered the smoke pellets but forgot his silencer. Criminals R Dum.

Is he smarter than he looks?

How convenient, just happening to have some smoke pellets (was he going to run an old Lionel steam locomotive on his train set at home?). But Bardoll has managed to sprint from the Space Coupe, though I do not know that he any clear idea where he’s going. C’mon, MCU!

DT has gun in hand!

Good morning all…

Tracy can relate. He remembers when he was trapped in the submarine and airplane while hiding from Johnny Nothing in the Science Museum!

Looks like Bardoll may get away after all. I thought maybe he was trapped. Fantastic art today — the depth from foreground to background is very dramatic.

He has no gun, but he’s carrying smoke pellets? Why would a crook who knew he was going on a possibly dangerous assignment not have a gun on him? That straiins the writer’s credibility.

Crooks just be dumb.

next thing you know, he’s gonna pull an uzi outta his hat! :)

.Bardoll doesn’t look trapped.

Looks like gruesome there isn’t as dumb as he looks.

The smoke pellets are admittedly a stretch, but Diet Smith magnetically disarmed him in the July 2 strip.

Michael Phelps said:“Crooks just be dumb.”

And since this makeover of Dick Tracy began,they’ve always been met with an unfortunate fate.

underwear on right? check!both guns in holster? check!Brass knuckles? check!roll of quarters? check!smoke pellets? check!

from “Hood’s morning checklist”

Admittedly the “convenient” smoke pellets are a weak plot device reminiscent of the old Batman TV show where every villain seemed to have a ready supply of purple or red smoke bombs. (Where does one get this type of thick smoke pellets anyway?) I saw some kids shooting fireworks yesterday and the smoke pellets they used allowed anyone to clearly see through the smoke. In a story as stellar as this has been, the smoke pellet device seems unusually weak and gratuitous.

When Smith used the magnetic abilities of the Space Coupe to disarm Bardoll, why didn’t it react with other metal on Bardoll’s person. Didn’t he have a belt buckle? Did he have a key ring? What about additional ammo clips for his weapon?

I don’t mind Bardoll making an escape. It is obviously necessary for the plot. But come on—smoke pellets? Is Bardoll Abner Kadaver’s son? With Bardoll’s immense size and strength, he could just as easily picked up a large heavy piece of equipment in the hangar and hurled it at the cops causing them to duck or take cover as he made his escape. This would seem to be more in character for Bardoll than a flamboyant escape using smoke pellets.

In addition, where are the rest of Smith’s security team? With a guard down, I would hope that they would be outside the hangar providing backup at this point. And, even if Bardoll escapes the hangar, he is still on the grounds of Smith’s compound. How does he expect to escape when the “top secret” Smith Industries is likely surrounded by security fences. Perhaps he intends to use some more Kadaver magic to levitate over the walls.

Still, I’m willing to give this “bump in the road” a pass because the rest of the story has been so compelling. Despite today’s silliness, I am still hooked like a fish on this story.

First he was inside the door of the SC. The cops had him trapped inside. Next thing we see is him running. Didn’t he have to come out unarmed? Why’d they let him out? Since he shot a guard, why didn’t they apprehend him then? Where’s Mugg?