Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for March 14, 2018

Good morning™, rescuers!

It’s going to be difficult for the medic to get to Ghost. It’s a good thing he had the airbag, but it looks like Tracy managed to shoot through the front window at Ghost when the van was spinning out of control.

I’m going to have to revise the scenario that I posted last night.

He’s dead, Jim.

That’s a head shot but where’s the head wound?

Something’s bugging me a bit. There was a shot on Monday (probably the same shot shown on Sunday) that went to the tires. In panel 3, there is what appears to be a bullet hole in the windshield. If that is a bullet hole, where did the other shot come from?

I am going with no seat belt his head still hit the windshield his head starred the windshield, death by massive concussion

Is Sam attempting the “Live Long And Prosper” greeting?

Whether a bullet shot or windshield smash where’s the head wound?

Maybe the deer threw a rock at Ghost!

I’m waiting for the explanation Neil!

LOL!

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And Tracy thinks: “Now that that is over, I can get back to figuring out if Simon Stagg’s death was an accident….”

Ha ha! Just kidding Sam! He’s dead.

Time to go after the chef who set Tracy up.

Time to go after the chef who set Tracy up.

Even if that’s a bullet hole in the glass (and how, when Tracy was shooting from behind the truck?) he doesn’t appear to be bleeding. And the truck couldn’t have been going fast, so the hitting his head on a windshield isn’t likely to kill him. I don’t think he’s dead.

I’m with Ignatz. The apparent bullet hole in the windshield and the lack of blood ought to light up Avenger like a Christmas tree! I’m not a first responder, but I promise you ANY wrecker driver can tell you what is wrong with this accident scene!

Sam said yesterday, “We’re almost there.” I assumed someone (Lizz?) was with him. Today, it looks as if he is alone.

JSYK, a snub-nose is a notoriously inaccurate weapon. Even with the van’s tires only 6 feet away (or less) it’s very possible to miss and the angle into the windshield at the shot was possible. That said, hitting Ghost Pepper himself would have been nigh-on to impossible, other than GP himself sticking his head out the window. On the other hand, the sound of two shots could have caused a reaction by GP to exacerbate his loss of control of the van. (He did, after all, believe he had disarmed Tracy.)

I don’t believe Ghost is dead for these reasons:

1. Tracy says it will take more than a medic to rescue Ghost Pepper. If a person is dead they are beyond “rescue.” I interpret the “more than a medic” remark to refer to the need to bring a hydraulic rescue tool to remove Ghost from the crumpled vehicle.

2. If Ghost is dead we would not see the corpse. Mike and Joe are not given the leeway Chester Gould had in depicting the demise of villains. We have seen a dead person only once under the current Team Tracy (and I can’t remember which story arc it was). Normally a dead villain is presented off-panel with just an arm or foot visible.

3. There are about two more weeks left in this story arc, and there are still a lot of unanswered questions, such as why did Ghost previously do time in prison.

A fitting end for an unsavory character. But one sort of wonders where the bullet hole in the windshield came from.

I agree with Jonathan K., that Ghost can be rescued but through heroic effort. If so, I would have liked the 3d panel to depict the truck in the ravine to give us an idea of what would be involved; this would have been more dramatic and also suspenseful — ie, is the guy in there or did he slip away?

Hopefully Ghost can return someday in a more interesting story. This one started off with promise but would appear to have gone nowhere (unless Mike has something up his sleeve)

I think that’s the end of Ghost for now as he will return as Pepper the Friendly Ghost

with a concealed carry revolver having a 2.5 inch barrel, a .38 special or .357 magnum round fired at an upward angle the trajectory COULD have carried the bullet through the driverside door window and exited through the windshield based on the skidding of the panel truck…alternately; Ghost applied the brakes to try and avoid the deer. This pushed the nose of the vehicle downward, allowing the deer to over ride the hood of the truck and strike the windshield with an antler point.

Looks like Tracy made Pepper jelly.

Here is my (slightly) revised sequence, one frame added.

http://worldofdt.info/img/ghostdrag1.png

http://worldofdt.info/img/ghostdrag2.png

http://worldofdt.info/img/ghostdrag3.png

http://worldofdt.info/img/ghostdrag4.png

For this last frame, I just shifted two things from Frame 6. I moved the van and angled it slightly to reflect where I think it would have been a moment later, and I changed the angle of Tracy’s aim, while keeping his same position. The bullet would have entered the windshield at an angle and it would have hit Ghost on his left side, not in his head, if it hit him at all. That’s all the drawings I have time for right now.

I have thought about my earlier idea that Ghost could have been hit from the rear, but I have decided to reject it. If I have time, I’ll explain more.

The unconscious Pepper (see my Reply to Jonathan K. above) seems to have come to rest with the van against a tree or large bush: note the branches seen at the lower right of panel 3. Tracy’s remark to Sam (at the top of panel 3) suggests the ravine is steep and unsafe for the medics to descend simply on foot. Climbing equipment (ropes, most of all) or even a helicopter with rescue winch may be needed to retrieve Ghost Pepper.

My 2 cents worth: I think that is a bullet hole in the windshield, and Neil’s drawing shows how it might have been done by Tracy….

That van would have had to have been spinning like a top, upside down and the bullet fired by Lee Harvey Oswald to have gone through the windshield and hit El Fantasma.

Alternate story, after the van stopped, but before anyone else showed up, Tracy climbed up on the hood of the van and shot the Ghost through the windshield, executioner style.

I’m beginning to think second gunman theory here.

He didn’t kill him. But he doesn’t have to save him…

Geez, let it play out. Angles, theories OMG. I do like the second shot theory, because there is so much wrong in that last panel. Maybe Ghost was already dead? Ain’t called Ghost for nothing.

Timmy, I figured out what’s with the hole in the windshield…… Remember Ugly Crystal? Remember what she totes in her little purse? Ahhhh – ha! I knew you’d figger it out!