Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for August 01, 2018

Good morning™, hippies!

Shouldn’t that be her parents “and her brother, Mr. Bribery” or did I miss something?

Also, is it just me, or does the way he is sitting cross-legged look very awkward?

Leaning against the tree and some of the roots pushed up the ground so it is an awkward way to sit. Looks like he is in mid motion to correct that.

Whoah, I just had an oddball thought… what if Lafayette is Crystal’s dad?

Is it me, or do these flashbacks always seem to be set in the ’60s?

Good morning™, Folkie Freaks !

Skilsaw will be all but forgotten as we get into the side story of baby Crystal being “started” and how Christine took the wrong exit on the highway of life.

If only Austin would look at the monitor, he will recognize the resemblance of that girl to Ugly Christine. And he probably would ask himself if that girl is his daughter.

We were starting to build up some suspense and excitement with the Sawtooth story…. thank God we were interrupted by some unrelated panels before we started to actually enjoy it!

In light of today’s “brother” reveal I’ll go even farther out on the wild-hypothesis limb: Austin IS Christine and Bribery’s brother, but… he refers to himself as a separate person because an intense LSD trip split his personality into pre-trip “brother” and post-trip “friend”. Or was that a storyline from “As the World Turns”? (SPOILERS) Hitchcock made the conceit work in “Psycho”.

Still, I guess she WAS pretty ugly, though, now that I think about it!

So….seems Austin and Christine used to date at the very least before Christine became an underling of Mr. Bribery…….

I am eager to see how this all plays out. It seems Crystal has the same good nature as her mother (I am assuming) had.

Was Christine warm and loving enough to have conceived a love child with Austin? One she never told him about? Honeymoon won’t have much detective work to do if Austin keeps spilling it all to Lizz. I like the flashback. Christine turned out to be a violent criminal, so the summer of love ended early for her. That looks like Crystal on the monitor. Look up, Austin!

Yo Austin, there’s a reason they called her ’Ugly"

Nice use of flashbacks in an attempt to make a less-than-interesting character seem worthwhile

If those “voice activated” monitors work the way we have been speculating, that should be Christine on the monitor, not Crystal. Because Lizz has just mentioned Christine’s name in panel one. I keep getting the two confused, but Christine was Bribery’s sister, so Crystal would be Bribery’s niece. There is something wrong with the dialog, because Bribery is her brother, not a separate person in her life. Unless Lafayette is about to reveal that somehow Bribery really was not Christine’s brother??

GASP!!!

I’m not a fan of all the jumping around stories the boys like to give us. It’s not that I “can’t be trusted to follow more than one thread in this tale”, as some judgmentally like to say, it’s simply a preference.

The hippie flashback scene makes me wonder if Sprocket Nitrate could eventually figure into this story. Her character is another of the numerous loose ends that still haven’t been addressed.

Why does he have two right feet in the second panel?

Loose Ends, that may be a good subtitle for this meandering strip. Who cares if Austin is Crystal’s brother or ann inbred? Only the fanboys. Why not, for a change, finish a story.? ADD strikes again

Surprised to hear Liz call her Ugly Christine. But i like how Liz is a key part of this exposition scene; she doesn’t get to do very much these days.

After Austin’s reminiscences about his and Christine’s past friendship when they were in their early 20’s, I wouldn’t be surprised if Liz doesn’t next spring the news about Christine’s daughter, Crystal, to him. If so, it will be interesting to see his reaction…

This guy is Ugly Crystal’s father.

Not often I use “poignant” to describe a Tracy strip, but it fits today. Great job, Joe & Mike

Lafayette has two right feet in panel two. Also, as I recalled, Ugly Christine was a mod, not a hippie.

Lafayette Austin, the suspicious snitch with weird feet (all right; what’s left?), recalls the Summer of Love (technically, 1967; more generically, the late ‘60s) and his romance (?) with “Ugly” Christine. There does seem to be some confusion about their familial relationship, or about Mr. Bribery’s. Maybe some step-brothering could knock down this sticky wicket. In any case, it seems inescapable that we are going to find out that Austin is Crystal’s father (even if by unstated incest) even as he does, likely thanks to Lizz’s exposition. In the future, we may see some teary family reunion moments. But for now, we have to get back to the Sawtooth saga and—we may hope—a Magic City resolution, preferably of the Extreme Prejudice type (as a character, he has run his course and is expendable).

She may have kidnapped babies, but she was always very gentle about it.