Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for August 12, 2018

Taxi ride in the wee hours. Journey near its end

To Glitch and Grimm we bid farewell. None call Sawtooth friend.

In Hoagland Cemetery he recovers hidden stash

Again he’s flush yet now must rush. Attained the dough to dash.

Fond dreams of home. Why did he roam? Hot tub felt so great

Shake off the dust and flee he must. Girlfriends shall await.

What’s that sound? Who does approach? It’s Tracy and Sam Catchem

Time to shoot detectives down. The Coroner can fetch ‘em.

Takes his shot! His aim is not quite all that it could be

Sam and Tracy take their shots and Sawtooth’s soul must flee.

Bleeding out. He cannot shout. The light begins to flicker

Last thing he knows before he goes, the ceasing of his ticker.

Sawtooth is dead. Let it be said that crime it does not pay

There comes a time slime pays for crime. Won’t see another day.

No, Sawtooth was great, I was hoping they wouldn’t kill him off.

Are you sure he’s dead?

Good morning™, gun fighters!

It looks like Sawtooth got hit.

I had a long phone conversation with Gweedo today about various things. He is in the eastern U.S. for his annual family event and was hoping to meet up with Vista Bill’s daughter, but she is busy with many things, including still moving things out of Bill’s place, which is an emotional task, and was having trouble finding a way to fit it in this weekend. Gweedo has decided that meeting at a future time when things are more settled is the best way to do things, although he is disappointed rhat he couldn’t meet her this weekend.

Wonder why the boys chose that particular grave for the denouement. ✨

Whether he is dead may yet be debatable. But it does appear that he is no longer a threat. (Trap, maybe?)

At least, it wasn’t a train wreck. (My prediction weeks ago)

Not quite a “Sweatbox” ending but at least he went down fighting. The only thing left is the postmortem slab story dissections by its main detractors.

Off to bed for an early breakfast gathering.

I guess protective garments for the four legged cops is not in the budget.

Betcha the taxi’s not waiting any more.

“The weed of crime bears bitter fruit.” [ The Shadow]

Not only is he merely dead, he’s really most sincerely dead.

Oh, babies, don’t you panic. We’ll end this story like we began-it: With an homage to “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”…

“Hit-man Sawtooth,It’s a-all o-o-ver.Your mission is a failure,Tracy’s gunned you dow-ow-ow-own.

Your cash has all been scattered,You are dead or injured.We’ll return to MCU now,Prepare the denouement…”

I know, I know. Who let this riff-raff in here, thinking he could sing?! And now that I think on it, Sawtooth should have been defeated at an old “ghost repeater” radio tower instead of at a cemetery. But then again, dammit Janet, my radio doesn’t show pictures.

With admiration to Richard O’Brien, and apologies to those who haven’t seen the show and can’t make sense of what I’m prattling on about!

I’m surprised that Tracy’s bullet didn’t ricochet off of Sawtooth’s metal choppers.

I hope it was Sam’s bullet that got him.

I thought it was very respectful to keep the gunplay Silenced in the cemetery. No Bang Bangs….

Looks like he’s done, but watch it. The gun is still in his hand.

In the spirit of a series of PSAs in the late 1980s and early 1990s: You get into a firefight with Dick Tracy and Sam Catchem: this is the next 60 seconds of your life….

I do hope this isn’t the end of Sawtooth; unless Team Tracy has some more folks warming up in the bullpen, the body count on good villains is running very high, indeed.

Sawtooth must be a terrible shot not to have hit at least one of them at that range. I’d put it down to being nervous, but he’s a cold-blooded killer, so I figure he should be used to shoot outs by now.

If this was the real world, Tracy and Sam would sitting down for a nice long session of paperwork, and, shooting board investigations by their own, and, the ND state police. Good thing for us, Tracy doesn’t live in the real world.

Why all the bullet holes in the GRAVESTONE ? ? ?

Hard to tell if Sawtooth was hit and/or killed. I miss the days when Chester Gould would not only show graphic violence, but even a dotted line demonstrating the path of the kill shot.

Sawtooth must be a terrible shooter. He fired the first shot and missed both Sam and Tracy.

I wonder will Sam and Tracy split Sawtooth’s money 50-50? It’s a fair reward for catching a dangerous hitman.

I notice a couple bullet holes in the fake tombstone, and only Sawtooth’s head and shoulders were above it as he was shooting, did a “pass through” get him?

Although yesterday I asked about his biting it in the cemetery, maybe Team Tracy are going to have him critically injured, and rush him to the ER where along with a half dozen slugs the doctors will also remove his metal choppers (while running the typical back story of how a twisted dentist experimented on him giving him his unique trait)

Boy, won’t the Minot Police Department be surprised to learn of the shootout in the cemetery by a couple of cops who drove hundreds of miles to meet a perp there and have it out with him!

Anybody ELSE catch the irony of Sawtooth’s demise being brought about by riding a train or was it just me?

Possible ending to a generally (sans Crystal etc) good story. Pretty Gouldian. Also, great art, with few sound effects. Hope the good villains and decent stories continue without the “Mary Worth” interruptions, or crossovers with, say, Mutt and Jeff

I know some in the community will disagree with me, & I respect that just as I hope they respect my right to comment, but I have to once again point out the cluelessness on the part of Joe, Mike, & the Tribune of prominently featuring a Confederate image in the strip, especially on the weekend of the first anniversary of Charlottesville. Isn’t anybody editing these things?

It’s as I predicted late yesterday. Sawtooth fires and misses; Tracy and Sam respond with deadly force. And Sawtooth has been smoked. It’s as in “Seven Spanish Angels,” save that he’s the Bad Guy through-and-through (maybe like some of the rounds that put him down). Interesting that with all today’s gunplay we see no bullets flying, no wounds or blood, and don’t even have any sound effects. Indeed, this Silent Film shootout is most effective!

Crime does not pay….

I suspect the tooth fairy still lives.

The four legged officers need a flexible body armor with a face mask, if that is possible, without impeding their vision. A certain death injury could be reduced to at most a disability with retirement to home [prairie] companion.

Hate to say I told you so….BUT I TOLD YOU SO.

Now he’s Seentooth.