Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for November 13, 2019

Ah, Frist’s hair is back to its natural color today. ✨

Good morning™, fellow readers!

Well, the diver confirms that the Howells are dead, so Frisk has accomplished her first goal. It only remains to track down and inform more of the “Howell babies” and that should keep her busy for a while.

My plan is to try to write my wrap up tomorrow, but I have a meeting tonight, so I’ll have to fit in my views when I can.

Frisk is a dedicated and committed advocate for the enlightenment of the “Howell babies” – all done out of a sense of purpose and without remuneration or compensation – truly a noble cause…

Good morning™, death celebrants !

And so we bid adieu to ex cop Frisk and after a very short break for a belated Veteran’s Day nod; off to the next caper.

Like eating a hamburger without the bun, tomatoes and cheese.

Diver Dan seems to be rather cheerful at the Howells’ demise.

Hang on a sec. Is he giving the thumbs up because they’re dead in the car or that there’s no one in there?… What, which is it? What is it?

Art a bit different this week?

In the deep dark depth of the lake lies two dead, like the cold fish they were!!!

OK, I get it – yesterday’s purple/red/whatever hair was a reflection of the light bar…

I guess it’s that’s all folks for this storyline.

fisk going to confront her mother.

The Howells should’ve stayed on Gilligan’s Island. (Too soon?)

Since this story is apparently a tribute to Locher, I wonder if the alternating red and blue created by the flashing street lights in panel 3 was a homage to the different way of using colors they were doing back then. (See, for instance, Frisk’s jacket on the last Sunday strip before her disappearance https://www.gocomics.com/dicktracy/2004/02/29)

1-DT (off panel): What’s he trying to tell us…?

2-…Come on in, the waters fine? He only found one body? They’re alive and well? What???

3-PRIMM: I think he’s saying “For the love of god, take Primm home! She’s been up 48 hours, exposed to the elements for 24 of those, crapped on by birds and involved in a car wreck.”

DT: Nah, that’s not it. I think he’s saying “Up Yours”. I’ll have his badge for that the insolent punk!

“You know Frieda, theres always a spot for you back in the MCU if you want it.”

“Nah Tracy, thanks though… but you guys are too by the book for me.”

From today’s Comics Curmudgeon:

Sorry, guys, but no attempted on-purpose joke in the comics this week will be even a fraction as funny as the police diver flashing a thumbs-up to Dick to let him know that “Yep! They’re dead!”

And yes we have a winner, two scumballs have departed this world. Wonder if the story will follow up on Frisk’s mother.

Shouldn’t that be thumbs down?

Looks like a wrap. Hope the next isn’t a cross-over with Krazy Kat of something. And I can hardly wait for Neil’s “wrap up.”

I hope that Lizz’s meeting with her birth mother went well… A mention of that would be a nice ending to this story.

I enjoyed this story line because there were plenty of details and back stories to flesh out the main story line…

I know that doing so “slows down” the pace… But, this isnt supposed to be a “Minit Mystery” time where things get wrapped up quickly and the reader is befuddled !

And please… No more “crossovers” !

Thumbs up means yes the are decidedly dead.

Thumbs up could mean they found the car and nothing else. Big question, was the coroner called?

Bodies found by Gene Siskel. Ebert is still underwater.

Okay, all you morbid jokesters! The diver’s “thumb(s) up” gesture simply means that “we [the divers] have succeeded in our task,” which was to locate the station wagon. We all are just presuming, albeit probably correctly, that the Howells are both still in the vehicle and are dead fish dead, as they deserve. Tracy reiterates, in effect, that “this story is done,” while Detective Frieda Frisk leaves open the possibility of a sequel some time in the future….