Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for October 12, 2020

She works at a travel agency…. and she will soon go on a trip with no return

Will Brenda intervene and save the day?

Oh for the love!

Doesn’t even use an alias!

Dumb and dumber all wrapped up in one!

Good morning™, fellow travelers!

“John Stoker” was supposed to meet her at a coffee shop on her lunch hour. It’s not going to help his cause interrupting her while she’s meeting with a client.

Good morning™, Red’s traveler !

Someone’s going places. I wonder who. Brenda’s photogenic memory will alert her to having seen this bird’s face in some article involving a domestic dispute case some time back and that the ex wife is now nowhere to be found to testify at the trial.

Hmmmmm….they are letting us get to know Hope better, and making her likeable as well……not the profile of someone they allow to be actually killed here….

I suppose Brenda didn’t like the plan on the website?

What would Basil St. John do.

An inquisitive reporter doesn’t follow the narrow path. They should use their own instincts. ~Brenda Starr 9/19/20

Sure, it might just be a colossal coincidence for Starr to show up at Hope’s workplace. I’d rather believe that she is using her “instincts.” She steered Honeymoon and Annie towards investigating the killer while she approached from the side of the family. Once she learned Hope was a travel agent it made perfect sense for Brenda to use Hope’s customer-service training to her own advantage: Hope would strive to establish a rapport and Brenda could then skillfully steer the small talk so that, by the time it was over, Hope would have spilled countless details in an “interview” she never even realized had just taken place. The only coincidence is in the timing to be there just as Stokes arrives.

And let’s not forget: Brenda knows exactly what Prof. Stokes looks like because she handed the girls a tablet with his photo displayed on it. Stokes on the other hand likely doesn’t have a clue who she is.

I’m curios to see what happen….

“The plot unfolds”!

If Brenda is on vacation, how can she help?

Since no one has reason to think the sisters are a target it is a coincidence Brenda is there. A coincidence that would Edgar Rice Burroughs blush (and he was utterly shameless in his use of coincidence). Meanwhile he’s showing his face to another potential witness (and one who, by incredible coincidence, once again) knows his face from looking him up as a vampire expert. “Professor Stokes? Why are you here and calling yourself Stoker?”

Hope has wisely held on to her job, so even if Stokes finds a way to steal the inheritance, she will still be doing okay.

Brenda knows Stokes—she recommended him to the girls as a background source.

Quite a lovely pair of ladies. Especially the fox in the middle panel — oops, showing my age. (giggles) But yes, /John Stoker/? He’s about as obvious as a double nose.

what the heck does hope do? call center? receptionists/ dealing with client?

Whoa! Ho ho!

1) Hope Brown works as a travel agent (a dying breed these days). 2) Brenda Starr, former ace reporter and current journalism instructor, shows up at Hope’s travel agency (probably one of the relatively few left in Tracyville) to plan a forthcoming vacation. 3) “John Stoker” (a.k.a. Professor Stokes, “Wannabe Vampire”) shows up for his lunch hour meeting with Hope at the very same time!

Will Brenda see through his nom de exsanguination and recognize him as the professor who has been of interest to her Tweener students of late?

Will Hope live to see another day? Who will plan Brenda’s vacation?

Cover is blown

Brenda turns to the sound of a voice. I “hope” that when she sees his face she doesn’t show an expression of recognition or surprise but keeps a casual demeanor. She can call Tracy after and once a more clandestine meeting between prof and Hope is set she can grill Hope or have police meet with her. It might be best to let her go on with whatever means he intends to get her alone and shadow her so that the prof can be caught “with the goods”.

Brenda may have to do the intervention by following them while alerting MCU of a pending crime. His already displayed impatience causes me to think he will strike at the earliest moment and not try any elaborate planning.

1-Bigguns Augmentation Center. Please hold. Hi there…

2-…I see you desperately need our services. Well, you’ve come to the right place! When Dr. Bigguns is finished with you, the only time your boyfriend will say the word flat” is when he’s talking about his theory about the shape of the earth!

3-THE SHARP TOOTHED INSULT COMIC PROFESSOR: I’M her boyfriend. I’ve encouraged Red to get some, ummm, enhancements, to, I don’t know, help her self-esteem? Yes. That’s it. Mother Nature was really stingy when she handed out the goodies to Red. Now, given my personal interest in the product, I’d like to see some success stories. Yours, for instance.

HOPE: I’m sorry. I was born with these.

TSTICP: VA VA VOOOOOM! So, they can’t be deflated, say from an accidental bite during Vampire cosplay? WHOA BABY! BEAT IT RED. I’ll call you sometime.

RED: But I’ve saved up enough for The Grand Tetons!

TSTICP: Great. Let me know when you got enough for a set of GUARANTEED – HIM-A-LAY-YA. SAAAAAA-NAAAAAAAAAP! Now, where were we, Blondie?

She (Hope Brown) gives her workplace as the address where she can contacted to buy a car warranty? Who does that?

There seem to be an illusion by commenters that this is supposed to make sense. Haven’t you been following these “stories?”

omg. What happened to DT? Now it’s a" “Who is the cutest babe” contest. This isn’t Judge Parker. Let’s get back to some hard fisted police work, with DT and Sam kicking down doors, busting Coney and friends in the chops.