Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for October 14, 2020

Good morning™, faux bell-ringers!

I don’t suppose that giving him a ring on that number will get a response. There is something about him that seems familiar to Brenda. With his little note, she’ll be able to verify that he’s not legit. As many predicted yesterday, he doesn’t have any business cards, of course.

Good morning™, smooth operators.

He strikes me as a bit “shaky” that he’s being put to the test.

Professor Stokes has a “busted play” to show for his efforts…

Of course our ersatz vampire is tripping over himself. Now that he’s had his first red harvest, he’s gone blood simple.

Stokes hands out his number and heads over the local diner. The road-weary, sassy, bleached blonde, gum snapping waitress hands him a menu.

“What’ll it be, hon?”

“Just some French fries.”

“Ketchup with that?”

“No, I brought my own”. He pulls a bottle of the red stuff out of his pocket.

“Boy, that’s some pretty thin looking ketchup. It sure ain’t Heinz.”

“No, it’s my own special, secret recipe.”

Brenda Starr would be likely to make the connection, no? I expect she has heard of the professor at some point in her travels. May even have seen his picture or seen him around campus.

Stokes’ face is a bit gaunt, but his eyes remind me of Mumbles.

Pretty sure Brenda has spotted the lie. Let’s hope she calls Dick. After all, she must know what happened to Hope’s sister Faith.

Brenda Starr, so far, is a step ahead of the murderous professor. She has scored a sample of his handwriting, fingerprints on the note, and a phone number that may or may not work and/or match up with a listing for the university or the professor personally, and thrown a spanner in his works.

He needs to re-think his nefarious plans! Hope has some hope of living! On the other hand, Stokes may conclude that Starr is too inquisitive and that he needs to get her out of the way before he drains Hope’s blood….

We are approaching an Action nexus, one way or another!

And if she handles it carefully, Tracy can pull his prints from the note.

What kind of business man doesn’t walk about with business cards? She knows he’s not legit and she wants to get dirt on him. She either knows who he is or she believes he’s some snake oil salesman trying to get at her money. If she doesn’t trash the number, she’ll more than likely hand it over the Tracey.

Team Tracy better pick up the pace. There are only 17 days left until Halloween

“Here’s my number.”

“I think you made a mistake, Mr. Stokes. This is a bank withdrawal slip with ‘Give me all your money and don’t trip the alarm. No coins or dye packs. I have a gun.’ written on the back.”

“Oh, silly me. I have to stop by the bank later. Here’s my number.”

“You have a 1-800 number?"

“I get a lot of calls.”

And so it goes, by gar, by gar…

1-THE SHARP TOOTHED INSULT COMIC PROFESSOR: OWWWW! You’re giving me a sharp pain. Wait. The pain is lower and just behind the perineum – A “LOOK-IT-UP” SAAAAAAA-NAP!

2-…I better write that down for my routine…

3-…Do you validate parking?

HOPE: Looks legit to me. HOPE SNAP! TSTICP: Everybody’s a comedienne…

Stokes slightly resembles the late William Schallert.

Something tells me that he’s going to regret doing that.

She might try to get some way to compare writing samples with known criminals.

well, that would certainly be a major red flag…out of business cards?? i still have a bunch of cards from when i was Editor of Florida Jaycee State newspaper, Sunshine News, from back in 1978 :D

second frame, looks like he is in need of a blood transfusion