Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for January 17, 2021

Aquarius not oblivious. Tiger stalks his path

Balloons set free must never be. Avoid the Pouch’s wrath.

At the rink, Tiger does think, “The gold is in the blue”

Shadow the pink beyond the brink. Supplier soon shall rue

The day he sent poor Dollar Bill into the park to deal

Things went wrong. A dirge his song. No chance that neck would heal.

Cheesecake ups her intake, disregarding all the rules

Seems there is no Skipper fit to lead this ship of fools.

Aquarius grows serious. The curtains must be drawn

Check on Auntie Bellum now. Greet trouble at the dawn.

I like the little bubbles around Cheesecake’s speech balloons.

Good morning™, commune-ers!

I get the feeling that I’m missing a pizza party at the house.

Cheesecake was able to release the balloons inside since they just safely float up to the ceiling. It does seem that Aquarius originally wanted the blue balloon for Auntie Bellum, because he picked it from among the others on the ceiling to take to his aunt. I think that might have been his original aim before he learned that Pouch was keeping some secret about the blue one.

Of course, he’s not really closing the curtains due to the cold, but due to the fact that he knows he was being followed.

Oh my goodness, when will this end

On and on it goes, like a soaked filled depend

Days turned into weeks

And we haven’t got a peek

Beyond a stroll in the park

This story’s missing the mark

I hope the blue one pops

Then at least the Tracy cops

Who are coffee fiends at best

Might finally get some rest

Good morning™, frustrated stalkers !

Tiger’s options are narrowing. What’s a poor killer to do ?  I like that there are people in the background going about their usual everyday affairs.

The guy with the beret reminds me of Brenda Starr’s lady editor.

Can Tiger make like a cat burglar and sneak in thru a second-story window? If so, we could be treated to some cool artwork perspectives.

Themself?

This is like Little Jack Horner. He’s going to stick in his thumb and pull a plum out of that balloon.

Notice that Aquarius is not letting the blue balloon out of his sight.

When I first saw panel 1 I thought I was looking at a speaker for a stereo or something!

Next panel: “I’m back Auntie. Fortunately my super-Aquarius vision allowed me to spot the guy tailing me at night with these dark glasses on. Not like that blind-bat Yeti guy. Say, did you see that big spider that crawled out of the toilet?"

I don’t even know who I’m supposed to be rooting for in this story

The images are just great again today as usual . And what the " H " is in the blue balloon ? And what is wrong with Auntie Bellum ?

Oh the tension, the drama!

On days like this, I miss Chester Gould and his cast of Tracy villains. Change isn’t always good…I hate how the fish wrappers decided Dick Tracy had worn out his welcome, but some of these current comics waste comic strip space. I’m still a hard copy reader and a Dick Tracy loyalist. But I also enjoy this site where Tracy and Sam live on.

Today’s strip advances nothing. It is basically all small talk. What a waste of Sunday space. A Sunday strip is the equivalent of two dailies in one place. It is the space to advance the narrative uninterrupted. It is the place for action too involved to portray in a single daily.

I like the effect of the bubbles indicating that Cheesecake is flying high.

Well, at least we learned that in a coke house, Aquarius was not hungry.

1-POWDER NOSE: Balloons always remind me of my own head – empty and floating high!

2-NARKY MARK: Yeah, yeah. Just hold those balloons a second and don’t let…3-…go. POWDER: WHEEEEE!

4-NARKY: DAMMIT POWDER! Now I have to close the drapes so nobody can see how high you are…

5-…Luckily, this blue balloons seems to be heavier than the others and it didn’t float all the way to the ceiling. I wonder why?

POWDER: Maybe it has a secret message in it?

NARKY: Yeah, probably… what an idiot…

interesting…yesterday i asked what happened to the orange balloon…now it’s back

That Crimestoppers “Tip” should be signed by Capt. Obvious, not Lt. Reimer. Did Neil submit this, and is that Tracy slipping? Rumor is Dick and Sam can be found in the Big Nate reruns.

Aquarius needs to get some of those layabouts to re-plaster the walls.

Cheesecake’s cooking must have altered her memory. She probably supervises the “soup kitchen”.

I don’t get this, one minute Cheesecake is holding the balloons, the next minute she lets them go? Oh yeah, Aquarius did say “close all the curtains”. Mansion must be drafty, surely they’d have suitable insulation. Don’t this place have central heating?

Rats. I wasn’t going to shovel the walk, but then Lt. Reimer comes along, so now I… wait. I don’t have a walk.

It was just that close, though.

Cheesecake is flying high, and she has let the balloons ascent to the ceiling. But Aquarius has retained control of the Blue Balloon, and while the hippie gang do some munching, he goes to see or tend to “Auntie Bellum,” with the balloon in tow.

It is plenty clear there is something not normal about Auntie Bellum. But I don’t know what it is. Is she dead? Is she a person rather than a thing (regardless of her seeming to speak)? This is perhaps the biggest mystery of all in this story so far, even bigger than why Aquarius has not yet broken open the Blue Balloon to see what, if anything, is in it. Yikes! Maybe Auntie Bellum will at last be revealed, for whomever (or whatever) she/“she” is….

Tiger Lily is going to get frost bite in trying to wait this guy out. Maybe he can blend with the commune and have some hot coca. Make small talk with one of the local girls.