Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for January 21, 2021

To Trap a Tiger.

Good morning™, everyone!

With three against one, Tiger Lilly didn’t stand a chance. Is he being taken to the basement to avoid disturbing the other guests?

Good morning™, end of the liners !

It will be the end of Tiger Lily if “judge” Aquarius connects him with Dollar Bill’s demise. Tiger’s tough guy persona is about to be taken away with possibly his life hence being taken to the basement to spare the residents the shrieks, screams and wails of a tortured man.

Seekers of the Blue Balloon: Check out today’s Prickly City!

If memory serves, there was a toolbox and a chair in the basement. Looks like the screws are about to be applied to Lily. Either that or the Gimp.

“Holy Sh,, Batman!”

Such action!

Such suspense!

Such enjoyment!

Such glorious black and white!

All we need is Rod Serling to narrate for us!

Next panel: (Aquarius) “Alright you, what happened to ‘Dollar’ Bill? C’mon, SING!” (Tiger Lilly) “♫ Hello my baby, hello my honey, hello my ragtime…♪ OOF! OW! Not the face! Not the face! Ok, maybe the face. Just don’t kick me in the baAAAHH!”

Tiger didn’t have a weapon? Not even a blackjack? Jeez…

Who you gonna call?

It’s obvious Tiger Lilly doesn’t know ‘’Tiger Style Kung Fu’‘or, ’’Old School H-2-H Combat.

This is the end for Lily.

Love the action!

Well gentlemen of Team Tracy, and GoComics. This has been an incredible run. Keeping it purely monochromatic was a brilliant move! Colors really don’t help a dark/nighttime scene most of the time.

Which one is the blue balloon?

Loving the b&w.

So – criminals fighting criminals… I’m waiting for a plot twist to entice me to care.

three against one, no wonder he lost so easily.

I am surprised this is still going, I think I predicted a big arrest a week ago. I like the work that is going into this story.

And what ever happened to Tracy and Sam ?

How does that hat stay on?

………and we’ll introduce him to the pains and pleasures of……“THE BOX”…..??

Scorpio traps are much dryer.

Why are we not getting the color strips? they appear elsewhere

Tiger Lilly will be found down on the docks, a victim of a drug overdose

Mike seems to be trying to be a little more “gritty”…. too bad the envelope he thinks he is pushing was returned for “insufficient postage”

What VERY LITTLE ACTION that gets presented to us in this story gets overshadowed by the lack of movement and downright boring writing

But….not one “Pow.”

Good stuff! Criminals getting violent with other criminals is an action staple of which Gould made good use. When Duke paid Mole to hide out in his underground lair his days were numbered. His mistake in thinking he could rob Mole was his last. Mole strangled Duke (11/21/41) and no tears were shed. Aquarius, Ty, and the Big Fella have Tiger trapped. Going downstairs under duress could mean leaving in a bag…or bags. Great action, well suited to the striking b&w panels. Now, where is that blasted blue balloon? Either Aquarius gave it to (the as yet unseen) Auntie Bellum or it is a floater.

Frenchy’s stand-up routine goes bad after an ill-advised joke about hippie chicks and bad crack (we’ll say no more about that as we join the action)

1-NARKY MARK: He can’t talk that way about our chicks. You guys do something about it while I hold the spotlight!

2-TOUGH TONY MADIGLEONO: I loathe violence in all shapes and forms but my appearance has stereotyped me into one who uses it indiscriminately so I shall follow my destiny! BAM!

3-MOTORHEAD MOE: Should we call the police?

NARKY: Sigh How’d you ever get to be second in command around here? NO! Take him to the secret room that holds our fortune in illegal drugs!

Must have the pot…all this fighting and nobody heard a thing? Oh wait a minute… no furniture was overturned. When daylight is shown in this strip, there will be no signs of a struggle.

And will Pouch be killed by his angry “blue balloon client” ?

Auntie Bellum is going to develop a case of RLS (Restless Leg Syndrome) and start exploring her house. She goes downstairs. Auntie Bellum: “Why is this door locked”? Maybe my nephew is keeping food items in here due to the overflow in the pantry.

Pouch: I wonder where Tiger Lily is…darn…I can’t go to police headquarters and report him missing…it hasn’t been over 48 hours.

Meanwhile at MCU, Tracy: " Gosh, there must be a judges convention. Takes forever to get a warrant". Chief Patton: “Until you can get one, we’ll just have our undercover unit monitor this mansion from a distance. No need for our investigation to get thrown out of court on a technicality”.

Boy, if Dick Tracy was alive he’d settle this dispute.

Aww! Poor tough guy Tiger Lilly [I can’t help it that his name naggingly reminds me of veteran folk/country singer-songwriter John Lilly]. He is outnumbered and overwhelmed by Aquarius and his muscle, Ty (wearing the flame-patterned dewrag) and Anonymous Thug #2 (who deserves better billing, since he seems to be doing a lot of heavy hitting). And now, it’s down to the basement for him. That can’t be good….