Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for March 07, 2021

The blue balloon secured at last. Pouch allows a grin

To grace his face. So out of place. The hippy didn’t win.

A gas-leak fake. The con did take. Auntie carried out

Pouch, he does a little dance. Resists the urge to shout.

Joy so brief. There’s no relief. ‘Tis Tracy at the door

Smell the gas. For Pouch no pass. Troubled times once more.

Plan defective. Great Detective suspects there’s been foul play

Pouch now low on options. Must elude the law this day.

Good morning™, investigators!

As Tracy discovers the horrible smell, Pouch seems to be hiding in a closet or something. He doesn’t dare to move, because Sam is heading up the stairs towards him.

Good morning™, frightened felons !

Time for the Pouch to exit …. stage whatever is opposite Tracy’s position. That there is a gas “leak” should buy him some much needed time to get out and be gone. I wonder if he’ll go out the side where Cheesy, Aunty and Oscar have cleared off to ?

Great coloring today.

I suppose the real positive today is seeing the look on Pouch’s face.

He’s been ambivalent toward Tracy in the past, though Tracy has gone to him for “info.”

We don’t know what Pouch does other than sell balloons, though we now know his balloons are “info.”

But for once, at least we, the readers, get to see Pouch in a real crime.

Should be interesting how this turns out.

Don’t light any matches or else,….KABOOM!

Pouch’s expression last panel, wow!

Love that final panel! His face lit by his flashlight, I love it. (And when Tracy goes downstairs will he find Aquarius’ business supplies?)

The Snow Show may soon hit the fan (to carefully mix metaphors) as the po-po (Tracy, Sam, and two uniforms) arrive along with Ms. Han of the DCFS/DFCS (whatever) for the pretextual Wellness Check on Auntie Peggy Bellum, who, by Stage Farce Artifice is not home right now. But Pouch is terrified that he and his “gas leak” ruse may soon be found out! His joy at finding the Blue Balloon has almost instantly turned to stark terror.

Random Thought: Although I do not expect this(!), would it not be a delightful irony if Pouch’s tinkering to set up and release his fake “gas” odor had accidentally caused a real gas leak and a real potential danger of an explosion?! 

[P.S. I was offline most of Saturday with a computer glitch and have made an early Sunday-for-Saturday post there.]

Most of us are in agreement that the smell is only a smell, and not a real gas leak. We’d better hope so, because I have read more than once that a door bell can set off an explosion in a house that is really full of natural gas.

! WOW ! What great images again today , and all of you are right about the last panel .

Have we established if there is a real gas leak or not? Natural gas doesn’t smell, so a chemical is added to let us know if there’s a leak. Did Pouch feed a real gas line in or just a canister of the chemical? And no one has thought to call the real gas company? They are the FIRST people you call. No one from the house is standing outside to clue in the police? Pouch can head out a back door with the police at the front. The real gas people will not be going upstairs to look for a gas leak (the line is downstairs, although they’ll find Pouch’s tampering real fast when the go to turn off the gas at the meter) and Pouch can try and mingle with them as they go out. Or Pouch was actually running gas into the house (although that wasn’t what it looked like he was doing) and there will a glorious explosion – next Sunday… Monday – Saturday, we will have someone finally calling the gas people, see what is going on with Aquarius, Tiger, Auntie Bellum, Aquarius’s dad, Oscar, Cheesecake, Ty, and developments at Wildman Organics… And next Sunday there will be an earth-shattering kaboom when the Uranium PU-36 Explosive Space Modulator accidentally ignites.

Whatever is on that balloon better be worth Pouch going down for B and E and causing the gas leak. Reckless endangerment?

obviously he had a bean burrito for lunch and feels guilty

Well, Dick and Sam are back in the “picture.”

and for the BAD POLICE ROUTINE OF THE DAY they are there for an interview, 1) why do they have guns drawn? this is beyond excessive. 2) where is everyone-oh i don’t know they smelled gas and are standing out side?

The Dumb F’In Cop Squad (DFCS) finally arrives…

1-MEL: OH NO! IT’S THE DUMB F’IN COP SQUAD! AND SOME CHICK!

2-SAM: Darn. Nobody running around in a scanty nighty. Ooops. Just kidding. I’m not the Midnight Rambler who has everyone in my neighborhood closing their drapes at 5PM every night.

3-DT: According to Tracyville Statute 9.570, an unlocked door is an open invitation to police. Let’s go in.

4-SAM: I think old Mrs. Bellum might be strapped so I’m going in guns out. And I’m NOT referring to my huge biceps. DT: PEEEE YOOOO! COME ON SAM!

5-SAM: It must be a gas leak! This time anyway.

DT: OK TEAM! GAS LEAK PROTOCOL! It dictates that YOU ALL look for people overcome by the gas while I decide to either run for it or stupidly look for the source of the leak even though I wouldn’t have a clue as to what to do about it! Lemme think which to do…

“The lights are on”….1312 Bedwell has got to have one heck of an electric bill.

In their haste to get out of a gas filled house, it didn’t cross Cheesecake and Auntie Bellum’s mind to lock up after themselves.

Hmm…what happens next? Tracy and Sam back up out of the house and call a genuine gas company representative.

Does Tracy smell a real gas leak, or just the hydrogen sulfide gas that Pouch has been using to simulate one?

House looks like it is on a isolated lot, no need to evacuate the neighborhood.

Pouch….between a rock and a hard place….decisions….decisions…either get gassed or freeze to death in this oversized house. Unseen silent bubble coming from him….wishes now he should have stayed in his warm hotel room.

Okay, it seems like two or three different people are writing this gobbledygook story. Where has this “gas” been all week? What happened to Tiger? Good question on guns drawn for a welfare check. Geez I hope these “storytellers” meet at some point to end this tale. BTW, it was nice to see a Hall of Fame entry that didn’t end with “End of Watch.”

Pouch doesn’t seem happy to see Tracy. I guess they just don’t get along.

Funny they didn’t notice Pouch’s truck when they drove up….

Tracy is wearing his fedora with the hatband bow on the right in today’s strip. He wore his hat with the bow on the left when posing for the logo panel, I guess.