Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for February 03, 2023

Good morning™, everyone!

“William Lemuel ‘Willie’ Lumpkin is a fictional supporting character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is best known as the mailman of the Fantastic Four in their self-titled comic book.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Lumpkin)

As portrayed by Stan Lee in the 2005 film:

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/fantasticfourmovies/images/6/61/Willie_Lumpkin.jpg

Apparently, he also mops the ground floor. (Artistic license?)

Who’s Mr. Goodman? That I don’t know. Martin Goodman, who used to own Marvel Comics?

now it’s Willie Lumpkin… who’s next?… Alicia the blind sculptress?

and Mr. Goodman is obviously a nod to Martin Goodman, who ran Marvel back in the day…

Yesterday the Baxter building was a huge 8 story building, tall enough for a sniper. Today it’s a small home with Alfred tending to it.

Consistently, thy name isn’t Mike!

Good morning™, sniper snippers !

Tracy hopes to nip this guy in the bud, that he must be smoking, if he is still on the roof after all the time it must have taken Dick to get over there. He will be there so that Mike can have the final battle royale that we may get on to Garage Guy and see what he is up to.

Willie is the sniper. All he has to do now is walk out the door and Tracy will never see him again.

Run the race

Set the pace

To solve the case

Huff and puff

Do I have enough

I hope I’m tough

Eight flights to climb

I’m certain this time

I’m out of my mind

I should be in bed

Drinking coffee instead

Taking trips to the head

I guess it’s clobbering time.

Yeah, how long did it take Tracy to get up to the top floor of the building? Did he run up all the flights of stairs or take an elevator? When he gets to the roof (after a couple of more Marvel references), I’m sure he will find Kryptonite hanging aroind having a beer. Sheesh

Surely this reckless cowboy nonsense from Dick isn’t going to work. Surely Qrip2night brought some gear to rappel down down the side of the building or he’s using fire escapes or he’s currently on his way down the stairs with his rifle ready or SOMETHING. Surely he’s not still just going to be sitting there on the roof aiming his rifle down at the street and get caught completely off-guard by the cop he just saw run into his building after taking fire from him. Right?

Tracy does not believe in calling for backup.

Willie gets transformed by cosmic rays and turns into The Human Stamp, a superhero who can mail himself anywhere, for a nickel.

Mike’s overdoing it with these in-jokes, references and homages….But Willie’s origin goes back further than Marvel…The character started life as a short lived comic strip done by Stan Lee and Mike’s old friend, the late Dan DeCarlo, who worked with Stan on the comic book and comic strip version of “My Friend Irma” based on the Radio Show/TV Show/Films!

This is reminding me so much of the classic “The Day of the Jackal”. The original 1973 film that is…..

Those pigeons are sure going to be sorry they hit Tracy’s car!

S…(huff) ssstop…..(gasp) in the ….name….of the…..Law….(wheeze)

Tracy is supposed to introduce himself as Chief of Detectives Dick Tracy. Has he been demoted?

Why did the Drifter’s song “Up on the Roof” come into my mind now? Back to bed!

Better Call Saul ! I bet his attorney is Saul Goodman who will give the sniper an alibi or Saul Goodman is working for Dekko … for many years !

How did they get permission to use Willie Lumpkin???

I will say this for Pleger; she gives Tracy more facial expressions than he’s had in some time, and she’s good with action scenes.

Characters abound in Dick Tracy stories……….maybe too many?

From today’s Comics Curmudgeon:

I sincerely hope we never learn even a little about whatever Willie Lumpkin’s deal is. As far as I’m concerned, his whole life is just mopping the floor for Mr. Goodman, and if some cop comes in yammering about snipers and roof access, that’s none of his business. It broke up the monotony a little bit, but Tracy tracked in some dirt which means more mopping, so it’s all a wash, really.

Crime Stoppers Notebook:

Yesterday received over a dozen calls [NoMoRoBo stopped them all at one ring] with caller-id from all over the country, but about half with local area code. Today I happened to be standing next to the phone when it rang, so upon answering it I heard a click, tone, and then a South Asian accent addressing me by name. He asked about my Medicare card which I refused to answer and hung up. Minute later same guy again [different caller-id] insisting that he was from medicare — I launched into a “Thats none of your business” tirade and shouted “Do not call here again” several times.

If the sniper was on a mission to scare Art, he succeeded. Why hang around for Tracy to pick him off?

It’s been a long since Tracy had a shot up hat to add to the gallery. Opportunity being presented via this situation.

Stanley Leiber was born in NYC in 1922. His cousin was Martin Goodman’s wife. Goodman hired Stanley Lieber ( later Stan Lee) while Stan was still a teenager. Stan originally worked as a staff gofer, then inker, then eventually a staff writer. Goodman was the original owner of Timely, then Atlas and then Marvel Comics. Mccarthyism took a heavy toll on the pulps and comic book industries in the late 1940s and all of the 1950s. Lee and Jack Kirby (great illustrator) revolutionized the comics industry in the early 1960s, by creating very novel and complex superhero characters from scratch (Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, The Fantastic Four, etc.). Their herculean efforts resurrected the badly slumping comic book industry and they helped to inaugurate The Silver Age of Superheroes, 1960-1980.The above info is factually correct and it was properly gathered from Looper Online, the Encyclopedia Britannica and The New York History Review. Peace!

For that matter, the sniper is on the roof of the Baxter Building, the headquarters of the Fantastic Four!

1-MR. GOODBAR: Quit dancing with that blonde and answer the door, Loman! WILLIE: It’s Lumpkin, sir – you’re confusing me with that play and confusing the mop with a woman.

GOODBAR: Harrumpf! Maybe if you used the correct end to clean the floor, I wouldn’t! WILLIE: Ooops.

2-DT: Are you the guy shooting at me from the 8th floor? WILLIE: Not today, sir.

3-DT: Well then I better get up there and catch the scoundrel! WILLIE: This is a 3 story townhouse, sir. Perhaps you meant to go into the Baxter Building next door?

DT: SHADDAP! I KNOW WHAT I’M DOING!

I’m cutting 5 floors off my climb to the top! And from the 3rd floor of this building, I’ll be more likely to hit whoever comes out of the Baxter building carrying a rifle. Tracy didn’t get to be Chief of Detective by being clever! I meant not being clever…uh. Whatevs

Earlier comments today assume that this takes place at street level (and that’s what I thought at first, too.) But Ray Toler had another idea, which I think is probably more accurate. This is the apartment on the top floor, just under the roof. Tracy went to the top immediately, probably by elevator, and knocked on the door of the apartment he found there, seeking access to the roof. (Note to Mike: A few simple words in a narrative box or two would have got us all there without all this speculation.)

…oh, he’ll stay down there, all right…..with all the “Wild Wild West” type gun violence going on in America 24/7 now, he ain’t about to toss his mop aside to “get in on the action”…….

Why would anybody want to take a shot at a nice guy like Art Dekko?

As the famous saying goes—“50 Million Cuckolds Can’t Be Wrong”

If Kryp dies,can they prove Dekko hired him?

If Kryp lives,can his word be trusted?

Meanwhile,the forgotten Sue Reel is already halfway to the airport….

And before this is over,Tracy will arrest Turk and Grotto for vagrancy.(God,they are dumb!)

MOVIE QUOTE—

“When men bring guns,men bring trouble”

JOhnny Weissmuller—forget which TARZAN film.

I seriously think “99” and “Kryptonite” will figure into the upcoming Tracy/Warbucks story. This doesn’t end with Art Dekko’s capture.

THIS IS CONTINUING TO BE REALLY COOl!!!!

someone refresh my poor, faulty and aged memory banks… how did Tracy connect Art’s involvement to the fake Da Vinci painting at all?… Tracy can’t go on the assumption that just because Art and Paul were associated with one another, that Art is the master planner… that doesn’t give Dick grounds to go after Art under THOSE circumstances… and even if Sue exposed Art’s scam to Dick in their off-panel conversation, it’s her word against Art’s… did I miss something along the way to Dick justice?…

And over the weekend,remember to use Gargles’ Miracle Mouthwash.

If you survive drinking it,it’s a miracle

I am bemused yet puzzled by the Marvel Comics crossover building and cameo Lumpkin. Would TCA actually shell out bucks for rights?! Or do these somehow fall within “fair usage”? And, other than stroking Mike’s personal preference for such, why bother? They don’t really add any spice to the sauce, IMO. But it is good to see Tracy flash his badge and then plunge up the stairs to the roof access from this upper-floor apartment (or penthouse) as he draws his piece….