Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for March 08, 2023

“He’s fat. What else do you want to know?”

Good morning™, talking heads !

Ray should take the day off. LOL !

Good morning™, all!

Tracy is doing a background check on Wolfe and Archie! Well, they didn’t have computers and such to look these things up. When I read those Nero Wolfe stories from 50 and more years ago, I often think about how they would have done things differently today.

He likes gourmet food and orchids and he doesn’t do jogging

He hates exercise and loves food ! He is currently dating Paula Deen ! He must go to a truck stop to weigh himself !

Goodness, this story is progressing almost as slowly as “Pibgorn”!

“I need information on Nero Wolfe”. Hmm…translation…was he a hindrance or a help to your department, Inspector Cramer. Whatever you tell me…don’t leave out anything. I am not that keen on “surprises”.

Considering the point in time with this flashback episode, are there 48 stars on that flag?

snoooooooooore.

The art today is fantastic as usual, a visual delight!

Note the cigar, and that it isn’t lit. Cramer loves cigars and gets through a lot, but he only ever chews them, he doesn’t actually smoke them.

Sidebar: I got an email from one of the Wolfe Pack leaders who told me she heard about this story from a Stout family member. They had been asked for permission to do it and gave their consent. Everyone is following along with us here, so no pressure guys. :-)

Some of Rex Stout’s family are also active in the Wolfe Pack Facebook group and sometimes share stories of his life with them.

Did you know that Rex Stout wrote his Wolfe stories from beginning to end in their final form, with almost no editing? He would have virtually the entire book in his head before he started committing it to paper. It takes a genius writer to manage that, which he really was.

And… the next several panels can’t be printed in a family newspaper.

This couldn’t have been done in a panel yesterday?

The flag has 48 stars. Well done. And while that might set the flashback prior to 1959 it is possible the city budget didn’t allow the purchase of the new flags until sometime after Alaska and Hawaii were admitted.

Cramer has a lot to say about Wolfe, none of it complimentary. In fact Cramer should stop associating with Wolfe. It’s not good for his blood pressure.

The flag may have 48 stars, but why are there 7 stripes?

Nice depiction of Inspector Cramer, but I think I like the actor who portrayed him in the Timothy Hutton TV movies. I have a memory of that actor crumbling a cigar in exasperation. Just felt like something Cramer might do.

….and he wears a cape! WHOO-WHEE!! Like David Crosby, years later, will authoritatively sport when he visits Merry Olde England to “collect” Graham Nash away from the Hollies, and spirit him away to America (and Joni Mitchell!)……

Tracy wants the down low on Wolfe and he knows Cramer has it but what is there that neither know ?

Oh, come on, the readers know that’s why Tracy called Cramer. What did this strip do advance the plot?

One of the things that makes me feel old is thinking about how there were only 48 states when I was born.

Inspector Cramer resembles Lee J. Cobb!

1-KRAMER: WHO IS THIS AND WHADAYA WANT??? I’M A BUSY MAN!

2-DT: This is Tracyville Detective, Dick Tracy.

3-KRAMER: SO WHAT? YA WANNA MEDAL OR SOMETHING??? GET ON WITH IT ALREADY!

DT: Uh, did you know my office has a window and yours doesn’t? Otherwise, they’re the same – right down to the two pieces of paper on the desk! KRAMER: WHY I… CLICK!

DT: Geez, what a grouch!

MOVIE QUOTE—

“A couple years ago we were ready to do a job back in Iowa.And one of the guys got the shakes”

Later we find out this guy with the shakes has talked too much.And a bunch of coppers are waiting for us down at the bank.

We don’t say nothing.Lefty Jackson goes out and gets his gun….the guy with the shakes is sitting right across the room from him…..

Pretty soon Lefty just touched the trigger a little…and the gun went TAP..TAP..TAP…like t hat!

The dirty rat fell out of his chair dead and we drove off and left him there.

Humphrey Bogart—HIGH SIERRA—1941

CRAMER’S ADVICE—-Don’t check gymnasiums

Just took a closer look at Panel 2.

My,Grandma Tracy,what a big office you have.Note the hat and coat hanging up.

Today’s art carries the storyline to its best advantage. Without Shelley’s innovative POVs, this long distance phone call wouldn’t amount to much if anything: basically, Tracy and Cramer say hello and Tracy says he needs the story on Wolfe. Could have been done in a single panel if that dialogue were all there was to this comic strip….