Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for March 10, 2023

Good morning™, everyone!

So, Dick Tracy is not convinced that this is a “kidnapping” but he’s going to help anyway. I’m not convinced that it’s not a kidnapping.

ho-hum… the speed of this arc yet again continues at a breakneck pace…

(said in sarcasm)

“Wanna trade hats?”

Good morning™, talking hats !

Wouldn’t it be neat if they hung their hats up, say in an office or at lunch and then each grabbed the wrong one after. Maybe MC can help with that. :-)  The officer behind the two detectives looks sad and melancholy.

I guess Tracy & Goodwin are heading to the train staton, as that is the location Wolfe was last seen at. I’m sure they didn’t have surveillance cameras back then, but Wolfe seems to be the sort who would stand out in a crowd, so maybe somebody saw him. I’m not a detective, but it seems to me if I was really interested in finding out what happened to Wolfe I’d be focused on finding the sender of the telegram.

That cop on the foreground looks sinister. I bet he has something do with the missing sausage.

They should start at the nearest buffet !!!

Check the nearest truck stop to see if he used their scale!

Maybe this will last a week longer than I thought…..

Maybe he was dumped at the local fat farm !

He is being kept hostage by Chef Ramsey !!!

Some more Wolfe trivia for you.

Archie doesn’t write up accounts of every case that Wolfe solves, only the ones with a murder in them.

Archie doesn’t habitually carry a gun, though he decided to do so during any murder case after once not having one when he needed it. He’s a good shot but not exceptionally so.

Archie is a lot smarter than most fictional detectives having learned from the best, and he is WAY smarter than your typical fictional “Detective’s assistant”. He often gets annoyed with Wolfe and resigns his job on a fairly regular basis, though he always comes back.

Wolfe also often hires (by the hour or day) one or more other detectives to do legwork for him or support Archie. One of these, Saul Panzer, is a totally brilliant character in his own right and is arguably even better than Archie at many of the detective skills, but then he’s also the most expensive detective on the East Coast though he lives modestly. I hope we meet Saul at some point.

The Wolfe books (almost) all have exactly the same background of characters, relationship, and situation. Like Tracy, the passage of time doesn’t really affect anyone. There are a very few characters who recur with some development of their stories, and one villain with a story arc covered by three books, but as a general rule you can pick up any Wolfe book without having read any previous one. Each one tends to describe the New York of the time it was written, so some display their era in what the characters see or use (like automat restaurants and tape recorders). Wolfe learns something of his extended family, some recurring characters have their endings, and Archie develops an arms-length relationship with one young lady that spans the rest of the series, but the household, its layout, and its normal daily routine never vary. When you’ve read a lot of Wolfe, you come to know this household and its idiosyncrasies very intimately indeed which is part of the appeal.

They could’ve totally omitted yesterday’s strip in favor of this one…theres been zero “movement” for the last two days…this strip could’ve been placed right after tracy read the telegram and it MIGHT have improved it

Referring to the officer’s expression in the final panel, he is just not happy with his next assignment which he is reading about!

Maybe Nero is just “Big Boned”!

Maybe Nero was hooking up with Lizzo . The mystery is who ate the other ?

Tracey’s final statement seems a bit… awkward

Never end a sentence with a preposition Tracy

If Wolfe disappeared from in front of the Brownstone, why is Archie in Chicago? SHouldn’t have he taken it up with the NYPD? Of, course Cramer, (and, Lt. Rowcliff {Archie’s favorite target} would’ve heard about it, and, brought Archie down to their precinct, demanding to know what kind of stunt Wolfe is pulling now. (How long would it take Archie to get Rowcliff stuttering, he’s always looking to break his record.)

1-DT: I’ve decided to help you find your Dad.

2-ARCHIE: He’s not my Dad. DT: Your lover then?

3-ARCHIE: No, just my meal ticket. DT: Oh. Well, nothing says you can’t still sponge off him while he’s gone. Sleep in his King Kong sized bed. Have his chef cook you great meals. Sniff his orchids. So long as we don’t find a body, you’re in the clear.

ARCHIE: Thanks, Tracy! DT: Happy to help.

Pat is on vacation, so Archie can act as Tracy’s “partner” on the case…how convenient! LOL

MOVIE QUOTE:

“May they have all killed each other off by the time you read this”

Ginger Rogers hearing her father’s Last Will and Testament

THE THIRTEENTH GUEST—1932

Look at Panel One—Tracy usually has the “slumped over look” when he’s depressed.

If Wolfe has been kidnapped,it’ll be for revenge,not ransom.And if Wolfe doesn’t have some part in saving himself,he’ll come off as the “loser” in a duel of detectives.

And I don’t think that’s what he’s here for.

Nero Wolfe will soon change his name to Heap O’Calorie.

Two iconic detectives trade iconic looks. The “extra” walk-on cop in panel 3 is wide-eyed, but not in a way significant to our ongoing story; he’s just filler (literally) and “mood music” for The Search for Nero Wolfe that seems ready to start at Union Station. But Tracy only does this on his own terms of “a missing person” rather than as a verifiable kidnapping. And he may be right. It is possible that Archie in his anxiety has exaggerated what he actually knows about the sudden and mysterious departure of his employer. Remember, he (nor Tracy) knows of the peculiar situation of Wolfe, being observed while reading and seemingly not otherwise cooperating with those who may be detaining him….