Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for March 18, 2023

FLATTOP!

Good morning™, everyone!

Any way they can work in Flattop, they will. Since this story happened before he died, it’s legitimate. It sounds like they are hiring Flattop to kill Wolfe!

I can’t wait to see Shelley’s full rendition of Flattop!

We’re nearing another threshold.

Last time, a few days ago, I talked about the number of regular strips published. Now, I’m just going to talk about the time. Chester Gould’s first regular strip was published October 4, 1931. He was the writer/main artist of the strip until his final regular strip came out on December 25, 1977. He was writer/main artist of DT for a total of 46 years and 83 days.

Today, March 18, 2023, is 46 years and 83 days since December 25, 1977.

This strip has now spent just as much time without Gould as writer/main artist as it has with him. Tomorrow, it will be more.

Good morning™, pre deceased assassins !

Flattop is back .. before he left. Why wouldn’t you want to kill your recurring pain-in-the-butt now that you have him in a most compromised position ?  First lull him into a false sense of getting out alive. Bwa-haa-haaaa !!!

Wow!!

So this is the big moment 2 weeks of yaking brought us!!!

Woo Hoo!

Hmm…was one of those other jobs a contract he had to kill Dick Tracy? Seems like Wolfe would be a distraction. Now I am confused, did Wolfe come to Tracy land during World War II?

I need a script or a program or a cheat sheet to follow the moving parts except for Wolfe. He is stationary.

FLATTOP MEETS MUFFINTOP !!!

Third panel reminded me of something. I reckon they told us this was coming. Remember the time drone story where they showed Flattop?

I think this part of the story, or at least Mike being abled to bring Flattop back to life is a roundabout way was part of that plan.

An old Tracy’s nemesis, Flattop Jones, has returned!

Not Flattop, Flatsilhouette.

Fooled you all, it’s Flattop , Jr.

I wonder why they bothered hiding his face, with that silhouette.

Sorry boboscar but it’s only been 45 years and 83 days since December 25, 1977.

Can’t be, BOTH Flatops are dead?!?

Greetings, fellow flatheads!

Like firestrike1 above, I didn’t see this coming. Does Zeck want Flattop to off Wolfe instead of just doing the deed himself? It seems like an unnecessary and expensive venture if that’s the case. And what could the second job be?

So Zeck hires Flattop to eliminate Wolfe. Would Tracy be an added bonus?

Can this predate Tracy’s first encounter with Flattop in the strip?

This would be a good time for Sam to interrupt Tracy’s telling of the story in the present and say “Wait! Flattop was involved in this???” (It would also remind the reader that this story is set decades in the past.)

VERY OT If anyone out there in T-Land is approached for any reason by ‘AG Comics’, run for the hills. I wrote a script for them using on of my concepts, they sent an impressive cover facsimile, and then vanished.

No payment, e-mails now come back as unavailable. A general mess. Admittedly adapting my ARCTIC X project into MARIONETTE was a quick job, but I was hoping to get something towards replacing this idiot laptop.

At the moment, I’m reviewing over 500 pages of the new book, looking for each and every dropped ‘a’. So far that’s amounted to 673 (and counting).

1-RECEPTIONIST: Put ‘er there, Pal! ZECKERBURG: Take it down a couple notches, flunky. Is FLATTOP here? RECEPTIONIST: sulking Yes – in the dining room.

2-ZECKERBURG: I see the light over your seat has burnt out, FLATTOP. FLATTOP: Yeah, I couldn’t even see what you were feeding me. One thing’s sure – you sure are stingy with the booze. Who poured this – Thumbalina???

3-ZECKERBURG: My servers are under strict orders to se that no one gets more booze than me in their glass. It’s an ego thing AND it shows you where you stand in our relationship. FLATTOP: On my head obviously.

ZECKERBURG: OH! So that explains it! So yo mama didn’t drop you as a baby?

FLATTOP: Sure she did – a lot. But my passion for upside down yoga explains my forced choice of hairstyles. Uh. Did you want something from me…? ZECKERBURG: I forget…

Has everyone heard the radio showdown between Tracy (Bing Crosby) and Flattop (Bob Hope)?

https://youtu.be/u5EZZaAgzec

I was just about to say, I think I’ll return when this dull plotline is finished… but then…

Well, let’s see – the original Flattop is dead, as is his children, wife, grandchild and just about everybody in the Jones family except brother Blowtop… so what’s left? Here’s a clue:

Not Mozart. Not Picasso. Not a genius who will enrich the world. But a lonely little boy with a domineering father, a customs officer who was 52 when he was born. And an affectionate doting mother who was 29. The father died when he was 65 when the boy was nearly 14… Flattop Jones.

(Obviously, not the actual name; see if you can guess the movie.)

My all time favorite Flattop

Oh,PLEASE let there be a desperate car chase in the end, with an elderly getaway driver named Poppa Wheelie!

sigh

Arnold Zeck joins Flattop Jones at dinner, as it winds down. He has hired Jones to carry out one job, presumably to assassinate Nero Wolfe, but now suggests he may have a second job for the killer. That would be to kill Dick Tracy, who is becoming a nuisance by helping Archie Goodwin navigate the Mean Streets of Tracyville.

Flattop is kept in the shadows today, but there can be no mistaking his distinctive profile, coupled with the use by Zeck of his last name. Jones is not very excited over his meal, but it was “good.” First, Zeck says, we discuss Wolfe, and then the “second job” (Tracy, I believe).

I expect that in Sunday’s strip we will see Flattop in his full visage….

Killtop!

Actually Flattop vs Fatbottom !!!

This sort of thing didn’t work out well for Zeck the last time he tried it. Ended up very dead. :-)