In my mind’s eye, I see Panel #3 as Rick Fletcher might have composed it— CU Tracy foreground left, barrel of gun a diagonal “pointer” to smirking MS Mumbles on right. Little more dynamic.
Gould was always looking ahead— the NEXT villain, the NEXT tech. The current team (perhaps “encouraged” by Tribune bosses) insistently looks BACK. Naval-gazing archeology. I hope they prove me wrong w/ Diet’s mysterious project.
If this story ends up being a commentary on May-December relationships, you can color me impressed. We shall see. I fear this status quo is more par for the course w/ Mike’s writing. More wishful fulfillment in TracyLand.
All the good will this strip has garnered over the past 4 1/2 months & now we’re back @ the theatre w/ this unfortunate pair. I sometimes wish Mike would just spin them off into their own strip— “Ham & Cheesecake”.
Agreed. Mike’s plotting works better when he’s allowed to breathe, so to speak. The 6-8 week imposed running times were absolutely counter to his strengths as a writer.
I suspect this was an 11th hour writing gig so most likely 1st draft, seat-of-your-pants 5-week “filler” of sorts in regular strip continuity. But it sure felt like it.
Also some gigantic leaps in deduction from Tracy connection Daisy to Yeti to robbery etc etc. Also thought it odd the chief evidence Tracy fixated on was the fallen flower, not the poisoned dart fired at him. That dart & subsequent poison analysis strikes me as more likely physical evidence that would hold up in a case/arrest/trial.
In my mind’s eye, I see Panel #3 as Rick Fletcher might have composed it— CU Tracy foreground left, barrel of gun a diagonal “pointer” to smirking MS Mumbles on right. Little more dynamic.