Sir Charles, we all seem to agree, is a fine artist. But his Tracy is looking less and less like classic Tracy. (I know, I know. I was spoiled by the artist doing the last MM, who really excelled at giving the strip a classic Gouldian look.)
Today’s strip is full of stuff that the writer assumes the readers will understand, or perhaps he doesn’t care if the readers do understand, which would be a bad attitude for a writer to have.
In Ed McBain’s 87th Precinct books, there was a separate Homicide Squad, but they rarely did anything. Two guys would show up at the scene of a new murder, but almost always bounce the case back down to the local precinct. It was a running gag throughout the series. But this Homicide Squad seems to have pushed this case further up the chain of command.
The art in that first panel is very impressive. It can’t be easy to draw a scene from that perspective and still keep the proportions right. But Sir Charles has done it! Also, Lizz looks especially good today.
Charles does seem to favor the Fletcher version of our main characters. The last MM had such a refreshingly Gouldian style to the art that it’s a little hard for me to come back to this style.
I’m fairly certain I’ve heard BOLO used in the Law & Order shows.