Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Shelley Pleger for November 13, 2022

Steelface ducked down the alleyway. No way to get away

Indulged himself in joyless ride. Was this his final day?

Loaded up by EMTs who rushed him to a bed

Missed the steel plate on the street. Prognosis: should be dead.

Easy to guess he’d make a mess. We know crime does not pay

Boosting cars won’t get one far nor add another day

To the calendar of life. Clock will cease to tick

Robert steps out on the stage. Sam thick as a brick.

DOA?

Robert is overhearing the conversation between Dick and Sam and he sure seems to have a happy look on his face… good for you, young man…

Good morning™, all!

Tracy and Sam are finally seeing the light on the Wrist Radio problem. Meanwhile, even though nobody knows where Steelface is, his scary-looking steel plate seems to have landed on the pavement somewhere (near the accident, no doubt) and the scene shift to the emergency room at the hospital.

Robert is belting out a soulful rendition of “Don’t It Make My Blues Eyes Brown” to Sam, and he’s lovin’ it!

Just about time to put the bow on this package.

Anyone think we’ll ever find out who Steelwools all important “connection” at the playhouse is?

Most likely it’ll be another unexplained loose end.

Greetings and salutations fellow chop shop busters!

Well, I’m happy that we get to see the successful bust of the chop shop but we still didn’t get to see the implied car crash of Unky Arseface. So… I’m just remotely satisfied with this story. This appears to be an escape in the making, if Unky is in any shape to actually escape. I’ll be a little more satisfied if we get to see his escape from the coppers than if it just abruptly ends now.

Good morning™, angry chop shoppers !

I wouldn’t want to meet the goon in P.3 without a loaded weapon in my hand. He looks as angry as Brutus when Popeye is besting him with Olive Oyl, and as much of a hulking brute, with ham hock size fists.

and I just remembered… what about that text from Uncle SteelyArce?… seems as if Robert is blowing off Uncle ArceFace for the moment… maybe Robert IS rehearsing, as Ray postulated earlier today in his response to me……

Deadmen don’t send texts. So A) Steelface sent the text before the crash B) He’s not as badly hurt as he could be or C) someone at the hospital or an EMT is texting out a message to someone on the ‘kin’ list to notify them of Steely’s fate

So, looks like there will be no showdown between Tracy & Steelface …. the only question now is if Sam will remember that Robert Parrish has a connection to Steelface, &, if he does (which is no sure thing, given the sloppy way Mike is writing these days) if he turns Parrish in, or decides to let the kid walk because he did do the right thing by returning the wrist radio &, more importantly in Sam’s world, is playing his favorite comic strip hero in a cheesy musical.

Looks like Steelface is ready for the scrapyard……

Some sort of miniscule logic in the story, finally.

I’ve got a feeling young Samuel knows who it was.

Super great images again today , great job by Shelley : )

The first panel with the plate says it all I think! Steely needs a re-plating or he has deceased!

I see a connection between the Crimestoppers Textbook message and that last panel.

Next of Kin notification? I can’t imagine Arceneux would have the Playhouse’s number in his effects.

Sam’s silhouette reminds me of W.C. Fields, yas indeeeed….

“embarrassing or deadly” makes it sound like shooting the idiot who cut you off might be a reasonable response.

Should Sam really be discussing an ongoing police investigation where the main suspect is not in custody … in front of everyone backstage at a play? In fact, why the badword is Sam backstage during a performance (apparently)?

Are DOAs taken to Emergency Dept.??

Lol, chopping up a PT Cruiser! Like those are worth anything, more of a driveway ornament/money pit.

In the very first panel we see what looks like the steel plate from Steelface’s forehead lying on the ground in the midst of broken glass. I don’t know if it means the man died in the accident, but at the very least I’d say he was badly hurt. It could be he tried to dial his nephew before he lost consciousness, or maybe someone found his phone and tried to reach what he might have considered a next of kin? But gave up when the party didn’t answer.

I can’t wait to see what Steelplate’s forehead looks like au naturel. Maybe it’s just a big hole!

UPPER RIGHT PANEL: The back of the Mustang’s rear view mirror surrounded by broken mirror pieces portends 7 years of bad luck or prison time for Steelface.

1-DT: FREEZE SUCKA! You’ve sold your last stolen wiper blade!

2-SAM: Tracy – Sam here. You busy? I just figured out that my missing Wrist Radio wasn’t on the wrong wrist all this time but instead was…

3-DT: YES I’M BUSY! Why don’t you do something useful and get your head examined or something?

4-SAM: Hmmm. I am overdue. GOOD IDEA!

5-SAM: Are you a doctor? RECEPTIONIST: No. I just answer questions such as tell people what room their loved ones are in.

SAM: Oh. Well, I’m here to get my head examined.

RECEPTIONIST: Maybe you just need to pull it out of your azz. SAM: That’s what my boss tells me but I think the problem runs deeper than that.

RECEPTIONIST: So outta your small intestine then. SAM: Are you sure you’re not a doctor?

It’s good to see they used the symbol of Asclepius on the ambulance instead of the incorrect Caduceus.

Had to go back and look at strip again after seeing hospital panel. The steel plate on ground panel at very top of page does not look good for Steeleface.

Robert has resumed his role on stage. Probably was read the riot act by Vitamin telling him he cannot afford to miss any more rehearsals.

Tracy & Sam may not recognize “Steelface” without his metal plate that appears to be laying on the pavement at top right panel.

That was clever, using the steel forehead plate in the first frame to indicate the severity of the accident instead of a smashed up vehicle.

Steelface gets a robot body and becomes really hard to handle then. Maybe we should call him: “Flesh-Face” after the surgery…

From screeching into a dark alley to the ER…………

Sam (and Tracy, too) seem pretty slow on the uptake here, concerning the “mysteriously” re-appearing wrist radio at the Patterson Playhouse (jinxed, you know; scarcely ever a production that doesn’t turn out to attract criminal activity or some sort). Sam is offstage behind the wings curtain and talks with his boss while Robert Parrish performs onstage with RoboDog in the background, but at last they make the connection between Steelface and someone at the playhouse.

Meanwhile, we see an ambulance arriving at the Emergency entrance of a hospital and are led both by circumstance and by caption at least implicitly to gather that an injured and not quite “Steelface” any longer Arceneaux/Arcenaux is being brought in, alive, for treatment after his stolen Mustang was squashed in the wrong-way One Way alley by a big truck. Will he survive? Will he escape? I hope this is not the end of this tale, with its swerves and switchbacks and forgotten loose ends….

Looks like Steelface went in for some bodywork !!!

“If the operation is a success,you may see him.If not,you may claim the body”

Vernon Dent—FROM NURSE TO WORSE -1940

Psstt!…hey Sam,look behind you!!

Well,dead or alive there’s the matter of the wrecked car left at the scene(near the Playhouse?) and a truck driver who probablygot a good look at him as he wobbled away from the scene.