Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Shelley Pleger for February 07, 2023

what a blowhard Art is…

See? Art’s not such a bad guy!

Wasn’t Fartman just on his way to jail??

What happened???

Good morning™, everyone!

Art Dekko didn’t get where he is by caring about anyone but himself … but yeah, he probably should have.

Okay, this is what it looks like is what happened.

Yesterday, it looked like with the file cabinets that Lee & Sue were at Police HQ. But now it looks like they’re all in Art Dekko’s shop. Evidently, Lee got Dekko back in the store and they along with Sue are waiting for the all-clear from Tracy and the other police.

Could’ve been explained better, but carping about it resembles what most of the complaints against the current strip have come across to me as:

Nitpicking.

Good morning™, first time doubters !

Has Art Ever doubted himself before ? Did we skip ahead a day or two ?  He had to have bailed out or Tracy never took him in and he appears only moments after Lee leaves and is miffed that Sue never told him her tale of the mystery mustache.

Soooo much missing action. I figger Mike thinks that since this group fills in all the missing bits he’ll just go on leaving them missing.

I think that what people aren’t realizing the last two days of the strip have been occurring time-wise at the same time Tracy is gunning down the hapless hitman, Kryptonite.

They have just survived an attempted assassination. What’s with all of this stupid small talk?

Hah! He’s one to talk.

Wasn’t he arrested and having a near-death experience last week? Are we just getting random events out of sequence?

He survived the shooting.

Doesn’t Art know that you can’t judge a book by its cover…apparently not!

Has anyone noticed that Art has the handcuffs on him, yet Sue still has free hands. Has she made a deal with Lee and Tracy to testify against Art?

Only moustache and no beard eh. Probably shaves beard off eh.

You should look i a mirror, Mr. Dekko then you might understand why you do not judge people by their appearence!

I like the story, and the comments!

The only consistent thing about this story is its tendency to wander off into weird digressions. Two days on Sue’s Snidely? Maybe tomorrow we’ll get another blackout gag with Jingle Bunny (whom I now suspect was really Agent 99).

Where are they hiding since I don’t see police supervision ?

You don’t exactly look like your average man on the street yourself, Art.

“Jingle Bunny” = poor choice of words.

The artist’s pen slipped, so, after a few drinks, he evened it out on the other side.

NOW is the time for this? Ask her hy it’s not blonde, Art!

The SPCA stepped and and Chimp Face lives to plot another day. Or maybe this is a ‘behind the scenes’ bit while the grips change the sets for tomorrow’s strip and the actors chill with a nice lukewarm Yohoo. Look for crusty old William Demarest to pop up as Pops, the backstage manager who grudgingly lets Charlie Chan in to investigate who killed the wealthy Popcorn Fortune dowager with a tainted wasabi pea.

Hmm. Might make an unusual MM, if not for the length needed. I mean, once King Kong and Captain Nemo get involved, it gets a little far out and lengthy.

Oh, right! Would you believe I checked the scripts and he’s the ONLY baddie for the next three years

(ducking and running)

Wow, first time in a long time big brother removed a comment of mine.

Life goes on.

That’s fine, Art (pun intended), we’ve been judging you based on your appearance and your actions, monkey boy. Because you are still a baddie in the Tracyverse and Shelley has been nailing your simian appearance.

How does this add to the story???

Artie D didn’t make it to the hoosegow, that’s for sure!!

MOVIE QUOTE——

“Miss Rawnsley,I never leave ANYTHING to chance”

Terry-Thomas—THOSE MAGNIFICENT MEN IN THEIR FLYING MACHINES—1965

Sue isn’t cuffed yet,which may or may not mean something.

Sue doesn’t know about the “hit”—naturally Art didn’t tell “No.2 on his hit parade” about THAT one.The police are probably waiting for the right moment to spring it on her.

Back in 1980,Sue was supposedly wealthy when Art met her.So he was looking at dollar signs over mustaches.

1-ART: No thanks. I just had a prostate exam. SUE: Not with long fingernails I bet! It’s a whole different experience!

2-SUE: HEY! WHO TURNED OUT THE LIGHTS! ART: Me…

3-…I couldn’t take the sight of that uglyass mustache anymore. Wait a second. I probably oughta just walk outta here while no one is looking.

LEE: COME ON SUE – GET IN HERE AND GET READY FOR A THOROUGH STRIP SEARCH! TRACY COULD GET HERE ANY SECOND. Well, if he survived he might

gotta fluff out the story cause it didn’t fit to end on a Sunday.

POSSIBLE WHAT HAPPENED

Not entirely ignorant that Art once threw under the bus,Sue has been “skimming” from their joint account.

As a result,Art’s payment to Kryp bounced.Hence the attempted revenge hit.

A video on our favorite flatfoot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYZ5Ab-V-mk

I’ll judge Art by his appearance, He looks like a chimp.

Do we really need more Mustache Musings?!

I guess (and that’s the sadly necessary word here) that Sue Reel and Art Dekko are just hanging around in the back of the shop, more or less under the watchful eye of Lee Ebony, while Tracy and the Cleaners respectively bring Kryptonite down and mop him up for the morgue.

If that is correct, then not only is the story not progressing; it’s actually retrogressing….

Art is apparently suggesting that Sue Reel told Lee “the story behind her mustache.” I hardly think that “I help it along with eyeliner” qualifies as “the story,” but maybe we’re missing out on some elaboration.

Another strip where Art is one of the better Tracy villains. Not asking about the mustache is the polite thing to do. He’s a murdering forger, sure, but he’s a murdering forger with sensible plans and with the ability to schmooze.