Analysis - The Trouble with Blaze Rize

                I haven’t been shy about my dislike of the way the character Blaze Rize has been handled in the Dick Tracy comic strip. I thought it might help me organize my thoughts to write down the nature of my displeasure.

                Blaze Rize was introduced during the “Second Mr. Crime” storyline. She is the sister of the character Hot Rize, who had been an accomplice of Flakey Biscuits in a narcotics trafficking scheme. Flakey killed Hot, but was able to make it seem like an accident. Flakey was then placed in Witness Protection and given a new identity. Blaze Rize suspected that Flakey WAS responsible for Hot’s death, and sought revenge. Blaze agreed to work for the new Mr. Crime, in exchange for information about Flakey’s new identity and whereabouts. Mr. Crime was able to obtain that information, and Blaze confronted Flakey in a car. Blaze revealed herself to Flakey, explained to Flakey who she was, then shot her (though readers of the strip were not actually shown the gun being fired). Blaze then fled and returned to work for Mr. Crime.

                Blaze was present when Doubleup killed a high-ranking member of the Apparatus, and for the aftermath of the murder. She was the person who picked up Little Face when he was released from prison. Blaze was also present when Panda discovered that Mumbles had killed Vincent Vinyl and fed him to muerte vine, and later when the murder of the remaining members of the Mumbles Quartet was planned.  In each of these cases, she was an accessory to the murders, even if it was after-the-fact.

                Throughout all of this, Blaze never expressed any remorse or hesitation or distaste for the violent criminal acts that were taking place. She occasionally advocated for restraint and subtlety, but that was motivated more by a desire to avoid attracting attention and the risk of getting caught. Contrastingly, Little Face DID see what the Mr. Crime gang was doing, and he said to himself “I don’t want to be a part of this”. He subsequently went to Dick Tracy and became an informant.  Blaze did not do this.

                After the raid on the Panda Agency where the Mr. Crime gang was dismantled, Blaze went into hiding. She apparently resumed her previously occupation as a dominatrix. She was later recruited into the Black Hearts by B-B Eyes. It was in this capacity that she met Notta Fallar, Notta’s brother Purdy, and (later) Lee Ebony in her undercover identity as “T-Bolt”.

                This is where I started to dislike how Blaze was being handled. Blaze was shown to be developing an attraction to Notta Fallar, even though Notta was clearly devious, dangerous, and not to be trusted. I understand how a person can become involved with someone that they know (or should know) is bad for them, but it does not resonate with me as a dramatic device. In this case particularly, we’re never shown WHY Blaze likes Notta. Notta is flirtatious, but otherwise not especially nice to Blaze, so it must be primarily physical/chemistry? There’s also the element of danger and excitement that comes from being involved with Notta, but as we’ll soon see, that’s problematic.

                In addition to her relationship with Notta, readers began to see Blaze express dismay at the state of her life. She didn’t like being beholden to (and forced to work for) B-B Eyes, Mr. Bribery, and the Black Hearts. HOWEVER, that is the ONLY way that her dismay was ever expressed. She never says that she regrets the things she did that put her in the position that she’s in. She never expresses remorse for her criminal activities. For example, if she had said to T-Bolt “I’m tempted to just go to the police and tell them everything I’ve done and take the consequences, just so I can clear my conscience and get out of this criminal lifestyle that I’m trapped in”, THEN I would find her much more sympathetic. That’s a character who is contrite, and acknowledging that there will be (and should be) consequences for their criminal past. But Blaze never does that.

                Much like with Mr. Crime’s gang, The Black Hearts organization is dismantled, but Blaze again manages to avoid capture.  I’ll mention that Blaze appears to be a character of mystery to the police at this point. They seem to be aware of some high-ranking member of the gang who works with B-B Eyes, Doubleup, and Mumbles, but who keeps slipping through the police’s fingers. This is the case despite the fact that Lee Ebony and Little Face both worked closely with Blaze, and would both have been in a position to inform Dick Tracy and the MCU of her identity, appearance, and activities.

                Later, Blaze was shown to be co-habitating with Notta and Notta’s invalid brother Purdy. It was revealed that Notta had a plan to publicly discredit Dick Tracy, and it was implied that Notta had become physically abusive to Blaze. Blaze encountered Lee (in her identity as T-Bolt, at a Laundromat, in a WILDLY implausible coincidence) and once again Blaze expressed her dismay at her situation.

                It is at this point in Blaze’s story that I began to vocalize my displeasure with her at the Dick Tracy Fan Club Facebook page.  As I mentioned, Blaze never shows any remorse for what she’s done- Not the murder of Flakey, not the other deaths in which she was complicit, not the theft and drug trafficking that she engaged in for Mr. Bribery. She is only sad because those things didn’t work out to her advantage and now she’s stuck in an abusive relationship.

                Here’s why this bothers me: The strip’s writer Mike Curtis apparently decided at some point during the Black Hearts storyline that he wanted readers to sympathize with Blaze. As a result, he ramped up the doe-eyed “poor me!” sentiment coming out of Blaze. He also put her in the abusive relationship so that she would appear to be a victim, both of Notta and of circumstance in general.

                But Blaze isn’t a victim. She’s a ruthless killer. She tracked down Flakey Biscuits, pointed a gun at her, calmly told her who she was, and then pulled the trigger. She joined forces with a group of killers and mercenaries, and helped them carry out their plans. When approached by B-B Eyes to join the Black Hearts, she didn’t say “I’d rather die or go to jail than work for you people again”. She went along with it, willingly if not enthusiastically.

                Depicting Blaze as a victim of Notta’s physical abuse doesn’t make me sympathize with her more. It just makes Blaze seem weak. Blaze could hit back, or she could leave Notta, but she doesn’t. I realize that that may sound callous, and I certainly wouldn’t adopt that position with a REAL person who was the victim of abuse, but this is a fictional, constructed reality so the rules are different.

                This brings me back to my complaint, in regards to how Mike Curtis has handled the story/character construction. To borrow a phrase from a film reviewer friend of mine, I can see the strings. Mike CLEARLY wants readers to sympathize with Blaze, and he twists the characters and events into knots to try to accomplish that goal.

                To this end, he has Tracy (who is apparently unaware that Blaze shot Flakey, but I’ll come back to that) reveal to Blaze that Flakey Biscuits did not die of a gunshot wound. Instead, Flakey was found to have been shot in the arm, and the shock of being shot apparently induced a fatal heart attack. Now, within the context of the story, this is supposed to let Blaze Rize off the hook for the murder that readers had thought that she had committed. In reality, though, she would still be legally culpable for Flakey’s death IF Tracy could prove that Blaze was the one who shot Flakey. Legally, if a shooter fires at a victim and the victim has a heart attack and dies from the shock, the shooter can be charged with murder, even if they miss entirely.

                Side note- I don’t know for sure if Tracy was telling Blaze the truth. Consider: Blaze Rize apparently did not examine Flakey to confirm that she was dead before she fled the car when she shot Flakey. If she had, Blaze would have seen that she had only shot Flakey in the arm, and she would have presumably shot again to make sure that Flakey was dead. If Flakey had SURVIVED, she would have been in a position to reveal to the police/FBI who it was who shot her. After all, Blaze identified herself by name, and she looks almost exactly like her deceased sister.

                Again, if Flakey had survived, she would then go back into Witness Protection with a new, different identity. Tracy, knowing that Blaze Rize would be a valuable informant, would want Blaze to be comfortable talking to him, without fear that she might incriminate herself in the death of Flakey. So, Tracy tells Blaze that Flakey is dead, and indicates that “whoever shot Flakey” wasn’t directly responsible for her death. This also helps Tracy inasmuch as Blaze believes that Flakey is dead and will therefore be less likely to try to kill Flakey AGAIN.

                Keep in mind, this is just speculation on my part. If Tracy WAS telling Blaze the truth and Flakey Biscuits really IS dead, then Tracy doesn’t seem especially interested in finding who killed Flakey. As readers, we know that Tracy knows the following information:

1.       Hot Rize was Blaze Rize’s sister

2.       Hot Rize was an associate of Flakey Biscuits

3.       Hot Rize died

Tracy SUSPECTED that Flakey was responsible for Hot Rize’s death, but could not prove it. Therefore, when considering likely suspects in the murder of Flakey Biscuits, Hot Rize’s sister would logically be at the top of the list. But, as readers, we have to assume (based on Tracy’s actions) that Tracy either DOESN’T suspect Blaze, or he doesn’t consider solving the murder of Flakey Biscuits to be very important. If Tracy DID suspect Blaze, and IF he wanted to PROVE that Blaze shot Flakey (because Blaze would presumably not confess to that) then Tracy would have to gather evidence, obtain witnesses, determine if Blaze had an alibi, find the murder weapon, etc. In other words, to find Flakey Biscuits' killer, Dick Tracy would have to engage in detective work, which is not something that he does any more (but this is a complaint for another time).

At the very least, Tracy seems to consider finding the killer of Flakey Biscuits to be less important than gaining Blaze’s information on Notta Fallar and Mr. Bribery. This is another place where the story falls down. Notta’s scheme (in which Blaze is complicit) is to publicly embarrass Dick Tracy by making it appear as if he had had an extra-marital affair – WITH NOTTA. Notta, who is HIGHLY recognizable due to her unique facial hair and wardrobe and would therefore be immediately identifiable as a suspect. There’s also the fact that framing someone for an affair isn’t actually a crime. For that matter, neither is HAVING an affair - just ask Anthony Weiner. At worst, Notta’s scheme amounts to conspiracy to commit libel, which is a civil violation. There was never any implication that Tracy was paying for sex, or conspiring with Notta in a criminal enterprise. At worst, Notta and Blaze were guilty of aiding and abetting an escaped fugitive (Putty Puss).

 The whole frame-up was embarrassing to Tracy, but that’s it. Even then, EVERYONE who knows Tracy knows that he wouldn’t do such a thing, yet Mayor Armstrong (who had previously been depicted as supporting Tracy and the police) was quick to believe the worst and place Tracy on suspension. Tracy then devoted all of his time and energy (along with police department resources) to “clearing his name”, which was resolved almost immediately.

It was at this point that Blaze re-encountered “T-Bolt” and agreed to inform on Notta. We got the facile dismissal of the murder of Flakey Biscuits, and the mind-boggling decision by Tracy to give Blaze two days to settle things with Notta before Tracy would arrive to arrest Notta. This was an amazingly nonsensical move by Tracy, as both Notta and Blaze were CLEARLY flight risks. It was at this late point in the story that an additional layer was added, as it was revealed that Blaze felt protective of Purdy Fallar and wanted to be sure that he would be safe.

Again, I can see the strings. Clearly, this show of tenderness and concern from Blaze was meant to evoke sympathy, but where did it come from? Why did Blaze care so much about Purdy, who is in a persistent vegetative state (basically)? Why so all of a sudden? What reason did Blaze have to believe that Purdy WOULDN’T be safe, either on the run with Notta (as he had been) or as a ward of the state (which is what he ended up being anyway)? Why did Tracy not just follow Blaze back to Notta’s place,  surprise Notta and take her into custody without the risk of Notta fleeing/attacking the police/destroying evidence of criminal wrong-doing?

And that last part is a major sticking point for me. If Tracy had just shown up and arrested Notta, what charge would she face? Conspiracy? Aiding the fugitive Putty Puss? Blaze COULD make an assault charge, but would such a charge really stick? The way the story played out, Notta fired a gun through a window at Tracy and Lizz, so she’s probably facing charges of assault with a deadly weapon and illegal firearm possession. We were told that Notta had been given an "early release" from prison in order to care for Purdy, but it's not made clear if that was in the form of parole (which she would then be at risk of violating) or a reduced sentence. Is there any evidence of her drug trafficking? Or of her association with Mr. Bribery?

This brings me back to my recent complaint on the Facebook group. Blaze Rize, the character who is supposed to have our sympathy, is culpable for at least one death – Flakey Biscuits. She was complicit in at least five other deaths – The Apparatus chairman, Vincent Vinyl, and the three members of the Mumbles Quartet. Even if she didn’t commit the murders herself, she was an accessory after the fact. She was also complicit in every criminal act that the Black Hearts committed after she joined them, including the theft of the gold from the Billion Dollar Limited and the trafficking of whatever controlled substance she was relaying between Notta and Bribery.

The readers know all of this. But how much can Tracy PROVE? He has Little Face’s testimony about Blaze’s activities with the Mr. Crime gang, but there’s a difference between a trustworthy informant and a credible witness who can be put on the stand to testify and secure a conviction. If the District Attorney DID ask Little Face to testify, a skilled defense attorney (like Mr. Kleen) would dismantle him pretty quickly. Now, Lee can shed light on what Blaze did as part of the Black Hearts, but what other evidence is there? How much can Lee reveal without risking giving up her cover identity (assuming she still needs it)? Were there drugs in Notta’s house? Trace amounts on Blaze’s clothes or in her residence?

Also, what does Tracy expect to get from Blaze? Suppose the DA makes a deal with Blaze to overlook MOST of her criminal activities in exchange for information- what can she really provide? Does she know where Mr. Bribery is? Does she know what he’s been up to? Even if she does, what does that amount to? Ordering the wire fraud by Matty Squared and bribing the orderlies at the rest home to secure Putty Puss’ release?

Even if Blaze DOES have valuable information, she’s in the same situation as Little Face, inasmuch as she can’t possibly be considered a credible witness in a criminal trial, even if she DOES provide information that leads to Mr. Bribery’s capture.

My point is this- Blaze Rize is a villain and an unrepentant killer. She should go to jail for a long time, and readers should be satisfied that that is a just end for her. For whatever reason, Mike Curtis decided that he DIDN’T want to do that to her, and he therefore un-artfully tried to manipulate readers into feeling sorry for her. In my case, it didn’t work. I don’t feel sorry for her, and this storyline left me unsatisfied and annoyed.