Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for December 27, 2012

Ah, poor kid…

Poor Honeymoon… I have a feeling that we may find out more about where they went, sometime in the future.

Just as well, I just couldn’t find the idea of a group of beings living on the Moon to be particularly realistic… Now Joe & Mike can send them off to Alpha Centaury; where they won’t seem so out of place

I think maybe this shows the truth in the saying “Look before you leap”; Diet Smith should have checked the place out before bringing the kid with him

Maybe the Governor left a message for his granddaughter.

over the top good dees days Joe & Mike are the best!

moon maid still has to come into play soon.

I hope they weren’t assimilated by the Borg…

Time to get out those EVA suits and look for clues. I hope Diet packed some spacesuits along for emergencies, and doesn’t have to go back to Earth for them.

I feel sorry for Honeymoon, but she is strong and will, I think, handle this shock. We should not leap to conclusions about the fate of the Moon People (as Diet seems to be doing), however, in the absence of compelling evidence….

You’re replying to Gweedo Murray’s comment:Dude ! You are such a troll on this forum !!!^^You wound me sir… Gee, I thought we were friends…. What’s wrong with them moving to Alpha Centaury? That way they could still make the odd appearance in the strip, without us all having to suspend belief…. well, not as much anyway// As for what I said by “Look before you leap”; is that , had Diet gone there, say a month ago, to check the place out, he could have saved Honeymoon from being so heartbroken now

Sad strip today. :(

Well, I doubt the coupe was designed to travel anywhere BUT around Earth and/or the moon so they have to be around there somewhere…..there’s got to be radio waves or whatever to track…..don’t be so lazy, Diet!!!! Lol…..

Maybe just like the astronomers and scientists here on Earth acknowledge that a hit by a comet/meteor or asteroid is not a matter of IF but just a question of WHEN. The Moon People knew of an impending collision and had time to evacuate somewhere else. Possibly, if Dick and Diet investigate, they may learn what happened.

Another thought. Since Diet’s last visit, maybe the Moon People have improved the coupes and converted them to another means of propulsion.

No trace of them? I’d start looking on Earth. Find Moon Maid.

Great storytelling.

They have all gone to the Dark Side of the Moon!!!

“And we have no way to track them.”Diet Smith, you are standing next to Dick Tracy!If anyone can find a way…..

Good morning everyone…

Never a dull moment!

This is a brilliant way for Team Tracy to deal with the Moon Maid dilemma. Whether we want to admit it or not, there were a lot of people who complained that Moon Maid and the entire Moon culture was just silly and, unfortunately, Gould lost a big chunk of his fan base because of it. Then scientific evidence proved there was no life on the moon. Now, Staton and Curtis take over, and they are faced with this unresolved problem and have to deal with it. I applaud them for finding a solution in such a masterful manner.

It’s pretty much the same thing DC Comics did with the Martians once J’onn J’onnz’s background was no longer viable; the artificial ecosystem collapses so they all move away somewhere we can’t prove there are no people. (This was pre-Crisis. Post-Crisis, Martian Manhunter was the last survivor of the catastrophe that made Mars uninhabitable in the first place.)

Alpha Centauri.

Well, Gil Kane is, alas, no longer with us, but Marv Wolfman is still around for Team Tracy to consult with on Barsoom, which is obviously where those coupes have skidooed to.

Probably went to Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. Technically, they would all be on “a moon” just not “the moon”.

Diet is scanning the scene and spots a sign that says “Detroit City Limits”. Hmmm….. must be 2014 in Moon-time.

Who called Diet Smith and what did s/he say to prompt him to urgently contact Tracy? What did Smith tell Tracy that persuaded him to not only leave immediately for the moon, but to take Honeymoon with him?

Whatever the message and its source, Smith did not expect to find moon valley abandoned and without oxygen. The moon people apparently left en masse for a new home, presumably not the earth. If this is the case, are Moon Maid and Retik the only moon people on the earth (assuming Retik is indeed an alien)?

The issue of what constitutes “viability” in a comic strip aside, to render the moon barren is to please the “realists” who may stand for a regenerated Moon Maid, but who find the idea of trips to the moon distasteful. Well, there will clearly be no more trips to the moon. My own mild disappointment with this will be amply offset should Moon Maid turn out to be the genuine character regenerated/healed. There is clearly no reason to throw the Babe out with the bathwater.

The sour before the sweet? It’s a harsh holiday season for Honeymoon, which is unfortunate. Still, Team Tracy has certainly earned my confidence and deep appreciation, so I’m happy to take the ride and see where things go from here.

As no-one has appeared to have said it , I shall. Is Diet saying that the moon people “flew the coupe?”

Beautiful tender moment between Tracy and Honeymoon in panel three.

LOL, WW!

I read all the posts so far, and there are several ideas floating around that I would like to comment on:

That is a very nice panel showing Tracy comforting Honeymoon.

I was not a huge fan of the “Moon Period”, but I seem to recall that Diet’s explanation of how the Space Coupe worked was, “We have harnessed the magnetism of the planets”. Whether or not that is a sound, viable scientific theory, in the DT canon it works, so a Coupe should be able to fly anywhere there are heavenly bodies, not just around the Earth or the Moon.

Unfortunately, there is probably no way the Team Tracy can entirely please all fans, because there are adamant pro-moon fans and equally adamant anti-moon fans, plus plenty of people sort of in the middle. Chester Gould took such a drastic left turn when he introduced this, that he changed his strip into something it had never been before. The current team is very talented, but, whatever they do, some one will probably be upset. If you enjoy Dick Tracy, stay with it – something will come along that you can identify with, I would guess.

I also would like to know what triggered this – who called Diet, or why did Diet suddenly decide to take the Coupe out of “moth-balls”? Is it because of the Moon Maid sightings back in the City? Stay tuned.

When the Moon Governor cut off all contact, he did not just do it with Tracy’s city. He cut off contact with ALL of Earth. The nations of Earth apparently agreed to abide by this. Therefore, a trip to the Moon would probably violate international (and interworld) treaties. This was the reason for all of the secrecy concerned with taking this trip to the Moon. Although the Federal Government no longer uses Diet’s magnetic technology, Smith Industries still owns the patents to this technology. Unless the government specifically passed laws prohibiting the use of this technology, Diet has every right to make use of the patents he owns and bring the Space Coupe out of mothballs.

I don’t recall that Diet said that this trip to the Moon was due to a phone call he received as some posters have posited. The trip seems to me to be a Christmas gift to Honeymoon from Diet Smith to reunite her with her other grandfather. However (although it has not been stated yet) the trip could be Tracy investigating the Moon Maid sightings and they simply let Honeymoon tag along.

Either way, I applaud Mike for always having a swerve ball. These developments were completely surprising. What a great strip. It is keeping me on the edge of my seat.

I remember a comic book I used to read in the early 1960’s, Space Family Robinson. They lived on a space station that used a sub light speed magnetic drive. I beleve the tv series “Lost In Space” was based on this comic.

Watch out for that dihydrogen monoxide stuff. It can kill you.

Notice that the magnetic/gravitational drive isn’t claimed to be faster-than-light. Therefore, wherever the Moon people went, it’s in the solar system… unless they’re planning to take a century or so to reach the nearest star. Given that the moon people seem to thrive in colder conditions, perhaps they’d be comfortable nestled in the polar regions of Mars (where there is abundant water in the form of ice) or even on one of the moons of Jupiter or Saturn. Wouldn’t that be an interesting twist?!

I just realized something – should Diet be smoking in the coupe? you know, the Attmosphere and all that stuff.

And just how long did it take to get to the moon? It took the Apollos took a little over 3 days to get there, and the New Horrizion probe took 8 hours.

Yes, panel 3 with Pop Pop comforting Honeymoon is touching and shows Tracy’s human side. It’s OK for a tough guy like Tracy to provide love and comfort. It’s an interesting interplay between reality and science fiction that makes this current adventure intriguing.

I may be late to this party, but Dick, tell that moron to put out that cigar! The air purification systems aren’t equiped to handle it.

troll

Yeah, it seems strange that someone invited them to the Moon, only so they could find it empty… it will be explained in due time, I suppose

Why so far away, Alpha Centari? The earth is right their and they could find a place to live and be protected by their combined powers and their intelligence.-Their habitat had been not only abandoned by smashed up. Perhaps a civil war too?^^I used Alpha Centaury because it’s supposed to be the next closest solar system; figuring it would be a place which could theoretically support life. Civil war sounds plausible

You’re replying to Night-Gaunt49’s comment:

Actually harnessing gravity would make for an excellent interstellar engine.^^Perhaps, I certainly haven’t the training in Physics to say, one way or the other

“Moon Valley was a wild flight of fancy, one of Gould’s most audacious and imaginative creations. It kills me that it is no more.”

Agreed. It is unfortunate and, to me, unnecessary for it to have been destroyed. As others have noted, the third panel is especially moving. Adding depth to Tracy and developing Honeymoon’s role as an essential character in the resurrected DT is a good move.

what a GREAT way to prevent the in-laws from dropping by unannounced… just trash your whole city and leave no trace! lol!

I am replying to everyone: Please color me baffled. I enjoy the DT comics very much but have never quite fathomed the argument for and against the Moon people? 1st with only a little effort any story involving a hidden settlement on the moon could be easily explained with only a small amount of creativity so “realism” is really a meaningless argument. 2d some of the villains in this comic are, uh, well lets be honest, unrealistic wouldn’t even begin to cover it.“It’s a comic” doesn’t even come close to being strong enough rebuttal to a request for ‘real’ in a comic strip. It’s a fiction, a fantasy and a damn fine bit of long running American pop culture and pop culture history that appeals across the board to the best and finest of our dreams and aspirations.I just enjoy the ride myself. Whether it goes to the moon or gives me a guy who’s face looks like a fish or has a physically impossible pouch in his throat.

Excellant storytelling -You really feel for Honeymoon, and it’s nice to see the ever-stoic Tracy showing his love of his granddaughter.

I’m of the mind that the Moon People could have gone to one of the larger moons orbiting Jupiter or Saturn.Given that the valley had Earth-normal gravity (which helped hold in the atmosphere), they must have some mastery themselves over gravity/magnetism.So it’s very possible the Moon People were (da-DUM!) aliens who’d colonized the moon!-———————————————————————-Here’s an idea for your consideration:The US government is hiring private enterprise for space craft, so wouldn’t it make sense that Diet Smith enter the market?

_~~~!!!