Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for June 13, 2013

She sounds convincing . . .

But is she who she thinks she is?

Oh my, she’s holding your hand, Poppa. How you gonna say no to this pretty lady?

Good morning everyone…

Will Diet take the space coupe out of mothballs again?

For some reason Dr. Sail is very anxious to get his hands on a space coupe…

Go ahead pop and take her back. But only allow Retik and Stellaluna to accompany her.

I like the silhouette of Mysta holding Poppa’s hand. She looks pretty irresistable.

For those who are as sick of green hair and blue horns as I am.

Whoo-boy. Does he dare tell her the truth? Learning her parents and everyone else she knew are gone will be pretty traumatic, to say the least. (You really don’t want to shock a lady with electrical powers.)And Sail is about as trustworthy as a bucket of worms.So – what does he do?

She tells Smith that she wants to go back to the Moon with Stellaluna and Retik. But… what about Junior and Honeymoon?

Dr. Sail has large, strange eyes. Could he be a moon person? Maybe Mysta is planning on replacing Retik and Stellaluna with Junior and Honeymoon in the space coupe.

Yes, Diet is in quite a tight spot, isn’t he?

Moonmaid was cloned using Klingon technology. Dr. Sail is actually Commander Koloth. http://sharetv.org/shows/star_trek/cast/koloth

Poor Clone-Moon Maid! She seems to believe her own story. But we all know Sail has nefarious intent and apparently wants to seize an operational Space Coupe. What do he and his gorilla, Bardoll, have in mind? Kidnapping Diet and the others at gunpoint once on board the ship? Demanding ransom, or some kind of megalomaniacal demand for surrender of power by the government?

Didn’t Moon Maid once contact her father via telepathy while she was locked in a vault…and he was deep in space en route to moon? Is the moon beyond her telepathic range? (If not…then she would know Governor is gone or dead.)

Eep! It’s some involved plot for sure! Call Team Tracy, Diet!

Wow. I’ve enjoyed his work since E-Man, but Joe Staton is on fire here! Awesome work!!

well, the good doctor would have to accompany her to “monitor her health”. But I think it’d be ludicrous at this point in time to think Diet doesn’t have all kinds of security measures in place TO prevent a hi-jacking. In fact, there is also NON-Diet security…..Moon Maid could zap ’em herself…..probably how it would play out if they DO swipe it…

Diet Smith made a big point of saying he cared for Mysta as a person, not just a scientific experiment. That’s nice. So, when he meets her and talks to her, he stands there and sticks his stinking cigar right in her face! That sure is thoughtful and considerate.

Ummmm……make THE medical discovery of all time, how to bring others back to life….but simply so they can steal a space vehicle???? What’s wrong with this picture?

Indeed; could this all be merely a plot to get the Coupe or reach the moon for some sinister/profitable purpose?

I think we can see now that she was not cloned but that is somebody with extensive plastic surgery in an effort to get hold of a space coupe.

tsull2121: I have been to the other comics website. The reason Willie007 and others come to this website is that this is where the comments are!

And I agree with Willie – whether Dick Tracy or Gasoline Alley, the colors are better at that other website!

Other stuff:

All this week, Mysta has been meeting with Diet Smith. Today, she makes her big request: To go back to the moon!

Of all the things this Mysta has done, this is the one thing that causes me to question whether she is the original.

Don’t get me wrong. Of all the people who want Mysta to be “real,” I count myself as the one who wants it the most!

If there is a “hole” in her memories, this is it: She wants two mutually exclusive things – her family and the moon. Surely, she must know, she cannot have them both!

I still lean heavily toward this being the real Mysta. I want her to be the real Mysta. But I take today’s request as evidence that our Mysta is not firing on all cylinders!

Ken in Ohio: At one time, all the smoking helped make a sort of “period statement.” That is, because smoking was so acceptable and prevalent, the presence of smoking made the scene more believable and real.

It has been said, many times over, that Dick Tracy is timeless. But the smoking is dragging the story back to the sixties and seventies, long before people started questioning the practice, as well as passing laws banning smoking in most places (and almost all public places). Unless that is what Mike and Joe have up their sleeves – taking us back to the time of hippies and discos!

But I am coming around to your viewpoint – and others who have complained about smoking in the strip – it is becoming a major distraction to the story being told.

Whether it be Sam Catchem, Diet Smith, or the evil Doctor Sail, smoking is starting to get in the way of the story!

The artwork is especially amazing today!

One of the best things about this story is that we really have no idea – for all our guesses – what’s going to happen next!Could Tracy be standing in the next room, listening in? Could Sail be a renagade moon person? Could the colorist ever learn her horns are pink? See? The possibilities are endless!Great story + great art = Great strip!

what’s up with the BLUR horns?

She needn’t worry about being taken to the moon. The poor kid is going to die of lung cancer from all the secondhand smoke in the room!

WOW,, Panel 3 is just wrong!

Night-Gaunt49: “Give it a rest, and work on you image size”Well now, I would be giving it a rest if people would quit calling me out for expressing my opinion. As for the image size, sorry for the offense, if I had shrunk it much more it would have become too blurry to bother posting (I know because I tried).

Is this better?

Love today’s strip, and yes, that’s better, Stagger Lee.

Watch out – Friday the 13th has come on a Thursday this month!

Since there’s been so much discussion here about cloning an article in my local paper today about a play being presented caught my eye. The play is titled, “A Number” and it addresses the issue of cloning in the future. If you’re interested in a brief synopsis it can be seen here: http://tinyurl.com/lcz79dg The Wikipedia entry on the original play is available here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Number . It touches on a lot of issues that come from cloning once the process has been scientifically perfected.

Henebry, I actually applaud you for being a newcomer to the site! That means you aren’t completely insane yet! When you do get into it 24/7, we’ll induct you into the Magpies, currently featured at Marty & Spud. Welcome aboard!

How great it is to have a comic strip artist who can “draw” hands! Not like we know who.

While I’m not one of those who has any real problem with the coloring myself, I do have to say this……considering the time and effort Jo Staton puts in

……(hit send by mistake, here’s the rest….) Joe Staton puts into his GREAT illustrations, they OWE it to him to get the colors right, c’mon….

Also, I see an occasional comment about this “Dick Tracy”. Who is that? Is he a regular character in this strip?

“Let’s listen in on a private conversation between Little Timmy and his mirror”,,,,Blah Blah BLAH ”You’re the BEST Timmy!” Yadda Yadda YADDA “No mirror Timmy, YOU”RE THE BEST!.ZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

S.I.T.O.A.N.M.Y.

In my opinion, colors on the daily strips tend to add little, while often they are an unnecessary distraction. Gaudy colors can detract from serious events, shifting the tone to a lighter one than called for by the story. That said, I bookmark the San Francisco Chronicle (http://www.sfgate.com/comics/ck/Dick_Tracy/) for Comics Kingdom coloring, which tends to be superior to gocomics coloring. For black and white strips, I bookmark the Houston Chronicle (http://www.chron.com/entertainment/comics-games/). Viewing all three versions tends to reinforce my preference for black and white, although some settings—Mysta’s boudoir, for example—are enhanced by quality coloring. The Sunday strips are colored by the pros and I always appreciate their keen eye for color. I would like to see volume two of the Calling Dick Tracy! e-book include a toggle for daily strips, so they could be viewed in both color and black and white. Staton and Curtis’ work merits multiple readings, so this seems like a good option.As for Mysta not mentioning Junior and Honeymoon to Diet Smith, I assume that this is due to the three panel limit. We already know she wants to take them with her. Space limitations make repetitive dialogue a burden. She would understandably be hesitant about bringing up her messy family situation in this setting. Knowing so little about what Mysta knows and how she is being manipulated makes it hard to judge motivations. I’m guessing that Sail does not care who goes, as long as he gets his chance to steal the Space Coupe for nefarious purposes.Diet and Sam are smokers. It does not distract me in the least, nor do I mind that Sail smokes. What would annoy me would be a side story about Sam trying to kick the habit. It is a comic strip: no tobacco is actually set ablaze. Dick Tracy has always been off stage for long periods, no matter what era. Maybe he is missed more these days due to the many ways Team Tracy is making him interesting: kidding with Tess about wearing tights, holding a weeping Honeymoon, making a pot of chili while singing, giving Mole a gift certificate, standing with Junior at Mysta’s “grave” and on and on.Just my two cents.

Mysta is such a doll! I would have a hard time saying no here. And speaking of dolls, are we going to see Notta again? I could see her stealing the space coupe for Sail……

I love Mysta no matter her hair color. If she dies again I’ll never read Dick Tracy again.

Two days later, and I still can’t get over that silhouette of Mysta. Like something you’d see on a trucker mudflap. She is a FINE LADY!!