Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for August 18, 2013

Tracy comes a-calling, down on Wheaton’s farmPop recalls the time he saved Nellie from great harmAt the hands of the pianist, the infamous 88 KeyesNellie developed such a crush and precious memoriesOf Tracy’s strength, his jutting jaw, his cool under fireJust a kid, she flipped her lid, admiration and desire.Now Tracy’s back to do more good, with family in towFog at last lifts, memory shifts, Sparkle’s in the know.“Yes! That’s me!” exclaims Sparkle Plenty, joyously reunitedEmbracing mother and daughter, her life no longer blighted.Kindest hands reach out to her, Wheaton’s thanked by old B. O.Repressing stirrings of his heart that none may ever know.A happy reunion puts to rest Sparkle’s clouded mindNo such joy for Mysta, whose lot is most unkind.

Hooray!

Sparkle finally remembers who she is!

Good morning all…

Sparkle remembered! Does she also go by the name Sparkle Tracy?

But…Now What?

Will she remember Moon Maid?

Or more to the point, will she remember being zapped by Mysta, and what will she do about that?

it’s a good thing that Wheaton is a pig farmer; he’s one of the few people who can stand that close to Bob Oscar Plenty, and LIVE

“Dick, we haven’t seen you since 88 keyes was caught nearby 65 years or so ago”, lol..

Yay! We knew this was coming, but it’s still nice to see. I also like the “hearts” Nellie has for Tracy. Obviously she’s still not over him, even after all these years. And like others have said, great work, Pequod77!

Now to see if Wheaton mentions his troubles with Hy Pressure to Tracy……..

Sparkle remembers! Just this one quick jolt of family seems to have erased the clouds of amnesia completely!Well, that turned out to be easy. Now, on to harder stuff….

This is the strip we’ve been waiting for. Dick Tracy is better than ever.

I would normally let y’all answer this, since you’re so much better at the commentary than me…but Three Cheers and a Tiger for Team Tracy! Huzzah Huzzah Huzzah ROAR!!!!!

Those hearts floating around Nellie’s head made me smile this morning. For those of who don’t know the story, when Tracy finished up the 88 Keys case, he came back to the farm, and had final words for Nellie. “Those glamour boys aren’t nearly what they’re cracked up to be.” Then he held her chin and planted a big kiss on her forehead. As he waved goodbye, Nellie had those same hearts floating, and she clasped her hands together and sang “Oh-h-h-h”, at which Mr. Wheaton scowled and said “Nellie!” quite sternly.

oh gee how conveinent. you mean to tell me that running into the man she’s MARRIED to and had a KID with doesnt jog her memory? and by the way.. what happened to junior and honeymoon? are they still in the granary?

sorry, but this little wrap-up seems a bit “rushed” to me.

by the way, is anyone keeping track of how many weeks we are at now in this story? i THINK we should be near the end right? the whole hy pressure thing is a story in itself so i think we should be close to the end, or at least a little more than half-way thru it by now

I wondered, too, why seeing Junior didn’t trigger her memory. Maybe it did start there, but these things usually take a while to come back.

Great strip today, beginning with another interesting Crimestoppers, and a beautifully drawn and colored intro panel (with more great art all around).I confess to having my mind do a double take when I read Sparkle thinking, “That man in the yellow -” All I could think of was: “hat! I’ve seen him before! Yes! He lives with Curious George!”(And that’s why Mike wrote coat instead of hat.)

I agree with tsull2121 on one thing:.Where the sam hill is Junior?.A week ago, I (and others) expressed concern over Junior’s apparent lack of concern over the finding of his wife. Now, he is conspicuous due to his absence.

Let’s get out of here before Wil Wheaten shows up.

A big thanks to Jpuzzle and Tarry! I suspected the browser! My laptop has Google Chrome (and yes, I follow Bracy when I travel) and I stay logged in forever on that computer.

I’m trying to get Warren Beatty to see my Dick Tracy movie script I wrote if he’d star and produce it. I want to have Willie Nelson play B.O. and Reba Mackintyre to play Gertie with maybe Kelly Clarkson as Sparkle. The plot involves the criminal element of the recording industry with lots of country western music included with Dick Tracy doing the investigating.

Can we all now move on to a hopefully better arc? What happened to that new bad guy?

I always enjoy family reunions! I wish the panels were a little larger? I wonder why gocomics shrinks them down so small. Great artwork today. I am happy that Sparkle’s memory is back. But yes, where are Junior and Honeymoon?

Wow. That was quick.

That went well.

Doesn’t 88 keys have a bad daughter somewhere to bug Tracy

Jpuzz,.“First, Warren is too old to play the Square-jawed Sleuth.”.Point is, he owns the movie and TV rights, no matter who plays Tracy. So he’s the one you gotta sell, if you have a story idea..Personally, I think he’s just playing “dog-in-manger” with the property. The only thing he’s done with it since the film is that underwhelming “special” on TCM a year or two ago, and that was just so his rights wouldn’t expire..Speaking only for myself, if a TRACY film or TV project did ever become possible, my first choice for our favorite cop, after seeing him in a similar role (as a real-life cop, though the story was terribly exaggerated to an almost ludicrous degree) in GANGSTER SQUAD, would be Josh Brolin..“Second, Taylor Swift or Carrie Underwood might be a better choice to play Sparkle. While Kelly is a wonderful singer, I don’t think she’s ‘bombshell’ enough for the part.”.They also both project (at least in the pictures I’ve seen) more of a “girl-next-door” sweetness than Miss Clarkson in the pictures I’ve seen of her..JIM D.

Thanks so much VistaBill, JP Steve and yumpinyiminey!I like the way Sparkle’s memory returned once her family showed up. No need to stretch out the amnesia slice of the story when there are so many interesting threads to follow. The art is excellent, as always. From the establishing farm panel, to the hearts floating around Nellie, to the reverse angle with Sparkle’s face in silhouette, to the close up and, finally, the closing panels of happy reunion, we get wonderful visual variety and a lot of speech that never overwhelms the graphics. Another stellar Sunday strip from Team Tracy.

Tracy comes a-calling, down on Wheaton’s farm

Pop recalls the time he saved Nellie from great harm

At the hands of the pianist, the infamous 88 Keyes

Nellie developed such a crush and precious memories

Of Tracy’s strength, his jutting jaw, his cool under fire

Just a kid, she flipped her lid, admiration and desire.

Now Tracy’s back to do more good, with family in tow

Fog at last lifts, memory shifts, Sparkle’s in the know.

“Yes! That’s me!” exclaims Sparkle Plenty, joyously reunited

Embracing mother and daughter, her life no longer blighted.

Kindest hands reach out to her, Wheaton’s thanked by old B. O.

Repressing stirrings of his heart that none may ever know.

A happy reunion puts to rest Sparkle’s clouded mind

No such joy for Mysta, whose lot is most unkind.