Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for September 27, 2013

Talk about the proverbial Calvary.

It certainly is!

Good morning all…

Wow! It’s all building up to a dynamite Sunday strip!

Good morning all!Now all the players are here! Why Sam appears not to recognize the Space Coupe? And why not use an helicopter to travel a few miles?

SPECTACULAR! I’m sure Sam recognizes the Space Coupe. He simply can’t believe that a Coupe would show up at such a time and place, especially since they’ve been out of commission for so long.

More breathtaking art from Joe Staton. He’s pulling out all the stops! The perspective in the second panel makes the space coupe appear as awe inspiring to us as it is to Tracy and Sam. “WHOA!” is right!

Even in Calgary!

I don’t think the Space Coupe’s the cavalry, since it doesn’t seem to be equipped with weapons. Diet’s there to find Mysta. The question is what exactly does he have in mind?

Yahoo! This is exciting!

I love the depth in the second panel! The Tracy has never looked better either. I guess the “cavalry” has interrupted the “riflemen” for the moment.

Wow….you know you’ve pulled off something spectacular when you manage to shock Dick Tracy.

Interesting, how the Space Coupe seems almost to have materialized out of nowhere (rather like the Tardis), thus surprising Sam and Tracy. I just hope its hull is well armored against the automatic weapons fire it is likely to draw….

Tracy has the storm, Hy Pressure, Mysta zapping away, gunfire outside, and now this? YE GODS indeed! No time to sit and process it all Tracy, just gotta deal with it. As this story winds down, it still feels like it’s just getting started!

Wow!!! It just got even better!

If that second panel ain’t iconic Tracy, I don’t know what IS. <3

I would guess that The Space Coupe is impervious to most weapons while in flight. The same electromagnetic field that gives it the power of flight, also protects it. I think it operates the same as the device shown in the 1985 movie Explorers , which was also impervious and airtight.

The Space Coupe is nearly silent in operation, add the storm noises and gunfire and it can easily sneak up on people.

And the Cavalry rides horses.

awesome, spectacular … wow!

I seem to recall a story back in the 60’s where a few of the magnetic arms were shot off during a fake gold caper on the open seas .Tracy in defense blasted to smithereens the boat that was shooting at the coup with a laser…..Why is Go Comics having problems with expanding the strip? 2nd day now.

Panel 2 an homage to Moore & Gibbons’ Watchmen: issue 8 p 16 in particular I think.

Ye Gods! It’s another spectacular use of the two-panel format. The Coupe looks grand as Smith prepares to set it down on Wheaton’s farm.

SDM, you must be thinking of Rain-X. The next time you are in your favorite store, Wal-Mart, it is on the end cap across the aisle from hair shirts. :)

Wonder if they will mention how a private industrialist gets fissionable material (especially without giving a “why”)to refuel the thing – “only” had a 5 year nuc fuel originally. Probably not…

RE: Your reply to me late yesterday.I know that the eye of a hurricane is calm, but I think Diet Smith’s point was, in order to get to the eye, he had to fly through the storm, and his Space Coupe could make use of magnetism to stay perfectly steady. Your original question was about lightning, and I’m not sure that was addressed in that story, but the Coupe appears to be fine in this storm.

Or GPS.

Have you ever had a B2 bomber come in low overhead? One does every year at the Rose Parade. There is the background noise and then it is there. You only hear it after it passes, even while it is moving as slow as possible.

the ad on the right blocks off the lower right corner of it.Leave the site, and come back to it. The ad will be a different one, and the comic strip will enlarge over the ad like it’s supposed to.

Woo hoo! The Space Coupe flies again!Sam didn’t know Smith had pulled the Coupe out of mothballs for his secret run to “Moon Valley.”I sure hope this isn’t the last flight of the Coupe – or Diet Smith!

This better be a BIG farm…

This week’s artwork has been exceptional. Love today’s second panel — pure fun — great composition by JS.

SDM, you never said where you got that video of Judy H. Tell Matthew (and don’t call him Matty) to tell her at the next family reunion that she needs to put on a few pounds. I have a suspicion that his family reunions are a lot like Duck Dynasty’s.

Thank you J.P.W. Still working on this issue.

How many times in one Century can you have a “Storm of the Century”?^Ask a weatherman. My guess is that records of storm severity haven’t been around long enough for us to say storm of the Millennium. It could be the storm of the Bicentennial. I guess the message is that there can always be a worse one than the last.

I use either Firefox or Chrome with AdBlock add-on that makes all of the ads on GoComics disappear.

Joe’s art today is just amazing!

The first panel with the point of view through the windshield at the height of the control panel looking up at Diet Smith. This low point of view is accentuated by the reverse shading on Diet’s face. Rain on the windshield in the foreground, Diet in the middle plane, and Ghote in the background brilliantly portrays the depth of the illustration.

In the second panel we again have a low point of view as the Space Coupe dominates the scene with rain falling straight down in perfect perspective relative to the point of view. In the foreground we have Tracy. The angle of his arm as he grasps his hat draws the viewer’s attention to the shocked and surprised expression on Tracy’s face. Again, it is a multilayered panel.

Joe Staton is truly outstanding.

“Joe Staton is truly outstanding.”Hear, hear!

On my iMac (OS X 10.8.5, Safari 6.0.5), with AdBlock extension turned on, the zoom function neither appears nor works, only the 3 right-most function buttons below the strip appear, and most of them do not work. If I turn AdBlock off, all buttons and functions appear and work—but I have ads to contend with. Did GoComics do this on purpose to please its advertisers (at the cost of displeasing its readers)?

GoComics on a Mac has slowed down with new interface tweaks; must give it an extra few seconds to refresh screen before the zoom watermark appears when you hover over the chosen panel. Turn Off the Lights extension works OK, however and mimics very well the iPad app version. Use Command + to increase size of all panels and you will be OK without having to zoom individual panels. GoComics is definitely more innovative than DailyInk any day though.

By this point, I’m sure there have been accolades all around for the strip of late. Hell, it’s probably been at least a year since I posted last, but DAMN this is great with several story lines coming to a climax!!! And it’s supported by the art, history, science AND fiction…

Right on! I haven’t enjoyed a comic strip so much since the 1970s. I used to look forward with such eager anticipation the old Dick Tracy strips from way back when (like when Moon Maid was killed by Littel) but another incredible strip was Alley Oop. They used to have the most brilliant story lines through time travel.