Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for March 21, 2014

Oh, oh…!

Good morning fellow DT fans

Her horns are sparking and she’s going to use some power…without her power gloves??? Maybe she’s still evolving into Mysta.

Looks like the end of the Nitrate story is going to be left to one’s own imagination. It would be nice if Mike could write a story with an actual ending. It’s like reading a book, only to find that the last 10 pages are missing.

Mysta looks great in that slinky dress. And I wonder what’s up with the plate? She doesn’t have her zapper gloves on, so why is she pointing at it?

Yep, it appears that Mysta is continuing to evolve. I predicted that this might happen during the Moon Maid arc.

I don’t know, it seemed pretty clear to me the other day that the Nitrates are goners. Based on Sprocket’s statements and body language, she wasn’t going anywhere once they got to the bottom of the lake. She committed murder-suicide, end of story. I understand the desire for a fuller and more graphic resolution, but Curtis and Staton don’t have the freedom to do what Gould used to do. But again, Team Tracy didn’t leave any big doubts hanging about the fate of the Nitrates. I’m happy to move on to a new story. My opinion at least.

Well, leaving endings to the imagination means leaving the return of cool villains such as Kadaver, the Nitrates, etc a possibility (and of course relieving us of the worry 2nd rate ones like Measles will re-appe…..just kiddin’ Mr. T, lol)

Mysta is looking lovelier than ever, and I agree with Ray, it seems her genetic transformation is continuing. Hot D@#^%, that would be great news! We’ll see what she has to share with Honeymoon, but I hope you’re right, Ray.The middle panel is not only beautiful (all three are, actually), but I like how Mysta is looking at camera when she says “I’ve got something to share with you, too!” A clever way to say her news is for the fans, too.

I think it’s pretty obvious the Nitrate siblings ended up as a murder-suicide. Sissy said that Silver would never hit her again, and that she didn’t want to spend the rest of her life on the run. I suspect the MCU will find a pretty ghastly scene in that car. Mysta will levitate the plate, and I suspect in the near future Honeymoon’s latent moon powers will start to kick in as well.

The art today is really lovely. I like the conversation with Honeymoon, the space coupe model and moon plate are fun sights, and is Mysta getting ready to zap that plate without her gloves??

This comic strip needs more aliens.

I still think this is a brief interlude to divert our attention.. In the case of Abner Kadaver, they probably haven’t been able to chip away all the cement he fell into to find (or not find) his body. The Nitrates’ car is a little more easy to recover. And I do believe that one of the siblings will be missing.

Mysta is looking lovely, but I wonder what is happening with the plate!

I expect we may see a resolution of the Nitrates on Sunday because the Sunday-only readers were left with them looking semi-conscious or not in the car under the water.

I can’t get over how beautiful Mysta appears today. I was disappointed that she wasn’t wearing her Moon Maid outfit yesterday, but the dress looks good on her. All the same, this woman and character is evolving into one of my favorites! The artwork is HOT today! Great job Joe Staton!

It’s likely a good thing that she can’t remember her REAL family, in this case

As is evident from some of today’s comments, Mysta is really dishing up the Fan Service in that tight strapless cocktail dress. I hope she doesn’t become a bad influence on impressionable young Honeymoon (though Sparkle should be alert to that).As for closure regarding the Nitrates, I agree with the basic idea expressed in varying ways by Stagger Lee and Cactus Jack. I don’t agree with Willy007’s suggestion that censorship concerns require that the Nitrates’ fate be left unresolved; nor, obviously, do I agree that there are no big doubts left hanging: I have plenty of doubts and can imagine a number of alternate scenarios from the point at which we last saw them. So I would like to see a more definite ending (which need not be fearsomely graphic: e.g., just one possibility would be to see Tracy reporting over his Wrist Wizard that an ambulance we see driving away was carrying both the recovered bodies).

I’ve obviously missed something. Which one of them turns into Sailor Moon? :-P jk

I don’t expect (or want) to see a gruesome death tableau, but to end the Silver/Sprocket/Lena caper, Tracy and Sam should either be seen retrieving the Nitrates’ car (and referring to the status of its occupants) or concluding that the car can’t be found (making it clear that we’re meant to be left to wonder about the crooks’ survival).

Her horns are now flesh colored, too.

Jim Akin: I think you said it best. And likely, as Neil Wick said, we’ll get whatever closure we’re going to get on the Nitrates, Sunday..As for Mysta, Mysta, my dear Mysta, what can we say?.Just to get it off my chest, I know it has been said so many times already: Willy007 noted that, during Fletcher-Collins, Moon Maid appeared only once, and that was to die? Like Rodney Dangerfield, she didn’t get no respect!.Perhaps the “bone” to be tossed to us Moon Maid fans, after the previously discussed disappointing ending to the Moon Maid arc (Mindy in disguise, with no glasses), perhaps this is the way Mike and Joe intend to satisfy Moon Maid fans..Realizing just how popular the character was, do they think they painted themselves into a corner with her “second death” (the “chimera” angle, instead of the “real deal”)?.Yet, much as I want the (original) Moon Maid to be in the strip, I remain less than comfortable with the idea that Mindy is “evolving” into the “real” Mysta..Nevertheless, the editorial decisions have been made, the strips have been posted, and the Tracy canon has been updated to include not the original Moon Maid, but an imposter – though, apparently, she will be a very good imposter, and apparently, stripped of most, if not all, of Mindy’s checkered past..And I suppose that’s about as good as it’s going to get..And now, on with Dick Tracy!

Ah, yes. Just remembered. Perhaps the most disconcerting thought about an evolving Moon Maid is this: Up to now, we were left to assume that Tim Sail and Zy Ghote were, as Mumbles so aptly put it, “lousy fraud(s)”!.If Mysta really is an evolving Mindy, then the pair of docs were, in fact, a resounding success!.Unless this is the “effective non-ending” referred to by Maximara: Consummate liars that Sail and Ghote were, perhaps we are dealing with the real Mysta (and that all this Mindy stuff was nonsense)?.Nah. I don’t think so..That’s just a little too “far out” – even for John Denver!

A story line that might make Chris Jackson happy:.After Mysta 2.0 manages to gain all of Moon Maid’s original “powers,” MIndy’s personality re-emerges to dominate the new Mysta..The original Mysta arrives to save us all from the fake Mysta!.How did Mysta survive the car blast? I don’t know, but something tells me, she was never seen by a coroner and, just as likely, her casket is empty!.After all, frequently it has been said, there was “nothing left” of her after the blast….Or was there?!?.(Just horsing around)

Oh snap! I tune in to see the latest installment for my favorite comicstrip Dick Tracy and instead I’m treated to a Me-TV showing of an old episode of Bewitched!

BORING!!!

Dear Mike and Joe,This comment may be premature, as some have speculated that there will be a wrap up of the Nitrate story on Sunday. But I would like to request that your stories not have so many loose ends dangling. As another fan said, it’s often like finding the last few pages of a really interesting book missing! And, it is out of character for the main man – Dick Tracy under Gould’s tenure almost always followed every possible thread to bring about closure in a story. Tracy in those days wouldn’t have had an “oh, well” attitude about Stilletta disappearing, for example, or who the extra body was in the aftermath of the raid on Mr. Crime’s HQ. (We knew it was Davey, but the police knew nothing about him, yet there was no follow-up.) I enjoy your work; this is just expressing my opinion on how it might be a little better. Thanks for listening.

There is certainly nothing to “forgive” about the compelling Silver & Sprocket story. We got Vitamin Flintheart, savvy to the scammers, a Mary Perkins crossover with style, an old movie theatre, a gruesome murder and body disposal, detective work, a vicious hyena and a chase. We also had Flattop, Jr’s wonder car resurrected, only to meet a watery demise, as did the Nitrates. I don’t need to see the bodies pulled from the lake to know that Sprocket made good on her promise to never be hit again. Tracy called the divers and they were on the way for their grim task. There was nothing lackadaisical about his somber recognition of the circumstances. I liked the story very much and can well imagine the brutal end. Do I wish that comic strips could show today what they could 50 years ago? Yes. Do I think the close of the story was unsatisfying? No.The secret that kills four women a day is domestic violence. Hat’s off to Team Tracy for touching on this important issue, however briefly. Well done.Like Ray and others, I posited last fall (and in subsequent rhymes) that Mysta was not done changing. Chapter one of her story was riveting; the best Tracy story I had read since the early 70s. It is wonderful to see her with Honeymoon, without gloves, taking aim at the plate below the model Space Coupe. As Willy007 says, the middle panel is classic. Mysta turns to us and says she has something to share. She does: the magic of a resurrected, award-winning comic strip.

The Tracy Universe is evolving. Anything better than a good cliff-hanger….its Three cliffhanger…just keep piling them on Joe & Mike..

Well, we may assume the worst for the Nitrate siblings but Flattop’s car may also hold some more secrets. It was never stated in the previous Flattop Jr. story that the car could survive fully submerged however, it was driven down a pretty deep creek and Flattop Jr. bragged about the waterproof ignition:

Today’s strip is gorgeous! I like Mysta’s apartment, the model space coupe, and especially the lovely Mysta.I admit my initial sadness and disappointment that she turned out not to be the real Moon Maid. It was hard to comment on the strip for awhile after that ending. But now that I’m getting past those feelings, I can’t help but think the new Mysta has many interesting times ahead, especially with Honeymoon now bonding with her and the moon governor and his people lurking.If nothing else, Miss Chimera is certainly a delight to look at. Much more attractive than Gould ever drew Moon Maid, made even more so by the competent colorist now working on this strip. No more blue horns and green hair, yaay! Two more reasons this pretty blonde has seriously grown on me.Probably the best news as others have mentioned is that Mysta’s transformation is apparently continuing. If this means we’ll end up with a “virtual” Mysta, reborn through modern genetics and magical moon DNA to act as the bridge to reviving a long neglected part of the strip’s canon, it won’t be the impossible outcome I was hoping for (the original Moon Maid back from the dead), but I will still be a very happy camper.

As for what happened to the Nitrates, I have to line up here with Willy and Pequod.Tracy did the right thing by immediately calling for the rescue team. What else was there to do? Sprocket drove the car into the icy water, and is content to remain in the water. Silver is panicking, but what can he do other than perhaps open a window or door and probably accelerate his death? Since they have some air, he may be figuring the best thing to do is wait and see if the police can pull them out in time. Maybe some device can be activated in the car to save the couple, but who’s going to turn it on? Silver doesn’t know how to drive and may know much about how the car works. Sprocket wants her abusive brother and herself dead. That’s where we left them.If one or both bodies do end up missing, Tracy will hear about it and I guess we will, too, especially if there are plans someday to bring them back. Otherwise, I assume like Tracy that the Nitrates have died or will die soon. I’m quite all right with leaving the story right there, but that’s just my opinion.I know Gould probably would have shown the police pulling the car out of the water and probably the dead bodies, too. Granted. So in this respect Curtis is not Gould. Maybe there are limits on what he is able to address in such a story, we just don’t know. Is that any reason to jump Curtis and Staton after giving us yet another wonderful story as Pequod so aptly pointed out?Pequod, your last post said it much better than I can, but I agree with you 100%. Thank you for that.

Real va-va-voooooom dress on Mysta 2-day……….Rowwwf!!

I love Mysta!

gweedo… sam and darren’s daughter was named TABITHA and their son was named ADAM

Gould had her looking a bit goofy, but I think it was more to differentiate her from Earth ladies even though she has the basic physical traits of Terran women. I also consider Joe’s portrayal of her as a perfect cross between Chet’s MM and something that would just be an out and out drool fest. Sexy, but not slutty.Gweedo, my friend, you absolutely nailed it with this comment. My thoughts exactly!The original Moon Maid was amazingly sexy. Bunny corsets and thigh-high boots? Stiletto heels and lace? Call the fire department! But because Moon Maid was a good, happy, and family-oriented person (and also because all moon women dressed that way), she never seemed to cross the line to sluttiness. She was the perfect balance of sex and innocence, an attractive and explosive combination that undoubtedly accounted for her huge and continuing popularity. The fact that she was young, powerful, exuberant, athletic, confident, funny, talented, and pretty added fuel to the fire and helped create an entire generation of devoted Moon Maid fans. Joe’s portrayal of Mysta Chimera is right in line with this. The fact that he’s transformed Gould’s goofy eyes into something so beautiful is like you said, a huge improvement, and a testimony to Staton’s considerable artistic skills. As a result, Mysta is even more smoking hot than the original MM, but with an elegance and femininity and style that brings balance and keeps it all in check. Like today, with her well-brushed hair, beautiful smile, and little things like the dainty choker, globe earrings, elegant bracelets, and dainty poses. All these accents really set off the hotness of her strapless minidress, but not in a way that crosses the line. She’s a sensation!Mysta Chimera is just MM MM good. :)

I expect this visit to end Satuday. It’s providing some important information (that Mysta’s powers are real), and delaying the search for the bodies until Sunday (for those papers which print Tracy only on Sundays).As for those complaining “where’s the ending?”, this is just another interlude, like the strip showing Vitamin and Mary in ‘King Lear,’ with the mustachioed, dog-faced guy watching.

Just as books can change scenes, so can comic strips.

I still have hope we’ll see the Nitrates again. There’s no telling what sort of gizmos were in that car.

That model of the Space Coupe in the last panel makes me wish it was back.

I’d say that the majority of us who read this strip would prefer that the stories be more “down to Earth,” if you catch my drift.Hmm, dunno. You may be right that a majority of fans who post here (who tend to be older and from a generation that was more down to earth) don’t like the space stuff.But the fact that science fantasy is so common place and accepted in popular Western culture (and especially by the younger generation) tells me there’s a ton of potential in exploring this part of the Tracy canon.We’re living in a day where people under 40 have cut their teeth on Star Trek, Star Wars, Marvel and DC Super Hero movies, and on and on. Science fantasy is non only not offensive to people like that — it’s extremely popular and welcomed. Why wouldn’t Mike and Joe want to take the strip in that direction, given the legacy of the Space Era? It makes financial sense and is a proven winner. The fact that Moon Maid was as popular as she was in a day when science fantasy wasn’t nearly as popular as it is now tells me there is serious growth potential in reviving her legacy.So those of you here (not you, JPuzzleWhiz, but posters in general) who dislike Mysta and everything associated with her, I hope you will stop and consider these observations the next time you’re tempted to say how much you wish the space stuff would go away. A return to space fantasy (without losing the strip’s earth roots) is not only consistent with the history of Dick Tracy; it may be just the ticket to attract a new generation of fans and keep this strip going and thriving another 80 years.By the way, is it just coincidence that Curtis and Staton won their first Harvey Award while in the middle of the year-long Mysta-ry? Some might conclude that it is, but what I see is evidence that Moon Maid has (once again) stirred up excitement over the strip, enough excitement in fact to make Dick Tracy relevant again for the first time in 25 years. That in itself is exciting!

Maybe Franken-Mindy is gonna have Honeymoon do that old “pull my finger” trick, lol

Methinks the “Leave ’em hanging” style lets the writers bring back a bad guy when they want. No corpse, no death. These folks can reappear and we will find out how they survived when the time is right. Personally, I like it. We know they are gone for a while but we wonder… Will they be back?I don’t think Abner is dead and I think at least one Nitrate will survive. As for the space coupe, well That thing can come back anytime.

I thought the ending of the Sprocket and Silver saga was pretty darn clear. As far as Mysta is concerned….if she has moon DNA then it makes sense that she has powers sans gadgets….

Nice to see all of the excitement generated by Mysta, with some voices rarely heard sharing their views. Thanks for posting the strips, Ray and Stagger Lee. The death of Shaky is powerful business, while the weather in which Tracy stands looks all too familiar. Thanks for the kind words, Chief Patton. Good to hear your keen insights on the latest story and your deep appreciation of Mysta. Gweedo and Willy speak the truth on the beauty of Mysta and the exceptional talent of Joe Staton. Team Tracy draws on all eras from Gould’s remarkable career, while adding their own laudable creations, and we fans are the richer for their labors.

Interlude I hope, or will the Nitrate episode be closed and a new arc start. This outer space stuff wasn’t good in the 60’s. Let’s go in another direction folk. The fanboys can cut out these pictures and put them on their ceiling. Real fans need to move on .

We could also say that real fans aren’t arrogant, narrow-minded, and insulting.

Regarding the color of Mysta’s horns, I am thinking they were originally gray (and scarred, according to Honeymoon) because they were somehow implanted. Now, as cells naturally die in Mysta’s body they are being replaced with those containing Lunarian DNA. The flesh-colored horns reflect the fact that her human body is gradually being replaced with that of a Moon Person.

the fate of the Nitrates is definitely up to speculation. All we know is that Sprocket is going to see to it that her brother pays for his ways. We don’t know what that car is capable of…

Wow!!! I love this strip!!!

Yowie Baby!!