Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for June 12, 2014

..AXEL LINK

Good morning guys!

Man! You’re fast Stagger Lee!

Maybe we could be treated to a Prince Valiant crossover story in the future.

Wouldn’t a Prince Valiant crossover be in the past? ;)

Why is it some folks on this strip just like to complain? Ever think of waiting until the storyline is over before raising hell?

Guess what tomorrow is? The four year anniversary of the final Annie strip.

Stagger Lee, thank you for the link. It helps a lot to learn the history of these Annie characters. Here’s what the linked article says about Axel:“The character of Axel is not that of the ordinary hoodlum. Grat has created an extraordinary thug; one who means to rule the world….Axel becomes a Hitler-type character.”That’s a villain I can get into!

Personally, I love the nostalgia here. Never read the Annie dailies as they weren’t in our local paper but you don’t have to be a “funnies” fan to at least know who she is and what she’s all about. I have a feeling this is going to be a terrific storyline. Thanks for the book cover Stagger Lee, and good catch on the date Chris Jackson.

I am so loving this storyline.

Thanks Stagger Lee. So, Annie has been kidnapped by Axel before (more than once, too)! Sounds suspicious for sure.

Oh, No! Axel! The A Number One Most Hated Villain in the entire Little Orphan Annie universe!

But who is Professor Kenyon?

Thrill as Tracy struggles to remain in his own comic!

We already know Tracy. He just has to stay in the background till we get introduced to these other people. I have every confidence that Tracy will be in the forefront of active duty before long.

Mr. Am does have important information. A deft shift from “The Butcher of Balkans” to the infamous Axel. New facts emerge at The Siam. I am curious to know Professor Kenyon’s area of scholarship and how it might relate to Annie’s plight.

The cast of characters is rapidly expanding. Daddy Warbucks, Punjab, and the Asp I already know, and Am I sort of know, but I had no previous knowledge of Axel, and have no idea who Professor Kenyon might be. It gets a bit confusing at times, keeping all these cards in play. But I am curious as to what is happening to the Butcher of the Balkans. Why is he almost out of the picture before he even gets into it (so to speak)?

Thanks to Neil Wick link the other day I ‘m a little more educated in the Anne universe and lov’in this storyline.

And congratulations to BassManBob who suggested a Tracy/Annie crossover way back in 2011. And not only did he suggest it, he wrote a fanfic on it.

Good morning all. Good job Stagger Lee!

Personal phone holder: Remember “Thing” from the television Addams’ Family?.That would be a pretty good crossover, as well!

i’m waiting for ezra eon to show up myself. and know what else stilldamatt? NOTHING was said as to whether or not montana joe will face charges for murdering tabby angus nor the fate of the moon maid movie, or whatever became of vera alldid… gotta love those DANGLING PLOTLINES

In a way, this entire “Great AM” introduction seems to be serving a different purpose than we might suppose: Rather than picking up on where Annie left off, this is coming off a lot like Firesign Theatre’s “Everything You Know Is Wrong!”.Kind of like, this Annie story will have nothing to do with any Annie story we may have been tracking, or thought we were tracking…

A new story begins. Characters are introduced. The plot is established.This is how a story is told. Every time.Tracy is working on the case, getting information.I’d think you complainers would catch on by now.(What? They have? They just like to complain? Well, then they must be secretly enjoying the story, too!)

The Butcher is an international fugitive. He wouldn’t risk coming into the US. He and Axel must be working together, possibly with other villains from the Annie and Tracy comics (and others?)

I’m definitely missing some fanboy thrills at the reintroduction of these characters. My first thought on sight of AM was of Crumb’s Mr Natural. :) Keep on Trackin’?

These revived characters are intriguing, but there are so many, coming so quickly, that this is starting to feel like a “backdoor pilot” for a revival of the Annie strip. Do any of you with industry connections know if such a thing is in the works?

I think, like NightShade09 suggests, this is preliminary, to establish the characters, and bring Tracy readers who may not be familiar with Annie up to speed.IF it should turn out that the team writes it so that Tracy just stands around while Asp, Punjab and Mr. Am do everything, I will be annoyed and disappointed. BUT, let’s give it time. This is only the first few days, and I’m hoping for a some real good Tracy (and Sam) action as we go along!

No, I don’t remember that one, but it sounds good anyway!

By the way, for those of you who may not know the story, after Nick Gatt arranged to have Axel and his gang shipped back to the mysterious European country they came from, Oliver Warbucks ended up in a concentration camp with Axel. When Warbucks escaped and returned to Annie in America, he clearly believed that he (Warbucks) had killed Axel – at least he told Annie as much. Of course, this was just before America entered WWII, so there will need to be some sort of retconning here, to bring these characters into modern times.

Axel wants to rule the world. How does Annie play into that? Much more to be revealed, I’m sure, but I’m liking this introduction.

EXACTLY, Gweedo! It’s like a great big fruit salad! Everyone has their favorite ingredient!

Was that the one in which he sang the musical number (explaining why he missed a shot), “Smoke Got In My Eye”?

No regrets and no complaints. This is the future, not the past….Joe & Mike, you Rock..

Can we call him Grand Am from now on ?Good one, Gweedo! As I said previously, I never had much exposure to “Little Orphan Annie/Annie” so when I first heard about Mr. Am here, it made me think of the Pontiac Grand Am.

Wake me up when this Annie stuff is over.

Maybe the capitol of Luaxana is Troi…

its my calling in life jpuzz :) lol

I had zero interest in Dick Tracy until this storyline started. I might even stick around when it’s done!

This seems like it’s going to be a fun story.

Okay I see two complaints about complainers but I don’t see anyone complaining, at least not on this story. Perhaps we’re getting prepared for a complaint?

Axel was the “villain” in the Mad Magazine parody “Little Orphan Melvin” circa 1953. He’s been around that long.

I think the Alley thing was just a throwaway nod to Alley Oop. If you’ve never seen the original V T Hamlin strips of Alley Oop, you’ve missed things! It was a great strip through the 1960’s.

Dick Tracy was so awful in the early 1980’s, that my paper dropped it right in the middle of the Angeltop continuity. It’s definitely gotten better. Does anyone here remember Smallmouth Bass and the heart thieves in the 60’s?

LOA in the late 1960’s was as violent a strip as has ever seen the comics pages. Harold Gray decided to go out with a blaze of glory, and he sure did. There was one continuity where the Asp rescued Annie and had his henchmen treat the villain to the Death of a Thousand Cuts. Just barely out of panel too.

If Am is so great (and often eluded to be "The All Mighty) how come he doesn’t know where Annie is – did the powers that be tell Mike to tone down the character?

In the Old Testament, Moses hears the burning bush refer to itself as I Am, the voice of the Lord.

Nightynight!

Morning, Anniephans!