Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for July 20, 2014

  1. Mmdash6
    Pequod  over 10 years ago

    Annie kicks a little stone, it bounces on aheadDecoder Badge owns Tracy, which causes Annie dread.Listeners are hypnotized holding gadgets fascinatingAnnie knows she must act soon, no progress made by waiting.She conspires to meet Tracy at the rustic Jot ‘Em DownProprietors Lum and Abner are contrarians who clown.They fuss and feud and heckle, no intention to cause harmCurmudgeons, coots and codgers, part vinegar, part charm.Lum claims he is a scholar of rich funny paper loreAbner sees a charlatan, a braggart and a bore.Quips and accusations are hurled both to and froMasking fondness and regard, neither cares to show.Tracy pays for licorice and a pack of gum to chewAnnie at last has his ear and knows what she must do.She brought Tracy into this and must address the messAnnie no match for Axel, she’s not shy to confessTo having no real plan or hope when the letter she did mailSave having Tracy by her side means Axel just might fail.

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    jumbobrain  over 10 years ago

    DANG. I only know of Lum and Abner as old time radio personalities because of a book I have from the 80s where they are astonished there was still a Lum and Abner museum. Which, doubly astonishingly the Internet tells me still exists. Anyway, said it before and I’ll say it again, I think what the creative team is doing with Dick Tracy is freaking amazing.

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    Vista Bill Raley and Comet™  over 10 years ago

    Good morning guys!

    10 cents for a pack of gum in the 1940s? Most gum was 5 cents. Beeman’s, Teaberry, Black Jack, and Clove could sometimes be found for 3 cents a pack (5 sticks).

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  4. Lumandabnetar
    Blindfolded Wildcat  over 10 years ago

    I am honored to see the Lum and Abner appearing in my favorite adventure strip! Thank you, Mike, Joe, Shelley, and Shane, and thanks to the Lauck family for granting permission! As for what’s going on back in Pine Ridge, please click to see and hear “Lum and Abner” at their home site, plus read Lum and Abner at GoComics! Thank you, everyone!

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    Can't Sleep  over 10 years ago

    Mornin’ VistaBill & Co.!You’re forgetting – that 10 cents includes Annie’s licorice with the gum.(You don’t think Lum and Abner would overcharge, do you?!)

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    doctor075  over 10 years ago

    This is fantastic! Thank you team Tracy!

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    Can't Sleep  over 10 years ago

    Got to love today’s strip (even if it doesn’t advance the story much).Love the attention to details with the “1 cent war tax,” which I’d never heard of. (We still have some ration coupons around here somewhere, though…)Mike, Joe and the rest of Team Tracy are obviously having fun.

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    W H H  over 10 years ago

    From a small island off the coast of Michigan to Pine Ridge Arkansas, that’s a long walk.

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    W H H  over 10 years ago

    I guess Lum and Abner aren’t in on the Jr. Commando secret meeting at the Jot Em Down Store.

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    Richard Tolleson Premium Member over 10 years ago

    Aye doggies, today’s Dick Tracy was a good’urn.

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    DaJellyBelly  over 10 years ago

    There’s a Moon Pies sign peeking out from behind the cash register.

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    fredville  over 10 years ago

    …..doesn’t seem like there’s any real connection of today’s strip with the main plot……seems like basically a waste of time in that aspect, buttttt how many times have Mike and Joe done this to us already, it ends up mattering, lol

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    BFarmer1980  over 10 years ago

    This. Is. Awesome. Huge Lum & Abner fan here. I started reading this strip for the first time a a couple of weeks ago—partially for the historic crossover, but mostly for this strip right here. I must say, the overall product has me intrigued, too. I may just keep reading this.

    Hope everyone will check out Donnie Pitchford’s “Lum & Abner” strip, either here or at the Lum & Abner Society website!

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    Sisyphos  over 10 years ago

    Bicker, bicker, bicker. And whatever else, don’t recognize the iconic “funny paper heroes” who come in the front door, because that’s a joke only to us, the readers, whereas to you, the characters Lum and Abner, they are “real life” inhabitants of Simmons Corners….Will this have any real bearing on the plot? Perhaps, down the line. Or not.

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    FLIGHT SUIT  over 10 years ago

    Super cool! My father exposed me to Lum and Abner when I was a child growing up in the 1970s. They used to broadcast it here in the Bay Area on KSFO 560AM, which was an old timey radio station at the time.

    Now I learn there’s a Web site and a current comic strip? Yay!

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    seanyj  over 10 years ago

    Ok, when did Tracy have time to change out of his blue uniform into his traditional black suit?

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    davidf42  over 10 years ago

    I don’t know where this is going, but it sure has me interested!

    I hope Annie brought Prof Kenyon to look at one of the decoder badges and see what’s inside of them.

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    jlrake  over 10 years ago

    Don’t know if they were contemporaneously new episodes or old one rebroadcast, but during the mid-‘70s on the top 40 pop FM nearest my town, I liked listening to the Lum and Abner radio show run there. I’d read or heard they’re comics strip characters before that , to, but I never looked them up in that context. Nifty to see them after all that while.

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    EOCostello  over 10 years ago

    All I can say is: “Well, heavenly days!”

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    coldsooner  over 10 years ago

    All that and a hint of comic history thrown in. Love it.

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    Starman1948  over 10 years ago

    Good morning fans. Thanks for another excellent poem, Pequod77.

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    Cheapskate0  over 10 years ago

    One cent “war tax”? I guess this means Lum and Abner als also “under the spell.”.Someone else noted that the story was not advanced today. Agreed..Also likely, neither Lum nor Abner will be of much use to Annie, Richard, Dietrich, or the MCU..But it was interesting to have some “funny” in the “funny papers” for a change…

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    nerdhoof  over 10 years ago

    “That gum you like is coming back in style” (Twin Peaks)

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    3pibgorn9  over 10 years ago

    Ah! Lum and Abner!

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  25. Millionchimps1
    tripwire45  over 10 years ago

    This is definitely a trip back in time. I had no idea who these guys are of why this was funny until I looked them up: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lum_and_Abner

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    Cheapskate0  over 10 years ago

    Has it bothered anybody here that, to me, at least, there really is no mystery going on? I mean, the search for Annie ended at the beginning! Letter from Annie to Sparkle, coded message to Tracy, and Tracy immediately sets off and finds her..Given that this is NOT a time travel story, game over, Annie’s been found. Although, it can be argued, the mind control game is a mystery..But, to me, the only mystery is, how will the MCU find Tracy?.Will this end similar to the Mysta mystery last summer, with the introduction of yet more Tracy grotesque villains, a la Melies, that we won’t learn a lot about?.About the only thing guaranteed, since this is not a time travel story, and since Tracy doesn’t know who he is, we won’t be meeting up with Flattop anytime soon!

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    Morrow Cummings  over 10 years ago

    Thanks, PQ! Again, your summation saves me a lot of scratchin’. Somehow or other, I went through seventy-one years without ever hearing of these guys! And I lived in the comics…..

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    ctsignguy  over 10 years ago

    Somehow, i think i see what might be happening. When Annie met up with Tracy, she had a bag of cookies for him which he didnt eat….and now she took him to Lum and Abner to buy some candy and gum……i think now that sugar is the key to neutralizing the effects Axel is having….will be interesting to see how this plays out.

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    thunderbearr  over 10 years ago

    Okay. Now that was funny! :D

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    jimallentoons Premium Member over 10 years ago

    In a 1935 radio broadcast Lum Fakes Abner’s Kidnapping So That Lum Can Be A Hero – With that kind of thinking I can see these guys as part of the team, at least for some great laughs. Wow, Moon Pie!! Where’s the bologna on crackers!

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    dennis4476 Premium Member over 10 years ago

    Three great comic strips icons all together on one Sunday Page. What fun! Love the last panel of the two old coots hollorin’ at each other. Great strip today. A real treasure.

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    dennis4476 Premium Member over 10 years ago

    I would LOVE to see Lum & Abner meet Vitamin Flintheart. That would be fun, Hope to see Lum & Abner back someday for another Sunday treat!

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    oldiesfan  over 10 years ago

    So there were some inside jokes in this strip, big deal. There was absolutely no plot advancement, which made this strip basically a waste of time.

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    MaryWorth Premium Member over 10 years ago

    Looking forward to Dick being chased by Brenda Starr in the Sadie Hawkins Day race…

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  35. Mmdash6
    Pequod  over 10 years ago

    Congratulations once again to Team Tracy for the richly deserved Harvey Award nomination. A repeat of last year’s win would not be at all surprising, as “Mysta Reborn,” death traps, a chase with the Wonder Car, and the rise of the Consortium reflect the consistent quality of the past year. There is much to look forward to with Mysta’s transformations ongoing, Venus and Méliès gaining the upper hand over the Apparatus, Diet Smith’s Project Blue Image, the mysterious whereabouts of the Nitrates, Kadaver, Blackjack, the Governor and family, and this very entertaining Annie crossover. .The complex threads of this story are matched by the exceptional art. As Ray Toler thoughtfully articulated, the diversity of styles serves the story and is a vivid reminder of the depth of talent possessed by Team Tracy. There is more to good storytelling than plot advancement. The bell rings as Tracy and Annie exit the store, Lum and Abner still quarreling over the former’s alleged comic expertise. Today’s humorous interlude moves Annie closer to having a chance to clue Tracy in. His decoder badge must be destroyed. .Wiki excerpt: Lum and Abner was an American network radio comedy program created by Chester Lauck and Norris Goff that was aired from 1931 to 1954. Modeled on life in the small town of Waters, Arkansas, near where Lauck and Goff grew up, the show proved immensely popular. In 1936, Waters changed its name to Pine Ridge after the show’s fictional town. Given the fact that Mr. Curtis lives in Arkansas, I assume he has long been familiar with the radio show, even though it went off the air before he was born. Here is a link to the Wiki entry:Lum and Abner

    Thanks to Donnie Pitchford, Jonathan K., Starman1948, Morrow and mzkdad for the kind words. Much appreciated.

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  36. Lumandabnetar
    Blindfolded Wildcat  over 10 years ago

    This has been a great weekend, and the readers of the “Lum and Abner” comic strip are excited about today’s crossover! Thanks to everyone who made it happen! We’ve been anticipating this ever since Mike Curtis presented the idea to me back in December! Thank you Mike, Joe, Shelley, and Shane! And thanks to everyone who posted Lum and Abner information!

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  37. Lumandabnetar
    Blindfolded Wildcat  over 10 years ago

    For anyone with friends/family who are blind, we offer an audio version of the “Lum and Abner” comic strip. I invite you to share it with them:see and hear “Lum and Abner” at their home site

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    Ray Toler  over 10 years ago

    Another great poem, Pequod.

    Moon pies (a southern treat) on the anniversary of the first moon landing.

    Some complaints today about the strip not advancing the plot…It seems to me that every word does not necessarily have to advance the plot. Sometimes there is an interlude. Sometimes the “funny pages” just need to be funny. Gould often used humor and horseplay in his strips. I remember once the whole squad room held Tracy down and shaved off the moustache he had grown.

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    mumbles  over 10 years ago

    next week, Mr. Keen, tracer of lost persons

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    mumbles  over 10 years ago

    sydney, what happened to DTM Magazine??

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  41. Lumandabnetar
    Blindfolded Wildcat  over 10 years ago

    Here’s an audio clip to help pull things together: Dick Tracy, Annie, and Lum and Abner

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    Weegel  over 10 years ago

    JPuz,.Re your comment below:.“The one that held the position of Boston Police Commissioner did a really lousy job. He didn’t last very long. Hall of Fame? Hall of SHAME would be a better description. (Sorry, Jim, but the truth is the truth.)”.While a rookie sergeant in the Boston PD, Bratton faced down an armed robber hilding a hostage, single-handedly, saved the hostage, and took the bandit alive. He was awarded the B.P.D.‘s top award for valor..His tenure as Boston’s P.C. was successful enough that (after having already had successful terms as the police chief of, respectively, the M.B.T.A. Police, the N.Y.C. Transit Police, and the Boston Metro District Police), that Mayor Giuliani hired him for what is, arguably, the most demanding police chief’s position in the country, Commissioner of the N.Y.P.D..In that position, with the help of his hand-picked Deputy Commissioner, Jack Maple, he enacted policies that reduced crime in N.Y.C., by 40%, and reduced murders by 50%..Then he went west, took over the L.A.P.D., responsible now for policing a city much larger in surface area than New York, with a population of 4 million (compared to New York’s 7 million) and (with a force less than one quarter the size of N.Y.P.D.), reduced overall crime by 30%, and murders by 40%..Now he’s taking his second run at the biggest cop job in the country. You don’t get hired for that job twice if you’re not good..Bill Bratton is good, and he deserves his place in the Hall of Fame.

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  43. Sylvester
    ronpolimeni  over 10 years ago

    I believe Abner pronounced his buddies name as “Edards” rather than “Edwards”, no W. Also, wasn’t it the “Jot ’em Down Store and Library”? I always imagined the store having a section with magazines and some books along with the general merchandise.

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    Weegel  over 10 years ago

    Gleeb,.Re your comment:.“Bill Bratton! He didn’t top out at Sergeant, did he? No, he had some drive and initiative.”.No snide comment about his having been a cinder cop?.And what do you mean “top out?” Are you under the impression that I’m retired? I’m still an active duty cop, and, while three stripes may be as high as I go, it’s certainly not outside the realm of possibility that, when I finally pull the pin, it’ll be at a higher rank..I probably won’t have run five different major police departments. But there are very few Bill Brattons.

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  45. Michael j fox marty mcfly back to the future johnny b goode
    avenger09  over 10 years ago

    Thanks PQ77, seeing you work so hard to get a couple of drops of lemon juice from this lemon of a story is inspirational! I am in awe of your ability.

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  46. Michael j fox marty mcfly back to the future johnny b goode
    avenger09  over 10 years ago

    JPW all I can say as someone who has lived my whole life in NYC is that I have no complaints of Bratton as my chief of police. That should stand for something.

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    Robotech_Master  over 10 years ago

    You can also see the Lum & Abner movies at Archive.org:

    https://archive.org/search.php?query=Lum%20%26%20Abner%20AND%20mediatype%3Amovies

    They have the radio programs there, too.

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    ridenslide65  over 10 years ago

    Completely LOST.

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    Tobe Mils  over 10 years ago

    Some of us may be just a bit lost for the moment, but this is great fun!

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    LittleIggy  over 10 years ago

    And we are supposed to know who these guys are?

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  51. Lumandabnetar
    Blindfolded Wildcat  over 10 years ago

    So honored by this crossover, and happy to have been a small part of it.

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  52. Lumandabnetar
    Donnie Pitchford Premium Member almost 8 years ago

    Many thanks to Mike Curtis who conceived the idea of the crossover of Lum and Abner with Dick Tracy! Joe Staton’s art is wonderful and captured the spirit. Thanks to Shelley Pleger and Shane Fisher for completing the package to make this a memorable Sunday for many fans of Lum and Abner.

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  53. Mmdash6
    Pequod  almost 8 years ago

    Annie kicks a little stone, it bounces on ahead

    Decoder Badge owns Tracy, which causes Annie dread.

    Listeners are hypnotized holding gadgets fascinating

    Annie knows she must act soon, no progress made by waiting.

    She conspires to meet Tracy at the rustic Jot ‘Em Down

    Proprietors Lum and Abner are contrarians who clown.

    They fuss and feud and heckle, no intention to cause harm

    Curmudgeons, coots and codgers, part vinegar, part charm.

    Lum claims he is a scholar of rich funny paper lore

    Abner sees a charlatan, a braggart and a bore.

    Quips and accusations are hurled both to and fro

    Masking fondness and regard, neither cares to show.

    Tracy pays for licorice and a pack of gum to chew

    Annie at last has his ear and knows what she must do.

    She brought Tracy into this and must address the mess

    Annie no match for Axel, she’s not shy to confess

    To having no real plan or hope when the letter she did mail

    Save having Tracy by her side means Axel just might fail.

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  54. Lumandabnetar
    Donnie Pitchford Premium Member over 6 years ago

    Just shared this strip with veteran cartoonist/educator Hy Eisman. “Dick Tracy” was one of his favorites from his childhood in the 1930s-40s!

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  55. Lumandabnetar
    Donnie Pitchford Premium Member over 3 years ago

    “Lum and Abner” is now available at lumandabnercomics.com where we offer a free email subscription. Thanks!

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  56. Lumandabnetar
    Donnie Pitchford Premium Member 4 months ago

    Ten years ago today! Wow.

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