Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for August 02, 2014

Good morning guys!

Punjab and the Asp look like 2 cats that ate the canary!:>)

So it is the decoder badge that controls the mind… not the clocks or the barbershop pole!One last comment concerning the coloring (colouring) of the barber’s pole, since it was discussed more than once here.This is the strip in its original black-and-white form, which is how it appears in the daily papers:This is how the colors (colours) should have been applied:That would have been what the artist wanted to convey.

Honestly, I never expected to be so charmed by this story. The mystery is great, and the Tracy-Annie team is really working. Plus Staton has done such a great job with the Annie characters and scenery that you’d think he had been drawing that strip his entire life. Well done so far!

This is a great story!

“You remember we wanted to ask the Butcher some questions*before* his ‘mysterious disappearance’, right?”

:-)

Well, Daddy, would you believe your boys sent the Butcher on a magic carpet ride? (Someone had to say it.)Be careful, Tracy. That brainwashing technique can sneak up on you!

I like the sly smirks on Punjab & Asp’s faces! Don’t worry Daddy. He will never bother ANYONE again!

Good morning fans. Annie and Dick must save everyone.

The butcher sleeps alongside Luca Brasi, with the fishies!

And yet, Jonathan K was able to do it. So, if JK can do it, so can the newspapers.__________________

It is a simple task with any graphics editing program. While the coloring has been generally very good during this arc, the incorrect coloring of the pole was due more to laziness than not having the ability.

While I have not read all of Little Orphan Annie by a long shot, I have never seen anyone return from Punjab’s magic carpet ride. .On March 3, 1941, Punjab makes three hoodlums disappear (off panel). When Annie asks Punjab about the vanishing trick, he jokes that he can demonstrate by placing the cape over Sandy. “Yipe!” remarks Sandy as he wisely skedaddles. A thug who has been waiting in the car for his three “disappeared” pals comes looking for them, pulling a gun on Punjab and Annie. Soon he is under the blanket. He vanishes, of course, and Annie asks, “where did he go?” .Punjab replies that “He is gone—gone to join his three ‘pals’—taken for a ride on the magic carpet, shall we say? When one rides with the Magi he travels quite far and to lands uncharted by mortals—may we hope they had an interesting trip—eh?”.I very much doubt that “The Butcher” will ever again be seen.

Indeed.

It’s great to have the funny pages of old back. The funny pages of the City Papers in my area, I can’t relate to at all anymore. I miss Chet…..this strip is fantastic..

Two days ago ‘Ken in Ohio* noted, correctly – (as he usually does) – a special observation on *Joe Staton’s* current story ART :

He said :" Plus, this has the added benefit of very nice artwork, which is now doing a nifty balancing act between three styles – Gould’s, Gray’s and Joe Staton’s own style. That in itself is making this enjoyable for me. "

I’m right there with Ken on this, Joe’s careful (‘masterful’?) - blending of ‘challenging’ styles is so good that it likely quietly slip by - subconsciously “appreciated” by most, but yet – often unnoticed

The latter’s usually the hallmark of near – perfect work !

I wonder – if you look closely at the pattern on Punjab’s magic cape – will you see the Butcher’s face?

I’m still getting a charge out of seeing Tracy and Annie trying to solve the mystery together, and all the side action – Punjab and the Asp with Hendrik, Diet Smith and Daddy Warbucks arguing… This is the stuff comics fans have dreamed of since the 1930’s.Thanks, Team Tracy!

That would be what a teacher would say, Gweedo. I’m just another fan.

JK was doing a single part of a single comic strip! Consider how many strips need to be colored in a very short period of time!

Tracy ought to take advantage of the times. I bet he could get a 25 cent haircut and a 5 cent beer! He’s in a “gimmedat’s” best dream! Like Stilldamatt said the other day, he should for sure stop by the stockbroker’s office and fill his pockets with IBM stock at a 25 cents a share.

Well said!

I wonder who we’ll see at that Town Council meeting?Axel? I’ve a feeling at least one will be a familiar face.

The newspapers could do what JK idd, but don’t want to, partly because it’s too much work and partly because they don’t want to go that far in altering the artwork.

Just to clarify something, I am not accusing the colorist (colourist) of laziness. I was just showing what the artist intended but was limited to black-and-white. And also to clear up any questions about the barber’s pole (which we now know has no effect on the mind).My apologies to the artists if this was misinterpreted as harsh criticism.

Today’s 3rd panel is straight out of LOA, as done by Gray. In the story mentioned by Pequod77 above, there is another short episode where a couple of enemies of Warbucks’ patriotic efforts to keep America prepared try to sabotage his factory. Punjab and Asp dispatch them by causing their own explosives to blow up while they are still carrying them. When Oliver calls them in to find out what they know about it, the scene plays out very similar to today’s scene. Their facial expressions are almost exactly the same. We’’ll see how this conversation goes, but in the story I refer to, they are calm and collected; their only thought is to help Oliver, without paying very much attention to society’s rules.What would Tracy’s reaction be, anyway – they basically take the law into their own hands. Seems to me there is a conflict of ideology brewing here.

I need a decoder to figure out this plotline!!!