Return now to the balcony, the popcorn’s fresh and hotDiscuss the clue of Kenyon’s Blue, the flight of the Hotshot.An expert in explosives, the Professor was abductedHypnotized or brain-washed, his research now conductedUnderneath the watchful eye of Axel the big liarPretense that they’re in the past, while conniving to conspire.There’s a hole in the wall, our crime-stoppers listen inHearing in the here and now, the present’s where they’ve been.Axel logs on to his laptop, conducts a video chatProgress report on Kenyon’s work, details of this and that.Interrupted by the noise from the Hotshot overheadThose caught crossing Axel wind up tortured, maimed or dead.Should Kenyon complete his experiments the results could be explosiveAxel deceives ‘midst island breeze, his heart and mind corrosive....Congrats for Harvey Award number twoTeam Tracy from the waist I bow to youYour rich talent acknowledged by your peersThe best strip in the land these past two years!
And three times, it’s enemy action…AND WILL BE TREATED AS SUCH!
This had better be Hotshot’s last trip over the island or it will be his last…i dont think a B-17, tough a bird as any ever made, could withstand Axel’s array of modern gadgets….
This day’s developments shoot away any final ideas that Tracy time-tripped back to 1944….however, Axel, being a naturally suspicious villain, knows without knowing that something is going on….let’s just hope that the good guys can move in before really BAD things start happening
In an age where sea level rise caused by global warming is accelerating dramatically (experts say California must prepare for 3 feet of sea level rise in this century), it is rather clueless and irresponsible for today’s Crimestopper’s Textbook to encourage people to leave extra lights on all night long. We should be reducing carbon emissions, not increasing them.
Congratulations to Team Tracy on their second Harvey Award!
Axel may know something is amiss about the B-17 overflight, but for the moment he’s not equipped to bring it down. That could change rapidly, however, so I hope Charlie has gathered enough intel and/or facilitated enough Special Ops with these two flights (did he infiltrate the Asp?). Annie better keep quiet; we wouldn’t want Tracy’s and her spying to come to a bad end!
@fhofmann, like all climate change deniers, you are cherry picking data in order to support a lie. That’s very sad.
Really though, I very much doubt that anybody actually takes any of the advice in Crimestopper’s Textbook seriously. That feature should have been eliminated from the comic a long time ago in order to make room for more storytelling.
Twice deliberating on the Harvey Award, too. Even though some don’t like the present story, I think it’s good enough to win a third Harvey Award next year. Congratulations once again on the back-to-back award win this year.
Lots of story developments today and answers to unanswered questions, conveniently delivered to Axel’s boss for our (and Tracy’s and Annie’s) benefit:
1. Axel has superiors. I wonder who they could be. They could very well be the ones who were smuggling all the war criminals out of Europe with false Dutch passports.
2. The barber and postmaster are working for Kenyon, so they’re not in on Axel’s plan like I thought they might be.
3. The whole purpose of the World War 2 illusion is to fool Kenyon. Everything else is peripheral to that.
4. Axel was the one who leased the island from the government and there was ready-made 1944 basic town there that he was easily able to adapt. A lot of 1944 trappings were left intact when it was hastily abandoned.
5. The construction workers were converted into townspeople, effectively kidnapping them in place. That was convenient because they didn’t have to be brought there from elsewhere.
6. Ma and Pa Silo were brought there separately from the construction workers, apparently. Annie knew them from before, as we suspected from previous Annie strips and/or the Annie radio show.
7. The bomber is back and this time it’s very obvious that it’s flying there deliberately. I guessing, however, that this time it might be dropping some passengers by parachute. I don’t believe that the Asp is already wandering around town, as some have speculated, but we know that FBI Special Agent Fritz Ann Dietrich, along with some police help from the MCU are already on their way.
I imagine that Punjab, the Asp, Sam, and Fritz Ann are already on the island, after having parachuted from Hotshot’s B-17. Warbucks may also be with them. Tomorrow we’ll know for sure.
First- CONGRATULATIONS to team Tracy for their well deserved Harvey Award. You deserve it! Second – as I’ve said before; TIME TRAVEL DOESN’T EXIST! Third-How could Axel just be finding out where the townsfolk came from? Fourth- I hope this story doesn’t ruin the teams chances of winning next year! LOL!
May I add my congratulations to Team Tracy! I agree that the current story might/should get them 3 in a row next year. However, one thing that bothers me with “recruiting” a whole town full of people from construction crews: wouldn’t their familes know that they went to this location and then disappear? Axel might hypnotize the workers but not their family and friends back home. They would be calling the authorities to check it out. I would have preferred the time travel theory with all the townpeople disappearing back to 1944 when it was all over. But I have enjoyed it and hate to see it end.
@Avenger – You asked how Axel could just now be finding out where the townsfolk came from. The answer is that he didn’t. That’s Axel doing the talking, explaining to his boss how they recruited the townsfolk.
@gowdy – I don’t think the family members would have known where the construction workers went. It might have been handled as a super hush-hush job. The construction workers are missing, but no-one knows where they are. Or, it might be that Axel recruited a bunch of construction workers who have no families, and therefore no-one to miss them.
So Axel found enough of the town still standing after 70 years to bring in a crew and restore it, right down to antique printing presses and postage stamps…And found construction workers who would be the right age for locals left on the farm in WWII…And could double as barbers, farmers, etc. and even the usher in the theatre…Including Lum and Abner…And brainwash them all…Just so Kenyon would believe it’s World War II?-—Nope. Sorry.This stretches everything beyond belief.I’d find it easier to believe in time travel. One leap of fantasy is better than all this.
I suspect that at the very end of the storyline, just as most of the characters are laughing off the possibility of genuine time travel, Diet Smith will learn that Project Blue Window has had a breakthrough…
Oh, and congrats to the creators on that Harvey Award!
Tracy and Annie learn a lot in concealment. If Hotshot’s flight over Thunder Island didn’t convince all readers that we’re in the present, Axel’s laptop should do the trick. As was posited in the (recent) past, the island was fairly easy to set up as existing in 1944, as it was abandoned in haste back then. Could Axel work for Venus? She has shown an interest in obtaining hi-tech toys and weaponry, although the Space Coupe flew the coop. Elsewhere, Diet Smith—and unnamed others—are at work on time travel research and development. Time will tell where this leads. Tracy and Annie are cool customers in a risky situation. Not all eavesdroppers can keep their composure under pressure, as we see here in the real 1944.
Congratulations to Team Tracy for their second Harvey Award. It is a richly deserved honor. We readers are the beneficiaries of their tremendous talent. I’m inspired every week to write a little rhyme due to the high caliber of story and art. Thanks for making the strip such a pleasure to read. Thanks to Jonathan K., fhofmann, cpalmeresq, Gweedo, Ray Toler, abdullahbaba999 and mzkdad for the kind words. Much appreciated!
I’m surprised no one else commented on the needlessly elaborate hoax. If Axel is as well connected as he must be, why not fill the town with his own agents?For that matter, he could have just rebuilt Kenyon’s farm and the buildings you could see from there, and have the place guarded by phony GIs, restricting the professor to the farm for security reasons.All this comes back to a question of several months ago – why bring Tracy into this? Getting rid of him (and Annie) would have made much more sense.Wouldn’t this whole operation show up on the local power grid? He’d have to have one big generator.-To me this whole thing is like the old shaggy dog story-type jokes, in which the set-up takes forever, and you get a groaner of a punch line.Mike better have one heluva punch line for this story.
I can’t say “Congratulations” strongly enough! Two Harveys in a row! This is excellent! Team Tracy, we thank you for the top-notch work you’re doing, and celebrate with you!
I got it wrong. Once accidence, twice happenstance, three times it’s enemy action.I read that in Goldfinger by Ian Fleming 30 years ago and somehow it’s stuck in my brain.
cpalmeresq about 10 years ago
Congratulations, Team Tracy, on another well-deserved Harvey Award!
cpalmeresq about 10 years ago
And, Axel has superiors! What a great Sunday!
Pequod about 10 years ago
Return now to the balcony, the popcorn’s fresh and hotDiscuss the clue of Kenyon’s Blue, the flight of the Hotshot.An expert in explosives, the Professor was abductedHypnotized or brain-washed, his research now conductedUnderneath the watchful eye of Axel the big liarPretense that they’re in the past, while conniving to conspire.There’s a hole in the wall, our crime-stoppers listen inHearing in the here and now, the present’s where they’ve been.Axel logs on to his laptop, conducts a video chatProgress report on Kenyon’s work, details of this and that.Interrupted by the noise from the Hotshot overheadThose caught crossing Axel wind up tortured, maimed or dead.Should Kenyon complete his experiments the results could be explosiveAxel deceives ‘midst island breeze, his heart and mind corrosive....Congrats for Harvey Award number twoTeam Tracy from the waist I bow to youYour rich talent acknowledged by your peersThe best strip in the land these past two years!
Tarry Plaguer about 10 years ago
IT’S OFFICIAL, DICK TRACY HAS WON ANOTHER HARVEY!
Vista Bill Raley and Comet™ about 10 years ago
Congratulations Mike, Joe, Shelley, et al!
Good morning everyone.
ctsignguy about 10 years ago
And three times, it’s enemy action…AND WILL BE TREATED AS SUCH!
This had better be Hotshot’s last trip over the island or it will be his last…i dont think a B-17, tough a bird as any ever made, could withstand Axel’s array of modern gadgets….
ctsignguy about 10 years ago
This day’s developments shoot away any final ideas that Tracy time-tripped back to 1944….however, Axel, being a naturally suspicious villain, knows without knowing that something is going on….let’s just hope that the good guys can move in before really BAD things start happening
FLIGHT SUIT about 10 years ago
In an age where sea level rise caused by global warming is accelerating dramatically (experts say California must prepare for 3 feet of sea level rise in this century), it is rather clueless and irresponsible for today’s Crimestopper’s Textbook to encourage people to leave extra lights on all night long. We should be reducing carbon emissions, not increasing them.
DaJellyBelly about 10 years ago
By “recruited” Axel means they were kidnapped!
cpalmeresq about 10 years ago
As I said earlier, “What a great Sunday!” And that includes a double dose of Pequod77 poetry! Thank You X 2!
Sisyphos about 10 years ago
Congratulations to Team Tracy on their second Harvey Award!
Axel may know something is amiss about the B-17 overflight, but for the moment he’s not equipped to bring it down. That could change rapidly, however, so I hope Charlie has gathered enough intel and/or facilitated enough Special Ops with these two flights (did he infiltrate the Asp?). Annie better keep quiet; we wouldn’t want Tracy’s and her spying to come to a bad end!
FLIGHT SUIT about 10 years ago
@fhofmann, like all climate change deniers, you are cherry picking data in order to support a lie. That’s very sad.
Really though, I very much doubt that anybody actually takes any of the advice in Crimestopper’s Textbook seriously. That feature should have been eliminated from the comic a long time ago in order to make room for more storytelling.
Neil Wick about 10 years ago
Once accidence, twice deliberate.
Twice deliberating on the Harvey Award, too. Even though some don’t like the present story, I think it’s good enough to win a third Harvey Award next year. Congratulations once again on the back-to-back award win this year.Neil Wick about 10 years ago
Lots of story developments today and answers to unanswered questions, conveniently delivered to Axel’s boss for our (and Tracy’s and Annie’s) benefit:
1. Axel has superiors. I wonder who they could be. They could very well be the ones who were smuggling all the war criminals out of Europe with false Dutch passports.
2. The barber and postmaster are working for Kenyon, so they’re not in on Axel’s plan like I thought they might be.
3. The whole purpose of the World War 2 illusion is to fool Kenyon. Everything else is peripheral to that.
4. Axel was the one who leased the island from the government and there was ready-made 1944 basic town there that he was easily able to adapt. A lot of 1944 trappings were left intact when it was hastily abandoned.
5. The construction workers were converted into townspeople, effectively kidnapping them in place. That was convenient because they didn’t have to be brought there from elsewhere.
6. Ma and Pa Silo were brought there separately from the construction workers, apparently. Annie knew them from before, as we suspected from previous Annie strips and/or the Annie radio show.
7. The bomber is back and this time it’s very obvious that it’s flying there deliberately. I guessing, however, that this time it might be dropping some passengers by parachute. I don’t believe that the Asp is already wandering around town, as some have speculated, but we know that FBI Special Agent Fritz Ann Dietrich, along with some police help from the MCU are already on their way.
davidf42 about 10 years ago
I imagine that Punjab, the Asp, Sam, and Fritz Ann are already on the island, after having parachuted from Hotshot’s B-17. Warbucks may also be with them. Tomorrow we’ll know for sure.
avenger09 about 10 years ago
First- CONGRATULATIONS to team Tracy for their well deserved Harvey Award. You deserve it! Second – as I’ve said before; TIME TRAVEL DOESN’T EXIST! Third-How could Axel just be finding out where the townsfolk came from? Fourth- I hope this story doesn’t ruin the teams chances of winning next year! LOL!
Larry L Stout about 10 years ago
May I add my congratulations to Team Tracy! I agree that the current story might/should get them 3 in a row next year. However, one thing that bothers me with “recruiting” a whole town full of people from construction crews: wouldn’t their familes know that they went to this location and then disappear? Axel might hypnotize the workers but not their family and friends back home. They would be calling the authorities to check it out. I would have preferred the time travel theory with all the townpeople disappearing back to 1944 when it was all over. But I have enjoyed it and hate to see it end.
Starman1948 about 10 years ago
Good morning DT fans. Congrats to the artists!
Can't Sleep about 10 years ago
Does this mean Lum and Abner are Axel’s agents, too?
davidf42 about 10 years ago
@Avenger – You asked how Axel could just now be finding out where the townsfolk came from. The answer is that he didn’t. That’s Axel doing the talking, explaining to his boss how they recruited the townsfolk.
@gowdy – I don’t think the family members would have known where the construction workers went. It might have been handled as a super hush-hush job. The construction workers are missing, but no-one knows where they are. Or, it might be that Axel recruited a bunch of construction workers who have no families, and therefore no-one to miss them.
Can't Sleep about 10 years ago
So Axel found enough of the town still standing after 70 years to bring in a crew and restore it, right down to antique printing presses and postage stamps…And found construction workers who would be the right age for locals left on the farm in WWII…And could double as barbers, farmers, etc. and even the usher in the theatre…Including Lum and Abner…And brainwash them all…Just so Kenyon would believe it’s World War II?-—Nope. Sorry.This stretches everything beyond belief.I’d find it easier to believe in time travel. One leap of fantasy is better than all this.
Kit Walker Premium Member about 10 years ago
I always taught that: “Once is an accident, twice is a coincidence, but three time IS a conspiracy.”
SKJAM! Premium Member about 10 years ago
I suspect that at the very end of the storyline, just as most of the characters are laughing off the possibility of genuine time travel, Diet Smith will learn that Project Blue Window has had a breakthrough…
Oh, and congrats to the creators on that Harvey Award!
Ray Toler about 10 years ago
Kudos to Mike, Joe, Shelley, Shane, and Jim. Best two years in a row!
Also another good summary and a little congratulatory gem from Pequod77 today.
mzkdad about 10 years ago
Congratulations to Team Tracy for the award!
I Go Pogo about 10 years ago
Congrats once again to Team Tracy on your Harvey Award!
abdullahbaba999 about 10 years ago
Thank You PQ77 and Congrats to Team Tracy for a great journey into the past…..TBC..
Pequod about 10 years ago
Tracy and Annie learn a lot in concealment. If Hotshot’s flight over Thunder Island didn’t convince all readers that we’re in the present, Axel’s laptop should do the trick. As was posited in the (recent) past, the island was fairly easy to set up as existing in 1944, as it was abandoned in haste back then. Could Axel work for Venus? She has shown an interest in obtaining hi-tech toys and weaponry, although the Space Coupe flew the coop. Elsewhere, Diet Smith—and unnamed others—are at work on time travel research and development. Time will tell where this leads. Tracy and Annie are cool customers in a risky situation. Not all eavesdroppers can keep their composure under pressure, as we see here in the real 1944.
Congratulations to Team Tracy for their second Harvey Award. It is a richly deserved honor. We readers are the beneficiaries of their tremendous talent. I’m inspired every week to write a little rhyme due to the high caliber of story and art. Thanks for making the strip such a pleasure to read. Thanks to Jonathan K., fhofmann, cpalmeresq, Gweedo, Ray Toler, abdullahbaba999 and mzkdad for the kind words. Much appreciated!
Pesky Facts
William Neal McPheeters about 10 years ago
CONGRATULATIONS Joe, Mike, Shelley, Shane and Jim!!!
Can't Sleep about 10 years ago
I’m surprised no one else commented on the needlessly elaborate hoax. If Axel is as well connected as he must be, why not fill the town with his own agents?For that matter, he could have just rebuilt Kenyon’s farm and the buildings you could see from there, and have the place guarded by phony GIs, restricting the professor to the farm for security reasons.All this comes back to a question of several months ago – why bring Tracy into this? Getting rid of him (and Annie) would have made much more sense.Wouldn’t this whole operation show up on the local power grid? He’d have to have one big generator.-To me this whole thing is like the old shaggy dog story-type jokes, in which the set-up takes forever, and you get a groaner of a punch line.Mike better have one heluva punch line for this story.
Jonathan K. and the Elusive Dream Girl about 10 years ago
The lights are brightly burning at the Simmons Corners Weekly.Axel is following the Crimestoppers advice.
Donnie Pitchford Premium Member about 10 years ago
I can’t say “Congratulations” strongly enough! Two Harveys in a row! This is excellent! Team Tracy, we thank you for the top-notch work you’re doing, and celebrate with you!
Major Matt Mason Premium Member about 10 years ago
Congrats to Team Tracy for another Harvey win!
W H H about 10 years ago
I got it wrong. Once accidence, twice happenstance, three times it’s enemy action.I read that in Goldfinger by Ian Fleming 30 years ago and somehow it’s stuck in my brain.
mumbles about 10 years ago
Dick’s back in “The Suit”. I wonder if he carries luggage on these forays. BTW, congrats on the award, the art continues to be great. Yhe story? Meh
Chris Sherlock about 10 years ago
Congrats to Team Tracy on the latest Harvey Award!
Cheapskate0 about 10 years ago
Once accidence, twice deliberate..The Harvey?
Pequod over 7 years ago
Return now to the balcony, the popcorn’s fresh and hot
Discuss the clue of Kenyon’s Blue, the flight of the Hotshot.
An expert in explosives, the Professor was abducted
Hypnotized or brain-washed, his research now conducted
Underneath the watchful eye of Axel the big liar
Pretense that they’re in the past, while conniving to conspire.
There’s a hole in the wall, our crime-stoppers listen in
Hearing in the here and now, the present’s where they’ve been.
Axel logs on to his laptop, conducts a video chat
Progress report on Kenyon’s work, details of this and that.
Interrupted by the noise from the Hotshot overhead
Those caught crossing Axel wind up tortured, maimed or dead.
Should Kenyon complete his experiments the results could be explosive.
Axel deceives ‘midst island breeze, his heart and mind corrosive.