Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for June 22, 2015

Shelley’s back on inks today.

The new hairstyle flatters her antennae, but I do miss the old one.

Soon we’ll be having trouble telling Honeymoon and Mysta apart.

The last time we saw Annie over at the original strip she still had on a red shirt, and blue jeans.

Yeah, but Annie’s tired of wearing red.

About the inks …

When Joe covers the dailies, it seems to be on days or weeks which are villain-heavy in content.

The heavier, foreboding line work works best there.

[In my opinion, at least.]

Starting to look like “Archie” type strip/panel……

I think we saw TJ before, some time back. Does anyone remember?

This version of Honeymoon reminds me of actress Kirsten Storms, from Disney Channel’s “Zenon, Girl of the 21st Century” movies.

And I believe that Joe has experience drawing the “Archie” characters, Jim.

TJ doesn’t immediately look familiar to me, Neil. The only place that I can think of where she might logically have turned up would be on Toad’s softball team, and that seems unlikely.

Have there been many scenes of Honeymoon at school among her peers?

Those glowy things’ll fry you to a crisp if you try any of that bullying mess misssy!!!

Here’s a few pics of Kirsten Storms, from the aforementioned “Zenon” movies.

Any resemblance?

Think she’s on General Hospital nowadays, ‘cause everybody’s gotta grow up sometime …

She’s been on GENERAL HOSPITAL for awhile now.

Annie can buy a whole new wardrobe with her Daddy’s credit. But on a cop’s salary? Maybe not as much for Honeymoon.

It would appear that TJ [not to be confused with the ever-scheming, ever-smiling Luann character] and Bev are the newest Tracy villains—and barely of “middle school” age….

You call them “glowy things,” I call them antennae!

Yeah, Honeymoon – I’d like to catch up with the previous comic strip of me. (I got to wear jeans then!)

Good morning Honeymoon and Annie fans.————A special prayer request: my son’s F.I.L. was taken to the hospital early this morning. He is in ICU on a respirator. Thank you my friends. -————Have a great day.

Is TJ related to Stiletta Jones???

Good morning guys!

@avenger09: my son’s father in law. He has been on dialysis for some time and has had several complications.-———@avenger09 VistaBill* and * davidf42*: thank you my friends.-———Be happy and healthy.

Reminds me of going with my partner. She’s a mall-rat, trying on the latest shoes, clothes, and the like. Me? I’m a tom-boy. Blue jeans, pull down t-shirt like this: http://www.spreadshirt.net/shcroedingers-cat-is-dead-alive-C4408A20605093 and hiking boots, deep in the back-woods.

Nothing wrong with that!

In Panel Three, you can really see how Honeymoon is maturing and looking more like her mother every day.

@Doc 1947G

Is TJ related to Stiletta Jones???

I hadn’t thought of that! The J could indeed stand for Jones.____________________

Stiletta by way of Hi-Top, perhaps?

TJ has “Barney Rubble” eyes, by the way …

Does TJ have a problem with “those glowy things on her head”?

Heh – just noticed from today and yesterday’s strips that Annie doesn’t appear to be using either a purse or backpack.

I realise how comic strip time differs from reality. So I am wondering…In Tracy’s world, how long has it been since the events of the “Moon Era” occurred? I’ve read the strips from the 1960s and it is clear the original Mysta was a world-known celebrity. The Space Coupe and the flying bucket-shaped cars would have been a common sight at the time.

If Honeymoon is only 12 or 13 years old, these events should still be part of the public consciousness. So would encountering a Lunarian at a mall seem so out of the ordinary?Honeymoon may just end up starting a new fashion trend. (“I saw this girl, you know, at the mall, and she had, like, these glowy things on her head! Can I, like, get some, too?”)

I can see it now… rhinoplasties, Botox, horn implants…

Bev, you don’t want to know…

Honeymoon is a beauty…I like the new ’do. I always thought that the ponytails covered her antennae…

Here comes the mall cop Dondi!

I realise how comic strip time differs from reality. So I am wondering…

In Tracy’s world, how long has it been since the events of the “Moon Era” occurred? I’ve read the strips from the 1960s and it is clear the original Mysta was a world-known celebrity. The Space Coupe and the flying bucket-shaped cars would have been a common sight at the time.

If Honeymoon is only 12 or 13 years old, these events should still be part of the public consciousness. So would encountering a Lunarian at a mall seem so out of the ordinary?____________________

That’s the $64,000 question.

Honeymoon essentially serves as our measurement of time between “Now” and the “Moon Era” – Roughly, as you’d noted, 12-13 years.

["Sliding Timescale* and all that – Which gets royally messed up every time Walt Wallet pays Tracyville a visit.]

People do remember the Moon Era, as media coverage of the various Moon Maid Sightings would attest, thought its Earth-shattering significance as a socio-political event appears to have faded far more rapidly than one would expect.

Why might that be so?

Well, obviously, ’cause Tracyville is a Fictional venue, where reality is a bit more “Elastic” than ours.

But might there be a more sinister, “In-Story” explanation?

I’d be tempted to attribute the public’s seeming obliviousness to slight-of-hand coupled with a general sense of disbelief: Perhaps, to avoid panic among the populace, the press conspired to cover up or discredit the more fantastical events, selling them as “A Smith Industries Publicity Stunt” with Moon Maid portrayed as a mascot character for his business.

That’s option #1.

Option #2 is that the people in Tracyville’s world have exceptional coping skills, and were able to handle the revelation of Extraterrestrial Life in a far more matter-of-fact fashion than we here likely ever could.

And Option #3?

Yes, Option #3 …

What if the Lunarian’s mental powers are greater than we know?

What if, in the wake of Mysta’s death and the subsequent severing of diplomatic ties, the Lunarians somehow suppressed curiosity and interest in the events of the Moon Era?

Not outright erasing the memories, but pushing interest towards the back of everyone’s minds …

… Whilst simultaneously exerting pressure upon Diet Smith to shut down any technologies which afforded access to the moon.

[There’s a tacit “Or Else" hidden in there somewhere, and I’ve gone on at length about how I suspect the recordings from Project Blue Image will eventually wrap around and tie into things, so I won’t repeat myself here.]Any thoughts?

StarBear, good point! I’d like to add to it by offering T.J. some sage advice…… “T.J., have you ever been on the business end of a Cattle Prod? If not, then mess with Honeymoon and you’ll wish you had been Tazed instead!” If she messes with Annie, she might end up on a Magic Carpet, or worse.

“Hey, TJ! Those GLOWY things you are looking at are BLING! Go ahead and take them off’n her head!”……..(ZAP! Crackle! Pop!)

Honeymoon is very pretty in panel 3 today.

rehash of “the boy with green hair.”

TJ looks like a nasty piece of work. Trouble brewing for Honey, but in the end I think it will be worse for TJ!

“Honeymoon’s new hair style accentuates her face shape. I like it.”-———————I agree. In one day, she’s gone from little girl to young woman. Young Moon Maid!

@AnyFace@Ray TolerAll these theories are great and I could see any of them coming into play in this arc.I had forgotten about the “Moon Maid Vigilante” being a news item in Tracyville. I had thought only the MCU was aware of those incidents.

That answers my question. A Lunarian sighting at the mall would be no big deal. Though now I wonder if the Mean Girls are aware of the consequences involved when someone messes with Mysta.

Here is where you can read the Moon Era strips:

ilovecomix Directory Dick Tracy

Perfect actress to play Honeymoon if it gets to the screen.

Honeymoon is looking more like Moon Maid, while Mysta is becoming more like Moon Maid. Wonderful!Back on 8/2/12 the reporter immediately recognizes that masked Mysta looks like Moon Maid. While the Lunarians have likely not been in the news much since the Governor broke off contact, they have not been forgotten. Ray reminds us that there is still speculation on the internet (“Weirdness of the City”), and it seems fair to assume that The Moon Maid, starring Mysta, has already hit the theatres. Still, TJ and Bev are naturally surprised to see the antennae. Honeymoon had been hiding them in her ponytails. Young people may only have a vague sense of what was once wide-spread media attention.

*@Jonathan K, AnyFace and Chris Sherlock: thank you for your prayers and best wishes my friends.-———I agree that Kristen Storms would be perfect for the part of Mysta in a Tracy movie. How can we push for the movie to get made?

Oops, I meant Kirsten not Kristen.

“Astor” = “Astor Boynton III” = Astro Boy!

[… But that’s a Secret. Shhh!]

Bev and TJ, ask Honeymoon. She’ll explain that she’s half Lunarian, and that she has powers and abilities far beyond ordinary folks, so watch out!

Red has been her color, of her hair, her spirit but what will it be now?

I think it will just be a variety and not always red.

Seems to me since they left their city on Luna and have been on Terra for an unknown period ….

I assumed that they were just visiting Earth for one last time before going away somewhere or going back there, wherever it might be. I suppose it’s possible that they are on Earth, but it seems unlikely to me.

@Neil Wick: Too bad we can’t build a fire under him. (Figuratively speaking). A lot of good ideas never reach fruition because of laziness. Perhaps we could enlist Warren Beatty’s Fan Club assuming he has one. What are your thoughts on the matter?

said: “Kristen Storms was also the bossy barking’“enemy’ of Kim Possible in her school.”Now I remember. She was the voice of Bonnie Rockwaller. The name looked familiar but I didn’t make the connection right away.

I didn’t realise there was another Kim Possible fan on this board. It’s always good to find a Kimmie follower. You will probably recognise the girl in my avatar.

Astro Boy, AKA “Tetsuwan Atom” or – Alternately – “Mighty Atom”/Ambassador Atom," was Manga artist Osamu Tezuka’s version of Pinocchio …

… only with 100,000 Horsepower to back him up! :)

To kids of a certain age – Myself included – Astro Boy was the greatest!

… though Gigantor and Kimba had their appeal as well.

Oh, and Speed Racer, of course.