Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for September 06, 2015

Sam and Tracy on the move. The siege intensifiesConfronting deadly gun play. Unknown who lives or dies.Fritz Ann’s fate now in the hands of skillful EMTsTracy, Sam and the SWAT team: Blackhearts they shall seize.Elsewhere a version of events plays out on TV newsWendy Wichel holding forth, the facts she may abuse.Blaze and Notta sit transfixed with libations strong and coolNotta knows when to vamoose, none play her for a fool.News footage of Ace Tower shows that where there’s smoke there’s fireNotta and Blaze gaze at the scene. Separate escapes they must conspire.While high up on the top floor, Bigg looks to get awayVast wealth is lost at such a cost. Can’t think of that today.Bribery he has a plan, a special suite 6BCreeping closer to his goal he senses victory.When rounding one last corner, he finds three foes are blockingAccess to his escape route, the denouement simply shocking.Honeymoon protects her friends, as dear Mysta taught her toThinks of others, not herself, as a Tracy’s wont to do.

That can only be Venus, Apollo, the Munro Brothers (and, maybe Mumbles) involved in the shoot-out…they are the only ones left, correct? And Bribery didn’t get away, after all, but got zapped instead? That’s a surprise!

Good morning guys! What an exciting day! I feel like i’m on the beachhead at Normandy!.Outstanding, Pequod! G’morning 22ph, Gweedo, et al!.What I want to know is how Honeymoon can transmit electricity wirelessly? I am aware that a lot has changed since the days of Edison and Telsa, but wireless?

I am impressed with Honeymoon. It was just recently that she showed her powers and she could not control it. It is either Mysta taught her well or the danger Poppa Smith is facing made her control her power instinctively. This will surely wipe the smile off Mr. Bigg’s face. Two moon maids are after him. Too bad he left behind his rose – it could have been a bomb that he could use.And at floors below, a retreat… three (or 6) against the police and FBI, automatic against handguns and they’re falling back. I hope it would be a better situation for the good guys in the coming days. I do not think Apollo is there.

Wahoo, Honeymoon! Bribery thought he only had one moon woman to escape. Surprise!

Enjoyable reading, Pequod

The ever pleasant and super knowledgeable Gweedo kindly said,Mornin’, Billy-———————————————————————.☼⇝ May you day be filled with sunshine, Gweedo! ☼⇝

Looks like Bribery just got the shock of his life…..

Honeymoon looks like she’s parting the Red Sea! She really take command when the situation warrants it.

Good morning, you all!

Great work, Pequod!Bribery shirked the electric chair but electricity came to him aniway! Honeymoon is getting even from the time Bribery and his evil sister tried to kill her family! But where is T-Bolt?

Surprisingly stiff resistance to the police advance; Tracy even calls for a fall-back! It’s not clear who exactly the thugs are that have engaged in the firefight, but they seem to be well-armed and determined; how much ammo do they have? Tracy and the team could probably storm them, but that would unnecessarily risk casualties on the cop side. On the other hand, just waiting them out is not a good idea. Looks like a revision in tactics might be called for.Meanwhile, Mr. Bigg runs into an unexpected obstacle (unexpected, that is, by him or us): an astonishing display of controlled lunarian power by Honeymoon dazzles and perhaps stuns Mr. Bigg (if not even more than stuns). If Mysta shows up soon, the combined lunarian powers of Honeymoon and her could bring an attack from their rear on the Blackheart holdouts….

As another Mike … Mike Baron … Said in an issue of Nexus nigh-unto thirty years ago …

“Piquant, yet full-bodied”

… which I assume to be a good thing.

Ronnie ‘Starman1948’ ThompsonI just read your comments from late yesterday.I’m so sorry for the loss of your brother. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.Be strong, and be well, my friend.

Looks like Honeymoon could get a side job in the stockyards as a cattle prod.

Great action today! Tracy and Co. got more than they bargained for, but Bribery did, too. Hooray for Honeymoon! And Pequod, too, who also dazzled us in a different way. (Thank you!)

Someone has to say it for Mr Bribery…“Whatta Revoltin’ development!”

Looking at the silhouettes (especially the various hairlines) I am thinking that those three engaging Tracy’s team are the Munroe Brothers. Venus is certainly not there, or I should say, she is not visible in today’s art.

Morning, Tracy Fans!

So much to comment on today!The action in panel 5!The suspense!Honeymoon’s surprise response!The Hall of Fame panel!And . . .Pequod’s poem! Way to go Pequod!All I can say is . . .Wow!

Go, Honeymoon!

Pinch me, this has to be a dream!.How exciting is it that Dick Tracy now has TWO women with moon powers as significant characters? Pretty darn exciting! Thank you, Mike Curtis and Joe Staton!

I also enjoyed your poem today Pequod. Thank to you as well!

PQ, you outdid yourself! Bravo!

Does anyone know if Dick Tracy ever gets nominated for a Hugo? If not, it oughta be. This thing is great. The art is always superb. Yesterday’s was stunning, that last panel. And today’s, with the kid casting her bolts, WOW! The story line is perfect in so many ways. It’s not just retro, it is retro in the right way. And yet current in a way that compliments the retro. This has to be one of my favorites. I used to read it just because my Dad did. I’ve been reading it a long time now, just for me. And I sure wish Dad could see it now. HUGO HUGO HUGO HUGO HUGO!

I’m loving this fantastic story! It has Moon Maid and Honeymoon in the thick of it, and it doesn’t get better than that!

Despite setbacks, like today’s with Honeymoon, I’m sure Bribery will reach Suite 68, and make a clean escape.!Not too unlike Locher’s Piggy Bank (running away naked back on 8-27-2004)

Thereby, ‘available’ on some future occasion, to make a ‘grand return’ with a new cast ! ?Doesn’t make much sense given the ‘stretch’ to bring him back, not USE him more than once, Useful for later use.Example*:* Look at B-B Eyes . . .He was (questionably?) ‘reconstituted’ from (a handcuffed) drowning death . . . But whatever his “absorbency” quotient (?)They’ve squeezed every ‘DROP’ of useful ‘appearance’ time out of him, and - for 5 consecutive Calendar years . . .

Not complaining ! - This story/ has been good, interesting characters - despite a seeming array of machine gun Holes - of “unexplained events” !

Readers (patiently?) are STILL waiting to hear -

1) Just how did Bribery get the Gold ? A) How was contact made ? B) Who sold it ? C) Who (how many) delivered it ? Considering it’s weight?

2) Why did Ted Tellum travel to Police HQ to be ‘questioned’, but (oddly?) was never seen to do so ?

3) Whatever happened to Axelrod ? He escaped from the betting pool ?

4) What’s the “explanation” behind the Johnny Adonis (fake?) “Beat Up” ? Hospitalization ? And then “seen” in Florida without a mark ?

5) Is there a ‘Secret Identity’ to T – Bolt(?) or is she an ‘Original’ character ? (Hope it’s the latter !) And will return!

6) The Writer may provide simple (believable) answers, but how did Tracy sitting behind a Desk, FIND OUT who stole, and who now had possession of the Gold ?Must have worked it out ‘on paper’ ? Meeting the Jumbler (2013) must’ve been a ‘useful’ exercise ? Wonder if Crypto pitched in and helped ?

I’m addicted to this story. I love our new Moon Maid. Everything about her is fascinating. And Honeymoon is a close second! I like how Mysta is mentoring her. I love the telepathic link between them. And now we see Honeymoon finally spreading her wings. WOW! It’s exciting. I tell you this story and the art are getting better and better and better!

Let’s see more of Mysta and Honeymoon. I love those two!

Lightning is wireless. The issue is electricity always takes the path of least resistance, usually the wire but ultimately, it can pass through just about anything if enough current is in it.

Holy Moonunit! Talk about shock and awe. !

Well taught was young Imoto-Chan by her wise Onee-San. Bribery, too, has learned something. In a mere three months we’ve seen Honeymoon develop in astonishing ways. Her Lunarian traits are strongly asserting themselves, making an already excellent character even more interesting. Couple this with the close relationship she’s developed with Mysta, and you have an essential duo of the strip. Bribery bumbled into a shocking experience. Rather than suite 6B he found electricity. While trouble found Honeymoon before Mysta, it was Mysta’s patient teaching that had prepared Honeymoon for this very eventuality. Annie and Smith are safe. Mysta is close at hand.

Thanks to cpalmeresq, Vista Bill, Night-Gaunt49, Gweedo, Neil Wick, 22ph, Ashmael, Willy007, William Weedman, Sydney Phillips, davidf42, TJ000, Morrow, fhofmann and JPuzzleWhiz for the kind words. Very much appreciated!

Dypak: Agreed. Preaching to the choir. Chester Gould won the Reuben Award in 1959 and 1977. Joe Staton and Mike Curtis won the Harvey Award in 2013 and 2014. They are nominated for a third Harvey. A Hugo could well come into play when the Lunarians visit. I recommend Saga.

Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story

Mr B is being Zapped by Powers beyond I-Magi-Nation…Honey is the True Heir to the Moon maid Power. She comes by it honestly as they say…this is So Cool..

Regarding your comment yesterday, I agree that the permitting of longer story lengths has improved the quality of the stories. They have more depth and complexity, but the writing has also improved based on experience and feedback from readers about what works well and what doesn’t.

It has been stated here on occasion that Mike reads our comments, even though, for some odd reason, he is unable to comment on this board himself. Others have posted comments from Mike’s Facebook page, when he asked them to let us at GoComics know about something. (Thanks for that, by the way.)Therefore, a comment from me to Mike and the Tracy Team, if you please:This story is very interesting, and the art is getting better and better. I enjoy coming here each day. I would ask you to remember that these are parceled out to us poor readers at the rate of 3 panels per weekday. So, when something is mentioned in an earlier “chapter” of your story, it might be months and months before it comes up again. Sometimes it is hard to remember what is going on. It’s not like reading a book over a week’s time, it takes months. Therefore, in my opinion, the writing could be tightened up a bit, to help with continuity. But, I do like long stories with complexity – I’m just looking for a balance.One other comment – almost everyone here has expressed love and awe for the Moon aspect of the strip. Since you are probably gauging what works by reader response, may I offer another point of view. Pleas, please don’t turn this into a “super-hero” strip. O.K., the moon was a part of latter day Gould, but this is still supposed to be Dick Tracy, not costumed crime fighter. Please?

@ Ken in Ohio

Well, I’ll certainly agree with the ‘sentiment’ expressed in your final paragraph . . .This is not a ‘comfortable’ place for Comic Book style ‘Action Heroes’ !

As you might recall Mike seemed to “test” the waters back in mid November to mid December 2012 … with 2 characters, Black Piranha and Cinnamon Knight (see below) . . .

They came as an ‘add on’ of sorts, to a Broadway Bates return, ‘flashing’ his likeness to (Batman’s) Penguin.But I have no recollection, of anyone “sitting up” to show interest in that pathway ! (?)It might be a worry to some, given Mike’s keen interest in Superman and Joe’s in the Green Hornet,But I think they are disciplined enough to know those “Marbles” won’t easily mix here.

On the other hand it’s CLEAR from continuing new posts from occasional new names, that the Moon Maid era is important to most that are here.I’d guess that a majority here, ‘cut their teeth’ on Dick Tracy during that period. And those characters pull in readers !

I have no problem with that, or on the very ‘occasional’ story that might revisit the Moon Governor and his people,In particular, I think, Mike and Joe are ‘up to speed’, that new Moon Maid and Honeymoon with their respective “powers” - will be an on-going part of modern Dick Tracy,

As they should be !Hope you agree ! ?

Dec 9th 2012

I’ll second the sentiment that hopefully Dick Tracy won’t become a “super hero” type comic.

Of course, I’m one of those purist oldsters, so…..

A blissful Sunday to everyone.-—————————-@Jim in CT: Thank you my friend. God Bless You.-—————————-Have an abundant day my friends.

With everything else we’ve been discussing, did anyone mention how Diet instinctively wrapped his arms around Annie when the “fireworks” started? I think that’s pretty cool!

But mutant criminals is okay in your book?I know, you’ve mentioned that comparison before. In my mind, at least, there is a difference:Chester Gould stated in numerous interviews over the years that he enjoyed designing outrageous villains, because he felt that he was competing with the front pages of his day, especially during WWII. But he went on to say that there actually was a point – his criminals might be “ugly”, but really, it is crime itself that is ugly, and his villains represented that in an allegorical way.My point in my comment to Mike and Joe is that Dick Tracy, as a comic strip, was about crime and detection and police scientific method for most of Gould’s run. What I was asking them not to do, was have Mysta come swooping in on a regular basis with her “powers” to save the day. Gould himself ran into a problem with that – he had the original Moon Maid blow missiles out of the sky, for crying out loud. Once you have a being that powerful in your universe, it changes the type of stories you can tell. That’s all I was saying – try not to cross that line, because then the characters of Tracy, Sam, Lizz, etc. become irrelevant, and I don’t want to see that happen!

Dear Mike and Joe,I am overjoyed to see Honeymoon use her Gould-given powers to fight crime for the first time. What a great day this is in the history of Dick Tracy! And whereas I realize the title of this strip is Dick Tracy and not Honeymoon, I would certainly enjoy seeing more demonstrations of Honeymoon’s budding abilities as we have witnessed today. Now that that genie is finally out of the bottle (FIFTY YEARS in the making!), please do not cap off the bottle and give us only mincing doses of future demonstrations. Also, please do not make Moon Maid such an infrequent visitor to the strip as she has been over the last year. She and Honeymoon make a great team, and I think the mystical connection between the two is completely enchanting.It is obvious from reading the comments here every day that there are many fans, like me, for whom the excitement level of this strip skyrockets whenever the lunar angle of Gould’s canon is explored. Moon Maid has very strong appeal, that is clear. You have gone to considerable lengths to reintroduce her to the Dick Tracy cast. Now that she is on the brink of becoming a full-fledged lunar woman, and seeing that the fans are clearly excited about that development, I can’t think of a single good reason to limit her future appearances.Honeymoon also has very strong appeal. That is equally clear. And that is why in my opinion it makes sense to give us more of what we’ve seen today, not less. Why allow us to enjoy the immensely satisfying and highly acclaimed development of Mysta and Honeymoon’s powers if the idea is to turn around now and cut off that enjoyment? That makes no sense at all to me. As long as their powers are deployed to fight crime — as they have been to this point — it makes perfect sense to see more of those powers, not less. The fans obviously love it, and they generally adore Mysta and Honeymoon. Why not give them more of what they want? Please?I understand the concern of some fans that the moon stuff will predominate too much. But for goodness sakes, we had virtually ZERO moon stuff between 1978 and 2011! Thirty-three long years of the strip with hardly a mention of Moon Maid’s legacy, and only occasional and brief appearances by Honeymoon. And again, let’s not forget that it took FIFTY YEARS of Dick Tracy strips before Honeymoon’s full powers were finally expressed. Even taking into account the reintroduction of Mysta three years ago, in the context of the last generation of the strip, we’re not presently anywhere close to being overrun with moon stuff, nor of seeing Dick Tracy turn into a “super hero” strip. So I think that concern is a bit overblown. (By the way, Mysta’s moon outfit is not a “super hero” costume. As everyone knows from reading the original Space Era stories, her attire is traditional dress for a lunar woman, and since that is what Mysta is becoming, it makes logical sense for her to wear it, even all the time as the original Moon Maid did.)After the Space Era was suppressed for so long, and seeing how the fans have been gobbling it up since it was reintroduced in 2012, it seems to me that there is considerable hunger for it. Another reason to see more of it, not less, especially since the newer generation tends to love science fantasy. Just my $0.02.

I’d hope Annie summoned Punjab and The Asp. Those two together would make mincemeat out of the work Tracy & Co. is trying to do.

Sam and Tracy on the move. The siege intensifies

Confronting deadly gun play. Unknown who lives or dies.

Fritz Ann’s fate now in the hands of skillful EMTs

Tracy, Sam and the SWAT team: Blackhearts they shall seize.

Elsewhere a version of events plays out on TV news

Wendy Wichel holding forth, the facts she may abuse.

Blaze and Notta sit transfixed with libations strong and cool

Notta knows when to vamoose, none play her for a fool.

News footage of Ace Tower shows that where there’s smoke there’s fire

Notta and Blaze gaze at the scene. Separate escapes they must conspire.

While high up on the top floor, Bigg looks to get away

Vast wealth is lost at such a cost. Can’t think of that today.

Bribery he has a plan, a special suite 6B

Creeping closer to his goal he senses victory.

When rounding one last corner, he finds three foes are blocking

Access to his escape route, the denouement simply shocking.

Honeymoon protects her friends, as dear Mysta taught her to

Thinks of others, not herself, as a Tracy’s wont to do.