Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for October 16, 2015

Have to admit that THIS Sam makes a great villain! Beyond that, I’m not yet going to speculate.

Good morning to ✯✯ Vista Bill Raley ✯✯ and everyone.

Such a crazed look …

This does feel a bit like A Patterson Playhouse Production!

This story reminds me a bit of this…

Justice League – Gods & Monsters

Sam is very convincing as a ruthless murdererWake up Tracy!

Dream? Parallel universe? Something else? Whatever it is, I’m having fun.

Good morning, DT fans!Mike Curtis on Facebook says this is not a parallel Earth. A nightmare? Virtual reality? Sam cosplaying an homicidal maniac for Halloween? The last panel is sure scary! Those eyes…

So, 88 Keys dies a second time?

OMG! They’ve killed Keysey!

In a comic darkly.

Mad Sam the Hitman, a.k.a. Trigger, is quite happy to plug Keyes (panel 3)! I wouldn’t want to run into him in a dark alley—even less than T-Bolt!Of course, I have absolutely no idea what is going on in this arc so far….

This comic has a reputation for unsettling faces but this takes the cake!

Maybe there’s a sci-fi twist here – perhaps across universes, 88 Keyses are born in sets of 88 that are somehow cosmically connected to one another. Today, we mourn a D-flat…

Begins playing A funeral March on his Hammond….

“Trigger” is even scarier than he was yesterday! It looks like that’s the end of 88 Keyes. The next thing we’ll need to know is who the boss is. I think I’m going to make a web page to keep track of the characters in this story. Maybe I can do that on the weekend and add the characters as they appear in this story.

Refusal has a costA line unseen was crossedHot lead thus was tossedSadly Keyes was lost.Play ball or realizeTruth seen in Trigger’s eyesPayback such a sweet prize88 now dies.

A sunny morning to all.-—————Is Mr. Keyes dead? Or does he have a non life threatening wound as a warning? -—————May your day be filled with blessings my friends.

Whatever this is, it’s so freakin’ cool!

No one can complain about this story starting slowly!-So, here Sam is a psycho killer named Trigger (and not for Roy Rogers’ horse). And I don’t think 88 Keyes has a flesh wound.

Too bad it isn’t parallel time.Would have loved to see Bribery as mayor and Mysta a gang moll.

.Good morning 22ph, Jonathan K., Gweedo, and all the others.88 Keys didn’t last very long! Pequod sums things up rather nicely..What do I think about this unusual play on Mike Curtis’ creative and vivid imagination? I suspect that Dick Tracy has fallen into a deep sleep and we are seeing his dream (nightmare?). He will awaken on November 1st. Who knows? Maybe Vista Bill will make a brief appearance on October 27th!

Another winner, Pequod.

I don’t know if this means anything, but even the cigarettes are reversed – long filters and short stubby white part – usually the other way around. Is that way too subtle, or did Joe do that on purpose?

When a sensitive guy like our Sam gets involved with an FBI chick, anything can happen…its the Midnite Mirror effect…

This is my take on what’s happening (don’t worry about spoilers because my guesses and predictions are never correct):Someone (probably Tracy) is in a deep sleep or possibly a coma. Their mind is being influenced by someone who is inducing dreams or hallucinations. Since Halloween is near, most likely it is the work of Abner Kadaver.Neil Wick reported that the Kadaver story is slated for next summer, but there is nothing stopping Abner from another cameo appearance. It has become a tradition for him to show up around this time of year.I think the victim will slowly emerge from multiple levels of dreams. I don’t know how many Tracy fans are familiar with the “Last Christmas” episode from Doctor Who (shown last December). I won’t spoil the episode for those who haven’t seen it, but if you have seen it, you will know what I’m talking about. I can see this story going in the same direction as that episode.The victim will awaken just in time to confront Kadaver, who will make a quick escape, setting himself up for the big story next year.

A dream brought on by a late night mealOf cold potatoes and undercooked VealOr an alternate universe where Spock is definitely Still Da Man!And those once good join up with the evilest of clansPerhaps a play to entertain the crowdWhere soft spoken partners turn nasty and loudThe tricks team Tracy has placed up their sleevesContinue to refresh like a cool summer breezeSoon we’ll know the meaning and the whyOur beloved Sam has become this psychopathic guy!

Ah..shades of the “Scourge of the Underworld” story in Marvel Comics back in the late 80’s/early 90’s when an unknown assailant was running rampant in the Marvel Universe killing off characters/villains.

Looks like 88 Keyes is the first (first?!?! or maybe there will be MORE showing up in upcoming weeks?!?!) victim of Trigger’s “itchy trigger finger” and impatient “Boss”

Which begs to question…WHO could the as of yet unknown Boss be exactly? Well, since Mike and Joe (off topic real quick, why does Joe get top billing in the credits over Mike…Mike is the writer, he should get top billing) seem to be fond of bringing back older characters and even offing some of them as well (Cueball, Measles, now 88 Keyes) theres a possibility it could be someone from Tracy’s past, but it could someone completely new.

My first thought when I saw Trigger was.. “HEY DR WILL CARVER IS ALIVE AND WELL AND STILL IN PRACTICE!” but we all know Carver is “dead fish dead” and dead characters NEVER EVER come back.

I think it would be a pretty neat trick if it was somehow Abner Kadaver as Trigger’s boss…but somehow Trigger doesn’t fit Abbie’s M.O.

No, I’m leaning towards a new character being the big man in charge behind Trigger and the “gang” he belongs to/Keyes answered to.

Oh, and for the record.. I called it two days ago that Trigger would permanently ventilate Keyes

I am truly shocked by the turn of events. The team is keeping us guessing.

@Gweedo – It’s legal here !!! – Murray

88 we hardly knew ye.

Just. What. I. Wanted. Fer. CHRISTMAS!! An alternate universe, obviously: where parallel people are……somewhat different then what we’re used to here. One can even imagine the “runaway” Space coupe showing up w/Drs. Sail & Ghote and What-his-name Munro (Dave Bowman, are you listening?)!! AND a few (or all of) the Lunarians!! WHEEEEEEEEEE!!!

Whoa, maniacal look on “Bad Sam” Trigger’s face! Team Tracy keeps us guessing!

The title “Midnight Mirror” keeps bugging me as how it applies to the story, and this forum has put out many theories. A play on the words: Midnight—dark. Mirror—reflection.

A dark reflection of our good guys?

Parallel universe (though Neil Wick and Ashmael report that Mr. Curtis said on his page it’s not)?

Dark dreams, perhaps perpetuated by Abner Kadaver? We ARE close to Halloween, so it might fall into that pattern.

Well, I’m speculating, of course, and enjoying the suspense, as well as the poetry by our resident bards Pequod and Avenger. Thank you!

I doubt that that is the “real” Sam Catchem. Note that he’s smoking when the REAL Sam stopped smoking a few months back…..

National Lampoon, around ‘74, did a one-page Dick Tracy parody (they didn’t even change the names) drawn by Warren Sattler, i think, in which the whole department was corrupt. “Groovy” used an aircar to go out and pick up bribes, Lizz got a kickback from all the madames, and so on. I couldn’t find a shot of it, but it would be in the issues that are at archive.org, for anyone who wants to see it. (Not to be confused with the Tracy-style Ralph Nader cover.)

Sam must have a very good dentist. Those are some mighty straight teeth.

”he exists like a wart or a boil, to be excised!”.So mean to him!!! Are you the site police? LOL Alas, SDM exists now only as a distant memory, forgotten by many, unknown by most! Only old farts such as you even know that there was once a poster who feared no one, which ultimately caused his demise! So casted out he can’t even get an explanation of what he did to cause his “Snatched away at Night” banishment! Shed a tear (of joy perhaps?) for the outcast one!

A very piercing image, Gweedo.

We could say, that SDM was like a poor player, who struts and frets his hour upon the stage, yes? As such a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, and signifying nothing!

GWEEDO, SDM say thanks! (He thinks?).

@Pequod

… 88 now dies.

But whys ?

.Aye aye ayes!!

Thanks for the affirmation NG. WE appreciate it!

Gweedo pleaded,If nothing else, I hope he’s not too busy celebrating to make one down here !-——————————————————————.Gweedo, I plan to celebrate a quiet peaceful 81st alone (well, almost alone). Ironically, on the following day, I have an appointment with my cardiologist!.Youse guys will certainly play a big part in my birthday celebration on the 27th of this month, though!

Uh… did Tracy ever work for The Dharma Initiative?

(I don’t think"idiot" was the point. It just happens to be part of the quotation.)

.Hey Neil, I’ll respectfully disagree with you. Idiot was what the point was, why else post it. To think it was just an accidently byproduct is a big stretch.

What I want to know is, who ate the rarebit that’s giving them this nightmare?

I’ve removed my earlier post.

@avenger09

I can’t speculate on what was intended so I’m getting out over the discussion on this point. I’m not a mind reader.

Well, SAM (wide-eyed) goes BLAM ! . . . as Silly Season - ‘mindlessly’, gallops Right On !

But it’s enabled 88 to join the Ranks of a Select Few . . .For, like Shoulders (and Mumbles?), he’s now DIED twice too ! As fingers crossed, ‘hoping’ B – B Eyes doesn’t make it through !;-)And Mike and Joe finally have someone NEW ! ?

With all this far-flung working-together that Team Tracy does, it seems like they might have need/use of a guy like you, Neil.

It’s hard to keep up with all these comments.