Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for October 17, 2015

Reminiscent of “Dark Shadows” and their alternate timeline stories. Looking forward to see Joe & Mike’s take on this. If nothing else, it was interesting to see 88 Keyes again (if only for a very short time)!

Gangsta Time!

If it’s not a parallel timeline …?

Definitely creeping me out.

So, Boss Tracy heads up this gang and Patton is another operative. Maybe we’ll see this “Boss Tracy” character tomorrow.

Does anyone knew what year that car is? I think Keyes appeared in 1943 strips if I remember right (but I probably don’t).

Guess “Boss Tracy” took the promotion our Tracy turned down a good long time back.

Sunday should hold a reveal or two.

I’m not going to update my death list yet, because we don’t really know what the heck is going on. I mean 88 Keyes is dead, but he’s been dead for decades in Real Time.

Does anyone think this could be a dream sequence?

What the heck is going on here? Have Sam, Patton and Tracy gone corrupt? Since they went back in time, will they show the # 1 Tracy villain of all time Floyd Jones aka Flattop?

I think it’s all a comic strip drawn by Vera Alldid.

A screenplay by Wendy Witchel perhaps …?

Tracy ranks above Patton in this alternate reality.

APRIL FOOL!!! Oh wait, this is October.

Seems we are seeing a parallel universe…..based off what I see so far, I’m betting the chief lawman is Flattop Jones with his family as fellow compatriots.

Panel 2—-They sure had funny looking cell phones back then he is talking on, but at least it is a hands free one.

Or is that the manual, on the column shifting lever?

Looks more like a 1948 Lincoln to me…http://www.lincolnpedia.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/1948_lincoln_continental.jpg

Has the strip been rebooted by J J Adams?

The Anti-Sam, whoever he is, is creeping me out big time. I can’t wait to see where this is going!

This will be a bit like Earth 3 with the roles reversed (just waiting for the likes of Mumbles being a cop.)

Cheers!

He thought he was sharp, and now he lays flat.

PROJECT ‘BLURRED’ IMAGE ?

Perhaps Diet is back in business ? A ‘relevance’ of sorts, to ‘things’ Dick Tracy - restored !.As Diet explores an Alternate Universe ?

Thumb it seems, stuck on the PAST button? Or so it seems? As we “shakily” pass though older befogged images ? e.g. Sam’s face yesterday ?

Face it, we may have to “hop along” through further (Stupefied ?) actions/images until . . .l… a chosen gamut of Rogues Gallery figures, has been exhausted? …Might continue, until we come forward to the Jumbler ?

Problems for Diet if he finds Brilliant in this Crazed World … … he’d be one of the Bad guys !

The car could be modelled after an older Mercedes Benz ! ?

With Pat Patton as the driver of Sam “Trigger” Catchem’s big old car and (presumably Dick) Tracy referred to as the boss, this is clearly not our timeline /universe/reality. What it is, however, is opaque to me. But it is fascinating in a perverse way….

Why is every one so concerned about what kind of story line this is? Alternate Universe, dream sequence, Vera Aldid, etc, doesn’t matter (at least at this point in the story)Stop foaming at the mouth about “what” and “why” and enjoy the ride. I am thrilled to be reading a well written, excellently drawn and colored Dick Tracey story arc set in the time period the strip is most associated with.

I’ve heard the knobs on the steering wheel called “Necker’ s Knobs” because you could keep on hand on the wheel and other your passenger!

If I recall correctly, no new cars were produced during the war so the 1943 model was the last until after 1945. Correct?

Consumer car production was terminated by government order in early 1942. Production of military vehicles for the war effort only was permitted.Consumer production began again in mid 1945, with all such models being designated 1946’s.

More reveals: A “bad” Patton, both he and “Bad Sam” reporting to “Boss Tracy.”

Dark mirror universe? Bad nightmare (probably Abner Kadaver’s work?) Or, as Sydney theorizes: “Project ‘Blurred’ Image,” Diet Smith’s experiment gone awry, as Sam have feared back then?(Very intriguing theory, Sydney!)

Sunday will be a very big reveal!

(I’m hoping Boss Tracy with a villian’s malevolent beard)

Side thought. if the good guys are “Bad guys” in this arc, would we have a “BAD” Moon Maid? A la Venus? Whoa…

Funny….. I have one on my lawn tractor right now. It has a yellow jumping deer and a green background. I tried to get one with a pinup on it (like the old days), but John Deere is kinda prudish.

wow! something strange is happening and I hope it aint real?!.

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

giggles

Oh that is a good point. Reminds me much of the Dean Martin Roasts, and Don Rickles. Back then, they didn’t need the 7 words, their wit was as sharp as a scalpel, and much more amusing than today’s. I saw one ‘roast’ done by Seth McFarlin, and although I admire his singing ability and skills at voices. I was not a bit amused by it. I noticed it didn’t go far either.

I too try to emulate Dean Martian, and the other golden entertainers myself. Especially since sarcasm, and intelligence can cut down insulters far better.

And you was a gentleman :)

@Kantuck Nadie Nata-AkonPoked a hole right in MY funny bone !-Well, he had guts and could irritate and WITHOUT using “the seven words”. Admit it, the man has the ability to slice like a Thai made kitchen knife and not use caustic language to do it. Many would simply drop down to the gutter to make attacks. (I noted your funny)

@avenger09And expressing a statement paraphrasing the grand bard is incorrect? Only you and perhaps a few others took the name ‘Idiot’ as a personal affront against SDM I merely used it as a amusing anecdote to Gweedo’s statement is all.

Shall I break open a pack of bicycles, and shuffle the deck to find out who’s the queen, and who’s the fool? Or should we say we made errors and go on with that?-@Kantuck Nadie Nata-Akonidiot.Name calling is so immature! Couldn’t you have found a way to express your sentiment without resorting to such childishness towards someone who can’t defend himself? Sad.

I would say that Tess is Boss Tracy’s “moll” except I wonder if he would have a lover whose last name is “Trueheart” LOL Now, as far as Tracy taking an urchin off of the streets (Junior) and making him his (evil) protege would still work. I’m figuring that Diet Smith and his technology as well as the Lunarians will not be used here.

I’m hoping for a police squad with not just Flattop but also several other long-dead members of Tracy’s rogue gallery!

This is Cool…the best comic strip yet…

@Ken in Ohio

I will say, I took no offense from you, or really anyone, including Avenger. As Gweedo said " A much better class of discourse than used to go on here" I grew up on the USEnet, and trust me. The children there was so thick… So everyone here has been a gentleman, (and lady for my few sisters) and any family will have disagreements, and a few who are — oddballs — (Well, we had one uncle that we don’t tell anyone about!)

@Neil WickI forgot to say thank you for explaining the bit about Facebook, and their ‘real-names’ policy of a week or so ago. It makes sense, and cleared up some things about that, but I got caught up with problems and work, and forgot to say thank you.

Here’s a short list of members of the city’s “mirror” police force: Flattop, Pruneface, The Brow, Itchy, and Breathless Mahoney!

Closest I could find is this, which makes the one in the strip likely a conglomeration of styles and imagination.

It looks quite a lot like that Oldsmobile, except for the grill. I think you could be right that it’s an agglomeration.

This strip just keeps getting better and better! What is the reason for this nefarious transformation by our heroes?

A beautifully rendered, and restored car. It makes me long for the day when I can get my own Dusenburg — or a 70s cherry Red Corvette, like my cousin drove me around in.

But then, I’d trade them all for a small home, a horse or two, a dog or three, and about 50 acs back in my home in Pikeville, KY. Right in the mountains.

Dreams, :)

Good morning one and all!

Gweedo knows,I bet little Billy Raley rode in cars like that.-————————————————————————.During the war, not many poeople drove cars in the city, Gweedo. My father sold his 1935 Ford because of gas rationing limitations. My first car (in 1952) was a 1947 Oldsmobile “fastback”.

Perhaps it’s “virtual” reality?____________________

Our boys playing “Grand Theft Auto,” or the Diet Smith Industries equivalent …?

seifeld…Bizarro world perhaps??

@SYDNEY PHILLIPSThe car could be modelled after an older Mercedes Benz ! ?

That might fit the grill shape better. Those cars tend to be expensive but crimes can bring in big money — at least until the criminals get caught.

Holy smoke! We’re almost up to 100 comments and it’s not even noon yet on the east coast! This really is proving to be an interesting story.

Like Neil Wick suggested, the car is most likely an amalgamation of a variety of models from that era. Here is another possible inspiration:1939 Studebaker Champion

The car following it could be another Studebaker inspiration:Studebaker sedan

Doo doo. doo doo. doo doo. The Twilight Zone. Tracy as a mob boss.

Just had a thought….what if Boss Tracy turned out to be Tess?

It looks like a cross between a late 30s/ early 40s Packard and a Lincoln. Like today, they drew in the features of the type of car they wanted you to believe the character drove. Both were expensive at the time.

If Tracy, Sam and Patton are gangsters, I wonder who the cops are.

A blissful Saturday my friends-———-Definitely a good story.-———-Have a bountiful day everyone.

mirror universe!

Okey-dokey! Both of you coming up!

Anyone here remember the “Justice Lords” episodes of “Justice League”?

If Dick had been killed by – As Adam West would put it – “Dastardly Criminals” [D.C.] – Mightn’t that have pushed everyone else over the edge …?

In which case, “Boss Tracy” being a crazed Tess – As JonahHex suggested – Would sorta make sense.

Went to our state fair yesterday and gotta tell ya, not everybody likes a roller coaster.

It reminds me of movies set in the past where they haven’t done their research properly, and left in anachronisms.Could this be a fantasy movie about Tracy?

The anachronisms could be a significant clue as to what’s going on. I wonder whether the line on the cigarettes is meant to be the end of the filter or just a decorative stripe. I don’t know enough about what cigarettes looked like to decide.

WEIRD INCONSISTENCIES ?

Amazing what can happen when readers are left with contradictory information . . .

And this might Go On for another week or two ??Really held at arms length to keep on “guessing”.Good technique to keep on ‘clocking up’ speculative posts . . .

ME ? I’d rather see an interesting NEW FACE (like a Doubleup ) … (the way it used to be) . . . and then, start ‘speculating’ on the Crime he/she might be contemplating and how Tracy might deal with him/her ?

My guess is, that’s a far more impressive (and productive) way of “hyping up” readers in the ‘long time’ tradition of Dick Tracy.

Different and Strangely are not necessarily synonyms for better !

Is this taking place on Earth 3 by any chance?

I hope Boss Tracy has a goatee.

We called them “brodie” knobs. They used them to do a “bootlegger” turn. They were very nice on manual steering in a large car or truck. You might turn the wheel a full 2 turns in either direction to get to full lock. Much safer than trying to palm the wheel.

So besides giving the gunman a name, they also changed the story from the original version. At one time, this might have surprised me.

Do I detect an “alternative universe” theme?

Could there be a “Detective Mumbles”?

HUH?