Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for June 02, 2016

Holy Jump Cut, Batman~!!

And yet another two-panel strip.

… not that I complain.

How did Abner survive falling into that wet cement way back when anyway?

Mike said recently that Abner’s real face has been designed and will be shown during the big Abner epic this summer (probably at the end, I’m thinking).

Can’t keep a good Kadaver down.

I just love the look of Rikki’s cape. The “Vampire Mechanique” sounds very intriguing and looks to be one of the stars of this summer’s storyline. This, of course, is a sneak preview of the story that’s coming up next (well, after the short Fearless Fosdick adventure).

Just when I think that “The Gang’s All Here”, another great couple joins the party!

Drat, where’s Notta?

Not that I have anything against Rikki, but we’re overdue for some Notta time.

“Great Western Legend of the silver screen, VB!”LOL, good one!

Talk about something from out of the blue……

.Good morning fellow DT fans!.What a pleasant surprise! My buddies Rikki and Abner!

Gweedo paid me the ultimate compliment,‘Your good morning greeting awaits o’ Great Western Legend of the silver screen, VB !-——————————————————————————.**Good morning Gweedo! Rikki and Abner are here! Things can’t get much better!**

I like the two panel strips we’ve been getting this week, and today.

Seriously!! I hope we get a credible reason/explanation of HOW Abner escaped the wet cement without Tracy seeing it!

How did Kadaver survive thatGooey trap in deadly vat?Hidden door deep beneath the messWould be my educated guess.What cannot rise, it must descendAvoids an ugly cement end.Rikki, she quite loves the actionAs Queen of the ghoulish faction.Spread your cape upon the floorTell me lies, then tell me more.

IT’S A “BILL-IN-A-BOX”!!!

I figured today would be an Abner/Rikki strip. I have to wonder if this means Blaze and Notta are going to be on the back burner for awhile.

Since Mike and Joe love to resurrect dead villians can we please bring back Measles?

A superior storyteller weaves more than one thread at a time. I love how even as the tension mounts in the Blaze and Notta story, we have had a glimpse of Matty Squared and now Kadaver and Rikki. In a complex, dynamic world there many things happening simultaneously. Team Tracy outta win an award or something…

Channeling our inner Dishonest John today?

.

How did Abner survive last time?Your guess is as good as mineA cement pool is certainly not coolEspecially when the victim is youA door on the floor? That carries no cloutWhy give the victim a way to get outPerhaps Abner had an object on himTo lift him up so he that he could swimThe bottom line is that we may never be toldThis is only a comic so reality is always on hold!

This isn’t about writing one story at a time. These asides serve several important purposes.They introduce new characters (like Matty Squared) and key plot elements for upcoming stories. Sparing us a week of exposition when the new story starts.They help the timing of the current story, so the big event can happen on Sunday.And…They’re fun.I love seeing the bad guys rubbing their hands together, gleefully plotting. And I can’t wait to see what the “Vampire Mechanique” is. (Sounds like some sort of blood sucker device, like a mechanical Christopher Lee.)It’s reassuring to know Tracyville has such hard working villains.

I know a lot of you are enjoying the story with Notta, but she reminds me of Stiletta: all about image, big on talk, out for revenge, and ultimately gets nowhere.I wonder if the story will end Sunday with Notta throttling Blaze…The front door bursts open…And there’s Sprocket with a Vista Bill double feature (“Prairie Paradise” and “Vulture Gulch”)…

This discussion has reminded me that Dethany from “On The Fastrack” may also become involved – see http://www.gocomics.com/dicktracy/2016/01/16

We saw Abner’s face when he was in prison, just before Rikki showed up to claim his body.

Look Who’s Back…Mechanique!!!

That means the writer of Spud & Marty is a superior artisan. Right?

HIS FACE LOOKS LIKE ??

I think we already KNOW . . .From his stint back in prison (Oct. 10, 2013) when we saw his unvarnished FACE … at Rikki visit to ‘tell’ him of his upcoming ‘prison break’ !

Hardly ‘think’ the Authorities would allow disguises or cosmetics in prison ! ?So my take IS, we were seeing the Raw Cabbage back then ! ?

The more recent (look -a-like) *Mask*left on the table, during his visit to the Bathroom must have been a “Double-Fake” - to suggest that the “real” face looked otherwise. ?

Not ‘aware of any promise by Mike, to *’show’* his real face … at some future event ? ? ?

ABNER KADAVER In Prison (Oct 10, 2013) “REAL FACE” HERE - NO ‘Disguise’ Allowed*!*

“Well we could get Mysta Maid, Moon governor and what really happened to the space coupe robbers !”-————————————Oh yeah! You are talking my language, Gweedo!!

I perfer wrapping up a story before starting a new one. Or ten!

There are not ten! There are only two, and I’m getting the idea that they are both subplots of the same story. Abner did make some promises of killing Tracy that last time he saw Mr. Bribery.

I had to look at the first panel about four times before I figured out Rikki’s not holding a tube of lipstick in her hand.

I forgot about the Nitrates! It is about time they get out on good behavior! She must be overdue for a shower by now.

Abner’s back…….YESSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Of course, all this “final faceoff” stuff……why do we have to know he gets killed off IN ADVANCE? Gee, since we know he loses and gets killed off and Tracy’s gonna be fine……so much for the suspense….maybe I should just pick up the strip again in the fall, lol…..

If this were a novel, I wouldn’t mind numerous sub-plots and diversions. But this is a daily comic strip, usually just three panels. There isn’t a whole lot of room for subtlety and complexity. A good story-teller may, but certainly does not have to, include such devices; the shorter the story, the less economical they are to the story-telling. That said, so far the storyline here is not obscured, though it is slowed down and its impact diffused. Then, too, I like Abner and Rikki, and today’s strip is in itself quite enticing a scene-setter for the coming summer tale….

.Vista Bill’s absolute final computer setup… Comet, Shadow, and Happybird. 18tb of disk space is on this table!.

Our ADD authors are off and running again with the neverending story

Now ya got me wond’rin’…. If Ab had surgery that actually gives him a “normal” face that he can go out with and be totally unrecognizable while wearing the mask when he is “at work”…

That’s something I never thought of, but it would totally work. It was said before that he no longer needed much makeup to fulfill his horror host role, but he could have had some work done since then. As you say, it could have many advantages.

And Abner never did fulfill his contract to kill Det. Tracy hanging in the air…

I’m pretty sure that’s what he’s working on now. Even though the two people who awarded him that contract, Stiletta and Venus, are both dead now, he seemed determined to go ahead and carry out his contract the last time we saw him, in Bribery’s office.

We know that the Selenites are alive and here on Earth. They came to the grave of the original Mysta after all.

We don’t know that they are here on Earth. I took that graveside visit as a final goodbye before they went elsewhere and I could very well have been right. Whether on Earth or somewhere else, we do know that they are not dead. They are out there somewhere.

Tell me is Rikki’s full name Rikki-Tikki-Tavi by chance?

Sadly, no, though that would be kind of funny. As I assume you know, her full name is Rikki Mortis, a play on the Latin term rigor mortis (“stiffening of the joints and muscles of a body a few hours after death, usually lasting from one to four days”).

I agree! The three things that interest me most about Dick Tracy:1. Mysta, anything and everything to do with her, especially regarding her physical transformation, and hopefully that she’s going to work full time for the MCU one day soon2. Honeymoon’s transformation into a lunar woman3. Return of the Moon PeopleI guess you can tell where I’m coming from. What makes me feel good about it is that I’m obviously far from the only one who thinks like this.