Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for July 30, 2016

Abner and the Opera Ghost?

Definitely feels like a travelogue …

… or an issue of CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED.

It seems like Abner has a copy of Tracy’s itinerary.

Bradley Walker yesterday described the book “Murder by Pastiche,”and couldn’t remember who the spinster was.I’m wondering if she was based on Hildegarde Withers, the spinster schoolteacher (and master of the snappy comeback) played in several movies by Edna May Oliver.

Could the story lead us to the catacombs beneath Paris?

If Poe and Dupin both were real in Tracy’s world, how does Poe fit in? Is he saying that Poe was in fact the unnamed narrator of the story? And what does that make of Jules Verne, Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie and Gaston Leroux? Did they exist and have anything to do with writing the stories? As we all know, in-story, the Sherlock Holmes stories were already supposed to be written by Watson.

.Good morning fellow DT and Kadaver fans!.♫♫ and along came Abner (and Erik?) ♫♫

It seems that Abner may be doing his own tour of his own heros, like Erik (a.k.a. The Phantom of the Opera).

Here’s Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, “Murders in the Rue Morgue,” courtesy of the U.S. State Department: https://americanenglish.state.gov/files/ae/resource_files/the_murders_in_the_rue_morgue.pdf

Nicaragua issued a series of commemorative stamps in 1972 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Interpol. The stamps depicted “The 12 Most Famous Fictional Detectives.”

Details about the stamps and where their source images probably came from are in this blog post: http://www.trussel.com/detfic/nicarag.htm

It seems that the depiction of Dupin comes from the 1954 film. Phantom of the Rue Morgue, in which he was played by Steve Forrest. Possibly best known for the TV series S.W.A.T., Forrest died in 2013.

I don’t comment all that much anymore, but I have tried to keep up..So, Bribery has a contract out on Tracy? No surprise, I guess..My problem is: Just how many people has Li’l Abner taken money from to kill Tracy – yet he has still to deliver on any of those contracts!.Kind of makes Bribery look like a not-so-good business man.

Speaking of which, Bribery is still around?.Kind of makes the strip feel an awful lot like the 1960s Batman television show!

My weekly summary is not ready. I’m still trying to catch up from being away for a week. I will probably post it tomorrow. For now, let’s say that Sam and Lizz have to continue investigating who’s behind the Vampire Mechanique while Abner Kadaver continues to follow the Tracys around Europe (or is he one step ahead of them?) waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. I’m not sure whether the second panel actually shows that Abner got to the Opera House before they did. I think he was probably just following them at a safe distance and the second panel takes place after the Tracys got there.

Neil Wick said earlier that previous contracts were, in fact, one contract, all tracing back to Bribery. What about Mrs.. Flattop? And I’m pretty sure there were others.

Stiletta’s contract was voided when she died. Méliès visited Kadaver at the Murder Mansion to present multiple contracts. One of these was apparently on Tracy, as we soon saw Venus telling Mr. Griswold that Tracy would be “dead-fish dead” within the week (11/24/13). It seems that Venus was acting on orders from Bribery, which we did not know at the time. The abduction of Bonnie Braids led Tracy to Kadaver’s death traps. It seems that Kadaver would have been happy to accept two paychecks for one hit, as Stiletta was still living when Tracy defeated the death traps.More two-panel goodness and an appropriately creepy Kadaver with a “Bribery” rose. Here is a link to some interesting information on the historic Palais Garnier.

This isn’t that, but it’s a 1905 tale that unites the characters (alas, in order to boost one by knocking the other).

However, this is a lot more fun. It’s The Misadventures of Sherlock Holmes, a set of parodies, pastiches and burlesques on the Great Detective, edited by ‘Ellery Queen,’ who forgot to get permission from the Holmes estate. The book was recalled, but copies were available for the sky-high sum of $50, which I could never afford. And here it is.

I also saw that Joseph Cotten portrayed Dupin once, and the twist was that at the end… SPOILER WARNING FOR OLD MOVIE…he’s revealed to be Poe himself. Perhaps that’s how (as Yngvar asks) they can both be in Tracy’s world.

An aged Auguste Dupin made an appearance in the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol 1 #2. The League is trying to recruit Henry Jekyll/Edward Hyde, and it has a connection to the Rue Morgue murders.

As I explained yesterday, it was Jessica Marbles, played by Elsa Lanchester (of the “Frankenstein” movies) — a spoof of Agatha Christie’s Miss Jane Marple.-———————That was in the Neil Simon movie, “Murder By Death.”

It’s vacation timeTracy visits his heroesAbner visits hisDreams schemes are plotted outWhen will Kadaver wake up

I have a bad feeling about Tess getting caught in Abner’s trap instead of Tracy.

AB just wants to give Dick a rose, just like the Bachelor AAAAH! Sweet

Chandelier drop in 5,4,3…

I don’t think I’ve ever seen Dick wearing a blue suit.

So, Abner Kadaver sees himself as a latter-day Erik, Phantom of the Opera!How has Abner kept on, or ahead of, the itinerary of the Tracy’s? Has he relied upon a combination of overheard conversations and perhaps spying on their papers and tickets? —Possible, I suppose; but unreliable and not especially likely. Has he been fed information by some inside source? This might work in theory; but who would the source be? Mayor Armstrong would not be above such a dastardly deed, but she seems not to be familiar herself with the Tracy plans. Someone at the MCU, such as Sam or Lizz? —Utterly unlikely; dismissible. Some unnamed travel agent that Tracy used? —Perhaps the most logical and likely explanation that I can come up with.Will the Opera Garnier become the site of his attempted hit? Will it take the form of a quasi-reenactment of the Phantom’s story, with Tess cast as Christine and Tracy as Raoul?This could be great fun! I’d give it in anticipation four (out of a possible four) red roses….

Murders in the Rue Morgue is a classic and important story. I enjoy it but, looking back from a modern perspective, it is like a 1940’s B- movie. I know not everyone on this thread has read it so I won’t spoil it, but the killer is such a cliche.

I don’t think “Erik” refers to the Phantom; that was the name of the murderous orangutan in the 1932 Universal film “Murders in the Rue Morgue” starring Bela Lugosi as the mad scientist. An interesting film: even though it was made before the Hays Code, Universal cut nearly 20 minutes (close to a quarter of the film’s original length) because the scenes were considered too gruesome to be shown.

Erik?

“The Music of the Night.”

Abner did say that completing the killing of Tracy was a “matter of honor,” so he does seem to live and die by a certain code. It wasn’t totally explicit, but I think it was implied that he had received at least part of his fee, if not all of it.

Robert Bloch was a great writer of horror- and science-fiction. I’ll try to find that story when I have time!

We’re both overdramatic drama queens!