Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for March 29, 2011

Good morning all…

So this new continuity acknowledges the existence of the Moon Maid and her civilization?

Mornin’, Bill! (not my normal time to be posting but I’m up late)

Joe and Mike continue to impress me. Look at the “SMITH INDUSTRIES” sign behind the receptionist in panel 1. Now go look at the long shot of Smith Industries last Sunday (http://www.gocomics.com/dicktracy/2011/03/27). The angles match! You can totally picture the receptionist sitting in that area with the sign showing in the window behind her.

And although it’s clearly not a recycled drawing of the room where the Space Coupe is stored, the scene looks the same (i.e. the other devices scattered around the Coupe are consistent from drawing to drawing, etc.).

Continuity, thy name is Staton and Curtis.

Great work, guys!

Once again, the coloring is different from other web sites, such as NY Daily News. In this case, I like it better here. The second panel is really noire.

It certainly does bring back memories!

Sunday’s not the only color day on this strip since Locher quit.

In a way, I miss the comments from the Locher Days.

But, thank God that this new team came along as it could have been dropped.

I’m hoping to be around for the 100th Anniversary of Dick Tracy in 2031.

PLEASE don’t bring back Moon Maid! I’d like just some tiny hint that Tracy could be plausible. I got fed up with Tracy then and stopped following it. Not again! If I want science fiction I’ll just keep reading Brewster Rockit which doesn’t pretend.

The D. Smith guy is gonna tell Tracy that He’s fed up with ganstas getting his goods and using them in crime. This team is no better than anyone else. Heck, even some has-beens can cut&paste. This story has been told all-ready-even! Don’t worrie OldTracy they aint gonna do any si-fy. While just starting out with old material from crimestoppers Curtis & Staton must be real happy by getting paid twice for the same cartoon. M.O.S. I get up just a little after four in the morn while you cats are just turning. In 150 some days I retire! Oh happy day

I’m liking the trip down memory lane. The coloring is actually pretty good today. I like panel 3 especially, keeping Tracy in front in full color and the past in the shadows but, still right beside him. Probably the intent of Staton and Curtis, but an accident by the colorist. Either way I like it.

I hope Locher has a good dose of the cr@p he’s been passing off for all these years.

JohnRussco - I envy you. I intend to retire October 2012, if my pension holds up. Boy, I’m sooo ready for it. But I don’t think you’re right about the cutting and pasting. It doesn’t look to me like C&P. Even if it is, it’s a very good job.

Relax people - I doubt if we’ll be getting the Moon Valley and it’s alien residents, but it sure is fun seeing the old Space Coupe and the flying trashcans. Mike and Joe are probably including them to let readers under 50 know that Dick and Diet Smith go back a long way (and giving some of us over 50 a real kick).

And JohnRussco – your comments make no sense. Come back in 150 days and let us know what you think then. Until then - mroooww!

I believe that JohnRussco is referring to the ‘Major Crime Squad’ that ran on the internet a few months ago. It was an audition for this series. But t was NOT cut & paste. I believe that today’s strip was actually used in the series.

Just wait a month or two when BO & Gertie have their second baby…oops, I let the cat out of the bag! LOL

What I do not understand is why someone would want to retire…

Another awesome strip.

Before the week is up, some of you will recognize that this story has been done before.

Araldite, you mean the “Major Crime Squad” story that appeared on the Plainclothes site. Presumably there will be some changes in the story. The site had other stories on it, including one about the Plentys and a company that sold flour … not, presumably, from a mill supplied by the Abandoned Granary Company.

What I recall of the MCS story was that it reset the DT universe without doing any great damage to the characters or background. Colorful criminals showed up, clues meant something and action went someplace.

the second panel is brilliant

“Dick Tracy” has practically always had a science-fiction component. When the two-way wrist radio first appeared in the series, it was science fiction. Ditto for the two-way wrist TV. The Geenee could /almost/ be achieved now, but not in every respect. And I remember other things, such as a thumb-sized tape recorder in the late 50s or so.

The problem with the moon years is that we now know that these things didn’t happen and couldn’t have happened in the real world. Gould realized that—that’s why Tracy came back to Earth after Apollo 11. It’s all fun and games until someone puts his sense of reality out.

Of course, it is possible to write alternate-world science fiction. “What if the South won the Civil War?” is probably the most common theme. For a more thorough example, look at Randall Garrett’s “Lord Darcy” stories. But “Dick Tracy” isn’t supposed to be alternate-world science fiction; it’s supposed to be police procedural with just a soupçon of science-fictiony goodness.

Brilliant coloring – and I like that Dick’s duster is not pure yellow.

This strip is running along so quickly compared with before that my head is spinning!

I wasn’t reading Dick Tracy during the Moon Maid years and appreciate the summary. rri0189 makes some good points about the sci-fi aspects. I’m liking the new story very much - the plot, pacing, and continuity.

What happened to Junior and Moon Maid’s daughter?

Some of us didn’t choose retirement. My company went out of business in 2003. Companies weren’t interested in hiring a 65-year old technical writer.

It’s as though I can hear a haunting jazz riff drifting around in the background when I look at Panel #2. Cool!

Panel 3: That piece of equipment on the table looks like my old Yaesu.

Moon Maid should be kept as she left this world, in an urn. That whole story and the way she was killed off was sillier then anything Locher did…

Finally, with help from Steve Melvin, I am posting again.

Tribune has told us we are free to use any Tracy reference or stories/characters that has appeared in the strip, so you are likely to see many older characters popping up for a looksee.

Are we going to the moon? Doubtful, as Tracy has enough to keep him busy here. HoneyMoon was Junior and MoonMaid’s daughter. By our reckoning, she’s around 11 and will show up sometime. Bu Moon Maid definately died in a car explosion, as Collins and Fletcher showed us long ago.

Just a word about Joe. Be sure to see this summer’s GREEN LANTERN movie, as several of the Lanterns like Kilowog were created by Joe and I think he’ll get some screen credit. I hope so. I do know he will receive some royalties, so I will go to put some money in his pocket.

We regard Tracy as being about one step scientifically beyond real policemen, as even the two way wrist radio has long since become reality, just not on the wrist. We do plan an upgrade on Tracy’s wrist device later.

And yes, we are all continuity buffs. My first published comic work was a map of the Enchanted Forest for CASPER to keep where Hot Stuff and other characters lived in relation to Casper and Wendy.

Ya’ll are doing great work!

WOW !, Man!, Talk about memories. Call me crazy but this looks like Dick Tracy. As I grew up the Moon maid and all that stuff was already long established in the strip. It’s only after seeing the old RKO films and looking into the history of strip that I found out that D.T. before my time was a far cry different from what I’d first encountered. So I could only imagine the reaction of long time fans when the moon phase started. But I really think that Mike and Joe are not really going to bring back the moon phase full time. Just a little stroll down memory lane. Cause when it comes to D.T., I prefer the wrist watch being the only outlandish piece technology. So I think there’s no cause to worry.

I was learning how to read when DT was on the moon, and someone bought me a plastic model of the space coupe. I loved it! Does anyone remember the cartoon show “Archie’s TV Funnies?” THey had DT segments there which featured the Space Coupe, and also those flying garbage cans (I cannot remember what they were called).

Today’s color is much better. More subdued than in the past days.

It’s getting to be a real pleasure coming here every day.

Mike, Thanks for joining in with you comments and info. I look each day to see if you have posted. I am glad to hear that some of the old bad guys will be back. How about some of their offspring trying to get even with DT ? Just a thought. Keep up the GREAT work!!

Dear Mike and Joe, I’m a great fan of the new and improved D. T.! I appeared in the background of the Locher era story about the Big Top, and Pops the clown.

Love,

The Pig on Wheels


Oh, yes. Memmory Lane.

For Strwelpher: Flying Platform. Remember seeing in a house the toy when Junior and his wife was in a space craft when there daughter was born. Speaking of offspring she hopefully be a police officer because of the death of her mother because of bomb in car that was meant for Dick Tracy. Her father was police artist. If not with the abilities from her mother and new powers she’ll make Dirty Harry tame in comparison.

For Newenglandah: Another complaint by the father-in-law was the circumstances of his granddaugher birth; remember she was born in a spaceship. He objected because she wasn’t born on the Earth and she wasn’t born on the Moon. She was born in space.. The dispute was settled later.

And on panel 3 the classic jaw line.

Hey there, Pig on Wheels! Nice to see you again!

The Pig on Wheels reappears at the circus…

http://www.gocomics.com/dicktracy/2009/09/15/

I have a craving for giant escargot!

Bill, thanks for posting the link. Yep, it’s a pig on wheels!

Love the shading and shadows in the second panel!!