It seems that Brock Archival sent a limo to pick them up with a driver who looks like he should be in the French Foreign Legion or something. I imagine he’s dressed like some comic strip character, but nothing immediately comes to mind. To me, it looks like a kepi like this one:
The design on the front is a heraldic (coats of arms) representation of a grenade or similar bomb. The design on the hat of the character in today’s strip looks like more of a fleur-de-lis, which would also be a symbol of France.
I’m kind of assuming that there is no such thing as “The Polka-dot Cherub” and that this is the Tracy-world equivalent of The Yellow Kid, where yellow has become polka-dot and kid has become cherub.
The Yellow Kid began in Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World in 1895 and was one of the first Sunday colour comic strips. William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal hired the artist, Richard F. Outcault, away from the World to draw the character for them, but Outcault didn’t have a copyright on it and the World hired another artist to continue it there, so it ran in both papers for a while by different artists.
This example has the same basic pose as Archival’s gold statue:
I assume that the statue is gold because of the “yellow” in the kid’s original name and he has a message written on his nightshirt, just as the Yellow Kid did. I’m assuming the hair was changed for copyright reasons (somewhat ironically).
The term “yellow journalism” came from these papers with their sensational stories which became known as the “yellow kid” papers.
Very interesting car. I’ve never seen anything quite like it! Much more roomer on the inside than it looks from the outside. The drivers mirror is at least 2 feet above inspector Clouseau’s eyes!
Sexual tension is forgot as Vera and Mysta are wowed by the posh of the estate and it’s “noble” statuary. If Brock happens to have Bribery’s anti zap ring, Mysta could be at a real disadvantage. Hopeffuly, he doesn’t realize the enormity of what he is dealing with and will be quite “shocked” when he puts his kidnapping imprisonment scheme to work.
Neil, in the strip on 12/17/2015, we learn that Mysta’s and Honeymoon’s antennae really do light up, that the sparks and glowing aren’t there just for the readers, which I had asked about.
In the strip, Honeymoon is getting ready to go see Vitamin Flintheart in “Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol” and she asked if her mom’s antennae glowed too brightly in the theater. Junior says, “Only in the matinée.” He then tells Honeymoon to bring her hat just in case her antennae glow too brightly.
Notice that the limo’s headlights are yellow. Either that, or the headlights are hidden when they’re turned off and those are some really big turn signals.
What do Vera and Mysta expect to get out of this visit? Vera might sell some of his work I suppose but what’s in it for Mysta? This makes no sense. And we still don’t have anything for Tracy to do.
1-VERA SIMILITUDE: This is the nicest Uber I’ve ever been in.
2-HORNY: Uber? I thought we had been arrested by the French police given the driver’s hat and the stench of old cigarette smoke in here. Those Frenchies love their Gauloises
3-VERA: Hey! There’s our host now. Looks like he just got out of bed. I gotta get me some of those PJs that say “WELCOME” across the crotch! But you know, of course, that you’re ALWAYS welcome to visit there.
HORNY: If you answered the door in something like that, I’d knock you down and wipe my feet on your “welcome mat”.
VERA: OH BABY! My welcome mat is always out for you! And you would find that it’s well groomed!
DRIVER: I must stop ze car now for I do not weesh to throw up een it.
This is comical. The strip tells us what color the statue should be. “Gold.” Vera is looking at the statue when he says this, to further eliminate doubt. So what does the gocomics colorist do with this information? Nothing. Instead, he turns the “gold statue” into a pasty-faced “Clown in the Parking Lot” nightmare, complete with a fright wig and two different colored hands. If I saw a person dressed like this holding up a Welcome sign outside the place I was visiting, I’d probably turn around and drive away.
Is it too much to ask that, when they get back in the car, vera runs back into the house for something he forgot, and we get the car bomb again? Wiping out Frankenmindy in the process
Aside from questions about the car’s size and the freakish coloring errors, the question that comes to my mind is, why is Mysta still on a first-name basis with this fool?
I remember a Night Gallery episode, one of the better ones, about a wealthy guy who collected famous people & kept them prisoner on his estate … I think Mickey Rooney was in it. Maybe that is where this story is going … Or if Archival is going to force Alldid to create some kind of story for Mysta. Or if this story is going anywhere at all, & is just a chance for Joe & Mike to comic strip fanboy-out.
Someone above mentioned Alley Oop, which made me go take a look at the strip. Today’s offering has the professor guy telling us that Buzz Aldrin’s mother’s maiden name was Moon.
Omigosh! Who cares? Never heard of Robert Caulatta nor of his Polka-dot Cherub. And don’t want to now. If Brock is so loaded and fanatical, bully for him. But not me. I remember certain vintage comics with great fondness, and would look them up from time to time online. But even if I had the money, I would never want to be a collector of the kind Archival is.
Pausing from my rant for a moment, to observe that a gated estate is not the safest place to be for a dumb letch cartoonist and a still somewhat naive Chimera. Some collectors collect things ordinary people wouldn’t. Brock Archival may be…unstable.
P.S. A Startpage search yielded nothing for “Robert Caulatta” nor for “Polka-dot Cherub”….
The statue tells us that Brock Archival has more in his collection than just paper ephemera. So far this story has been a cheeze-whiz on white bread sandwich — but maybe the missing “meat” is that Mysta will discover Archival has some sort of Lunarian artifact that he shouldn’t?? Mike is a huge Superman fan, where the misuse of Kryptonian technology is a common trope. That’s a dynamic which could easily be repackaged for the Tracyverse.
Neil Wick over 3 years ago
Good morning™, historians!
It seems that Brock Archival sent a limo to pick them up with a driver who looks like he should be in the French Foreign Legion or something. I imagine he’s dressed like some comic strip character, but nothing immediately comes to mind. To me, it looks like a kepi like this one:
https://www.machinegun-figures.com/im/150615_143517_XqJFnYMB_im.jpg
Here’s another page with one:
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30150942
The design on the front is a heraldic (coats of arms) representation of a grenade or similar bomb. The design on the hat of the character in today’s strip looks like more of a fleur-de-lis, which would also be a symbol of France.
AnyFace over 3 years ago
Judge Magney over 3 years ago
What, in Tracy World the Yellow Kid is still under copyright?
Neil Wick over 3 years ago
I’m kind of assuming that there is no such thing as “The Polka-dot Cherub” and that this is the Tracy-world equivalent of The Yellow Kid, where yellow has become polka-dot and kid has become cherub.
The Yellow Kid began in Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World in 1895 and was one of the first Sunday colour comic strips. William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal hired the artist, Richard F. Outcault, away from the World to draw the character for them, but Outcault didn’t have a copyright on it and the World hired another artist to continue it there, so it ran in both papers for a while by different artists.
This example has the same basic pose as Archival’s gold statue:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a8/YellowKid.jpeg/300px-YellowKid.jpeg
I assume that the statue is gold because of the “yellow” in the kid’s original name and he has a message written on his nightshirt, just as the Yellow Kid did. I’m assuming the hair was changed for copyright reasons (somewhat ironically).
The term “yellow journalism” came from these papers with their sensational stories which became known as the “yellow kid” papers.
avenger09 over 3 years ago
Very interesting car. I’ve never seen anything quite like it! Much more roomer on the inside than it looks from the outside. The drivers mirror is at least 2 feet above inspector Clouseau’s eyes!
Pretty shabby artwork today.
TheDOCTOR over 3 years ago
Looks more like “Zippy, the Pinhead”.
daedalusomega over 3 years ago
What gold statue? I don’t see any gold.
Lord Flatulence Premium Member over 3 years ago
The driver’s in the marching band.
Gweedo -it's legal here- Murray over 3 years ago
Good morning™, awed guests !
Sexual tension is forgot as Vera and Mysta are wowed by the posh of the estate and it’s “noble” statuary. If Brock happens to have Bribery’s anti zap ring, Mysta could be at a real disadvantage. Hopeffuly, he doesn’t realize the enormity of what he is dealing with and will be quite “shocked” when he puts his kidnapping imprisonment scheme to work.
Jab Jr 1957 over 3 years ago
Neil, in the strip on 12/17/2015, we learn that Mysta’s and Honeymoon’s antennae really do light up, that the sparks and glowing aren’t there just for the readers, which I had asked about.
In the strip, Honeymoon is getting ready to go see Vitamin Flintheart in “Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol” and she asked if her mom’s antennae glowed too brightly in the theater. Junior says, “Only in the matinée.” He then tells Honeymoon to bring her hat just in case her antennae glow too brightly.
mrichman over 3 years ago
I think it’s kinda creepy that Mysta is riding in the backseat of a car with Vera. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near that guy.
Jab Jr 1957 over 3 years ago
Notice that the limo’s headlights are yellow. Either that, or the headlights are hidden when they’re turned off and those are some really big turn signals.
michaeljwolff over 3 years ago
Bail!
Another Take over 3 years ago
Gold statue with orange hair. Reminds me of a political rally I read about a few months back. Can’t quite picture the details though…
https://www.google.com/search?q=trump%27s+golden+statue&rlz=1C1OKWM_enUS760US761&sxsrf=ALeKk03YL73QwnyIG4rW-NsjmEtP_ZlrnA:1624880252454&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=owwYBM1ODqV54M%252Chq6i1VcCEIdi_M%252C_&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kTGZl0rtEYDJm52a9JGGKFIDSL82g&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiguf_RnrrxAhVbCs0KHXSxDaUQ9QF6BAgKEAE&biw=1536&bih=793&dpr=2.5#imgrc=owwYBM1ODqV54M
Another Take over 3 years ago
What do Vera and Mysta expect to get out of this visit? Vera might sell some of his work I suppose but what’s in it for Mysta? This makes no sense. And we still don’t have anything for Tracy to do.
Another Take over 3 years ago
1-VERA SIMILITUDE: This is the nicest Uber I’ve ever been in.
2-HORNY: Uber? I thought we had been arrested by the French police given the driver’s hat and the stench of old cigarette smoke in here. Those Frenchies love their Gauloises
3-VERA: Hey! There’s our host now. Looks like he just got out of bed. I gotta get me some of those PJs that say “WELCOME” across the crotch! But you know, of course, that you’re ALWAYS welcome to visit there.
HORNY: If you answered the door in something like that, I’d knock you down and wipe my feet on your “welcome mat”.
VERA: OH BABY! My welcome mat is always out for you! And you would find that it’s well groomed!
DRIVER: I must stop ze car now for I do not weesh to throw up een it.
TJ000 over 3 years ago
This is comical. The strip tells us what color the statue should be. “Gold.” Vera is looking at the statue when he says this, to further eliminate doubt. So what does the gocomics colorist do with this information? Nothing. Instead, he turns the “gold statue” into a pasty-faced “Clown in the Parking Lot” nightmare, complete with a fright wig and two different colored hands. If I saw a person dressed like this holding up a Welcome sign outside the place I was visiting, I’d probably turn around and drive away.
L Silverman over 3 years ago
You know it can’t be good when there’s a clown to greet you.
tsull2121 over 3 years ago
Is it too much to ask that, when they get back in the car, vera runs back into the house for something he forgot, and we get the car bomb again? Wiping out Frankenmindy in the process
buckman-j over 3 years ago
Wasn’t this strip about Dick Tracy at one time?. His last appearance in this fiasco was June 16. Maybe he’s hiding in embarrassment
IvanB.Cohen over 3 years ago
Another person I never heard of…Robert Caulatta. Who was he supposed to be? The equivalent of Captain Kangaroo?
Wizard of Ahz-no relation over 3 years ago
I’ve just gotten a very bad idea what he might want to collect-or I’ve been reading too much ali oop
frankt0001 over 3 years ago
Aside from questions about the car’s size and the freakish coloring errors, the question that comes to my mind is, why is Mysta still on a first-name basis with this fool?
DaleMcNamee over 3 years ago
When Vera mentioned that Archival was a millionaire, I had the thought that he might want Mysta to “zap” Archival to get money from him…
Eric S over 3 years ago
I thought mysta zapped him?
BreathlessMahoney77 over 3 years ago
I remember a Night Gallery episode, one of the better ones, about a wealthy guy who collected famous people & kept them prisoner on his estate … I think Mickey Rooney was in it. Maybe that is where this story is going … Or if Archival is going to force Alldid to create some kind of story for Mysta. Or if this story is going anywhere at all, & is just a chance for Joe & Mike to comic strip fanboy-out.
Ken in Ohio over 3 years ago
Someone above mentioned Alley Oop, which made me go take a look at the strip. Today’s offering has the professor guy telling us that Buzz Aldrin’s mother’s maiden name was Moon.
Does that mean she was a “Moon Maiden”?Sisyphos over 3 years ago
Omigosh! Who cares? Never heard of Robert Caulatta nor of his Polka-dot Cherub. And don’t want to now. If Brock is so loaded and fanatical, bully for him. But not me. I remember certain vintage comics with great fondness, and would look them up from time to time online. But even if I had the money, I would never want to be a collector of the kind Archival is.
Pausing from my rant for a moment, to observe that a gated estate is not the safest place to be for a dumb letch cartoonist and a still somewhat naive Chimera. Some collectors collect things ordinary people wouldn’t. Brock Archival may be…unstable.
P.S. A Startpage search yielded nothing for “Robert Caulatta” nor for “Polka-dot Cherub”….
artsyguy65 over 3 years ago
The statue tells us that Brock Archival has more in his collection than just paper ephemera. So far this story has been a cheeze-whiz on white bread sandwich — but maybe the missing “meat” is that Mysta will discover Archival has some sort of Lunarian artifact that he shouldn’t?? Mike is a huge Superman fan, where the misuse of Kryptonian technology is a common trope. That’s a dynamic which could easily be repackaged for the Tracyverse.