Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for July 14, 2022

Good morning™, Earthlings!

Who predicted that a Lunarian takeover of Earth was in the works and what can Tracy do to stop it? At least we’ve established that the Ambassador and his family are not the villains in this piece, so a kidnapping by the Ambassador doesn’t seem to be in the offing.

“Enter the outside world,” That sure sounds like they are living inside of Earth!!

It’s not quite “Doctor Who & The Silurians” (1970) but close enough. ✨

Ohhh, a “Battle for the Planet of the Moonies” story would be great!!!We could root for Mad Mindy to get zapped into oblivion!!!

Tracy’s ticked off but I don’t like Shelly with an e’s use of shading in panel 3. Too cliche.

Hm, maybe let ‘em know that the tech behind Mr. Forgery’s ring can be replicated at need….

What did I say two days ago? Only a faction but still…

Hopefully the story finally picks up speed; it’s been moving slower than a lunar rover!

Yeah, I’d say that a faction wanting to conquer the world definitely qualifies as a “problem”.

Of course Diet Smith could mass produce duplicates of Mr. Bribery’s ring…..

And finally, after nearly sixty years, the writer of Dick Tracy is apparently going to acknowledge the fact that a group controlling a fleet is space coupes, when no one else has them, can pretty much control the world. Where genius Diet Smith used them to dominate the interplanetary giant escargot trade and mine gold on a scale that should have crashed its value lower than Wikipedia-issued cryptocurrency, someone else could use them to control international behavior under threat of undetectably delivering pocketbooks to destroy essential facilities.

I wonder . . . Did Tracy get hold of Bribery’s ring and bring it with him?

Good morning™, Doom sayers !

Tracy has a lot to grapple with here not to mention that shadow on his face must sting.

Pink suit’s gotta be the leader of this fringe group!

If a group of Lunarians really wants to take control of this planet, they haven’t been following the news much lately.

Hook em up with Putin…..

Fun factoid. It’s now been one full month since we saw that old man in his garage full of legal papers that “someday will be important to Dick Tracy.”

Where’s Emily? (Canadian joke…)

Diet Smith will design an interstellar vessel and ship the Lunarites to the Andromeda Galaxy

I hope Tracy did not forget to bring Bribery’s ring

And… Moon Valley just got a little less silly.

(Not meaning to diss the Moon People, I love ’em. But… yeah.)

Fully drawn eyes? This is serious!

At least the Loonies are civilized enough to have coffee!

A: “We real LIKE Pluto…”

T: "NO! YOU CANNOT INVADE DISNEY!

A: (alien face palm) (thinking): I wonder is Barney Miller is available."

well, this is something that I NEVER expected would happen… if I can be surprised like this, then that’s a good start when it’s something completely unexpected… now this strip goes where it it has never gone before… should be interesting to see how Mike handles THIS one… this could easily go all wrong if not handled correctly by Mike OR Tracy and the Ambassador… and speaking of the Ambassador, his actions here in revealing the plot to Tracy should silence any nay-sayers thinking that HE may have a hidden agenda… I’m still banking on that Sonar to be part of that rogue faction… but yeah, this could quite possibly make or break Mike’s credibility as a scripter on the strip… he’s moving into uncharted waters here with this potential invasion of the outside world and this is the storyline that will make or break him, I feel… MAKE him as doing something unique and different and interesting with a satisfying ending to the arc or BREAK him by being the first scripter in Dick history to introduce a completely different type of arc that may turn into the biggest farce in it’s history… either way, Mike has now given himself a challenge that only HE can overcome… with his track record of lately, I fear for his chances and this story… but I will give him the benefit of a doubt.. he MIGHT surprise us all… but the strip IS now moving into a new, different and unexplored area here with this arc…

To my mind, when Chester Gould first went to the moon and came up with Moon Maid, that was “a completely different type of arc” – Dick Tracy went from being a detective strip with elements of forward thinking science fiction, to a combination of James Bond and full throttle Sci-fi.

TRACY: “See, there’s this planet Mongo, and it’s a REAL garden spot…”

um… say what?

Oh no!

1-GOVADOR: Cup of squid ink for you, Tracy?

DT: HA! Everyone has silly names for coffee. We call it a “cup of mud” at the squad room.

GOVADOR: What is this coffee of which you speak?

2-…BTW. There’s a faction here that wants to take over your world. Would you care to be our token Earthling Representative Yes-Man Flunky?

DT: So…this is really squid ink…wait…

3-DT: ARE YOU CRAZY? You don’t have a chance! There are 8.3 guns for every man woman and child in America. It’s the safest place in the world as a result! You’d be massacred!

GOVADOR: Uh, right. We can melt those with our minds – remember?

DT: Oh… Would I live in the White House as the token Earthling Representative?

GOVADOR: No. DT: Oh. OK! I’ll do it!

Lemme guess – he’s got a bad stare and a toothbrush mustache? (Or is it the dude with the lightning bolt on his shirt?)

And the Moon Ambassador will be their leader as revenge for the death of his daughter!!!

cue the dark ambient music with discordant overtones which, although broadly tonal, is inflected with chromatic and polytonal passages

Buhm! Buhm! Bummhmmm!

And the Ambassador was concerned about Tracy’s “toy”? Nevertheless, this is an interesting revelation. “Conquerors”. They sound as bad as humans. Something tells me they wouldn’t make kind overlords. Is Tracy going to get the UN involved? Probably not. I imagine he’ll pull a Barney Fife and nip it in the bud while he’s with the Lunarians, but in a peaceful way.

BTW, great shadowing in the last panel. Very dramatic!

“I know all their plans, Tracy. This guy named Edgar Rice Burroughs snitched to me.”

Mmmmph….that’s what ya get for lettin’ ’em check out old Mars Attacks stuff………

MOVIE QUOTE—-“My favorite villain is also my kidnapper!”“This could be a great opportunity if you don’t kill me!”

Steve Carell—MINIONS:THE RISE OF GRU—2022

On the funny side,where did they get coffee??

Moon Gov has an import deal with SOMEBODY.

Maybe Mike remembers the 2010-2011 “New Krypton” arc in the Superman books—-you have to be RAISED on Earth in order to love Earth.(as Honey&Mysta do).

Judging from that third panel,the revolt is ALREADY doomed to failure.

“YeeeeeeeeeHAWWWWWWWW, all you hip cats and Super-Swell Swingers out there in Terrific Tracy Town! This is your Dashing, Dynamic Deejay, the Bringer of BMBG Boffo hits, JPuzzle The Whiz, and today, we’re doing a Really Riotous Remote broadcast from New Moon Valley, where the sounds of unrest seem to have Tracy and the Moon Ambassador concerned! Maybe this classic might help the situation…or, maybe not…”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFckPkukF7g

Invasion of the Lunarians! I like it.

Ok. That could also be arranged.

A winner-take-all golf match for the fate of the Earth,with Hy Jacky as referee.

Reminds me of all those Kryptonians find Terra a fine place to control with their superpowers. “The strong must rule the weak.”

“Earth has been invaded by Lunarians that have been hiding in Antarctica.”

Q-believers: “Well yeah, we knew that would happen!”

an interesting question or two comes to mind concerning the rogue faction of Lunarians… how long has this invasion plan been festering in their heads?… did it start with Moon Maid’s death or has this idea of attack and conquer always been there, but they had to remain hidden til now due to not enough of a force to make a difference?… did something specific happen to bring this on?… just what ARE the circumstances for this rebel band to begin to make their move?… and how did the Ambassador come to learn of their plans?… does he have a mole within the faction that reports to him when he can?… is it POSSIBLE that Ro-Seanne is the informant, the leader of the faction or just a part of it somehow?… many questions need to be addressed, clarified and answered concerning these points…

Dum dum DUM!

Lunarian extremists seek planetary domination!

Can Tracy, with Ambassador, Mysta, and Honeymoon (and maybe Moon Granny), put a stop to this threat? Is Ro-Zan a leader of the rogue faction?

Where’s James Bond when you need him? Surely this gig is his kind of Thing….

Oh shucks! This is not going to be like the movie or tv show where little green men land on earth. One of them says to an earthling, “take me to your leader”.

Terrific! War of the worlds. Someone might as well dig up Orson Wells.

I suppose it had to happen eventually, outside forces wanting to take over the earth.

Tracy has that look in his eyes, " Mr. Ambassador don’t you bring me no bad news".