Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for October 27, 2022

Good morning™, everyone!

Not only what happened to them, but who were they? Do any of you guys know a Harold and Winifred? I think they will probably leave with that question for some time. My only guess is that Harold and Winifred might be the ones who like strawberry jam, although that is not self-explanatory, either.

Hmmm …

“Oh I remember now! Buried them under where I had the garage slab poured. He he, gettin’ forgetful these days.”

Good morning™, long lost discoveries !

I like how the outdoor lamps cast a glow against the buildings. Overall great nightscape. Love the flat stone sidewalk too.

Our boy happily ponders missing friends and I hope he makes his connection. The way he wonders has me discounting any familial connection between Harold and “Maude” and Rob, who we hope doesn’t parish, now that he has gone backward in life.

the mystery deepens…

Harold was Harold Gray, creator of Annie and Winifred was his wife…

I seem to recall that when Mike & Joe did an Annie cross-over story, a number of years ago now, that story began with B.O. Plenty getting a long-delayed letter in the mail. Mike does like his motifs. So maybe this is an entry into another Annie story as several others have suggested, maybe even an Annie origin story.

How can he read with no eyes ?

Does this character have cataracts ?

Oh, my stars and garters! Garage Grandpa is channeling Hank McCoy! His koo koo clock on p.3 reminds me of the one my aunt and uncle had when I was a kid. I used to stare at the thing until the little bird came out. A few years later little tweetie got sprung and was stuck half in and half out of the door. He was never the same after that.

Granddaddy Warbucks neck got shorter. Must be all the coffee.

Why isn’t there any color in his eyes ?

So, the lack of eye detail tells me this is Robert’s relative.

Harold Gray, who drew Little Orphan Annie, and his wife Winifred.

Garters? Men’s garters are called shirt stays. So I looked it up. A garter is also a badge given by the King or Queen of England in the highest honor conferred on a knight placing them in the Order of the Garter. As is evident here “my stars and garters” is an expression of excitement or surprise.

Winifred would be Carol Burnett’s character in the original broadcast of ONCE UPON A MATTRESS (I still recall the patter song “I’m In Love With A Girl Named Fred”).

Is “my stars and garter” a reference akin to “my frank and beans”? Or “my sausage and eggs”? Or “my breadstick and meatballs”? Or “my Dick and Tracys”? Or…

Harold and Winifred? More characters and less of a story. Oh well, carry on!

1-GARAGE GEEZER: It took 60 years but I finally got time to catch up on the mail. Oh!

2-Looks like I’ve been drafted into the Army! Well I was back in ’68…

3-I guess I better go report. I don’t wanna be one a them draft dodging hippies I went to college with! I wonder if they’ll send me to ‘Nam? Maybe I’ll put this one on the bottom of this here pile and deal with it later.

Much later…

What were their names? If only there was a name on the envelope to tell me who it’s from!

(After reading all the above Comments and Replies:)

It appears to me that Garage Man is a creature from the AnnieVerse, and his old letter from young Harold and Winifred [Gray] would seem to confirm that. But whether this heralds (sorry!) a forthcoming crossover, I’m not convinced. Since we have Robert Parrish with “Annie eyes” as well as old Garage Man, I suspect that they will be blended into this present story, though I do not know just how. Maybe Garage Man will be found to be a relative of Bob (uncle? father? grandfather?) and, at least in-law, of Steelface as well. And he will make some kind of contribution to the latter’s eventual downfall….

Who cares about Annie’s origin? This is a strip called Dick Tracy, not origins of other comics. If Curtis wants to do this stuff, create another strip.