Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for October 07, 2012

Welcome, welcome one and all…..Everybody loves to me FIRST..Me, too..So, here it is. My well wishes to the ‘Old Gal,’ as she fades into obscurity. The days of the daily “adventure” strip have always been numbered and with more and more GREAT STRIPS like ‘Cul de Sac” gone away, I’d like to be the FIRST to wish her well..The New Tracy-ophants have done their best. Sometimes hitting it out of the park, sometimes striking out, but they always tried their best. When it’s been good, it’s been fun, but eh…. A good effort put in by all. Good job, Tracy-holics!.But how long could it last…. With only a couple of dozen newspapers running the strip, (Two dozen at the most), we all saw this coming. None of us liked ANNIE going away, (just look at her last day’s comments). Even the steadfast BRENDA STARR had to go kicking and screaming into the void..So off you go old gal, we had fun. Now don’t look back. We had it all but we lost it. It’s not original, but……. I’d like to be the FIRST to say, “See you in the Funny Pages!!!”...

.Now don’t get your panties in an uproar—— Dick Tracy’s NOT gone away today. But the writings on the wall. Just count how many daily story comic strips are left. Not many. And with only a couple of dozen papers printing the Dick Tracy strip daily, it can’t be profitable for the Chicago Tribune any more. Not at all..And come on, We all love to be the FIRST poster on anything. So, you can call me ahead of my time. But I’m the FIRST. I’m the FIRST..Here’s my send off to the old gal, ……she had her day didn’t she.And if you care to re-read those Classic strips——- check out the truly Giant books published by WWW.IDW to see how Gould made his mark back in the day in the then thriving comic strip marketplace. There are at least six Big volumes, maybe more. With Fantastic introductions written by MaxAllen Colins. He describes eloquently how Gould successfully wrote and drew a profitable Dick Tracy comic strip, published in Hundreds of Thousands of newspapers Worldwide!.Gould truly was a visionary. He knew how to cook a strip, oh boy!And there even was an okay movie made by that awful Warren Beatty in the roaring 1990’s.So off you go Old Gal, we’ll remember you well. 10-7-2012 = FIRST Official Obit (the FIRST)..Good boy.Good boy. ruff, ruffYAY ME! I’m the FIRST to post. (The last days that is) ...…….first to post.