Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for November 28, 2012

Tell ’em like it is, Tracy!Good Morning Detectives!

Good morning, MoonlitKnight.Great family scenes!

Tracy speaks the truth, young one.

Love today’s strip.

Mrs. Tracy doesn’t seem pleased.

I think she’s got a little secret……

Little Joe is plenty old enough for a lesson in what’s real and what isn’t. I think Tess looks that way because she knows all too well what reality is, and what it’s like being married to an officer of the law. One word for you and those like you today Tracy, RESPECT.

Yup, that’s a sly look on Tess’s face.

Well, I see that I have missed something in the intervening years before I started reading Tracy on GoComics…….where’d the kid come from?? I didn’t know Tracy and Tess had one?

i had no idea

Joseph Flintheart (“Joe”) Tracy, Dick and Tess’s second child. Named after Tracy’s “godfather” (cpt. Joseph Medill Patterson, who gave Chet Gould his job), and Vitamin Flintheart, who helped Tess during the somewhat difficult childbirth. A Fletcher and Collins creation.

“It’s not like that for law enforcers in our world…”

but it’s implied there’s a Batman in this universe, sure he’s not a hero with powers, but he his a costumed crimefighter.

Keep it straight,Mike :)

Tell it like it is, Tracy! The boy should realize that mortality is something you face (and everyone else, too) and that you are not invulnerable. Tess knows.

Tracy tells Joe exactly what it is: training and danger for Sam, Lee and Lizz. Caped “Super Heroes” are lots of fun; they make the bad guys quiver and run. Real crime fighters have a tougher life: risk and danger, injury and strife. Gold Star families know this all too well; Police killed on duty, a family goes through hell. Tess can listen with knowing eyes, that Tracy risks all is not a surprise. Many sleepless nights by his hospital bed, heart a-racing with fear and dread. Only one crime fighter has unique skills, a righteous citizen whose beauty thrills. Ask her the price of violent crime: grievous injuries and too much time deep in recovery, precious years lost: repercussions of violence’s incalculable cost.

..good stuff…

OH MY GOD!!! Tracy is reading a purple and yellow newspaper!! SOMEBODY FIRE THE COLORIST!!! Doesnt this colorist KNOW that theres no such thing as a purple and yellow newspaper! What in Gods name is wrong with them! This cannot go unpunished! I say we unite in one angry mob and storm the gocomics offices and DEMAND the colorist be drawn, quartered, hung from a tree and used as a pinata, then dump boiling oil on them, and then tar and feather them as well! This is an outrage!

On a more positive note… WOOO HOO JOE TRACY!!!!!! Another reason why i love this character.. he’s into comic books! how could you NOT love someone like that! (and no, i frickin HATE that stupid big bang theory show so dont even get me started)

Tess looks like shes waiting for “And your mother too” to be thrown into the list of people who risk their lives everyday… and johnny (DA MAN!)as well

There is one thing we can say for the colorist’s choice of colors for that newspaper – they have been consistent since they first showed us that paper in the news box at the Union Station. Why they chose such wild colors, I don’t know. Most papers today are printed in color, but not with a solid yellow background.

My apologies for thinking the other day that the color was the ad board outside the news box. Looking at the b&w comic I could see Bates holding a newspaper. I asked GOCOMICs about that, the irreverent flag coloring, and why no Sunday episode. 27 hours later I got a reply: “GOCOMICS considers the problem solved.” WHAT?Is the Sunday episode back? Is the flag color changed? Has the colorist been straightened out? Apparently the way to “solve” a problem is to ignore it!Good going there guys.

by the way for those of you keeping track… this is the first time we’ve seen joe since right before phishface was apprehended at the aquarium and the first time we’ve seen tess since tracy was hauled away from mr crime’s hq by stiletta jones with a shoulder wound courtesy of panda (it WAS panda wasnt it?) if i am not mistaken i believe the last time we had seen joe before THAT was at sam catchem’s house on hannukah

Where is Bonnie Braids now?

An interesting point about the GoComics coloring:All the other newspaper/sites I’ve seen that run Tracy use a colored version which must come direct from Comics Kingdom. So GoComics must get their version in B&W, and color it themselves.Which begs the question: Why?Unless the colored strip costs more than for them to buy the B&W and hire a colorist, I can see no reason for the extra work.

It’s great seeing Joe, and hearing why Tracy objects to the costumed pseudo-heroes.I’m just uncertain why Tess has that slight smile…Could she know something we readers don’t?Have to ’toon in tomorrow!

OK, Otto. 9:40 Eastern Time. I told ya!

I wonder if Tess would fit into a Moon Maid costume…?

There’s certainly a lot of build-up in this story, so it would be a pity if yet another rush ending is used to wrap it up. To me you raise a valid point, I just hope your prediction will be proven to be wrong. Regarding to the Measles’ story, somebody did say, and I agree, that it ended with whimper, and not with a bang.

I think Tess is a masked crimefighter!

On the bright side, anything the new guys do will be better than getting Locher back

@ SDM. I doubt that’s possible, but it’s a nice thought! And, coming from you, that’s a rarity!

A bit more normal color paper.

Geez, look at Joe (this is, I think, only about the second time I’ve ever seen him on panel).I recently picked up the first volume of the IDW Tracy reprints and skimming the arc that introduced Junior got me thinking…Tracy was an established private detective prior to joining the force after Tess’ father was murdered. About six months later, he met Junior, who was repeatedly said to be nine years old.Some time later, when Junior was still pre-adolescent, B.O. Plenty and Gravel Gertie had a daughter, Sparkle.Some time after THAT, Dick and Tess married.When Sparkle was old enough to be verbal, Dick and Tess had a daughter, Bonnie. Junior was still too young to have a driver’s license at the time.Years later, Junior married Moon Maid. Sometime shortly after that, Sparkle married Vera Alldid.Junior and Sparkle had a daughter, Honeymoon.When Honeymoon was about four or five years old, Moon Maid was killed by a car bomb intended for Tracy. Shortly thereafter, Vera divorced Sparkle.By now, Bonnie Tracy was an adult (married in 1980, Rene Tray? I didn’t know that.).Dick and Tess then had another child, Joe.Sometime later, Sparkle and Junior married (remember, Junior is at least ten or twelve years older than Sparkle). They subsequently had a daughter of their own.Just how much time has passed for these characters, and how old is Tracy anyway?

Good morning everyone…

“But what about B—”

""We don’t say that name in this house, son. I’ll explain when you’re older."

HEY!The Sunday strip has just arrived!After sending GoComics another message (pointing out that their definition of “solved” wasn’t the same as mine), I got an e-mail with a direct link to the Sunday strip. And it’s really there.

It should be noted, though, that some of the early costume heroes in comics (and others, such as Zorro) went into the game because the police were corrupt.

Hmm.. Doing some research. Tinky’s mom and stepfather died in a house fire in 1961 and her father Groovy Grove died shortly after marrying Lizz, so I have no idea who she is living with. Lizz would be the obvious first choice, but if that is true, where the heck is she?

OK, I now have some idea of who Tinky may be staying with. In 1970 she had a guardian who watched after her, Mrs. Moneynot. I suppose she could be staying with her, although she was staying with Lizz and Groovy for awhile as well, during their on and off relationship.

Best. Comic. Strip. Ever.

Thanks Joe & Mike!

of course, that’s how the original story went, Joe and Mike’s story is not the Gould canon

So how old is Tracy supposed to be? 50ish?

In real time, he’s 75-80. Didn’t we just have a 75th birthday for him? Lotsa facelifts. Almost as many as Jane Fonda.

….in “real” time he’d be over 100, wouldn’t he? But who cares….what makes this strip different from most in that respect is that different characters seem to age at different rates. As for this episode having a “rushed” ending….don’t see how it’s going to be possible to get around that, since so much time has already been spent building up the plot…..but the ending always has Dick Tracy winning anyways, so maybe the distribution is better this way!

I think Tess is giving an “and ain’t the truth” look.

I like this strip. It reminds me of the one done not too long ago, when Honeymoon asked Tracy about her mom. It’s nice to see how Tracy gets along with the younger members of his family (extended or otherwise), and not watering anything down for them. Team Tracy has a knack for storytelling; interspersing quiet moments while the story moves along. Well done.

I still think the ending of the Measles story was appropriate (don’t do drugs, kids!). We had an exciting buildup, then a little chase; but in the end, Measles was his own worst enemy (not Tracy). Very fitting. I’ll miss the big lug, though.

After today’s thread, I’m wondering who will be the one to work out a whole Dick Tracy chronology showing how many years have ACTUALLY passed (complete with references) :)