Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for November 30, 2012

Finally, a Moon Maid sighting!

What happened to Captain Cinnamon and The She-Devil?

You go, Honeymoon!

Today’s third panel is a classic. Fantastic work by Joe Staton.

The fact that Staton and Curtis have the guts to bring back Moon Maid is a testament to their amazingness. I don’t blame Collins and Fletcher for killing her off to return the strip to its roots, but nowadays, well, I’m a fan of this strip.

I do blame Collins and Fletcher for killing Moon Maid off. With that and changing Junior Tracy’s appearance drastically, they strayed far from what Chester Gould had intended. Staton and Curtis have Junior looking like Junior again and also brought Chief Pat Patton back to the force. If they can credibly bring back Moon Maid, I will be a fan of the strip forever.

Good morning all…

That a girl lil Tracy, you show em that you’re just a chip of the ole block. We know that she’ll get herself into some sort of dilemma. This is a little bit like General Hospital; nobody dies or the ones that do don’t stay dead. … just sayen

A Moon Maid love in? Count me in. She was Gould’s sweetest and sexiest creation. I was always happy to see her as a kid, and she should never have been killed off. Long live Moon Maid!

NOW this is starting to get exciting! You go, girl!

Honeymoon is a Tracy, for sure! And I’ll bet her databasing will pay off and she’ll find “Moon Maid” and, eventually, under some (perhaps dire) circumstances, confront her. But, as a “Dick Tracy is a cops-and-robbers strip, not science fiction” purist, I hope “Moon Maid” is not Moon Maid, who should stay honorably dead….

Nice to see a reminder of Moon Maid’s love of hats. (Or was it just that Gould used to love to draw his women in hats??) Remember one strip where she was in tears because she could not fit a certain hat over her antennas. Another nice nod back to the Gould artwork. Poor coloring choice to match the hat to her hair. It is much clearer in the b&w version or other colored versions.

Anybody here seen my friend, Moon Maid? Was that her yonder, resting in the cool shade Of an Oak tree, tall and majestic, Or are deceiving eyes playing a trick: Seeing what they desire to be real and true Wishful thinking distorting the view.Wanted to whisper in her earWords a lonely mother longs to hear:Honeymoon’s the best kid you’ll ever findSmart and daring, honest and kind.In that she reminds me of her motherUnique outsider, extraordinary “Other."Honeymoon embarks on her vital questTo find the Maiden and lay to restFalse assumptions of her demiseMay a binding reunion be her prize.

Staton and Curtis clearly won’t be hemmed in by mistakes of the past. You have to go back to Gould’s lengthy prime to find the high caliber of storytelling and art we see today. I couldn’t be happier with the direction in which things are headed. The return of Moon Maid is simply the icing on the wonderful cake. Team Tracy is creative and audacious. In the words of Cole Porter: “I’m in love again, and I love, love, love it.”

Wow! That’s quite a big poster of her mom!

Good Morning Detectives!It would be quite a satisfying piece of storytelling for Honeymoon to get to the bottom of all these alleged sightings of her mother.

Reserve weekend; see you all Monday.

Is there a ‘please, not Moon Maid’ camp? Count me in. Hoping she’s just a cosplay nut. Let’s pretend the moon people era never happened. Dig Gould’s vintage stuff [88 Keys, Flattop, BB Eyes stories are faves from an anthology I read as a kid and recently bought for my kids] but it was clear the man ran out of ideas when Tracy started chasing thugs in flying trash cans, which I believe was before the strip devolved into the moon nonsense. Collins/Fletcher did the strip a huge favor by erasing all of that from the canon.

@ Maximara:I am also one of those fans who would prefer to keep the “Flash Gordon” aspects out of the current Dick Tracy. I want him to be a detective, not a “Space Cop”. Since there are so many Moon Maid fans here, I hope Mike and Joe have found a way to satisfy everybody, but I don’t have any idea what that might be.

Moon Maid’s last spoken words in Gould’s strip were in 1973,she made 3 or 4 (non-speaking) appearances after until he retired in Dec. 1977, so Chester himself basically killed the character off (metaphorically speaking.)

Perhaps you aren’t familiar with the idea of changing perspective from one frame to the next. In the second panel, the “camera” has come closer, not zoomed in, so the apparent placement of the objects is different, even though their spatial relationship is the same. In the third panel, Honeymoon has turned around and is looking to the left of the mirror. The camera has moved to behind her, and is possibly catching the other of a matching pair of lamps on either side of the mirror. This is a great example of three drawings of the same room from three different perspectives.

Too bad the colorist didn’t think to color the mirror differently than the wall behind it. It makes it look like Honeymoon keeps an extra head on her dresser.

Spaced, in the final frontier

Where some boldly go, others travel with fear

Oh sure, you can fly to the moon on gossamer wings

But beware the terror a certain name brings

Some fear this fair maiden from the moon

They say her return is just to soon

Others say, of her they want to see more

The sight of her they just adore

“She’s dead” it is said, “she can’t come back”

“When you’re dead you’re dead, that’s just a fact”

But those who have longed for her, lo these many days

Say “of course she can, just look at the ways”

“She teleported, before she became goo

“Perhaps she regenerated, just like Dr. Who”

“Her body was consumed, her essence wasn’t destroyed”

“All these years, with, we were just being toyed”

But what the truth is, is anyones’ guess

Perhaps we should give the evidence to Abby at NCIS

The lines have been drawn, the camps, they are formed

Post at your own risk, you have been warned

So tune in tomorrow, where the opinions will fly furious

Some will be well thought, others just spurious.

Since this seems to be the day to sound off about Moon Maid, here’s my feedback. I am very pleased that Mike Curtis and Joe Staton are revisiting this part of Tracy’s history. I was already happy with the many improvements they had made to the strip. But revisiting the Moon Era and this whole Moon Maid mystery? It’s put this fan into “orbit.” I don’t think any portion of Dick Tracy history should be swept under the rug, and Moon Maid is a big part of that history. We’re reminded of this every time we see Honeymoon. And I believe the connection to Moon Maid is a big reason why Honeymoon is so popular. Every time we see those big eyes and pigtails, we think of her mom and wonderful days gone by. So yes, by all means let’s revisit. Did Gould go over the top with the space stuff at times? Sure, but no one is arguing for a return to all that. As much as I like Moon Maid, I prefer the strip to be primarily earth bound and focused on solving crimes. I think most fans do. But making room again in the strip for Moon Maid, whoever she turns out to be? A character that so many fans adore? Absolutely! Even take an occasional trip to the moon? Yes! If she’s the original Moon Maid, great, or if a clone or relative, that’s great, too. I’m just glad to have the moon hottie back, whoever she turns out to be—hopefully not a nutty earthling imposter. Moon Maid was an extremely popular character for many reasons, and in my opinion it’s silly to think that bringing her back will somehow hurt the strip. The overall positive and favorable feedback since August 1 speaks for itself. I know some of you disagree, and I don’t mean to disrespect, but that’s how I feel. And I think there is evidence to show Moon Maid’s return has energized fans like few things ever have. Science fantasy is very popular these days, and MM has the potential to attract many new Dick Tracy fans. She has certainly excited this fan. Long live Mysta!!

Very well said 60sFan. Are you a politician? lol Bringing Moon Maid back doesn’t mean that the DICK TRACY strip is turning into another Space Opera. But Why can’t we have both? Bringing the moon aspect back into the strip could only enhance it and add a new element to story telling. It is clear that people either LOVED the moon era or HATED it, but one can’t argue the fact that Moon Maid was loved and had a huge fan following. Alley Oop has traveled all over space and time all these years and it didn’t hinder the success of the strip. Can we have Moon Maid back and still continue to have the old fashioned Detective story telling? I say yes.

The outcries are always the same. Whenever Moon Maid appears in the strip, some posters are so excited they almost wet their pants while others decry the “changes in the Dick Tracy canon” as if the authors have committed a terrible sin of some sort. Others complain of too much “science fiction.”

Over the years I have learned that “canon” means very little. How many times has the guy with the cat been killed in James Bond movies? How many times has DC or Marvel brought back heroes or villians who have been killed? Arthur Conan Doyle even brought Sherlock Holmes back from the dead after killing him off. Is the old Battlestar Galactica canon or the more recent incarnation? Weren’t two-way wrist radios science fiction when Gould created them? Collins violated “canon” many times and brought several “dead” characters back for another run.

When creating any type of fiction (be it comic strips, novels, movies, etc.), the popularity of the work indicates the success of the writers/creators. And I expect that each new writer or artist will interpret the characters and situations differently.

Obviously from comments on this board, Moon Maid’s reappearance has been highly popular with the majority of readers. This popularity indicates the success of reviving this character. And with each reappearance of Moon Maid the popularity of the strip increases.

Even though I am in my 60s, I had not yet been born when Dick Tracy first began. Many readers today were not even born when Moon Maid was blown up and have no investment in “canon” but simply like to read an exciting serial comic each day.

The old tales are fun and interesting to read but the fact is that long-running strips need to be re-imagined for each new generation of readers in order to be viable and draw new readers. I cannot feature the mucky mucks at TMS ever saying: “Mike and Joe, I know Moon Maid has brought great popularity and many new readers to the strip, but I don’t think we need this popularity any more because it is not canon or seems too science-fictiony.”

More likely they said: “This Moon Maid revival is a pot of gold. Let’s find a way to keep this thing going because it means new readers and new readers means more profit.” Comic strip production is, after all, a business.

The question is: If you were the writer of Dick Tracy, would you continue to build on the popularity of Moon Maid and draw more readers to the strip or would you ignore that popularity (i.e. success) and the excitement it has generated and opt to stick to strict “canon” at the risk of losing that popularity in favor of possibly a plodding, unimaginative, lifeless strip as Locher produced during his last few years?

I have never been a huge scifi fan. But I did enjoy the Space Coupe and Moon Maid and all the magnetism stuff. It was trippy then, and it’s trippy now. Plus face it, Moon Maid sizzles. I love it that they’re bringing her back. It’s a big reason I’m excited about Dick Tracy again. And I look forward to seeing how her story is resolved.

And another thing, if this really IS MM (which I doubt), what happens when MM (Who apparently isn’t as “sweet” as she used to be), confronts Sparkle with that big mallet demanding that she gives her back her daughter and husband? To me, bringing back MM is just like Marty McFly meeting his Mom when she was a teen girl; it just changes too many things in the timeline.

I am a big fan of the “Moon” era and was upset when Collins and Fletcher killed off the Moon Maid. How is the Moon Maid not “canon”? She was created but Chester Gould. Saying that the science-fictional era wasn’t the real Dick Tracy is like the Holmes fans who exclude a couple of Arthur Conan Doyle stories as “purely fictional” and not the work of John Watson.I’m still thinking that this Moon Maid might be as sister or a cousin of Mysta. Or the time she has not communicated with Junior or Honeymoon might have been when she was in recovery. If that’s the case, her father would have been perfectly within his rights to remain silent.So I hope it’s not fake and would love it if it was really Mysta!

Another enjoyable strip, Mr Staton and Curtis. An interesting question though; panel 3. Is that Honeymoon’s image in a mirror? It caught my eye, as I was looking over it.

Oh and thank you M. Mitchell Marmel for the invite to join this little community. a pleasure to see more Dick Tracy fans.

- Kan

If anyone is wondering who “Hanna Star” is (from todays Dick Tracy strip) please visit www.hannastar.com. When visiting, leave your email and you get a free song download. Mike Curtis is a big fan of hanna star. We were all at Comic Conway together a few weeks ago when Hanna performed. Thanks to Mike and Joe for including her in today’s strip! (her dad) Mike McCarthy

Imagine how angry the fans would be if Honeymoon was suddenly killed off. That’s how upset I was when Moon Maid died. Please don’t tell me the new one is a fake.

I concur!

for all you who are saying that moon maid is a “dress up character” in the strip.. you all couldnt be more wrong. mike has said many times that the moon maid story and the “costumed vigilante” story are two entirely different things.

and i was wondering how long it would take some nitpicker to start nipping at the comic like some rabid vulture on a dried out husk of a corpse on the side of the road. always nice to see i’m not disappointed by the trolls who apparently have nothing better to do than try and drag down a great story/creators/comic.

More red herrings?

To those people who keep on carping at me, supposedly for saying that “Moon Maid isn’t canon”; reread my post, I said that MM being ALIVE isn’t canon

I agree about the Junior family looking very sanitized. I’m glad they got their faces back.^^Locher should really stick to his Conservative-bent political cartoons, where I can ignore him

Good evening, gents! Has my friend been a good boy today, or has he gotten beat up again?

I also admire the work of Jim Brozeman who assisted Locher during the final part of his term.

Sorry, you two are so busy trying to top each other that I must have hit Otto’s button by mistake

Anybody here seen my friend, Moon Maid?

Was that her yonder, resting in the cool shade

Of an Oak tree, tall and majestic,

Or are deceiving eyes playing a trick

Seeing what they desire to be real and true

Wishful thinking distorting the view.

Wanted to whisper in her ear

Words a lonely mother longs to hear

Honeymoon’s the best kid you’ll ever find

Smart and daring, honest and kind.

In that she reminds me of her mother

Unique outsider, extraordinary “Other."

Honeymoon embarks on her vital quest

To find the Maiden and lay to rest

False assumptions of her demise

May a binding reunion be her prize.