Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for June 25, 2013

Great . . .

Now we know that Retik & Stellaluna are not part of Sail’s evil designs. They are truly concerned about Moon Maid/Mysta or ???’s safety!

Ok , not a mannekin, apparently… but, could still be Lizz in disguise :P

DT should ask her something that she and he would only know.

I just knew that all this speculation about Tracy being a mannequin didn’t make sense. Some of you are reading too much into some of these strips.

I don’t think that this MM is the real MM, although I’m sure that she believes she is. Obviously, Tracy is not easily convinced. I still say that she is naive and innocent, whoever she is, and Retik is right in saying that she may be in danger.

There’s no point putting my comment on yesterday’s strip, so late in the day, but it makes me wonder how Diet Smith manages to pay a 24-hour armed guard to just stand there guarding a vehicle that has only been used once in decades. It much be a pretty boring job. I suspect that the guard may even be dead now, given today’s development.

If Bardoll manages to steal the Space Coupe, which I suppose is the plan, we could have a chase coming up. What, exactly do you do with a Space Coupe? You can’t exactly hide it!

Stellaluna and Retik are clearly not in on the plan, and Ghote looks rather alarmed, so I think that Dr. Sail is really the villain in this story.

Vitamin Flintheart in disguise?

It felt like the Twilight Zone around here yesterday, with all the talk about mannequins, dummies, Pollyanna, etc. Oh wait, maybe Tracy’s really Rod Serling!

While I am firmly in the no MM camp, I am looking forward for more twists in this story, makes it something I really look for every night

I hadn’t realized that Ghote was there.

It dawned on me yesterday — Diet has taken a huge gamble allowing Mysta to come inside his plant. Twice! He knew she wanted to go to the moon, and he has to assume (whoever she really is) that she has the ability to stun every person in that plant and simply take the Space Coupe. Given his doubtfulness about her identity and especially that Sail has been outed as a phony, allowing Mysta to waltz right in a second time was an especially horrific security risk.

I am as skeptical as Tracy (or is that vice versa?). But the question of truth about the entity I call Clone-Moon Maid will have to wait now that gunplay has been heard and the scene must shift to the Moon Suite; I’m guessing that Bardoll has killed or at least wounded the lax security guard and even now is trying to access the Space Coupe. But he is not a qualified pilot, as far as we know; so, what’s the point of his getting into a shootout prematurely? In fact, what was he supposed to be doing there at all?

I think Scooby would put it best with a, “Rut row!”

Good morning everyone…

One of the best ever DT “mysteries” and I arrived late!

Wow—Dick is really acting cool toward the visage of his former daughter in law. I’m guessing the lab guys are analyzing the hair, hence “Its not my place to verify your identity, Miss.” Still, I don’t think I could be as emotionless when confronted by someone who looked, dressed and acted like my long dead friend. This is a terrific story so far!

May I ask a stupid question, please? I had about a 30 year hiatus from reading Dick Tracy from the 70’s to the last few years. Who are Retik and Stellaluna? Are they moon people? Moon-Maid’s relatives? I don’t know them. What is their interest in the moon and it’s people?

Gun shots off-panel! More twists and suspense. Looks like Retik is ready to spirit Mysta away from danger. Will she be wrongly suspected of culpability in the shenanigans? More of the good stuff from Team Tracy.

I bet it comes down to Bardoll vs Moon Maid in the end.

I cannot think of a time that DT has been “cooler” to anyone, other than a criminal.

Of course, there were so many “theories” this weekend, that perhaps this was not really Dick Tracy at all, but someone in disguise while Tracy was setting a trap at the Moon Suite. The candidates for this disguise included Lizz and a mannequin. Of the two, I think a mannequin would have been far more believable.

On the other hand, anyone other than Richard would have made the extremely cool statement toward Mysta a bit more believable. It’s Tracy’s total lack of emotion at seeing Mysta that has me boggled. Angry that she might be an imposter, I can see. Ecstatic to see someone he thought was dead, I can see, as well. Credulous that she survived the blast, yes, that, too.

The only thing we know that Tracy knows is that Mysta is no clone.

In the mean time, Mysta has made a mess for herself. While her note may have been lost, she will always remember what she did to Sparkle. And so, yes, for now, Mysta has reason to avoid Dick Tracy – perhaps explaining her bumbling comments when she first saw Richard a couple days ago.

Topping it off is Tracy’s added comment, “miss.” Kind of like saying “young lady.” Like a teacher in a one room schoolhouse to a naughty child about to sit in the corner with the conical hat.

Saved by the gunshots.

Straw poll results: I think only four chimed in, and I recognized them as previous pro-Moon Maid fans. I liked the comments from Willie007 and Pequod77, which reflect mine own feelings. Summarizing Willie and Pequod (and me): Yes, we want this to be the real Mysta. But it’s no longer clear just who she is.

Agreed, it makes no sense at all to have a year’s worth of teasers and buildup just to have Mysta be a fake. And I maintain that a fake Mysta will have to be written out of the story line in short order. Others have said it more succinctly: She needs to die again, once and for all, and quickly.

Which is not the outcome that most of us want.

Boy, Mike has been playng us like a mandolin, and some of us are looking a little too hard for clues. Did any of you really think Tracy might be a mannequin? Or someone else in disguise (with that jaw? only if Putty Puss had joined the force)?And now some of you are calling for Mysta to “die again, once and for all. And quickly.”My thoughts: (1) That’s the real Mysta (2) her actions – even with Sparkle – are in character (3) she’ll help find Sparkle.

I’m having a hard time “slotting” Stellaluna and Retik. If she was on the good guy’s side, she’d have profiled Bardoll in a heartbeat for a Chicago-style thug. She would have profiled Sail, as well. Maybe she’s got that “gender” handicap.

I’ve said this once before, but, it’s great to see these heated and passionate exchanges here. I honestly feel the top notch writing and art of Curtis and Staton has much to do with this. It’s the glorious return of an American icon, big time. Long live Staton, Curtis, AND Tracy!

On another topic, Bardoll looks a bit like the Frankenstein monster, and I almost wonder if he was assembled from parts by the mad doctor. He doesn’t seem too intelligent.

If Bardoll is such a “monster,” it’s possible that MM is, too. That’s the theory that I’m leaning towards at the moment. It’s an open question what sort of parts could have gone into this MM, whether human parts, parts from an actual Lunarian, and/or artificial parts. If it’s an amalgam of the real MM and some other parts, I’m not sure where that leaves us. Whatever the outcome of this character turns out to be, I’m sure that some readers will be disappointed.

The only thing I can say for sure is that I wouldn’t want this whole story line to end abruptly right now. After all this buildup, I feel like we are finally getting into the actual meat of the story now, so I don’t see MM dying quickly. Whether she will die at all remains to be seen. “All in good time,” to quote the Wicked Witch from the Wizard of Oz. We will see.

By the way, I’m neutral about whether MM ought to go or remain. I haven’t really read many of the strips from the Moon Era and I don’t have a strong preference either way.

Nice work today by Staton on all the faces. Great expressions on all seven.

Also since we’re talking about it, I want Mysta to stick around for good unless she’s a complete phony. Which I doubt.

I did read it from the beginning but must have skipped over the introduction of Retik and Stellaluna too fast. So I take it that R & SL are new characters, not recurring characters?

On an interesting side note, the best-known Space Coupe of its time was christened the “Sparkle Plenty”!

The “Sparkle Plenty” ie the one Space Coupe that we know is available and in operating condition, because we saw it used about 5 months ago.