Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for October 01, 2013

So the Doctor took a shot in the arm…

Good morning all…

Please to see that Dr. Ghoute is ok. I wonder how Hy Presure is doing with Doubletalk’s whip?

He winged him.

“So the Doctor took a shot in the arm…”Haha, good one! Mumbles hates Doc Ghote but not enough to kill him I guess.

Gee. It’s 1:21AM and I just HAPPEN to see if the new Dick Tracy strip is up, haha. Purely a coincidence.

So, Dr. Ghote is alive after all. I’m confused, Mumbles just figgered he’d wound him and then just keep walking?

OK, for all the talk about Dr. Ghote being a fraud, I’m beginning to think he actually did have the scientific breakthrough he was striving for with Mysta. You’ll recall, in a moment of candor with Dr. Sail (for no one’s benefit but Sail) when Ghote was so livid that his work was now tainted by the Space Coupe incident? Ghote smacked Sail.

Now, we have Ghote eager to prove it again. I suspect Ghote undertook the Mysta Project to redeem himself in the scientific community and to those who deemed him a fraud after the fake mumbles cloning back in the day. Ghote, first and foremost, seems to be a scientist albeit one who keeps bad company and unethical shortcuts to advance himself.

That, and I REALLY want Mysta to be the real deal, haha.

Wait! Dr. Ghote gets shot by mumbles and Dick Tracy and Sam did not hear the gunshot? Even in this storm? They were not that far away, so much so that the intro reads “NEARBY”

I’m reminded of a gag from the first Austin Powers movie. Dr. Evil drops a henchman through a trapdoor, and you keep hearing all these sound effects that would normally imply he’d just been killed by some death trap (flames, explosions, etc.) only each time hear the henchman’s voice complain about how that death trap injured him, but obviously not fatally. Finally we hear:GUNSHOT BANGHenchman: Ow! You shot me in the arm! I can’t believe you did that!

Joe Staton created a fantastic new poster featuring Moon Maid for the upcoming New York Comic Con (October 10-13). Haven’t seen it posted here yet (unless I missed it?), and I thought you all might like to see it. I understand Shane Fisher is making a colorized version that will be for sale at the convention. This was announced on Joe Staton’s web site: joestaton.com

I’m surprised (and a little disappointred) that Mumbles didn’t kill him. I mean, he had that eager “I reeeealy want to kill you” look, didn’t he? Ah well, such self-control.Of course, now, Ghote can get revenge and prove he isn’t a fraud by cloning someone everyone knows is really dead – Flattop!(In a story about three years from now.)

I don’t know if this is in the current theory of Mysta’s “origin,” but it occurred to me yesterday we don’t know what kind of doctor Sail is.What if he was the assistant coroner who received Mysta’s remains, and realized she wasn’t dead! He’d keep the secret to himself, and do some fast body snatching.And Sail would know to contact Ghote, the one doctor who would be willilng (evan eager) to cut corners to prove himself a genius.And the next thing you know, Mysta is back from the grave.SO, whattaya think?

The poster itself is proof that Moon Maid is popular enough to warrant being produced. I was hoping that Mysta is in fact the real Moon Maid. I was really torn when she was killed off the strip in the first place. What ever she turns out to be, I still wish Mike & Joe would keep her in the strip. As a previous person mentioned, she sure has stirred up a lot of interest in the last year.

Now that we see Ghote was “only” shot in the arm (which in fact can be quite traumatic), I’m eager to see him give us all some proof that he’s “not a fraud”; maybe he will finally explain who or what “Moon Maid” is if he gets to confront her and the assembled parties….

As the arm shot didn’t put him down or kill him from hydrostatic shock, it would seem that Mumbles is carrying a fairly low power and/or small calibre handgun. So it may have been more of a quick crack than a loud boom.

Mumbles wanted him to live to be the scapeghote.

Why shoot him, just to injure?

Very Fletcher, Panel One.

Well, I guess he didn’t have to kill Ghote. As far as he’s concerned, now they’re even. He did greet him in a “faux friendly” manner that didn’t exactly sound like he was trying to kill him.

today’s strip makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. back when ghote first appeared, mumbles WILLINGLY took part in his fraudulent scheme to milk diet smith out his fortune by pretending to be a clone… he was in on it from the beginning… where’s the rationale for shooting ghote in the arm and his comment in the second panel? sorry, this makes absolute ZERO sense at all.

someone care to explain this to me?

@JPuzzle: works for me. I’m a writer so I’m all about plot logic & consistency. They could have Dallas’ Pam Ewing wake up in panel 1 tomorrows strip telling Bobby Ewing about her dream about a Moon Maid and I’d be grateful we at least had Mysta back for a year…but I want her around ;)

tsull2121 and Still Da Man!: Agreed. Today’s panels are the first real let down I have perceived in this series. Most of all, it totally deflates the most dramatic scene I have seen in ages – the moment when we all thought it was “curtains” for the old Ghote!.NightShade09 and TraderJoe: Back in the beginning, I was thinking along the lines of (and mentioned) a crooked coroner who was the source of Mysta’s not-so-dead remains. I’m still hoping this is the case, because I’m still hoping that Mysta is the “real deal.”.I like your speculation that, perhaps, Tim Sail is that corrupt coroner, even though the speculation that is carrying the day appears to be Willy007’s theory that Mysta is, in fact, Mindy.

I just don’t see that theory holding up because this Mysta has those super-powers and the DNA from Mysta’s hair.

So Doc Ghote gets to live to die another day. Didn’t see that coming!

I like the art today, in the second panel especially. The dark shadow across Mumbles’ face reveals his dark motives. Excellent! Loving this strip and this story.

before i even start i KNOW the “staton-ites” are gonna get their panties in a bunch over this comment, so let me preface this by saying… i dont care.

staton, first off, is an amazing artist, no question about that, but i am sorry, his version of mumbles looks like a deranged cabbage patch kid. and its NOT just in today’s strip either. since mike and joe took over the strip has never been a letdown artwise… until mumbles.

for someone around the same age roughly as tracy, mumbles is showing his age even more than our intrepid title character, and he looks much worse for the wear than pretty much ANYBODY ELSE in the strip.(INCLUDING diet smith who seems to have put on some extra pounds over the years)

again, dont get me wrong, i love staton’s work.. and i have for years (since his work on green lantern actually) but his mumbles is sorely lacking.

O Boy, we are in for some surprises…

Boy, I’m surprised that Mumbles didn’t kill the doctor! Now the doctor can run in and tell Tracy that Mumbles shot him.You’re in big trouble now Mush Mouth! And I wonder how Hy Pressure’s doing? Last time we saw, he was about to get a whopping from Double Up! Double Up! This is a great story, I wonder how it will all end? And don’t forget that Blackjack and Stilletta Jones are still at large!

There’s a kitty who has really got her back…

Tarry Plaguer: Now, let’s get the colorists at both Go Comics and Comics Kingdom to study it! I have grown tired of inconsistent coloring at both websites.

I always thought Moon Maid was Chester Gould’s most sensational creation, but Joe Staton has taken her to new heights. Amazing work!

Wz Mmblz tr’n’ t’kil’im?

I tell you, you should really apply - for that JOB as Art Impact Assistant . . .

You’re focused like a Laser !

@JayPuzzleWhiz: right you are. “Jump The Shark” indeed. I was so pissed when I saw that DALLAS shower scene. I’m just making light that my love for this Moon Maid story would hopefully survive even that shark jump…but I trust the DT writers enough at this point to do right by us….by keeping our Mysta around. (OK. That’s about my third request for one day)

Really looks like YOU . . .As a kid ?Obviously, without the mustache and the beard !All you need is the ’ hand up ’ like in the early Avatar . . . like you’re in school asking a question !

Which one of these do you think would make a great Crossover Ship? Moon Maid and Mordecai (from Regular Show) or Moon Maid and Jesse Pinkman (from Breaking Bad)?

“What’d he say?”

Mumblespeak Translator: He said, “Because I never got a chance before, you lousy fraud!”

“What’d he say?”

Mumblespeak Translator: He said, “Whatever. Seeya, Doc!”