Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for October 09, 2013

He had better.

I like the way Junior is drawn in the last panel with the small round black orbs for eyes. It’s more like Junior classic.

What! Me Worry?

Whoa! Can’t wait for the explanation!

Wrist wizard + water = bad combination. She will be in for some shocking news.

Finally!!!

……who she is…..well, then, obviously not Moon Maid. And Ghote is obviously also not the real deal. Sure hope the person who said they knew who it was isn’t right, as although we were advised not to go to yahoo groups and be “spoiled”…..c’mon, that was too much of a tease not to be lured there.

This should be interesting…..

….“finally”? Don’t get your hopes TOO high, Patrick…we’ve been down this road before. They may want to resolve the space coupe dilemma plus start a few new story threads before Junior delivers the news, lol. And youy’d think an advanced device like the wrist wizard would have a “broadcast outward off” switch

Ok, time for me to sign off and leave the stage to our 4 or 5 trolls to argue and bicker and insult each other on….have a nice day!

….you’re 100% right, it was my call…..just as it is my call to say here I hope it doesn’t turn out that way…..without also not revealing anything…….I’m not complaining about you hypothesizing, just hope you’re wrong…..although I fear you’re not, that WAS an awesome piece of detective work..

Sounds like it’s time for what show business calls “The Big Reveal.” And yeah, it’s neat to see Junior lookin’ Junior.

Finally we’re going to know!

Speaking of Honeymoon, it’s funny how she was so prominent early in the Moon Maid mystery but has barely been heard from lately. Remember how she was sending her friends out to find Moon Maid and how convinced she was on the space coupe that her mother was still alive? That seems like ancient history now.

This story has lasted a long time for a daily comic strip, but I’ve enjoyed every panel of it. Mike Curtis and Joe Staton have given us truckloads of pleasure and managed to keep us on the edge of our seats for more than a year. I can’t say enough good things about their work. I’m glad we’re finally going to learn the truth now about Mysta. It’s time. And whatever/whoever she turns out to be, I will always love this story and consider it one of the all-time greats. And I hope Mysta sticks around.

Awkward, catching Honeymoon in the shower like that, but I’m sure she can be ready in ten minutes when Junior comes to pick her up. We may assume, I hope, that they will then join Diet Smith for the beginning of the Big Reveal (which I expect will unfold over several days, somewhat long-windedly). It certainly is the clear implication of Junior’s words that “Moon Maid” is not the original Mysta, no matter who she turns out to be, really.

Good morning everyone…

I’m anxious to find out about MM/Mysta, too!

Disclaimer: I, too, like willy007’s theory due to the thorough nature of its research. But I agree with Trader Joe and others (even willy007 himself) in not wanting it to be true!.That said, a thought for Chief Patton, who said,.“I think Moon Maid will stick around after this is over. I think the new poster with Moon Maid getting equal billing is proof she is here to stay! And that’s a very good thing no matter what we may learn.”.That same poster also features the Space Coupe at least as prominently as Dick and Diet, and we all saw what happened last Sunday….Again, another thing I didn’t, and don’t, want to see happen…

it doesnt explain it jpw… thats one of the holes in it.

i like willy’s theory, and like i said before it makes as much, if nto more, sense than a lot fo stuff that we all have been throwing around, but that right there is the big question mark in the whole thing.

it CANT explain the *EXACT** dna match to moon maid at all

that being said.. let’s try an experiment here… going on the assumption that moon maid lite isnt moon maid original recipe, and that willy’s theory is off kilter… and also assuming that somehow ghote and sail managed to somehow get the real moon maid’s dna into their creation… WHICH tracy villainess would you all want moon maid lite to turn out to be?

i speculated MONTHS ago (completely in jest) and without mentioning names, that there was a curvaceous tracy villainess that met her demise at the hands of an explosion.. considering the rogues line-up thats waiting in the wings for tracy, i think it would be fun if she was revealed as moon maid lite.

after al, moon maid lite’s own words say that she remembers AN explosion… but (if i recall correctly, and i am SURE ray toler will correct me if i am wrong becauase it makes his day to do so) not WHICH explosion that killed her :)

i’m just sayin’…..

tsull2121: You lost me somewhere around the “villainess that met her demise at the hands of an explosion.” Is this a historic or hypothetical character that you are referring to?.Also, Ray Toler seems to be a level-headed kind of guy. Your remarks regarding him seem unnecessarily incendiary..Otherwise, a very interesting post.

My only concern about Moon Maid’s “identity” is that Mike isn’t going to to reveal she’s some character heretofore not seen in the story. (I really don’t want Diet Smith to say something like, “Moon Maid is really ,,,Ramona Farquart!” to which we’ll all say, “WHO?”)To me, her identity is like the solution to any mystery story – if she isn’t the original Moon Maid, she has to be one of the suspects already introduced.

Tracy didn’t remove his wizard during the rainstorm, and it’s still operational — so it’d presumably survive a more civilized shower as well. As others have said, Honeymoon’s concern is avoiding a YouTube scandal, not an electrical zap.

My guess is that Willy was dead-on-it. I’m sure someone will blow the troll whistle and the arguments will commence. I figured all along that Diet is the brightest light on this tree.

“My view is, if Willy’s theory is correct, how does he explain the DNA match?”What I suggested is that she has been “genetically altered.” I can’t explain the mechanics of such a change, just that Ghote did it somehow.

Willy007: Which is one of many reasons I think Ghote should have stuck around a bit longer. As someone said the other day, “lots of ‘splainin’ to do”!

Willy007, I think your detective work was rah-thur clever but there are two glaring issues I have with it: DNA, as stated before; and, Diet continuing to refer to her as MYSTA and taking a paternal and immediate and protective interest in her well-being. If Mysta/MM were not the real deal or even a reconstituted version, I see no reason why Diet Smith would get out the Space Coupe and race toward Mysta/MM in the middle of that storm. The key to discerning a plot and a mystery are not only the facts presented but the motivation of the characters. Diet would have zero motivation to really lift a finger if Mysta were some imposter. He would merely blithely turn to Tracy, tap the ashes of his cigar on the ground and remark “She’s all yours, Tracy” and just walk away.No, given that Diet is Honeymoon’s Godfather, I think we are in for a payoff here regarding Mysta.

I am STILL waiting to see where Lizz went to, why she said “Let’s go” [assuming she was speaking to Sam & DT that she was urging them to go outside and investigate the gunfire at Wheaton Corral and what happened to the other villains. Still many holes in this plot to fill convincingly.

I don’t see the phrase “who Moon Maid is” as proof that she’s not the original. For the past year (real time) the characters and the readers have been wondering “who Moon Maid is”, that is, the character who looks just like the original Moon Maid, acts like her, and even really thinks she is her. Since Diet Smith “knows who Moon Maid is”, he’s apparently about to reveal either that she isn’t the original Moon Maid OR that she is.

If Junior’s comment were meant as the reveal some people are reading it as, it would have been “who Moon Maid really is.” Nothing given away here yet.

To state the obvious, the Harvey Award winning team of Staton and Curtis have returned Dick Tracy to a high standard of excellence not seen in a very, very long time.

Anybody remember the Vitamin Flintheart soliloquy a few weeks back? I’m waiting for the tragedy to unfold. Then please can we have a hard boiled crime story. I’m encouraged that the Team has developed this Sci Fi story so deeply; now could they come up with an analog in the crime realm. Would love to have a new classic villain that can keep a half step ahead of Tracy, the way Flattop or 88 Keys or Little Face did. We need one of THOSE kinds of stories!

NG th eonly problem there is that if a mangled corpse (or any form of one otherwise) had actually SURVIVED the explosion, it would have been buried in the grave and the onyl way to have gotten the dna from it would have been to exhume the body and dig up the grave.

There will never be an exact DNA match between two different people unless they are identical twins.

betty, this is also the same thing i argued a few days ago as well.

do identical twins have identical dna though? i know they dont have the same fingerprints but i was kinda iffy on the dna thing

this link (if it works) says that identical twins dna is indeed different, but its very difficult to prove it and as of yet, there is not a way to do just that.. but since the reply was written by a geneticist, i’m gonna go with the identical twins having different dna

http://genetics.thetech.org/ask/ask68

and here’s another article where it states that “identical twins arent genetically identical” either.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=identical-twins-genes-are-not-identical

so using these two theories/articles as a basis of sorts.. using a “true dna test from hair follicles” as opposed to a “cartoon dna test” there wouldnt be a chance of even an identical twin having the same dna.. it seems that dna is unique to each individual.. and apparently that “self dna” also changes over time due to environmental changes and such

but genetically speaking jpw, hey couldnt possibly have the same dna.

then again, we ARE talking about a comic strip here so….

Here’s a theory based on recent scientific discoveries in the ocean’s floor. First, a trip back down Moon Maid Mysta Memory Lane…You’ll recall, back in the day, Moon Maid/Mysta (let’s just call her Mysta) could raise and lower her temperatures at will. Not to mention their ability to ZAP at will. There is clearly some sort of genetic modulating capability in her makeup as a Lunarian. So. Mysta was in DT’s car and a powerful bomb goes off. Her physical body was likely blown apart but was it completely destroyed? Perhaps not.This is where recent scientific discoveries come into play: there are actual sea creatures that live in volcanic thermal vents, in other words, cracks on the sea floor where molten lava seeps out of the earth’s crust. These creatures can withstand molten lava temperatures.Given that, it may be possible that one explanation for parts of Mysta having not been “cauterized” or vaporized in the actual blast may be because of the Lunarian ability to raise and lower their temperatures and there may be a greater ability for their body parts to withstand such a blast? Where am I going with this?I think her HORNS actually survived. They were referenced to have scars on them. Perhaps the actual horns were grafted onto her regenerated corpse and the reason for the masks earlier in the story were because of the partial damage her tissues had from the brutal force of the bomb blast. I dunno… I’ve been wracking my brain trying to think how the writers are going to pull this off with a degree of acceptance. Given the “Dr. T.S. Sail” == Stem Cell — references coupled with the background in cloning that Ghote brought to the table, this is my only guess at this stage in the story.

Still Da Man!.Yes, I agree, if Mysta is a “fake” (and I have been overly broad in my interpretation of what is “fake”), to include a Franken-Mindy outcome, that would be a “whole lot easier on Junior.”.But for me, that would be too easy..One of my points from the beginning is that, if Moon Maid isn’t really Mysta, then where can they take the character in the first place? Of course, many of you have answered that, whoever or whatever she is, you, the fans, seem pretty happy to have her back, regardless!.For now, I am definitely disappointed that, for the time being at least, Ghote and Sail have been dispatched to parts unknown, unavailable for explanations as to what they have done, and that Dietrich seems to have surrounded himself with clouds of doubt (particularly, the way he handled Sail and Ghote, as well as disposing of his once prized invention)..At the moment, I would have questions as to whether Smith will be telling the whole truth – assuming that Ghote had told him the whole truth before Smith sent him away..Far, far away.

Speaking of which, there is an obvious clue today that Mysta is in fact Honeymoon’s mother..Honey has green hair! Like mother, like daughter!.Woohoo, I solved the mystery!

I don’t recall the dna match as being “exact”.. can’t go backwards on this tablet with out crashing. Can someone link that?However if the dna was ‘exact’ then it would be Honeymoon’s dna that was used to create Mysta.

THIS IS A COMIC STRIP! Mike doesn’t have to justify everything, or even have it make sense…he can do whatever he wants……sorry, people.

…..and if past endings are any indication, some of it won’t make a whole lot of sense…remember all the questions we’ve had before after every adventure’s conclusion? The solution is to remember this is all fiction and just enjoy it as it is; there’s nothing to “solve”.

…..and if past endings are any indication, some of it won’t make a whole lot of sense…remember all the questions we’ve had before after every adventure’s conclusion? The solution is to remember this is all fiction and just enjoy it as it is; there’s nothing to “solve”.

It’s probably too late in the day to bring this up here and have anyone see it, but there is such a thing as “DNA replacement therapy” in which DNA can be altered. If Dr. Ghote did make a big breakthrough, he may have taken that to its ultimate conclusion.

I’m pretty sure that no claim was ever made that this Moon Maid’s DNA was an exact match to the Moon Maid we all knew, only that she and Honeymoon are definitely related. In fact, I don’t think there was any claim made that they had access to Moon Maid’s DNA from before the accident. It’s actually possible (at least in the Tracy-verse) that Moon Maid’s DNA could be artificially constructed from just a computer read-out of sequences, if such were available anywhere.

I want to know who (or what) is buried in Mysta’s grave.