Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for February 23, 2015

Should’ve seen that one coming.

So, something needs to happen soon!

Wow! Vista Bill! What a pleasant surprise! Thank you Mike, Joe, et al for making me a happy old man!

Good morning guys!

Actually, the Nitrates seem decent enough folk when they’re not murdering and scamming people.

@✯✯ VistaBill ✯✯ You are still demand! Is a personal appearance on the strip in the offing? :)

Vista Bill Rides Again!

Wonder who the buyer for the “Vista Bill” print might be.

Guess at least some of the “Vista Bill” films were two-reelers.

Vista Bill, Nice to see you still getting the acclaim you deseerve on this page! I’ve said it before, but I won’t digress…You are the conscience of the DT posters, and you are so well respected by all.

Gweedo, I’ll buy the print from Silver!

We need our resident poets to write up today’s story, STAT.

I’d really like that, AnyFace!

The “Wonder Car” is ready to roll, Its pending sale promises money to burn.

Sprocket’s feeling a touch of the “Seller’s Remorse,” She’ll get over it, given the bonus they’ll earn.

It’s a “Hot-Ticket” item, well “Hot Item” at least, but that dangling factoid is not their concern.

Once the deal has been closed and exchanges are made, the attached A.P.B.s are Stiletta’s to learn.

Silver’s on the next scam, or “exchange” if you will

A two-reel adventure of one Vista Bill

Which a buyer now covets, across the state line

Yet another big payday will suit them just fine.

“Oho, it’s Vista Bill,” I say to myself, sounding a bit like an old Saturday Night Live sketch. So they plan to take Aggie’s money and run.

I wonder if Stiletta knows what a conspicuous car she’s getting. She must be aware that it would attract the attention of the police. On the plus side for us, maybe we’ll get another chase!

Theres no “ticking sound” coming from those film cans, is there?

Slightly off-topic …

The 1950-56 Cisco Kid TV show was shot on 16mm color film – as it was less expensive than 32mm B&W film – and was never properly color-corrected, given that it was intended for B&W television broadcasts.

As a result, the series is available in oddly washed-out color today, plus the 16mm prints are pretty fuzzy.

Still, at least the episodes exist.

The “Vista Bill” movies are likely more akin to the Hopalong Cassidy films and TV shows which starred actor William Boyd, but I have more of a personal soft spot for Duncan Renaldo and Leo Carrillo, who were 46 and 70 years of age respectively when they began playing Cisco and Pancho.

Guess back then, 46 was the new 30.

And 70 was the new 40.

@Vista BillCongratulations!!

Morning, Tracyville!

From what Sprocket says in panel 1, I hope she isn’t planning to double cross Stiletta.

Tex and Roy were top of the fieldvillians galore would have to yieldBad guys felt the need to pukeFacing the swagger of the DukeBut here in Tracyville the greatest of them allThe one they all feared who stood Mighty and tallAll the varmits would head for the hillsrather than have to face VistaBill.

.Congratulations VistaBill.

This sounds morbid, but I wonder if Lena’s next meal will be one of lifeless Nitrates….

Dead Men (and women) tell no tales.

Nah Gweedo, its too early for the Nitrates to skip town.. they STILL gotta scam Agate Aggie and go on the run from tracy and friends before they can disappear.

Gweedo, I bet he’s gonna invest in cobwebs and caskets ;)

Move over Roy Rogers! Vista Bill is taking over!

I read in one of my emails from teh dick tracy yahoo group a potential spoiler so

Mike had asked the yahoo group for stories about Mr Bribery “For Research”

but i wouldnt get my hopes TOO HIGH tho.. he mentioned something along that lines about a year and a half ago about Astral Plane too

Good poem, Stilldamatt! Your meter was good and your choice of words hit the spot! Keep it up and in no time, you’ll be raking it in – instead of having to ride the rails to work!

It may be my inherent phobia of surprises from Mike & Joe, but Silver’s timely disappearance to the back room and the film can delivery make me think something doesn’t smell right. If he was legit, Sprocket would have known. And it is going out of state. Drugs? Silver is up to something…. jus’ sayin!

Good morning my friends._________________________@Anyface: thanks for the trip down memory lane. Also, Wyatt Earp, Wild Bill Hickok, Tombstone Territory, Gunsmoke, Death Valley Days, just to mention a few more. Stay safe and warm everyone.

Cheers to VistaBill! It is the ultra-rare, much sought-after Director’s Cut of the ol’ Vista Bill western: the three hour version with the bing-bang, the boom-boom and a touch of the ultra-violence. Win a free beverage if you can spot young Rikki Mortis among the extras.

Good morning all and thanks to Team Tracy for once again honoring our Chairman of the (comment) Board, VB!

@AnyFace

@avenger09

Nice work. This comments section is becoming a regular poet’s corner.@✯✯ VistaBill ✯✯

Do you plan on making any personal appearances at local theatres to sign autographs?

I hope Silver’s words were truthful and that the two-reeler really is a Vista Bill classic (cheers to our VistaBill!); but I confess to some doubts and suspicions….

I used to watch (and enjoy) The Cisco Kid back in those days; and I had no idea Duncan Renaldo and Leo Carrillo were so old as AnyFace reports! Also watched Hoppy, though not so regularly….

God on ya, Vista Bill…

I loved the Cisco Kid, along with the Lone Ranger and even Roy Rogers.________________

The Clayton Moore/Jay Silverheels team was the definitive Lone Ranger & Tonto, and those episodes still hold up, even today.

Hmmmm, perhaps a wee bit of stubbornness on Mike and Joe’s part not to correct the spelling of Consessions?

This plot could go in so many directions from here, can’t began to guess which one…..one mark of a GREAT story!!!

Thanks to all of you for the nice comments!

Decent pictures of “The Brain” are hard to find, if anyone here can find some better ones I’d really appreciate it.

I hope I don’t get lost on the trail, Night-Gaunt49!

Let me guess: it’s a nitrate print. The writing’s on the wall.

Ohhhhhhhh …

Think I know where and how the “Vista Bill” movie plays into future storylines!

But it involves …

P

O

T

E

N

T

I

A

L

S

P

O

I

L

E

R

S

Is that enough space?

Last chance to remain unspoiled.

Seriously.

Okay, here we go …

Remember a few days back, when someone had reposted comments Mike made elsewhere about upcoming storylines?

One of them will involve …

… a Train Robbery!

Now …

How much do you want to bet that the mastermind of this “Train Robbery” plan …

A.) Lives … oh … say, one state over from the state that Tracy’s city is in.

B.) Is a “Vista Bill” fan.

C.) Has purchased the print from known criminals with the intent of using it as a blueprint to re-create the train robbery sequence from the movie shot-for shot!

Mind you, this is wild speculation – and assumes that the movie has a train robbery sequence – but honestly, how can it not?

Mike might be cribbing not only from “The Great Train Robbery,” but also from the classic “Batman, The Animated Series” episode “Beware, The Gray Ghost,” which involves a plot from a long-lost TV series being used as inspiration for a cunning, high-tech crime.

If I’m right, just remember to …

Leo Carillo and Duncan Reynaldo were an interesting pair to say the least. Reynaldo, who played the Cisco Kid was about as Hispanic as Vladimir Putin – he was apparently born in Romania, although he never actually knew his biological parents. He immigrated to the United States in the 1920s and was nearly deported in 1934 for illegal entry into the United States until he was pardoned by Franklin Roosevelt. Carillo’s great-great grandfather was one of the soldier on the first Spanish expedition to California and one of the first settlers. His father was the first mayor of Santa Monica. Leo Carillo served on the California Parks Commission for 18 years. A section of beach and state park near Malibu are named for him, as is Rancho Leo Carillo near Carlsbad California.

Due entirely to the onset of “Vista-Mania,” we now stand at 100+ comments.

Mike and Joe need to play that card more often.

Sorry Gweedo. I’m 80 years old and my mind is subject to power outages and short circuits.

Gee, Bill !I complimented your avatar once and all I got was yelled at. 

.Waaa, Waaaaaa! LOL! "Big boys, they don’t cry-yi-yi! Don’t worry Gweedo, we still love Ya!

Rikki is a buddy, Gweedo. Nothing more. We both love fast death coaches and graveyard strolls at night. Besides, our electrodes do not have matching polarity.

Like stacking planes at O’Hare waiting to land, eh?

Pouch will be selling official Vista Bill balloons tomorrow!

what state are they in right now.