I’m confused as to how somebody could constantly have flies swarming around him at all times. What would cause such a disorder? This seems awfully fantastical.
Ha Ha! Where’d the driver come from? Everyone knows taxi drivers in USA generally wear turbans and speak with foreign accent. Maybe if passenger is really lucky the foreign driver actually has a valid Green Card and drivers license! Why would cab company let an American drive?
I need some help. Back in the late 50’s or early 60’s Tracy dealt with a group of villains that were dressed in outfits that covered their faces as well as their upper bodies. They were named after playing cards. ( Ace of Spades, King of Hearts etc.) I remember their headquarters being on top of a plateau probably in the Southwest. Does anybody remember what year that was written? That series alone caused me to be the Tracy fan that I am and I sure would like to read it again but I need to find out the year it was written. Thanks, Rick
That’s a Checkerboard cab in panel #1. Flagged meters have been replaced by electronic units, and the last few times I was in a cab, there was a thick window between the driver and passenger compartments. I guess this version of Dick Tracy is going for a retro look in a parallel world.
These days, cab companies favor the Crown Vic. If not that, then your cab will be some sort of minivan.
No Checkers anymore in the Chicago area. As Bill said, they stopped making them in 1982. By law, a car has to be less than five year old and have less than five hundred thousand miles on it for cab service around here.
You’re thinking of the 52 GANG. They stole the Space Coupe and used it to launch Orner Jameson into orbit.
The year was 1962. Their adventure ended when the police napalmed the whole gang atop their plateau. The plateau itself turned out to be holding a ton of skeletons from a Civil War concentration camp–it was the Civil War centennial.
Now THIS is the correct way to build suspense and create anticipation to read what will happen tomorrow.
Identifiable cars, lifelike expressions, lots of detail… and the byline is correct now: “by Joe Staton and Mike Curtis”. This is really a pleasure to read! I am happy!
Here in the SF Bay Area, there are plenty of taxi cabs that don’t have protective windows between drive and passenger. In fact, I’m guessing that’s true for most of them.
Never swat a fly, he may love another fly
He may sit with her and sigh the way I do with you
Never harm a flea, he may have a favourite she
That he bounces on his knee the way I do with you
Never stop a moth when he is gliding through the air
He may have a date in someone’s flannel underwear
Ah ah be careful!
Never spray a nit with a great big can of Flit
He may think some nit has it the way I do with you
M. Mitchel Marmel, this version has Marjorie White:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QE3-KcDzGDA
It’s a scene from “Just Imagine.” The movie has a good Henry Ford joke, a spacecraft that turned up in the Flash Gordon serials, and an early role by Maureen O’Sullivan.
Well…sort of: “Yellow Medallion cabs are the only ones authorized to pick up hails. Avoid cabs that are not the typical “yellow cab”, especially if you are new to New York.”
brinrik, the 52 Gang story was reprined by Blackthorne Comics in issues # 89 and # 90. The company is out of business now.
But copies can be bought from :
The Dick Tracy Fan ClubSPEC Productions,
P.O. Box 32,
Manitou Springs, CO 80829-0032
Phone - Andy Feighery (719) 685 - 9086
EVERY THING from past Dick Tracy comic strips is available there. All of Gould, All of Fletcher’s art, and, they are half way through reprinting the 15 years of Max Collins’ stories
Or, take a look on the web at : specproductions.com.
Wow, I hope that Junior & Moon Maiden make a come back. I was reading a comic book with those characters and I was shot 4 times. I didn’t remember too much after that for 45 days.
Sorry but Moon Maiden died in a car explosion on Sept 2nd 1978. Big Boy was dying and had put a million $ for anybody killing D.T. She happened to be in between.
We never fully saw the Fifth’s (William Millyun) face not because of the smoke, but because he always had his hat drawn down over his eyes.
Next week is out and we’re going to be seeing the earlier Gould style drawing and Gould characters, at least for now. I think they’re trying to kick us back in time before Collins/Locher and move forward from there the way it should have been done.
Nobody has mentioned something that is important to me. The fact that at least one of the team is reading our comments and is secure enough to interact with his comments goes a long way to bringing the strip back to the readers and making us feel that what we think is at least worthwhile. Thanks to Mike and Joe for a pleasurable five days already and more to come!
Has anyone noticed that we havn’t seen a BEEP here from any of the old Praetorian Guard ?
Now that the scales are falling from Mattie’s eyes, and he begins to SEE (perhaps for the first time?), what hero Locher should have been doing in Dick Tracy - and didn’t, you’d think he’d put on his red sweater and come out and apologise.
As I recall there have been about 5 or 6 like minded posters over the years, but I suspect in was just a core of 2 and the other names, used as ‘nom de plumes’, a subterfuge to give the impression that there were a greater number of people of ‘like mind’.
One even had a name to imply that Locher was a “genius” and late last year the ‘Simple One’ who saw only movie stars and apparently experienced a mental ogasm each time he viewed a Locher panel !
Now I’m confused. It would appear to be The Fifth we see here as Flyface never smoked cigars. However, flies appear within the cab, so are there two passengers? Both villains are supposed to be dead, buried beneath mounds of silt left by a tidal wave in Hawaii. This was apparent because Chester Gould had flies buzzing around the mound that was left. Typical Gould symbolism. If they survived, I hope we find out how. And the fact that Mike is reading these posts (or is is Joe?) is proof that they know the entire Tracy history. Thanks for the comment on The 52 Gang, by the way. That was a great story.
Thanks for bringing this comic strip and Chief Pat Patton back! I remember him well. Now if you would be so kind as to bring the comic strips Little Orphan Annie and Annie Rooney back, I would deeply appreciate it!
When was the last time Junior was seen in the comic? I know I haven’t seen him since at least I started following DT online, which puts it at least six years and counting (I found the online strip about a year before Mike Killian passed away).
The links that have been shared on this site for the last two or three months have shown this episode on the Plainclothes site, with a few variations. It is Flyface and the Fifth, villians from the late 50s. Junior, BO and Gravel Gertie also returned, looking like they were created by Gould to look. I remarked during that run that I would like to see the artists of the Plainclothes strip take over the Dick Tracy strip, little realizing they would do so. I also remarked that maybe the Plainsclothes strip was a trial run to see how they could produce Dick Tracy. If so, I’m glad that it went as well as it did. Keep us anticipating the next day’s installment, Joe and Mike.
I saw two vintage Checker cabs on the street in downtown Chicago this afternoon. They were apparently there for a movie or TV shoot–something about a show called “Playboy,” maybe about the early days of Hugh Hefner? There were two Checkers, plus a load of late 50s-early 60s Detroit iron. Maybe Fly-Face and the Fifth walked into the movie shoot and commandeered the taxi…
Trivia point: if “Playboy” is set in the early 60s, as the other cars indicate, the Checkers are out of period–they have the big, ugly, government-mandated bumpers that weren’t introduced till 1973.
Question… If that is in fact Willie the Fifth in today’s comic, as I think we all at least suspect it is, shouldn’t he have responded to the cabbie’s question with a reflexive “I refuse to answer?” ;^)
Little Red Dress
Gould had planned to bring back Flyface and had stated as such, but never did. He also had Sam state they wouldn’t be sure of their fates, as the bodies were never found.
To those who post “previews” of upcoming episodes, or allude to variations from the recent “Plainclothes” strip, I wish you would stop. To me, the whole point of a daily narrative strip is to see the narrative unwind day-by-day.
Regarding Pruneface’s return under Collins and Locher (incidentally their first complete story together, and also incidentally the story that made me a Tracy fan as a kid): As I recall, they left that somewhat open-ended as well, with Pruneface’s fate up in the air, literally (he was on a private jet that got waylaid by… well, someone who wanted to dish out some Old Testament justice to the ex-Nazi). I suppose the plan may have been for Pruneface to return at some future point, but I don’t believe he ever did (I could be mistaken though).
FLIGHT SUIT almost 14 years ago
OMG, that Checker Cab is readily identifiable as…
a Checker Cab!
margueritem almost 14 years ago
Contented sigh…. DT is such a pleasure to read!
GM, Vista Bill!
Vista Bill Raley and Comet™ almost 14 years ago
Good morning all…
Wiseking almost 14 years ago
Good Morning everyone…and yes that does look like a standard cab!
FLIGHT SUIT almost 14 years ago
I’m confused as to how somebody could constantly have flies swarming around him at all times. What would cause such a disorder? This seems awfully fantastical.
Vista Bill Raley and Comet™ almost 14 years ago
I wanna see the Pacer again!
Bill Thompson almost 14 years ago
Flight Suit, the villain is also an artist: he draws flies.
Can't Sleep almost 14 years ago
I LOVE IT!
Moe Shrevnitz was a cab driver who was an agent of The Shadow back in the 1930’s!
ringo12147 almost 14 years ago
Ha Ha! Where’d the driver come from? Everyone knows taxi drivers in USA generally wear turbans and speak with foreign accent. Maybe if passenger is really lucky the foreign driver actually has a valid Green Card and drivers license! Why would cab company let an American drive?
margueritem almost 14 years ago
NightShade09, I thought that name would have some meaning! Thanks.
brinrik almost 14 years ago
I need some help. Back in the late 50’s or early 60’s Tracy dealt with a group of villains that were dressed in outfits that covered their faces as well as their upper bodies. They were named after playing cards. ( Ace of Spades, King of Hearts etc.) I remember their headquarters being on top of a plateau probably in the Southwest. Does anybody remember what year that was written? That series alone caused me to be the Tracy fan that I am and I sure would like to read it again but I need to find out the year it was written. Thanks, Rick
OneUrantian almost 14 years ago
Wow! This artwork is great. The taxi driver’s face and hands are well drawn. His expression in panel 3 is very lifelike.
tuckerch almost 14 years ago
NightShade, if the cab dispatcher is named Burbank, I might just die from the awesome.
FLIGHT SUIT almost 14 years ago
In New York, there are surely tons of Checkers still in service.
Bill Thompson almost 14 years ago
Wikipedia says that the Checker Motor Company stopped building cabs in 1982. There’s a photo of their last model here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CheckerA-11Taxicab_1982.jpg
That’s a Checkerboard cab in panel #1. Flagged meters have been replaced by electronic units, and the last few times I was in a cab, there was a thick window between the driver and passenger compartments. I guess this version of Dick Tracy is going for a retro look in a parallel world.
mjmsprt40 almost 14 years ago
These days, cab companies favor the Crown Vic. If not that, then your cab will be some sort of minivan.
No Checkers anymore in the Chicago area. As Bill said, they stopped making them in 1982. By law, a car has to be less than five year old and have less than five hundred thousand miles on it for cab service around here.
MikeCurtis Premium Member almost 14 years ago
Hey Brinrik
You’re thinking of the 52 GANG. They stole the Space Coupe and used it to launch Orner Jameson into orbit. The year was 1962. Their adventure ended when the police napalmed the whole gang atop their plateau. The plateau itself turned out to be holding a ton of skeletons from a Civil War concentration camp–it was the Civil War centennial.
Gould at his most ghoulisn during that time.
roberto.alves almost 14 years ago
Now THIS is the correct way to build suspense and create anticipation to read what will happen tomorrow.
Identifiable cars, lifelike expressions, lots of detail… and the byline is correct now: “by Joe Staton and Mike Curtis”. This is really a pleasure to read! I am happy!
coratelli almost 14 years ago
It’s Flyface!!! Yeah!
FLIGHT SUIT almost 14 years ago
Here in the SF Bay Area, there are plenty of taxi cabs that don’t have protective windows between drive and passenger. In fact, I’m guessing that’s true for most of them.
Major Matt Mason Premium Member almost 14 years ago
Oh…
Never swat a fly, he may love another fly He may sit with her and sigh the way I do with you Never harm a flea, he may have a favourite she That he bounces on his knee the way I do with you Never stop a moth when he is gliding through the air He may have a date in someone’s flannel underwear Ah ah be careful! Never spray a nit with a great big can of Flit He may think some nit has it the way I do with you
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfu4jw8tJGA
Bill Thompson almost 14 years ago
M. Mitchel Marmel, this version has Marjorie White:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QE3-KcDzGDA
It’s a scene from “Just Imagine.” The movie has a good Henry Ford joke, a spacecraft that turned up in the Flash Gordon serials, and an early role by Maureen O’Sullivan.
RSweigart1970 almost 14 years ago
When I saw the flies, I assumed we were getting another adventure with B.O. Plenty.
davidf42 almost 14 years ago
Well, it looks like I was wrong about BO Plenty and Gravel Girtie. Today’s strip leads me to go with Flyface instead. Waffle waffle, waffle.
Ray_C almost 14 years ago
Yellow Cab has a monopoly in New York City.
http://www.ny.com/transportation/taxis/
Well…sort of: “Yellow Medallion cabs are the only ones authorized to pick up hails. Avoid cabs that are not the typical “yellow cab”, especially if you are new to New York.”
Don’t know about Naperville.
brinrik almost 14 years ago
Hey Klypzyxm
Thanks!!! I was 11 years old then an that series really fueled the imagination of a kid.
punchydugan almost 14 years ago
I’m really looking forward to see what the new team can do with the Sunday page.
Off the subject, but I really miss Annie.
Dr. Midnight almost 14 years ago
Congrats on getting your byline.
sydney almost 14 years ago
brinrik, the 52 Gang story was reprined by Blackthorne Comics in issues # 89 and # 90. The company is out of business now.
But copies can be bought from : The Dick Tracy Fan Club SPEC Productions, P.O. Box 32, Manitou Springs, CO 80829-0032
Phone - Andy Feighery (719) 685 - 9086
EVERY THING from past Dick Tracy comic strips is available there. All of Gould, All of Fletcher’s art, and, they are half way through reprinting the 15 years of Max Collins’ stories
Or, take a look on the web at : specproductions.com.
doc1947g almost 14 years ago
John Russco said, about 3 hours ago
Wow, I hope that Junior & Moon Maiden make a come back. I was reading a comic book with those characters and I was shot 4 times. I didn’t remember too much after that for 45 days.
Sorry but Moon Maiden died in a car explosion on Sept 2nd 1978. Big Boy was dying and had put a million $ for anybody killing D.T. She happened to be in between.
Araldite almost 14 years ago
We never fully saw the Fifth’s (William Millyun) face not because of the smoke, but because he always had his hat drawn down over his eyes.
Next week is out and we’re going to be seeing the earlier Gould style drawing and Gould characters, at least for now. I think they’re trying to kick us back in time before Collins/Locher and move forward from there the way it should have been done.
browngsa almost 14 years ago
Nobody has mentioned something that is important to me. The fact that at least one of the team is reading our comments and is secure enough to interact with his comments goes a long way to bringing the strip back to the readers and making us feel that what we think is at least worthwhile. Thanks to Mike and Joe for a pleasurable five days already and more to come!
dramac333 almost 14 years ago
I LOVE the new Tracy team! Fantastic job, Joe & Mike! Tracy is fun to read again!
s.gottlieb almost 14 years ago
Hmmm, weren’t Willie and Flyface killed by a tidal wave? Unless, of course, they got better…
sydney almost 14 years ago
Has anyone noticed that we havn’t seen a BEEP here from any of the old Praetorian Guard ?
Now that the scales are falling from Mattie’s eyes, and he begins to SEE (perhaps for the first time?), what hero Locher should have been doing in Dick Tracy - and didn’t, you’d think he’d put on his red sweater and come out and apologise.
As I recall there have been about 5 or 6 like minded posters over the years, but I suspect in was just a core of 2 and the other names, used as ‘nom de plumes’, a subterfuge to give the impression that there were a greater number of people of ‘like mind’.
One even had a name to imply that Locher was a “genius” and late last year the ‘Simple One’ who saw only movie stars and apparently experienced a mental ogasm each time he viewed a Locher panel !
LittleRedDress almost 14 years ago
Now I’m confused. It would appear to be The Fifth we see here as Flyface never smoked cigars. However, flies appear within the cab, so are there two passengers? Both villains are supposed to be dead, buried beneath mounds of silt left by a tidal wave in Hawaii. This was apparent because Chester Gould had flies buzzing around the mound that was left. Typical Gould symbolism. If they survived, I hope we find out how. And the fact that Mike is reading these posts (or is is Joe?) is proof that they know the entire Tracy history. Thanks for the comment on The 52 Gang, by the way. That was a great story.
auldsquirrel almost 14 years ago
Thanks for bringing this comic strip and Chief Pat Patton back! I remember him well. Now if you would be so kind as to bring the comic strips Little Orphan Annie and Annie Rooney back, I would deeply appreciate it!
kcredden almost 14 years ago
Sydney Phillips: Thank you for the link of the Dick Tracy club. I will be checking them out.
Also to all; Check out: Complete Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy Volume 1 [Hardcover]
Wonderful books, highly recommended.
To the new team, I agree. The last 5 days have been a /pleasure/ to read.
KcMikeCurtis Premium Member almost 14 years ago
To Doc1947g You’ll see Junior pretty soon. And Moon Maid….she’s still dead, but she will be referred to.
Mike
TheKid965 almost 14 years ago
When was the last time Junior was seen in the comic? I know I haven’t seen him since at least I started following DT online, which puts it at least six years and counting (I found the online strip about a year before Mike Killian passed away).
browngsa almost 14 years ago
The links that have been shared on this site for the last two or three months have shown this episode on the Plainclothes site, with a few variations. It is Flyface and the Fifth, villians from the late 50s. Junior, BO and Gravel Gertie also returned, looking like they were created by Gould to look. I remarked during that run that I would like to see the artists of the Plainclothes strip take over the Dick Tracy strip, little realizing they would do so. I also remarked that maybe the Plainsclothes strip was a trial run to see how they could produce Dick Tracy. If so, I’m glad that it went as well as it did. Keep us anticipating the next day’s installment, Joe and Mike.
ferretface99 almost 14 years ago
holy guacamole! What’s with the anatomy lately?? It’s… just about accurate! Those hands! They’re so well proportioned!!
brinrik almost 14 years ago
Thanks Sydney I appreciate the info. Rick
CyberV almost 14 years ago
…WHAT THE?!?!
MOE SHREVNITZ?! Guys and gals… He’s straight from the Shadow mythos!
I know we’re in no way headed for a crossover, but it’s nice to see homage being paid to Tracy’s fellow 30’s hero.
Lorelei5 almost 14 years ago
All we need now is Dick Tracy to pass by WIldwood Cemetary and all my favourite comic strips have successfully achieved awesome.
puddleglum1066 almost 14 years ago
I saw two vintage Checker cabs on the street in downtown Chicago this afternoon. They were apparently there for a movie or TV shoot–something about a show called “Playboy,” maybe about the early days of Hugh Hefner? There were two Checkers, plus a load of late 50s-early 60s Detroit iron. Maybe Fly-Face and the Fifth walked into the movie shoot and commandeered the taxi…
Trivia point: if “Playboy” is set in the early 60s, as the other cars indicate, the Checkers are out of period–they have the big, ugly, government-mandated bumpers that weren’t introduced till 1973.
TheKid965 almost 14 years ago
Question… If that is in fact Willie the Fifth in today’s comic, as I think we all at least suspect it is, shouldn’t he have responded to the cabbie’s question with a reflexive “I refuse to answer?” ;^)
MikeCurtis Premium Member almost 14 years ago
Little Red Dress Gould had planned to bring back Flyface and had stated as such, but never did. He also had Sam state they wouldn’t be sure of their fates, as the bodies were never found.
Mike
mzkdad almost 14 years ago
To those who post “previews” of upcoming episodes, or allude to variations from the recent “Plainclothes” strip, I wish you would stop. To me, the whole point of a daily narrative strip is to see the narrative unwind day-by-day.
Thanks for your consideration in the future.
TheKid965 almost 14 years ago
Regarding Pruneface’s return under Collins and Locher (incidentally their first complete story together, and also incidentally the story that made me a Tracy fan as a kid): As I recall, they left that somewhat open-ended as well, with Pruneface’s fate up in the air, literally (he was on a private jet that got waylaid by… well, someone who wanted to dish out some Old Testament justice to the ex-Nazi). I suppose the plan may have been for Pruneface to return at some future point, but I don’t believe he ever did (I could be mistaken though).