Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for March 28, 2024

Enjoy a brand new VengyTale, “A New Beginning!”

Just go on the YouTube site, and in the search field type in Avenger09

It’s so easy even Firestrike can do it!

and a new mystery rears it’s head…

whatever happened to the Grays?…

Good Morning™, Shocking reveals !

Annie is just dying to know more than ever, now, what happened to her birth parents. After all this mystery I can see Mike putting then into a happy sappy reunion.

Good morning™, all!

So, the question of what happened to Annie’s parents remains unknown. They might still be alive, but it seems we’ll never know.

There are a number of other boxes in Bob Smith’s garage . . . .

the Grays have met their fates at the hands of Sirob, ala Jimmy Hoffa…

Interesting, Annie refers to her birth parents as “Harold & Winifred”, not “My father & mother,” but after they basically kicked her to the curb I can see why her feelings towards them might be mixed, at best.

Will Annie be reunited with her parents through the help of Dick Tracy? A week or so ago I thought maybe yes, but the way Mike abruptly ends stories, leaving major questions unanswered, who knows?

They went over to the Dark Side!

Jeez, Mr Tracey’s cold at times!

Wikipedia has an interesting take on Annie, and it shows the very first LOA strip form November 2, 1924! So this year the strip will turn 100! (Actually the real LOA strip ended June 13, 2010!)

I was hoping yesterday that their story ended with them heading into the unknown leaving a mystery in the last panel. So I like today, even though I don’t like the story in the sense that Mike appears to both retcon and make unnecessary changes and additions to the Annie lore.

Look, Annie, you’re an orphan. That means your parents are no longer extant. No need to gasp in shock in panel 3.

Yes kid. They abandon you for lame excuse and who knows which foreign country they is runs off with that crook. They rather be in crooked business with those crooks. Good riddance to them clowns eh.

Uh… If no one knows what happened to Harold and Winifred how do we know they went to confront Sirob?

Sure, we saw it in the strip. Did Tracy see it happen? Did Warbucks see it? Did Bob Smith see it? Bob Smith received a locket in the mail. At least the Grays supposedly sent half a locket. We weren’t told what was in the accompanying note… We weren’t even told if there was an accompanying note.

Was that the letter he found in his garage, after being forgotten for years?

Let’s assume they did include a note, “Hey, we’re going to confront Sirob (we haven’t told you about him because our job requires secrecy) but this half locket may come in handy some day.”

Did they go to confront Sirob, or were four days of washing a baby’s bottom and changing diapers enough to convince them they didn’t want to be parents and they abandoned the baby and ran off to Walla Walla or Honolulu? Tracy et al should be asking that question rather than blaming Sirob.

Panel 1: Medium shot. Bob is directly to Annie’s left in some kind of love seat, gripping a pen in his fist in an odd manner.

Panel 2: slightly wider shot. Warbucks and Tracy have used the 1 second since Panel 1 to leap in close to Annie, and Warbucks is now standing directly to her left. I don’t know these characters well, but wouldn’t a father figure be just a little more comforting when she’s clearly upset, maybe a hug or at least looking at his daughter?

I hope the Grays are having fun with the Parkers in comics-spy afterlife.

First rule of fictional deaths: no body = not really dead.

Weren’t Harold and Winifred in an car accident? At least that is what the musical said happened.

Leaping Lame Lizards .

“Kid, they ditched you and went to Aruba for the mango and veal smoothies! Got a split-level condo over at Gasoline Alley. But don’t bother. I hear they have a restraining order against you.”

1-ANNIE: Something stinks raises arm – have I reached the age where deodorant is required? BOB SMITH, ESQ MAGAZINE READER: That’s correct.

2-ANNIE: SHADDAP! How’d you like a backhand?!? You’ve had the information about my circumstances in your garage for years and did nothing about it!!!

3-DT: You need mouthwash along with that deodorant, Annie. As Paul McCartney sang on the RAM album: “I can smell your teeth a mile away” ANNIE: Really? sniff sniff Ugh. Puberty sucks!

DADDY-O: Your stench is why I smoke cheap cigars all the time – covers the smell.

I knew it – unresolved ending! The perfect jump-off point for a rebooted Annie comic strip!

Is this the future? Strip will be retitled Dick Tracy featuring Annie and Warbucks? What exactly was Tracy’s role in this flashback? Oh, he took a leave of absence from the police department. Served as a security consultant for Warbucks.

MOVIE QUOTE—“Oh, I’m very good at nookying and crannying”

Jerry Lewis—-WHO’S MINDING THE STORE?—1963

Okay,that’s the end for now….but one of the Hallmarks of Gray’s strip was that after being absent for years;Oliver Warbucks would turn up after having escaped from a Russian prison camp or salt mine(1941 and 1950 most prominent examples).

And a lot of MIA’s from WW2 and Korea would suddenly turn up alive and their girls had faithfully waited for them.

Why do I have sneaky feeling we’re about to find out

Hmm, a red headed girl, orphaned by a criminal who killed her parents, adopted by a wealthy patron? Wasn’t this the plot for the Elseworld Batgirl one shot back in the 90’s?

Hell, Harold became a cartoonist. Came up with a comic strip. “Little Annie Roonie” or something.

I like Annie in panel 2!

Q: What happened to Annie’s parents?

A: They’re dead, Jim.

Tomorrow, Pee WeeThe Elephant takes Annie on a magical journey

And The Junior Crimestoppers start looking for Annie’s aprents

Does this mean this Bow-Wow is over.? Fingers crossed

I fear they are still alive and might show up one day. Making lil Annie no longer an orphan. Honestly, I wouldn’t be happy about it.