Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for July 15, 2012

Morning All!I think Panda is about to get a Tonsils’ectomy! (grin)

Anyone recognize the lovely lady in the final panel? .HINT: She’s the first character to have a nickname that ended in “TOP,” several years BEFORE Flattop.

When are these villains ever going to learn it’s a bad idea to keep exotic predators as pets?

Good morning all…

It’s all happening at Mr. Crime’s House of Horrors today! And… what happened to Kadaver?

Panda,did you feed the fish, today?Happy Sunday to all!The woman is Frizzle-Top, and she’s talking to Dennis O’Copper.From Tiger Lilly and Pruneface stories.

By the way lovely Frizzletop seems even younger than in Tiger’s story!

Wasn’t Frizzletop involved in the Pruneface story?

How great is this! One FANTASTIC story is coming to a conclusion, and already this team has teased us with a new story that includes a character that hasn’t been seen (or probably thought of) for over 60 years! Thank You, Mike & Joe!

Good morning VB andall the usual DT board suspects.

Things are clipping along at a terrific pace with the villians falling in well thought methods…and just like cpalmeresq said – there’s a new thread in the tapestry and the picture just gets more intricate.

Why else would I be up at this hour of the morning?

But we still don’t know who’s dead or alive!

In response to my 1st ever post, Mike responded, “I first read TRACY in the Harvey Giant reprints, then onto to THE BRUSH in the comics. All the characters mentioned above like the 52 gang, Smallmouth Bass, Olga, and others are my favorites as well. Be assured they will be remembered by Joe and myself in future plans. But he’s got to wade through Mr Crime’s gang, who get their seventh and final member at the end of this storyline.” I don’t doubt that Mike will keep his promise, but, once again… FRIZZLETOP???! That is (excuse the expression) “over the top”! Love every aspect of this strip.

Oh, the irony! The deadly Panda, Mossberg and all, taken out by a chair and the house barracuda! Still a lot of clean-up to be done before the crime headquarters is secure, though.Frizzletop was before my time of first awareness of Dick Tracy, and given that fact seems amazingly well preserved! And so the arcs, and time, are bound together….

….the imagery here is A1

OM NOM NOM

Man-eating plants, man-eating fish, what’s next? A man-eating pizza? (Oh, that was me! Great midnight snack!) I admit I’m not familiar with Frizzletop. She doesn’t have man-eating hair does she?

Well, nearly sixty years later, Tonsils got justice. Although he was a criminal himself. Hey….Frizzletop!

Frizzletop lost part of her left arm during WWII, for those not familiar…

OK I’ll say it…“Panda sleeps with the fishies”

But who is hurt and who is not?Who has been injured and who has been shot?Will the gang sift through all the slime,Only to discover they have lost Mr. Crime?

I think, for now, Davy (Mr. Crime!?) has slipped away. At least he is missing.

Shane out did himself with the coloring today. Bravo!!!

This has been one of the best stories in decades!!! The writing and art are all fantastic!!!

If I have one “problem” with the strip, it’s that they keep resurrecting all of these old and/or previously thought dead adversaries. Why? It looks like they’ve run out of new villains to introduce when I know they haven’t.

DARN!

Coloring is indeed a highlight today.

What comes around,goes around!

Great strip today! So long Panda! It appears that Leonard got new ears but Frizzletop is still without a left arm. Nice to see her again. .I personally like that new characters are being created while old ones are being reintroduced. Reusing past characters makes the Tracy universe seem more real. In Gould’s long run, Tracy rarely ran into people he’d met in the past. It’s a big city but that didn’t make a lot of sense to me.

Another great example of coloring these days is in The Flash comic.

If Panda is killed by the barracuda, he will be one of only three deaths attributed to that fish. If he is wearing a flashy earring he may be in trouble.

Frizzletop?Looks like split ends galore!

cool

Mikie & Joe, you’ve not only achieved a “perfect ten” for spinning a tale, but you’ve earned a “perfect ten” for working the audience! THAT’S hard to do! You’ve obviously done your homework every day (and night), as few comics artists have! Bravo!

Number 42?!?!? WOW!!! i’ve dropped out of the top 40!!! for the first time since i’ve been posting!!! dang! thats what happens when you wait til after ten a.m. eastern to check the board! lol… not to worry, i’ll bounce back tomorrow! :)

while i may not have liked panda much (scheming conniving little gangster, lol) even THAT is a rather brutal end! i had forgotten about the barracude thingee in the water… too bad HE didnt! it seems that NONE of mr crime’s gang will get away.. well, except maybe blaze. by the way, the detail on the barracude is ASTOUNDING! another great job by joe… tho i really shouldnt be surprised…i’ve been a HUGE fan of mr staton’s ever since his work on greenlantern from back in what.. the 70’s/80’s? and mike i LOVE the way each bad duy is getting “picked off” individually in unthought of ways.. very original! i STILL havent seen kadaver or what happened to him, and i do not recall lee getting a shot off at him after he stabbed lizz.. maybe BOTH kadaver and blaze will make a clean getaway?

hmm.. my comment wasnt supposed to have been duplicated. oh well, i guess i fell back into my doubleup ways, lol

Oklahoma? oh no….

Really glad to see Frizzletop return. She was very interesting in her original appearance. This first panel seems to be continuing the characterization nicely: a woman who does not let the loss of a limb slow her down or dampen her enjoyment of life.

Okay, 3 members of the Mumbles Quartet were blown up. No one is going to be “fishing” Panda out of the barracuda tank at the last minute. Teevo would appear to be plant food (what a great end for him, the weasel!) And, if Doubleup did indeed meet his maker meet his maker, then that would be the six, right? And by the way, somewhere is the netherworld, Tonsils (the singer) must be having a good chuckle as Panda was one of 2 guys to feed HIM to the original barracuda.

…Of course, Mike & Joe have kept us guessing from the beginning of this incredible story, so I freely admit that I could be wrong about the six.

All I can say is that with this story arc, Mr. Staton and Mr. Curtis have taken what was a great rebirth of one of my favorite comic strips and improved it beyond what could be hoped for. Especially given what had happened to it over the previous 20 years. Dick Tracy is now what it was many years ago, not only the best adventure strip, but arguably the best comic strip around! BRAVO!!

Wow! Again!Fantastic storytelling with incredible art!Everyone’s noted the irony of Panda becoming food for his old chum, but what I love is why he toppled into the water -He was given the chair!Mike, Joe, Shelley, Shane and Jim have made Dick Tracy the best comic strip I have EVER read.

Frizzletop was an army nurse during WWII. (I’m sure Mike will have to revise this history somewhat so that she will not be 80 years old). She lost her left arm in a battle in the Phillipines.

Somewhere Panda is burning in hell listening to a crooner whom he fed the fish to,sing about muddy rainbows.

And speaking of Tracy, we still don’t know what happened to him, or how badly Lizz and Sam are hurt.

Another Sunday strip with no Dick Tracy..Scorecard’s pretty high..Most Sundays with no Dick.

Oh, wow… I go away for a bit, and action ensues! So good to see Frizzletop again. And so great to see Panda finally get his comeuppance. Aw, sad Panda…