Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for March 26, 2014

Well, we ARE jumping around, aren’t we?!

What a good morning!

I don’t believe my eyes! Annie’s coming back! Thanks, Mike and Joe!

So, we’ve got the Nitrates & Lena, the Scottish gentleman, Vera Alldid, Mysta Chimera, & now an Annie crossover…Gotta love it!

Sikh and ye shall find.

I had to come back to be sure I wasn’t dreaming! It’s true! Guys, the Dick Tracy strip is the place to be! Awesome is not saying enough! I can’t wait until tomorrow!

Ever since 3-14-2011, this strip has done nothing but keep going up and up. MAN, I can’t wait to see tomorrow’s strip, and this one just posted.

I’m liking where this is going.

VB did say, “What a good morning!” Maybe he’s changing it up!

Things are a-changing! What a better time to change my identity and customary greeting.

The Asp has irises and pupils?!? At least Punjab is still blank-eyed.

Wow, Annie appeared in a corner of Sunday’s strip, but I never suspected that we were suddenly going to see the Asp and Punjab all of a sudden.

While it seems like the strip is going off in a million directions at once, I’m confident that a whole bunch of these things are related in ways we can’t yet see and they’ll be coming together shortly.

It does say that “other events” will “soon impact our detective.” Besides all the characters that cpalmeresq mentioned, Méliès and Venus could re-appear at any time, along with who-know-who else. Somehow, they are connected, but I don’t quite know how.

Actually, today’s scene looks like the Himalayas or something. I wonder if that’s in Tracy’s jurisdiction, but Tracy’s jurisdiction seems pretty flexible. It’s getting more and more interesting.

Mornin’ VistaBill and other Anniephiles!No question, Dick Tracy is the best strip around!I was happy when Team Tracy started bringing back the classic supporting characters, and classic bad guys, but guest stars from other strips – more than I could hope for!(Heck, in their first week Mike and Joe included a cameo by cabbie Moe “Shrevvy” Shrevnitz, from “The Shadow!”)Woo Hoo!

It’s official. Team Tracy has just turned it up to ELEVEN! And top o’ the mornin’ to VB and all!

Geeezzz, how many stories do we have to keep track of at one time? Dick Tracy is going to try to find Annie Warbucks?

For a second there, I thought the “Little Orphan Annie” character was a vampire.

It becomes more and more apparent that Mike Curtis weaves some intriguing webs, some threads started long ago and some yet to be spun. I have no doubt that they will eventually come together. Just sit back and enjoy the show. I believe it will be quite a tapestry.

Leapin’ Lizards! Who will show up next?

WOW! It’s finally happening! Annie’s back! Annie’s back! Annie’s back!

when I looked at this one I thought I was dreaming

Geesh, guys. Annie is not back. At least not yet! We have Daddy Warbucks’ two fearsome aides, the mysterious and (normally) laconic assassin Asp and the giant Punjab of the mystic powers; but “the little Princess” is still very missing.

It’s practically a story-a-day here for the moment. I do hope that some of these numerous threads start to come together soon, and that we get some resolution on the dangling loose ends, such as the Nitrates: we do not yet know whether they are alive or dead, or what (some people simply choose to leap to their favored conclusion and assert it as fact without supporting evidence in the strip).

Awesome! Next, Popeye and Olive Oyl will come to Tracy as Sweet Pea has been kidnapped for ransom by Mumbles and DoubleUp.

Tell it like it be, Punjab!!

Always good to see Punjab and Asp, especially when they’re drawn so well. I believe Annie has been missing for too long. We caught a glimpse of her last Sunday, and a few weeks back in the lobby of The Lyric. Time for the Little Princess to be back where she belongs.

" A STATIONARY FERRIS WHEEL CAN BE VEXING "

Chet Gould’s own words (strip 12-9-77) . . .

And here (for doubters) a ‘Stationary’ Investigation has been vexing too ! Worse perhaps, (what might prove to be the “complete absence” of one) – following on what’d be, the Creator’s last major CRIME in his Dick Tracy, of December 1977 just prior to his (Gould’s) retirement ! That was, the “Kidnapping” of 2 (Perfume and the Governor) – to do bodily harm . . . resulting in murder ? (or was it manslaughter?) of the State’s Governor !!

The “culprits” were two ‘unnamed’ stick up brothers, shadowy former buddies/colleagues of Dade (Plenty), 2 brothers who wanted another imprisoned brother - ‘pardoned’ by the Governor, as Dade himself - had been. A fight ensued, leading subsequently to the brothers action to kidnap and place the Governor and Perfume Plenty overnight, (and in the middle of a ‘Winter Storm’) atop a de-electrified, and Stationary Ferris Wheel.

The Sunday page of 12-11-77 would serve “re frame” – the entire act, showing the Governor’s fall and death result

Of academic interest, is - that after the above Sunday strip appeared, 49 panels (inclusive of 2 Sunday pages) remained ‘available’ - to address what we might now call the Nitrate problem ! Yet no action, not even a ‘conversation’ was seen - to take place, in an effort to ‘identify’ or ‘apprehend’ the perpetrators ? Astonishingly, all ‘interest’ turned to the acquisition of a Fashion Hat and the introduction of a frivolous character, a designer, one Mrs Hemp. Yet surprisingly, she was the only character to recognize a necessity to “sew up” anything in the end ?. Albeit only a Hat ! Tracy and HQ team seemed to have been blind sided and caught quite - “flatfooted” !

The lack of attention to cleanly closing the Nitrates case (including body recovery) annoyed some here, but I endeavored to point to a number of cases from the 1930’s where Gould himself was found wanting, but as we can see here, there were others, and some might even wish to re-examine the treatment of the (Apr/May 1960’s) Willie the 5th / Fly Face Tidal Wave ending - in this ‘context’?. No body recovery, and a less than satisfactory determination was that they were dead (covered by sand? – not water).

Panels would show light trunks recovered on the beach (somehow) not taken out to sea by an undertow, as likely, heavier heads (?) in shadows high up on a sand hill, one even blessed with ‘signature’ flies (pointedly) ‘circling’ for readers to see !

Tracy had pondered over flying to the City to get some Probing Wires to find bodies, if there, and possibly covered by sand. But all was forgotten in a flash as a new, ‘distracting’ character, Halakaliki a cute little girl, (a survivor of the same disaster) was suddenly found in a nearby canoe. That’s the way things traditionally happen - ‘unexpectedly’ in Dick Tracy. And before readers fully realized it, those vexing ‘loose details’ slipped away - left behind, and readers were quickly into a new case with a man called Spots !

Seems the ‘circumstances’ provided enough ‘ambiguity’ for our New Team (in 2011), to bring both back (indeed, without need for ‘explanation’). A ‘status’ left unclear, for over 50 comic strip years. It was noticeable, no one here or there ‘bothered’ to question it (?) Or in hindsight, Chet Gould having (inaptly?) left those ‘disconcerting’ loose ends ! (?)

ima call a doctor and report a serious case of whiplash from this strip in the last few days.

They jump from chasing the nitrates to vitamin flilnthearts king lear performance then back to the nitrates, then to franken-mindy, then to vera alldid, and now to little orphan annie (which is a dangling plotline from MONTHS ago!) while STILL not confirming the ultimate fate of the nitrates (who i will not believe are dead until the bodies show up somewhere… heck we didnt even see the car getting dredged up from the lake!)

“You make me dizzy Miss Lizzy”!!! Toss enough stories in the air and one of them will land upright! LOL!!! I’ve never been able to master the art of juggling! Punjab looks good but the Asp looks a little funky to me! Maybe Annie is chilling out with Winnie Winkle and Brenda Starr on a chick trip!!! LOL2!!!

Wait a minute!

Obviously, a lot of the regulars are elated about the crossover. Considering that there are literally hundreds of comics out there, Team Tracy could literally go 5 years or so without getting back to Tracy chasing crooks. For that matter, they could stay close to home and do a week of Marty & Spud – giving Mattie much needed free exposure. If the Tracy regulars want other strips instead of Tracy, then that is their prerogative. I just can’t say that for myself. Like I said a few days ago, does crime pay? A reader here could possibly say, “probably.” IMHO. So, I have to agree with what’s-his-name (RWM’s anonymous poster) above.

Just patiently enjoying the ride. But I will definitely love it when this web comes together

Night-Gaunt49 said, Nifty symbol Vista Bill an greetings to you and all-—————————————————————————————————————

Thanks, it’s my new Vista Bill ‘logotype’. I used Harold’s Fonts’ “OK Monograms” to make it.

Gotta Love it. I never know where this comic strip is going next…totally awesome & unpredictable..

I also love the way it gives them so much to whine and complain about…

Sooo… the cast of Annie are real-life friends of Dick Tracy AND are fictitious characters in a comic strip?

APOLOGIES !

In Gould’s final story Perfume Plenty in hospital after the ordeal did describe those that placed them in harms way.

However, police inaction remained as stated !

Maybe these strips aren’t entirely unrelated:

An amnesiac Annie could now be married to Vera AlldidDr Ghote might have conned Diet Smith one last time, and Annie, not Mindy, is the chimera-MystaAnnie might be off with the moon people

More reasons to be glad I’m not writing the Dick Tracy strip

This is just splendiferous!!! Our Annie is back!!! She will be rescued. Thank you, thank you, thank you Team Tracy!!!

Hey. wait, did I miss something? I know those guys! You don’t usually see them in this neighborhood though.

Bigfoot?

I could not care less about Little Orphan! Let’s get back to storylines DT already has.

We’re headed toward the 50’s Mad Comic book it seems. Next up; Flush Grodin

But the Asp does not hold a candle to The Shadow in that department!

How bout bringing back another old pro wrestler? I’d LOVE to see Tracy team up with Sgt. Slaughter! Maybe Goldberg or the Hulkster? Or The Undertaker helping track down rumors Kadaver had survived…

I approve. This team could be the best thing to happen to Annie since Leonard Starr.

Don’t expect the Annie story to start yet – I’m betting that’ll be this summer’s big story. (Could Tracy take his long-overdue vacation days to help Daddy Warbucks?)Maybe today’s strip should have begun with “Meanwhile, in Katmandu…” These little interludes with Mysta, Vera’s new comic strip, and today’s peek at the Asp and Punjab may just be Mike & Joe’s way of putting characters into new places (and teasing us) before going somewhere else completely.What’s next? The dog-faced guy at “King Lear”? Got to ‘toon in tomorrow to find out! (And that’s okay with me.)

Of course, in real life, Harold Gray and Chester Gould were friends. But their strips operated in somewhat different circumstances, even though they were in the newspapers at the same time.I am referring in particular to “Daddy” Warbucks’ methods of accomplishing things. He almost never went to the authorities if he had a problem with crooks. He just called in Asp or Punjab or Wun Wey, and the crooks in question were dealt with. Sometimes they literally vanished! Or they met their fate “on a dark road in Mongolia”, or somewhere.Tracy, on the other hand, is a straight-arrow cop. If Mike and Joe plan to have Tracy investigate the disappearance of Annie (which they strongly hinted they would, on 6-16-13), it will be interesting to see if Tracy can work side by side with Asp and Punjab.Once, “Daddy” Warbucks popped a guy because he was making unpleasant remarks about a young woman that was a friend of Warbucks. The guy passed out, and Warbucks was worried that he might not come to. Punjab said, “Yes, Sahib – is it not an annoyance sometimes to live in a so well regulated country?”This could prove to be very interesting!

I wonder if a tie together on this all could be Annie was kidnapped by the late doctor and operated on becoming Mysta Chimera. Mysta has no memorie of who she was and is instinctively a good person. And she showedup after the Missing Annie sub plot was first mentioned in the Chimera story line.

All this jumping around because the pieces on the chess board of the story are being laid out for us.

I think that’s the perfect statement. The pieces are being assembled on the chess board and the game will shortly begin.

Tracy seemed certain that there was no chance they survived.

Tracy did say, “I’d say no. No chance at all.” That was only an opinion which has yet to be proven or disproven. He can’t be entirely sure, and we can’t be entirely sure. We’ll see it when we see it.

Sprocket plows through the barn door and takes out Mr. Scarecrow, yet we never see Lena in the car.

I’m pretty sure (without looking back at it) that the corner of the case or cage was visible in the back seat, which would mean that it had been loaded back in the car along with Lena.

I have not commented in a long time. But I’m glad that maybe the loose ends of Annie’s story line are going to be tied up once and for all. Whether in Dick Tracy or some where else. Why the original writers of Annie left us hanging in first place I’ll never know!

My prediction –The new Annie strip will begin on Sunday, April 20.

The current story line in “Annie” will end on Saturday, April 19, which was originally done on July 19, 2003. This ends the arc with Ben saying, “Ha! Little Orphan Annie! Guess you’ve been around the track a few times at that…”

Check the “Annie” strip for July 19, 2003 and you’ll see what I’m talking about. This is a most appropriate time to end the “reprint” Annie stories and get back to the story of Annie and the Butcher of the Balkins, with Dick Tracy, Punjab, and the Asp hot in pursuit!

DRUM ROLL PLEASE!!!!

Yes, when we last saw Annie she did go missing in her final strip. It would be great for the DT team to revive her again even for just a little while.

I should have thought of George Takei. That was an obvious one, being that it was in Dick Tracy recently! Actually, Officer Doherty was an even more recent appearance of a real-life person.Gasoline Alley also puts real people in from time to time.

First Popeye, Then Mary Perkins now Annie? Who’s next Captain Easy?I’d kinda like to see Rosco Sweeney from “Buz Sawyer” show up.

I’m still holding my breath for Marty & Spud!

You asked who was Wun Wey.I have a book showing much (though not all) of Annie’s adventures from 1935 – 1945. Wun Wey appears somewhat regularly as another of Warbuck’s faithful oriental friends. He figures in a story during 1939 where Annie is captured by a master criminal known as Axel. He helps with her rescue, and with fighting off a whole army of Axel’s men.

Annie was canceled Punjab, so there is no chance.

Where’s “Sawdust”? I guess Brenda Starr will be next.

I wonder if Mike,Joe and the team could handle a second daily-sunday strip – no one else would be perfect for ANNIE then them! Between’s Mikes quality of writing and respect for comics history and Joe’s style.

The current story line should serve as a fine example of that, although they don’t refer to the “Frank Nelson” style character by name.

I don’t think that character in Gasoline Alley ever was named, but he has appeared more than once. Even if he doesn’t have a name, he’s very clearly modeled on Frank Nelson.

Foghorn Leghorn of the Looney Toons cartoons sounds very much (catchphrases, etc.) like another fictional character called Senator Claghorn who appeared on the Fred Allen radio show. Few audiences today would know this, but I suppose many would have recognized it when the cartoon first appeared. That’s a stronger parallel to the Frank-Nelson-type character on GA. Here’s film clip for those who haven’t heard Senator Claghorn (“That’s a joke, son!” etc.)

Little Orphan Annie is already being modernized as “Annie”. Check GoComics

Morning, Anniephans!

The Rescue Mission is about to begin!