Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for August 29, 2014

Tracy figured the 1st letter out. No doubt, his cohorts can do the same with this one!

Good morning all! looks like we’re getting closer to solving all the mysteries!

Lizz is looking good in panel two. Nice detail in her eyes. Joe seems to keep refining her appearance.

I believe the Chief is overreacting just a bit. Hotshot was only a private citizen who might even call his flyover an honest mistake. And there’s no mention of the feds or anyone chasing him away from the island, or even complaining he was there to begin with. So chill out Chief, the life of this mans daughter may be at stake.

Warbucks sure got told off for his surreptitious surveillance!

The question of Annie’s age has always intrigued me. I have read suggestions of various ages, with commentators usually suggesting 10 or 11. One commentator said she was a perpetual 10 years old. Well, here’s my take on the subject. At the beginning, I figured she was around 6 or 7. She was so small that Warbucks would often pick her up and lift her over his head. In that era of the 20’s she had a little stuffed dolly named Emily Marie. Over the next several years she seemed to grow and mature to about what I estimate to have been maybe 8 or 9 and was as tall as Warbucks’ chest. Then, in the early 30’s she got a doll for Christmas, which she named Ginny. She said she was too old to play with dolls, but played with it anyway. But her play was of a more mature nature, sewing clothes for it on a child’s sewing machine. She also owned a toy typewriter and read books much more mature than Dick and Jane. Her school subjects were reading, writing, arithmetic, history, geography and grammar. So I would estimate her age in the 30’s as about 10 to 12, which I think she maintained through the remainder of the Harold Gray era.

Another thing one must consider is her physical development. She never had any chest development in the early years. Nor did she have any well defined waistline, which would indicate that she had not yet reached puberty. However, in the Leonard Star era of the 80s and 90s, this was not true. She looks more like a pubescent girl, anywhere between 12 and 15. I would like to hear the comments of other readers who are more familiar with Leonard Starr’s Annie on this subject.

In the Jay Maeder years, which began in 2000, she seems to have regressed to the pre-pubescent stage. She loses her curves, as well as her chest development, and loses a well defined waistline. She is short, about chest high to most adults. But in spite of her physical age, she shows the maturity of an adult, as would be expected of someone who lived so many years enduring such a hard-knock life.

In one story she is old enough to drive and actually takes a jeep to do some sight seeing in the jungle. This stretches it a little but still leaves the possibility of her being around 12. In another story she had what seemed to have been a romantic interest in a 15 year old boy named John Drum, although John was a ghost. This would suggest that she was around 14 or 15 herself. However, it is not unusual for an 11 or 12 year old girl to feel romantic toward teen-aged boys. So I still maintain my theory that the Jay Maeder Annie was in the 10 to 12 age bracket.

When asked this question, Curtis and Staton said that are shooting for age 12.

Obviously, Chief, this is your first time dealing with Oliver Warbucks…

Pat Patton’s got some nerve questioning Oliver Warbucks like that! Doesnt he know that Warbucks OWNS the MCU and he can do whatever he wants while they have to look the other way!

Geez, what does he think he is, Chief of Police or something?!?!

If both letters were mailed 69 years ago, how did they arrive days apart? Why not at the same time, or in the wrong order? And maybe someone already answered this, but where have the letters been all this time?

Creepy! LOL!

@davidf42:Very good info. I agree with your opinion.Have a blessed day fNs.

Oops it meant fans.

You’ve got to wonder what sort of plan Chief Patton might have on getting permission for ADMISSION ?Since that bullet from Lt.Teevo creased his scalp . . . (and it’s getting worse now with the ‘Checker Band’ cap) Pat hasn’t been particularly lucid, or ‘dazzling’ in his thought process !.

TIME is of the essence here, His own detective – Tracy didn’t wait for legal permission to go there. tsull2121 reads the *Waebucks ‘modus operandi’ very well !

Warbucks using his wealth to ease the way to the MCU being assigned the missing child case of his adopted daughter, Annie, is what a loving parent would do, given the means. Having exhausted the considerable resources of Punjab and Asp, Warbucks was informed by Mr. Am that Annie was believed to be in the Tracyville area. This was a reasonable way for Mr. Curtis to set up the very satisfying crossover story in which tension currently builds as the MCU sets its gaze upon Thunder Island..To find legitimate cause for outrage over misuse of wealth to purchase influence, while undercutting democratic process, one need only possess a desire to be informed by legitimate news sources. .I continue to enjoy the cast of characters both on Thunder Island and in Tracyville. This is a rich tale with a playful use of art, era, locale and character. Very impressive. Very entertaining.

Chief Patton had better shut his pie hole before he gets a letter from the HR Department. New sheriff in town, and he doesn’t wear a city uniform. He wears a tux.

The numbers 87 and 45 appear again to confirm Annie’and Dick’s location! And also mentioning that Tracy is there with her. BTW, Axel must be broadcasting radio shows from that era to reinforce the town’s peoples belief that is indeed 1944. Also, he must be using very low power to broadcast. Just enough to cover the island. If outsiders heard it. They might become suspicious. 5-10 watts would probably be sufficient.

Sam’s developed a 20-toothpick-a-day habit.

Get a grip, Patton! Nobody has even said anything yet about “accessing” Thunder Island. And as Chief of Police, unless you can cite a specific violation of the part of statute law you enforce, what a private pilot does is none of your business (literally). Indeed, Oliver Warbucks has become so much of an international figure, I guess he doesn’t feel constrained by man-made law if it doesn’t serve to achieve the justice he seeks. Ask Punjab and the Asp. And lots of dead villains.

now this is back to being a real good story

So they’re prisoners, but they are allowed to send out mail?

When it comes to handling the Thunder Island mail, I imagine "Cheers"’Cliff Claven in a rowboat, going out to the island, and being met by some flunky…“Eh, let’s here… occupant, occupant, evil genius – hey! You may have just won 50 million dollars! I’d fill that one out right away. And yer catalogue from Land’s End. See ya tomorrow.”

For those expecting Abner Kadaver at Halloween: Mike Curtis posted on the Facebook DT Fan club page that Kadaver will return—just not this year.

The next arc will feature Gruesome (by arrangements with Boris Karloff’s daughter to use his image) from the movie Dick Tracy vs. Gruesome.

ng, youve got a VERY NASTY HABIT of being flat out rude to posters from tiem to time.

maybe you need a little “time out”?

Good afternoon fellow fans!

Sunday = “The Invasion of Thunder Island”?

87 Lat. 45 Longitude

Other way around, unless they’re somewhere north of Greenland. :)

Since we are on the subject of Lizz:I was trying to figure out who the redesigned Lizz reminded me of. The more I look at this picture, the more I now realise/realize I have been thinking of Margot Kidder as Lois Lane in the Superman movies.Anyone else see a resemblance?

Well, at least she doesn’t look like “horn head” anymore.

I’ve been away…but I love the Sunday strips that I’ve missed. I’m a big fan of Milton Caniff and William Overgard and the Funny pages of old. This story is a hoot…Kudo’s to Mike and Joe for the creativity that they put into this..

I’ve been away…but I love the Sunday strips that I’ve missed. I’m a big fan of Milton Caniff and William Overgard and the Funny pages of old. This story is a hoot…Kudo’s to Mike and Joe for the creativity that they put into this..

I wonder if Annie included a return address in her letter. How can Sparkle send an autographed picture if she has no address to send it to?