Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for August 23, 2021

  1. Komi 0001
    AnyFace  about 3 years ago
    ”Eureka~!!” ✨
     •  Reply
  2. Neil2009
    Neil Wick  about 3 years ago

    Good morning™, everyone!

    I have a feeling that the “Time Drone” is going to be the main star of this story line. It’s small, but not totally invisible.

    (The little red and green lights all around it have turned a dull grey today. The MC sure likes grey!)

     •  Reply
  3. Db icon60
    Ashmael  about 3 years ago

    This recalls to mind an old Asimov’s story, “The dead past”, where a device showed scenes from recent past

     •  Reply
  4. Db icon60
    Ashmael  about 3 years ago

    We are in Science Fiction territory definitely

     •  Reply
  5. Db icon60
    Ashmael  about 3 years ago

    How Diet is planning to make money with that?

     •  Reply
  6. Picture
    IvanB.Cohen  about 3 years ago

    Don’t tell me…somebody is going to hijack the time drome. Heaven forbid Tracy gets sent back in time with a different outcome.

     •  Reply
  7. Picture
    IvanB.Cohen  about 3 years ago

    Diet Smith has too much time on his hands.

     •  Reply
  8. Idano
    Ida No  about 3 years ago

    Isn’t that what record companies call duping stations?

     •  Reply
  9. Picture
    IvanB.Cohen  about 3 years ago

    Close the research and development labs and send the staff on vacation to the Caribbean.

     •  Reply
  10. Picture
    IvanB.Cohen  about 3 years ago

    Can Tracy arrest Diet Smith for bothering him with this trivia?

     •  Reply
  11. Picture
    IvanB.Cohen  about 3 years ago

    Good old Diet Smith, one foot in the 21st Century, the other on a banana peel.

     •  Reply
  12. Missing large
    retropop  about 3 years ago

    “…Happened Long Ago” – The element of time in a strip with a sliding timeline, and a compacted timeline!

     •  Reply
  13. 3c5489f7 fee3 4df6 aca6 bff93749dc57
    artsyguy65  about 3 years ago

    It’s a cute little drone now, but Smith and Tracy don’t realize in time (see what I did there?) it’ll grow up and want to “EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!”

     •  Reply
  14. Major matt mason315
    Major Matt Mason Premium Member about 3 years ago

    “Can I use it to watch Jack Benny?” – some little old lady

     •  Reply
  15. Large tmdic190127 straightedge trustworthy
    Gweedo -it's legal here- Murray  about 3 years ago

    Good morning™, Amazing new devices !

    Who will try to steal the little flying saucer with the gray nubs on it ?

     •  Reply
  16. Jonah hex graphic
    jonahhex1  about 3 years ago

    I wonder what catastrophic event that “time drone” will trigger, forcing Diet Smith to put his toy permanently on ice….?

     •  Reply
  17. Jonah hex graphic
    jonahhex1  about 3 years ago

    Presumably you can use it to solve cold case crimes, but good luck showing the results as evidence in a court of law….

     •  Reply
  18. Michael j fox marty mcfly back to the future johnny b goode
    avenger09  about 3 years ago

    Stolen from Michael Creighton’s Timelines. Great book, terrible movie.

    Cheers.

     •  Reply
  19. Mrpeabodyboysherman
    iggyman  about 3 years ago

    Interesting!

     •  Reply
  20. Missing large
    Jab Jr 1957  about 3 years ago

    I wonder if the drone records in 4K Ultra and 60 fps.

     •  Reply
  21. Nancy pie hole
    hablano  about 3 years ago

    Diet, when you come up with a drone that reports stuff from the future, call me. Until then, just leave me alone.

     •  Reply
  22. Image gl2xu6o8 1679017467894 raw
    Space_cat  about 3 years ago

    Called it! On a quantum level, it may be possible to reassemble photons given enough energy, but past audio is a bit of a stretch. Perhaps the drone reads lips, also the drone would have to stay anchored in our present, or perhaps just outside of “time” as we understand it. Still, Smith’s equipment would have to generate a couple of Terrawatts of electricity focused to a single point to achieve this. Of course, it would also have to calculate the precise position of the entire solar system with particular attention on the Sun, the position and rotation of Earth would also have to be taken into account. It’s still science fiction… For now.

     •  Reply
  23. Tenor  1
    Binky  about 3 years ago

    Ouuu… that’s interesting! Let’s see where this goes (.)

     •  Reply
  24. Bucky1
    crobinson019  about 3 years ago

    Time Drone, as opposed to Diet’s Voice Drone….

     •  Reply
  25. Tor johnson
    William Bednar Premium Member about 3 years ago

    Looks more like an old Star Wars Stormtrooper’s Helmet.

     •  Reply
  26. Durak ukraine
    Durak Premium Member about 3 years ago

    Of all the things he could have watched, he watches Flattop disembarck from a train and ask directions. Talk about pandering to the audience.

     •  Reply
  27. Missing large
    magusjosh Premium Member about 3 years ago

    Yeah, this’ll end well…

     •  Reply
  28. Millionchimps1
    tripwire45  about 3 years ago

    As long as it just brings images and sounds from the past and not dead bad guys (which would definitely mess up the timespace continuum).

     •  Reply
  29. Dr g 01 2020
    sheilag  about 3 years ago

    A literary apparatus that allows the writer/artists to go back and dredge up the old, supposedly dead, bad guys (and gals?) from the strip’s long, long history… ;-)

     •  Reply
  30. Unnamed
    Another Take  about 3 years ago

    AND Tracy remains clueless. “FLATTOP IS ALIVE!”

     •  Reply
  31. Unnamed
    Another Take  about 3 years ago

    1-DT: Can I use your thing to kill Flattop again? I’d pay money to do that.

    2-DOIT: Settle down, Tracy. Have a Calmgar (patent pending)

    3-…No, my VCR Device only records past events. Once I’ve made a few million of these, your head will suddenly be filled with memories of them buzzing around like they were flies on a big pile of …

    DT: That will spell the end of civilization!!!

    DOIT: Because playing with this will be a bigger time waster than Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat etc combined?

    DT: Oh. No. I was thinking about the time we would all spend in front of a mirror making sure we look great 24/7. Could you limit the resolution and make it black and white instead of color?

    DOIT: No.

     •  Reply
  32. 44684j lg
    Outcault Premium Member about 3 years ago

    I worry that Diet doesn’t realize that this “time drone” business is potentially disastrous. Sending a flying object — however small — into the past can wreak unexpected havoc with the present… as seen in the 1962 Lee & Ditko story. “Those Who Change.”

     •  Reply
  33. Missing large
    tcayer  about 3 years ago

    Diet has never heard of Photoshop…

     •  Reply
  34. Missing large
    Doctor Strange  about 3 years ago

    Perhaps some ufos we see today are time drones from the future.

     •  Reply
  35. Missing large
    David P. McLaughlin  about 3 years ago

    Deep fake VIDEOS are here NOW, so science fiction was needed to give a reason for a story line.

     •  Reply
  36. Forum avatar gif3
    Civanfan  about 3 years ago

    I get the feeling this is another invention Diet’s gonna regret.

     •  Reply
  37. Avatar92
    David Rickard Premium Member about 3 years ago

    From today’s Comics Curmudgeon:

    One of my favorite sci-fi short stories is Isaac Asimov’s “The Dead Past,” about a near-future society where technology that can view the past has been invented but its nature is kept secret and its use is heavily restricted by the government, and a group of heroic historians and scientists manage to reinvent it and publish the plans worldwide, only to realize too late that a machine that can see 1,000 years into the past can also see 30 seconds into the past and they’ve just eliminated privacy for everyone, everywhere, forever. Dick is going to be thrilled to hear about this invention, in other words.

     •  Reply
  38. Missing large
    timbob2313 Premium Member about 3 years ago

    IMO DT will be using this as a short cut to finding out who the criminal is in the upcoming story.

     •  Reply
  39. Image
    MuddyUSA  Premium Member about 3 years ago

    HOLY CRAP!

     •  Reply
  40. Jeep head 02
    Ray Toler  about 3 years ago

    So far, we only know that this device can go into the past and record past events. It does not appear to be able to change the past that we know of. But, Diet Smith’s goal when he started all of this was to resurrect his dead son, Brilliant. In order to do that, his invention would have to be able to change the past and prevent Big Frost from killing Brilliant.

     •  Reply
  41. Icon2
    Wichita1.0  about 3 years ago

    “Like this convenient footage of Young Dick Tracy stealing a candy bar. I’m thinking ‘new extension on the lab’.”

     •  Reply
  42. Missing large
    buckman-j  about 3 years ago

    Uh oh, this is just going to be a constant excuse for dredging up characters from the 40s and 50s when Gould was at his height. It will go a long way in preventing anything creative happening regarding characters or stories from these current “storytellers”..Sad

     •  Reply
  43. Missing large
    Ken in Ohio  about 3 years ago

    I posted these two comments to Neil this morning in yesterday’s comment thread, but they are relevant for general discussion on this topic of viewing the past. . .

    . . .it might be hard to see inside (the Space Coupe that Diet sent to Jupiter)

    Which brings up another interesting puzzle. This is supposed to be a devise that allows them to view the past. Well, whatever happened inside that space coupe happened in the past. So did everything else in the world right up to a nano-second ago. How will Smith direct his drone, both as to when and where?

    . . .if you ask Tracy, he’ll tell you about how he was in the Navy during World War II.

    When Gould retired in the late 70s, my Dad, a WWII vet, was in his mid to late 50s. So it was still reasonable at that time to consider the passage of time in the strip as being approximately equal to real time. However, writers going forward after Gould chose not to be too specific about Tracy’s past, I think. I had no access to the strip from around 1980 until I bought my first computer in 2011 and found this site, but I think they referred to Tracy being a Navy vet in general terms, without mentioning what era. This whole “view the past” thing is going to open up an extremely knotty problem for the writers.

     •  Reply
  44. Missing large
    LAFITZGERALD  about 3 years ago

    We can hardly wait for the outcomes (as in results)!!

     •  Reply
  45. Iroh
    jim_pem  about 3 years ago

    Given that we are clearly in the realm of science fiction here, I’m not going to speculate on the possibilities for this story arc using real scientific findings. I will say that being able to view the past could be helpful to Tracy in solving crimes.

     •  Reply
  46. Thonheadshot
    Ragnar13  about 3 years ago

    Minority Report. Where is Tom Cruise?

     •  Reply
  47. Missing large
    mark spieller Premium Member about 3 years ago

    Do Diet or Tracy have a particular time and place to send it? Has Time Drone brought back a Gould era Tracy/Flattop story?

     •  Reply
  48. Koala
    orbenjawell Premium Member about 3 years ago

    Oooooooooo!! I. WANT. ONE!!

     •  Reply
  49. 7
    Batster  about 3 years ago

    Just spitballing here, but wouldn’t it be a surprise if, after all the preemptive grumbles about bringing back Flattop, his only appearance turns out to be the demonstration we’ve just seen and the Time Drone story proceeds elsewhere?

     •  Reply
  50. Missing large
    198.23.5.11  about 3 years ago

    Let’s go back and see the day Dick and Tess got married.They did it off camera on Christmas Eve and we readers got royally stiffed!!

     •  Reply
  51. Missing large
    198.23.5.11  about 3 years ago

    I always thought Diet Smith was based on the original John D.Rockefeller(1839-1937).

    He may have lived until 98,but he had such miserable stomach trouble that he once said he’dtrade all his millions so he could enjoy a meal like a normal person.

    Also—Rockefeller is buried in the same Cleveland,Ohio cemetary as Elliott Ness.

     •  Reply
  52. Jeep head 02
    Ray Toler  about 3 years ago

    In these Sunday pages, Diet Smith’s son Brilliant has invented closed-circuit TV surveillence and what would become the modern security camera. All of this was amazing science fiction in 1948 but became old-hat reality by 2021.

    https://i.postimg.cc/G2V1VpmK/Dick-Tracy-480926-T-TILT.jpg

    https://i.postimg.cc/4dmgWcsn/Dick-Tracy-481003-F-TILT.jpg

     •  Reply
  53. Kw eyecon 20190702 091103
    Kip Williams  about 3 years ago

    1830: “I’ll do it… with the power of GRAVITY!”

    1850: “I’ll do it… with the power of MAGNETISM!"

    1870: “I’ll do it… with the power of STEAM”

    1900: “I’ll do it… with the power of ELECTRICITY!”

    1920: “I’ll do it… with the power of RADIUM!”

    1950: “I’ll do it… with the power of PLUTONIUM!”

    1960: “I’ll do it… with the power of TRANSISTORS!”

    1970: “I’ll do it… with the power of COMPUTERS!”

    1980: “I’ll do it… with the power of COLD FUSION!"

    1990: “I’ll do it… with the power of CLONING!”

    2021: “I’ll do it… with the power of DRONES!”

     •  Reply
  54. Images
    Lord Flatulence Premium Member about 3 years ago

    Diet Smith: I’ve developed this amazing technology that allows us to view images from the past!

    Dick Tracy: Wow! What is it?

    Diet Smith: It’s called “photography!”

     •  Reply
  55. Missing large
    STACEY MARSHALL Premium Member about 3 years ago

    Diet Pepsi has invented the Time Drone!

     •  Reply
  56. Images
    BreathlessMahoney77  about 3 years ago

    Er, don’t we already have sound & visual recordings from the past — newspapers, news photos, radio recordings, newsreels, TV news footage … not to mention all the photographs, home movies, slides, & pictures taken with modern day smartphones by ordinary people? Back to the drawing board, Diet.

     •  Reply
  57. Thinker
    Sisyphos  about 3 years ago

    Oooo-kay. A Time Drone, ehh? Diet, you got some ‘splainin’ to do!

    For what insights into the past will the Time Drone actually be used? There is infinite variety and infinite complexity from which to choose!

    I have a feeling, as of we’re going to concentrate on criminals and criminal activities from Tracy’s past. 90th Anniversary, ya know?

     •  Reply
  58. H
    cherns Premium Member about 3 years ago

    I look forward to hearing details about the Time Drone. Do we unleash it in our time, and it materializes back in time and take pictures then? Did anyone in the past ever notice a TD taking pictures? (Was this the origin of UFO stories?) Does it head for the target area, in our time, and then somehow use its powers to take pictures of the past in that area? SF fans, accustomed to explanations (however flimsy or far-fetched), want to know!

     •  Reply
  59. 100 2451
    RonBerg13 Premium Member about 3 years ago

    That ‘drone’ looks like a UFO.

    hmmm…. I wonder?

     •  Reply
Sign in to comment

More From Dick Tracy