Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for June 12, 2013

The big question . . .

Is she is, or is she ain’t?

She’s been brainwashed!

She is a clone, but not the real Mysta, I would think.

Not sure about being brainwashed. She seems too real for that. But she can’t be real. After all this time I’m still not sure what she is.

Mysta remembers being in the car and turning the key? That argues against her being a clone. And Sail is trying to pass her off as a clone. A serious disconnect here that can’t be lost on Poppa Smith.

Perhaps her people are like Kryptonians in being able to survive what would normally be lethal punishment….but still that begs the question – if this is Mysta then WHO or WHAT is in Mysta’s grave?

I love old style steering, hazard and shifter.

If Sail wants Smith to believe Mysta is a clone, he should have some mumbo-jumbo explanation for why she “remembers” something the original Moon Maid would.

Good morning all…

Mike, Joe, et al have us guessing now!

It is my view that the real Mysta was well and truly killed in the bomb blast when she turned that key, but that some DNA was somehow gathered from the remains and fell into the hands of the Mad Scientist Dr. S. Tim Sail, who then managed to grow a Clone-Moon Maid over a period of time [note that we don’t know when the new Moon Maid “woke up”] and has been implanting “memories” from carefully gathered data for quite some time now. The new Clone-Moon Maid in classic fashion does not realize that she is a clone, but has some DNA deficiencies that account (more than just inherent lunar character) for her sometimes-erratic behavior, and that will destabilize over time and lead to her more-or-less natural death….We shall see if this is anything like what Team Tracy has in store for us!

The second panel just brings back such horrible memories of that daily, which brought the end of Moon Maid’s life. I cannot put into words how much I am enjoying this story, seeing Moon Maid, (and Notta Chin Chillar) back in the strip.

Goodness! I’m just hanging on to see what’s next.Good morning, VB and ColdSooner

I’m just loving that profile of Moon Maid that Joe drew, it’s so classic Dick Tracy! I’m also loving that Mike is really keeping us all guessing with this story! It’s such incredible fun to watch it all unfold. The “funny papers” and classic story telling sure are back and better than ever with Mike and Joe’s excellent Tracy!! Kudos Joe and Mike… I say kudos!

……uh-oh! Diet will soon ask the “right” question……expose her……and the guns will come out and the demand for the space coupe will occur???

……uh-oh! Diet will soon ask the “right” question……expose her……and the guns will come out and the demand for the space coupe will occur???

Righto, I’m mega-jonesing-to-the max for a brand new spanking-fresh awesome Joe Staton classic style ‘Dick Tracy face profile’ nice and big taking up a full panel. I know we’ve gotten some beauties from Joe… I just need a new fix! Hope we get one soon.

I’ve just seen a face…The terrific tightrope walk continues. Mysta’s answer is suitable for one in a coma following rescue from an explosion. It also works as to what she may well have experienced after a “regeneration” process unique to Lunarians. It also works for one who has had false memories implanted by Sail. Having long ago settled comfortable, if not entirely confidently, in the “real Mysta” camp, I don’t see cloning as a viable option.I’m anxious to learn what Diet will say about moon valley and keeping the “truth” about Mysta from Tracy. What he saw of moon valley back in December makes a flight in the Space Coupe unnecessary. Is this when Sail shows his fangs? We know he brought muscle in the hulking form of Bardoll. I suspect things will get hairy in a hurry. I’m loving this story. Hat’s off to Team Tracy.

Great story line for sure. I don’t see how it’s the real Mysta. How old is Honeymoon now? so Mysta’s been recuperating for years? Nah, gotta be a clone.

I see the bad moon arising. I see trouble on the way. I see earthquakes and lightnin’. I see bad times today. Don’t go around tonight, Well, it’s bound to take your life, There’s a bad moon on the rise.

I venture to say this cannot be the original Moon Maid although it is still possible she’s a creation using some original MM DNA. How she seems to have MM’s memories is still not clear althoughI am also convinced she truly believes she’s MM.Hopefully that renowned beacon of knowledge, wisdom and insight affectionately known as Little Timmy can fill in the blanks! LOL!!

S.I.T.O.A.N.M.I.

it can still very well be a clone moon maid and not the original. after all, it doesnt take a brain scientist (intentional there, just for those nitpickers who love to correct me all the time) to surmise that she had to put a key in the ignition to set off a car bomb

oh yeh, and youll notice she said “i remember being in A car and turning the key” but doesnt say TRACY’S CAR

i would think that moon maid.. the REAL moon maid.. would remember that it was tracy’s car, regardless of how shattered her memories are

What if Dr. Sail was on the cutting edge of stem cell research and implanted some Moon Maid cells into an unwitting subject? Honey Moon is proof that human and Moon people DNA is compatable. Perhaps Dick Tracy and crew should start looking into missing persons cases for women of the proper age and physical likeness?

I am a new Dick Tracy reader and had no idea there were such sci-fi elements present. Really enjoying it!

Excellent recreation of the great Rick Fletcher’s final Moon Maid panel!

With that said, here’s my take on MM’s answer to Diet Smith.

Of course, turning the key would be the last thing anyone would remember, as it was well-publicized in the 1978 Tracy-world media that “Dick Tracy’s daughter-in-law was killed by a car bomb which was meant for him”.

I don’t think Diet’s going to believe any of this.

@Fredville (from yesterday) What really doesn’t make sense, though, is why people like me sometimes post our comments this late in the day, where hardly anyone will end up reading them, lol************************I’m sometimes a late-in-day poster too, and when I log on the next morning I always check the previous day’s comments to see if I missed any. Unlike some other commentators here, I like to see what each one has to say even if it turns out that some are disposable.

How could anyone implant memories?*********************Easy enough. Just play audio and video of the desired memories over and over to a person in a semi-conscious state. Stella and Retik could also have constantly brought up facts about MM’s life before the explosion to the point that MM feels they are her own memories.

Could I have been right, several months ago, when I suggested that —After the blast. she staggered away from the explostion (moon folk being more resistant to heat/temperatures, etc) very badly injured, her escape concealed by the fire. Retik and Stellaluna, devoted fans (sort of groupies), were there watching and taking pictures of her, and rescued her. She went into a hibernation/self-healing mode that took years, and needed surgery to rebuild what was too badly damaged in the blast.But under it all, she is Mysta (and has her memories).Could I have been right? Nah….

NightShade09: I’m with you. This is probably the only explanation that doesn’t require a heavy dose of sci-fi mumbo jumbo.

Space Era foes seem to want Mysta to be some kind of regenerate, replicant, or downright clone, all of which would be fakes, in the hopes that this Mysta will have a very short life. Problem is, for her to be any one of these kinds of fakes would require at least as much sci-fi as the Space Era ever gave us.

Besides, the biggest fakes in the room are Doctors Sail and Ghote!

There are three questions to be answered:

One, how did she survive,

Two, why was there no contact all these years, and

Three, who or what is buried in Mysta’s grave?

There’s plenty for Dick Tracy to dig into once this dog and pony show is over at Diet Smith’s.

Last, and certainly least: Today’s strip lends credibility to Mysta’s being held prisoner, a possible answer to question two above.

What’s buried in Mysta’s grave? People do buried fragments of bodies. Enough could be gathered to bury and some left behind for these quacks to collect for their own nefarious purposes, which may be to infiltrate the Tracy family and cause all kinds of mischief.

What’s buried in Mysta’s grave? People do buried fragments of bodies. Enough could be gathered to bury and some left behind for these quacks to collect for their own nefarious purposes, which may be to infiltrate the Tracy family and cause all kinds of mischief.

Empty casket burials are not all that uncommon — a well-known one in American fiction was in the movie “Cast Away” when the Tom Hanks character was lost in a plane crash at sea and presumed dead — his friends buried a casket filled with stuff symbolic of the character, such as Elvis CDs, etc…

Not sure if anyone asked this but the issue with Mysta wearing a face mask? That would lead me to believe that she had plastic surgery of some sort and that the cloning process may have not gone as well as they had hoped.OR: Mysta was another Lunarian that they had around and they doctored her face to look like Mysta?I think not of that latter theory.Q: If she was cloned and she’s an adult, how did she grow so quickly, as a human?Q: Clones don’t have memories, do they? Too many questions…

I tend to think folks generally don’t remember the time immediately before a highly traumatic incident. Last recall is usually of a time several hours to several days before.

Not quite sure why some people keep insisting that a clone would be fake. If the “real” Mysta is dead and the “clone” remembers everything, including her death, she is, for all intents and purposes, still the real Mysta.