Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for September 01, 2013

Now, that was brilliant!

Which one of the Frankenstein movies was that from?

Not just brilliant, but totally unexpected! Bursting through the fourth wall!

Welcome, gentle readers, pardon the intermissionVitamin steps to the stage, all will wish to listen.The first two Acts have come and gone, cheers ringing from the raftersThrills and spills, suspense and crime, action, tears and laughter.Street thieves have been thwarted, rumors have been spreadWhispers that Mysta of the Moon walks the earth and is not dead.Veiled agenda of the Consortium, a duplicitous, violent clanWhose deception and maneuvering shall serve the Original Plan.Mysterious Mysta, Nefarious Doctors, dirty deeds by the ApparatusTime for the final Act is here, Lord knows what they’ll throw at us.The Sparkle-Zap forgiven, differences shall be resolvedCrime and punishment, life and death, a plethora of puzzles solved.Be forewarned these finals scenes are not for the faint of heartDon’t avert your eyes and miss the prize, Showdown is about to start!

Break the Fourth Wall, why dontcha?

Best of all: “All questions are answered”!

Today’s strip is great! Completely unexpected and fun. And Pequod77, your poem is a blast, too.

Some of Vitamin’s “dearest friends” are going to get whacked?! That’s certainly suggested. It can’t include anyone from the MCU or from Tracy’s family, can it? If not, who might these “dearest friends” be?

Team Tracy does it again!I know some will hate it, but I love today’s strip!One of my favorite Tracy characters, great dialogue, and the promise of more surprises. So open the curtain, already!

Beautiful, simply beautiful !!!

Breaking the 4th wall! Just like in Doonesbury, excellent.

All in all, we’re just bricks in the fourth wall! (with apologies to Roger and Dave)

Surprising and interesting……lead on, Vitamin Flintheart and open those curtains wide…..

This reminds me of the opening prologue of Shakespeare’s Henry IV. “O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend the brightest heaven of invention…”

Hey, I like this!

This gets better every day!!!!!

Happy Sunday to all!Great strip, today, can’t wait for the final!

WELL DONE, Gentlemen! Well Done, Indeed!

Holy thespian, Readers! I haven’t seen Vitamin Flintheart on stage for a long, long time! He performs the rôle of Interlocutor admirably, even calling to mind the character “Stage Manager” in Wilder’s Our Town. He is looking a lot like the mature Vincent Price, and I think I hear a bit of that voice, too, although Vitamin has rounder, fuller tones than Mr. Price.The stage is admirably set for Act 3, “Showdown,” and the audience have steeled themselves for the emotional wrenching of which they’ve been forewarned! Play on, Team Tracy!

What a fantastic surprise! Unexpected and put together so well. The great artwork ties in so well to the dialogue What a team! You guys are rockin’ it! THANKS!

TERRIFIC! BRAVO Vitamin, BRAVO Team Tracy! Now, let’s get this party started…

The allusion to the Frankenstein film only strengthens my thoughts that Moon Maid is something like Frankenstein’s monster. As for Vitamin Flintheart’s dearest friends, I wonder if Sparkle is totally safe.

A totally unexpected turn of events…another brillant move by team Tracy! Bravo! Team Tracy, please come on stage and take a bow! Break a leg! Excellant story line. Keep up the good work. And by the way, a genius move introducing Vitamin Flintheart as the stage narrator!

Good morning fellow DT fans…

Curtis, Staton, et al are brilliant! You also, Pequod77!

“I don’t really want to stop the show,but I thought you might like to know. . .”

Impressive stuff!

The only times I can recall the Tracy characters addressing the readership occurred around Christmas Day, decades ago during the original run.

okay, I’m going to disagree with the majority opinion here and say I think this is a stupid interruption of a great story…c’mon, on with the story!

lame, totally lame. sorry but this is yet another example of how mike builds up momentum then cuts it short.

needless to say the next story is going to include vitamin (i believe mike even said so in the yahoo group) and he also had said that after sunday the pace will pick up in the story and culminate with a storm.

one way or the other i dont care as long as this long-winded tale finally comes to an end.

I wish more people followed today’s ATM advice; half the time, I’m stuck forever behind some schmuck who’s taking so long, it seems they’re either trying to launch a hostile takeover of the bank via the machine, or is trying to figure out how to check their e-mail with it.

..awesome…

The first movie, “Frankenstein,” starring Boris Karloff.

I just love Vitamin Flintheart.

I can’t help but think Mike & Joe have been reading our comments here, as they have addressed one of the common complaints. In other words, they are telling us, “Relax! We’re fixing to open the can!”

Team Tracy just gets better and better. Thanks Mike, Joe, Shelley, Shane and Jim.

I believe the last time we saw Vitamin in an actual stage show was during the original Putty Puss story where he was starring in a production of the famous mystery play “Sleuth.”

A most impressive way of continuing the story. I never have seen such done like this in a modern comic strip. Bravo gentlemen!

A most impressive way of continuing the story. I never have seen such done like this in a modern comic strip. Bravo gentlemen!

A most impressive way of continuing the story. I never have seen such done like this in a modern comic strip. Bravo gentlemen!

A most impressive way of continuing the story. I never have seen such done like this in a modern comic strip. Bravo gentlemen!

Fantastic! This story line has been carefully planned for months, if not more than a year. The Moon Maiden saga has been carefully woven in and out of other shorter stories. Curious, but a bit pensive of what will now enfold.

I think your statement is right, as far as it goes. But didn’t we see Vitamin when Walt Wallet made a guest appearance some months ago?_______________________

I was speaking of when we last saw Vitamin “on stage.”

But you are correct. Vitamin did appear with Walt Wallet during that small crossover scene. Walt had won a Vitamin look-alike contest.

Nobody has been able to guess what is going to happen in this story yet. It’s all so unpredictable. I’ve been a Tracy fan since the 50s. It’s like the old Sunday Funnies back to life

This one was kind of pointless. Better to have done a more thorough review of this somewhat confusing story.

Thanks so much 60sFan, VistaBill, John Russell, Ray Toler and JPuzzleWhiz! Your kind words made my day, along with another fabulous Tracy strip. Breaking the 4th wall is another fun, creative and unexpected move by the talented Team Tracy. I eagerly await the raising of the curtain on the final part of this great story.

Rarely post, but feel compelled to say I love today’s off-the-beaten-track episode, and to add my thanks and appreciation to Pequod77 for the delightful poetic contributions.

I hope nothing bad happens to Moon Maid

If Curtis and Stanton are taking Dick Tracy history seriously (and everything indicates they are) then Flintheart cannot possibly be referring to Moon Maid among his “dearest friends” who suffer something so awful he can’t continue describing it. Gould stopped using Flintheart after 1950. He wouldn’t appear again until after Collins took over. For the one story Collins featured (and killed off) Moon Maid, Flintheart wasn’t present.

Bottom line: Flintheart never knew Moon Maid, so she wouldn’t be among his “dearest friends”. People he does know and would be “some” of his “dearest friends” include: Dick, Tess, Junior, Sparkle, BO, Gravel Gertie, Sam, Pat, Joe, even Lizz by now. Heck, even the Mole by now.

Gasp!

Mike, Joe, please don’t kill off Sparkle! Don’t stoop to Max’s level.

(Seriously, I love Collins’ work, but his offing of Moon Maid positively reeks of what TV Tropes Wiki calls “Die For Our Ship”.

I seriously love today’s strip. I seriously love Pequod’s poem. I seriously love how Mike Curtis brought Moon Maid back from the dead. I am seriously looking forward to the rest of this story. I will be seriously upset if anything bad happens to Moon Maid.…P.S. I would seriously love it if Sparkle was taken out and Moon Maid resumed being Mrs. Junior Tracy. I seriously understand this makes me a horrible person to some of y’all but I can’t help it that’s how I feel. I seriously think Moon Maid is the best Dick Tracy character ever and that her popularity is well deserved. I seriously mean no offense if you disagree.

Team Tracy has revived this great old strip. Thanks Mike and Joe.

P.P.S. S.I.T.O.A.N.M.I. LOL!!!!

Well folks, there once was this thing called a fourth wall.Seems it’s gone, Y’all!Gonna be a bumpy ride, Fasten yore seat belts! Gotta love it!YEE… HAW!

Instead of this being all a dream, was it all a play? I don’t think that’s possible since Moon Maid has been in and out of several story arcs. I SERIOUSLY hope the one who disappears is NOT Sparkle.

Actually, Vitamin Flintheart doesn’t say what will happen to some of his dearest friends, or what they will do.

Checkin’ in somewhat late…………one word re: today’s strip: BAM!!!!!!!!!!!Pequod77: Best (and most tingling, in a niiiiiiiice sort of way!!) I’ve seen since Emerson, Lake & Palmers “Carn Evil Nine” (the LIVE one, of course! Refer “Welcome Back My Friends, To The Show That Never Ends” triple LP!! AND I saw the concert, 12/16/73!!) Wooooo-HOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Is it all a play? That would make it easy to get rid of MM2, but, just as lame as Gould taking a rock off Tracy.W/e, I’m just going to do as I have been, keep reading to see what happens.

Now that was different. A nice clever way to take a break from story telling! : )

I’m sorry I got to this so late <I was away and i ’ve been playing catch up!

THIS IS THE GREATEST TRACY STRIP I HAVE EVER READ! BROVO VITIMAN AND TEAM TRACY!!!!!!!!!!!

Welcome, gentle readers, pardon the intermission

Vitamin steps to the stage, all will wish to listen.

The first two Acts have come and gone, cheers ringing from the rafters

Thrills and spills, suspense and crime, action, tears and laughter.

Street thieves have been thwarted, rumors have been spread

Whispers that Mysta of the Moon walks the earth and is not dead.

Veiled agenda of the Consortium, a duplicitous, violent clan

Whose deception and maneuvering shall serve the Original Plan.

Mysterious Mysta, Nefarious Doctors, dirty deeds by the Apparatus

Time for the final Act is here, Lord knows what they’ll throw at us.

The Sparkle-Zap forgiven, differences shall be resolved

Crime and punishment, life and death, a plethora of puzzles solved.

Be forewarned these finals scenes are not for the faint of heart

Don’t avert your eyes and miss the prize, Showdown is about to start!