Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for December 26, 2012

NOOOOO!! This is going to devastate Honeymoon.

What Apollo 17 left on the last mission.

Good morning all…

Things don’t look very good.

An explanation will be forthcoming, never fear, loyal fans.

Mornin’ all!Holy socks! The buildings look like they’ve been deserted for years!So… where have they gone? Will we ever see them again?Arrrgh! More questions, and no answers!

There are two Moon people on Earth: the presumed Moon Maid and Retik. What those two are up to is the mystery we have at hand.

Morning NightShade09, VistaBill, and all. This is a kick in the head! I guess this means no more trips to the moon, which to a space era fan like me is a sad thing. Still, the moon people must be SOMEWHERE, so the door hasn’t been closed on their race entirely, at least not yet. This also raises a ton of questions about Moon Maid, Retik, and his girlfriend. Hmmm. In the Commando Cody serials, Retik was the emporer of the moon who attempted to invade Earth. I have been wondering since September 30 if the Dick Tracy Retik has a similar agenda.

For those unfamiliar with the original space era, the giant TV screen was used by Moon Governor to broadcast messages to moon valley residents. Here are some examples of this from May 1965, when Governor was detaining his pregnant daughter Moon Maid and trying to prevent her from seeing Junior again.

No oxygen? What caused that? And where did the moon people go? This story just got ten times trippier.

That moonscape is spectacular. It rivals the great artist Wally Wood!

Crazy, man. I don’t know what to think of this. I’ll have to process for awhile.

Good, let’s get back to work, chasing grotesque Earth criminals :P

And let’s not forget Broadway planned to make his move (right) after Christmas. I bet we’ll see what’s going on in the City in the next strip. same Tracy time, same Tracy channel.

If Broadway acts while Tracy is on the moon, whatever is going to happen to the dynamic duo should be expected to be really truculent.

Fascinating. The Moon People cannot survive here. Either they are dead or they are somewhere else. Where else could they be? I hope the “Sparkle Plenty” heads back to Earth promptly!

the space coupe looks like an aerosol can with several stethoscopes pasted to it ;)

…Or maybe typewriter keys……

I’m thinking they will find survivors underground. But, survivors from what?

Moon Valley like Krypton!

They’re gone in a parallel universe wirhout famines,global warming, war, terrorism, and NRA-armed psychos

Maybe this Moon Maid clone is the last survivor (after all, wouldn’t the Crown Princess of the colony be the one most likely to be protected to the death?), if that is the case, then MM could be brought back, without having to re-introduce the Moon people (A good compromise for us DT fans who don’t want to see a return to the moon era!)

CLASSIC art today. I truly feel this is a strip that will be around fifty years from now in archives! Great artwork!

The artwork today is in Kirby Style! Great!!!

I thought this might be the result of Monday’s strip. The mystery deepens.

Wow. Who would have thought that we’d ever see Moon Valley in the strip again. A few years ago, this strip was about as far away from that era as you could get.

Looks like Mystery Moon Maid can destroy other things BESIDES tombstones! thats one HELLUVA hammer shes got! lol!

What I am not getting is the new Tracy crew seems focused on simply killing off everything Gould created. Willy the Fifth comes back and both he and Flyface (two of my all time favorites) are dead in a month. Shoulders we hardly see and he’s dead. Now everyone on the moon? I’ve lost track of all the killing. What is the point of showing us all the great old characters and then just bumping them off?

Merry Christmas, Honeymoon, your grandparents are deadOr aware of changes to their home, it’s simply that they fled.A valley without oxygen will not host joy or lifeMaybe they gathered in their Space Coupes, the Governor and wifeAnd all the people of the moon, except for at least two,Sojourned seeking brighter days, far away they flew.Now the moon’s a lifeless rock, look to see no moreThe tribe from whence your mother came: close another door.Life and hope go hand in hand, so try not to despairGaze not into the heavens, for Moon Maid is not there.For love of daughter she walks the earth, tombstone reduced to rubbleA thousand tales inside her head of trials, tears and trouble.

Mikey, you win today’s prize! That flag says it all!

A FORECLOSED sign may be more appropriate.

In someways I’m not surprised. Remember the moon king did say (though Diet) “He’s expressed his great sorrow at the loss of a beloved daughter – and vows no further contact between his people and ours.”

This is a sad ending, but it does open up some new possibilities.

What happened?? I was amped for an encounter with Moon Governor or at least some other moon people, but this?! That’s that as far as any more space trips go I suppose. Kind of like being led along and suddenly having the rug pulled out from under you. Maybe the moon people are still around somewhere I hope? It’s pretty disappointing though……..

Was the screen ruined by the crash/opening theme of Futurama?

I kind of figured that VS would have at least called before dropping by.

I’m laying odds it has something to do with the giant moon snails…

The colors today are pretty garish. And the space coupe has gone from gold to blue to gray in three days. Back to the slap dash coloring book approach I guess, or is it that they’re trying to ruin Staton’s art? Makes you wonder. The comicskingdom colorist did a better job I think.

Stagger Lee; #I think that a much funnier sign, left by an Astronaut, would be “Starbucks coming here soon!”

Tracy wouldn’t leave the moon without looking for clues to what happened. I wonder if the space coupe has suits on board, since they expected Moon Valley to have oxygen.I’m reminded of the Star Trek reboot, where (spoiler warning!) the planet Vulcan was destroyed.

They are not dead…relocated as they say. A little birdy told me so.

That’s interesting. I need to watch that film. Like some have said, the mystery got a lot deeper today.

Could this be what’s next?

So … there’s been no communication between earth and the moon over the years … no hint that something was wrong?

You’re replying to mercedes’s comment:

looks like they’re landing inside old old tube amphmmm, it does

Maybe They need to go to New York City to MIB Headquarters and talk to some of the aliens for info.

Maybe it’s just as well, after all, I remember that the Moon Governor was not a very nice chap most of the time. Could it have been the moon monsters from “Apollo 18”?

I’m sorry the Moon Valley is abandoned, but not surprised. After all, the Moon Era stories still draw strong reactions.I doubt if we’ll ever know where they went.

Al Gore is blaming lunar warming

Well, shoot. I was all excited about this moon trip. I thought the new team had finally reopened the door to an exciting time in the strip’s history. Instead, they’ve slammed the door shut and apparently for good. Talk about deflating.Now this space coupe trip feels like a last meal for moon fans before Team Tracy puts us down for good. Slam, bam, hope you 1960’s fans had your last little thrill, because you won’t be seeing anything like this again (we’ve made sure of it).The last straw will be finding out Moon Maid is a human impersonator, and this entire story line was a fraud.Yeah, I’m upset. But to show I’m a good sport, I’ll say congrats to all the moon haters. Looks like you got your wish and the last laugh after all. The smaller, safer, no surprises little detective strip you crave is finally secured. Maybe they’ll even bring Peanut Butter back.

I’ll start out by saying that I was never a fan of the moon years. There were some colorful earthbound villains, but it just wasn’t DT to me. I can’t deny it’s part of the canon, though. Collins tried to do away with it, and we all thought that was that. But I’ll have to say this excursion has piqued my interest. What HAS happened to the Moon people since we last saw them? THIS is they type of storytelling that makes me come back here every day, my friends. I now have an interest in characters that I couldn’t care 2 figs about back in the day. Well done! And it also reminds me a bit of the times that Hulk would go to Jarella’s world, and find it different every time he went back (and I do believe Mr. Staton worked on some of those later issues). I’ll be back for more.

Merry Christmas, Honeymoon, your grandparents are dead

Or aware of changes to their home, it’s simply that they fled.

A valley without oxygen will not host joy or life

Maybe they gathered in their Space Coupes, the Governor and wife

And all the people of the moon, except for at least two

Sojourned seeking brighter days, far away they flew.

Now the moon’s a lifeless rock, look to see no more

The tribe from whence your mother came: close another door.

Life and hope go hand in hand, so try not to despair

Gaze not into the heavens, for Moon Maid is not there.

For love of daughter she walks the earth, tombstone reduced to rubble

A thousand tales inside her head of trials, tears and trouble.