Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for September 03, 2013

Nice touch, the representation of a DNA ribbon in panel 2.

Well, thta was fast.

Is Diet making a major mistake?

Yes.

I have more of a suspicion that DS is setting a trap for Dr. Ghote.

Actually Diet is referring to a song from Dick Tracy in B Flat a radio show performed on stage for the armed forces in 1945 starring Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra. It’s a lot of fun to listen to actually with Bob Hope playing Flattop.

Well, this is all about getting Moon Maid back for the bad guys, isn’t it? So Ghote may be bs’ing a bit to Diet

Now what would be neat would be them shooting and killing Diet…..a Gould-style shocker to really ramp this up…..and then Ghote bringing him back to life ala Moon Maid…..and asking “convinced now, Diet?”, lol.

Ghote says only he knows how his process works and only he has the documentation. —Sounds to me as if he has just guaranteed that he will not survive this arc. Diet seems to be a business pushover; can that be so?

OH Diet. You have your saying, Ghote has his. Something about a fool and his money…..

Barrel???

Oops. Left-handed DNA.

Ghote just signed his own death warrant by claiming he’s the only one who knows how the process works—that way the writers don’t have to worry about the long-term consequences of it.

D. Smith can you say I"m being bamboozled ?

Mark II Diet Smith?

Dr. Ghote’s actually connected somehow with Monsanto, which will take over the patent and start cloning people. Then, if a clone mates with a non-GMO human, Monsanto can claim they own the baby outright, since its DNA contains their patented genes. Or something.

Sunday, we get Vitamin Flintheart doing a reenactment of the introduction of one of the original Frankenstein films. In it, we are promised that all questions will be answered, but also is suggested that we are about to lose a regular character..Lose a character? Well, so far, the body count has been rather low for a Dick Tracy mystery. One security guard shot, we presume he was dead but were never told. (Belle survived what appeared to be direct machine gun fire in the Broadway Bates story) Bardoll was killed without firing a single shot. Other than that, the coroner has been getting pretty bored lately..On Sunday’s fourth wall presentation, one person speculated that Mike and Joe are responding to the continued speculation as to who the current Moon Maiden really is. I saw irony in that, the day before, Zy Ghote is telling Diet Smith that reading his previous work on cloning was like reading the Flintstones! (Flintheart? Flintstones? Oh, well).And speaking of the meeting between Ghote and Smith, another person speculated that Ghote ought to be telling Smith to call the police on the spot, that Ghote’s life is in danger and he is acting under duress..Doesn’t appear to be happening..Unless the Ghote in Smith’s office is one of Ghote’s – Mark II?.That might be the only way to explain the current conversation going on between Ghote and Smith….But if this is the real Zy Ghote in Diet Smith’s office, especially resurrecting the fumbled Mumbles double, then the pendulum starts swinging once again to Mysta survived the car bomb!.Last comment on this particular smoke-filled room and its discussion: I sure hope that Diet is “bait” for a trap laid by Dick Tracy, because this Ghote sure has laid out a trap for Smith!.By the by, I like how Ghote is transformed into what appears the devil incarnate in that second panel. Almost like that Moon Maid silhouette a couple Sundays ago..Several people guessed that perhaps Sparkle might be the one to lose her life in the next couple of weeks. Not impossible, but I think not likely. If it did happen, it would be a cruel turn of events. But then, the original killing of Moon Maid was a cruel turn of events..Right now, I sense that Diet Smith may be in someone’s crosshairs..

Good morning everyone…

As I approach 79 years of age, it’s becoming a bit difficult to stay up until 1:15 am (edst) for DT.

Dr. Ghote acts as though he’s representing himself only, yet we know he’s fronting for Melies, Sail and the people behind them.Meanwhile, Diet should be saying, “Fool me once, shame on you….” Instead, he’s shaking hands with the devil.Can he really be so gullible to ally himself with Ghote, after Ghote proved himself a con man and an accomplice to murder in the Mumbles case, and an associate of a murderer and a thief very recently?Apparently so, unless he’s just playing Ghote. If not, any trouble that results from this alliance is on Diet, for being such a sap.

kill off a regular character? oh PLEASE let it be the mole! :)

Ghote does know Smith’s weak spot, so he knew how to bait the hook for him. I have to hope Smith is setting a trap of his own, hoping to hook Ghote, and use him as bait to reel in Sail, Melies, and the mysterious consortium. Gosh, this is the Bassmasters of whodunits!

where is Fearless Fosdick when you need him?

Very sad news about Andy who did excellent work across the SPEC universe. I’m going to assume some announcement will be made in the respective magazines as to what the decision will be on the various titles.

Looking back, I can see this story seems to have been running continuously since April 26, 2013, even longer if you skip back to when MM/Mysta first (re)appeared. That’s an awful lot of material to wrap up in a hurry, so I think we have quite a long way to go yet.

So does that spiral staircase in P2 go down to……the BAD place??

Regarding the current scenario, Dr. Ghote is being forced to meet with Diet Smith at gunpoint, that’s true, but he’s still out for himself — he hasn’t forgotten his personal objectives. I think that the emphasis on mine underscores his independence, though we realize from our viewpoint that it probably will result in his ultimate demise.

Mr. Smith also has personal reasons to make the deal. What he expects to get out of it personally means a lot to him, and I don’t see him jeopardizing it by call the crime squad in prematurely. His self-interest could put him in danger, though, so I fear for his safety, too, given the foreshadowing uttered by Vitamin Flintheart on Sunday.

where is ti that mike said the character theyd kill off would be in THIS story?

show me the exact quote

LMAO!

Vitamin Flintheart’s exact words were, “Lives are changed and secrets revealed. Alas, some of my dearest friends will… I cannot continue.”Note: First, he said “some,” implying more than one person is involved.Second, he left how those lives will be changed completely vague, but implied it would be for the worse.There are a lot of bad things that can happen to someone other than death. (Maybe Junior will divorce Sparkle and move to New Jersey. Okay, that’s an extreme example, but you get the idea.) If I’ve learned one thing from reading Mike’s stories, it’s not to jump to conclusions.

Just kidding, New Jersey!

Dick Tracy is my favorite comic strip. I can hardly wait for tomorrow’s strip

Something dawned on me. If Ghote is the only one who has the documentation on recreating people and he dies, his secrets go with him. There have been hints he’s going to die in this story. If he does go, it probably means Moon Maid is a one-of-a-kind and there won’t be any more. Too bad for Diet!

I am still wincing from yesterday’s claim that neither doctor said she was a clone. In the June 21st strip, Dr. Sail says he will bring over the documents showing how they cloned Mysta.

Seems like an iffy deal to me.

Perhaps this Ghote is the clone!.Does it bother anybody that the Ghote who is with Smith is so confident, cool, and collected, while the Ghote with Sail and Melies is both fearful and wanting out of the deal?.Not to mention, the above noted discrepancies between whether Mysta is a clone or not….Bait and Switch may have already occurred!

Ghote’s passing would not likely cause such anguish, pretended or not, for Flintheart. He is, after all, just a villain..In other words, I don’t think this is the character(s) that Flintheart is so broken-hearted about..On the other hand, I have come to like Ghote as a villain..For the most part, Ghote breaks with the tradition that the truly baddest of the bad guys must have a face to match..Over the years, yes, we have had a lot of fun with Tracy grotesques. But, over time, that has become a bit problematic with me. Good guys always good looking and bad guys always ugly – that can lead to a form of prejudice..Some have described Zy Ghote as resembling Abraham Lincoln. Nothing against the president from my home state, but I find that I like that this terribly evil man looks so good..Likely, his good looks enable him to accomplish his cons..Who knows, but that Nobel Prize he won back in the seventies, perhaps that was a con, too?.At any rate, Dr. Zy Ghote breaks the mold of Tracy villains..And as such, I hope he sticks around for a while…

As such, I think I’ll go on record one more time as believing that Mysta survived the car bomb..Ghote appears to be a leopard who can’t change his spots..The difference between Mumbles and Mysta is that, thanks to Fletcher and Collins, no one has any reason to believe that Mysta is still alive!.Which has become why I am such a firm believer that she did, indeed, survive!.What better bait could the now officially recognized “nefarious” doctors Tim Sail and Zy Ghote want?.A perfectly live woman whom no one in their right minds would believe is still alive?.I’m still waiting for the investigation of the coroner in the seventies who, from all appearances, handed off a not-so-dead corpse to known criminal Zy Ghote in the first place!.Perhaps this is the grunt work Ghote took credit for in that earlier strip, months ago..Ain’t no clone; the only man who knows how to do it, doesn’t!

Okay, so Ghote wasn’t a known criminal, yet, in 1978. That would occur in 1979. But a crime still occurred in that Mysta’s body was allowed out of the coroner’s hands!

Hmm. Lots of self-contradictions in my posts above. If folks want, I’ll take them down.

JPuzz, you’ve hit the nail on the head!Nowhere in the story has anyone said someone was going to die.Mind you, I wouldn’t be selling any long-term life insurance to Dr. Ghote right now, and I’m sure someone’s in for the big sleep, but it hasn’t been specifically said anywhere in the strip. In the comments, yes, but in the strip, no.

Ghote reminds me of Uncle Sam with that white beard of his. (If he lasts ’til Haloween, he can go as Uncle Sam to the annual Bad Guys Haloween Party. Everyone comes in costume. Except Abner Kadaver.)

andrewjb is right.Yesterday Ghote said, “We never claimed she was a clone, Mr. Smith.”But check out panel 2 in the June 21 strip:

Hmm, an hour past midnight CT, and the new strip still isn’t up. First time this has happened in awhile with gocomics. Anyhoo, here’s today’s strip from another site, to get us going:

“Thankfully, all evidence of my attacking Sparkle seems to have gone missing.”