Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for September 24, 2013

Mysta saves the hostages as soon as they are takenPressure’s dropped the hand gun, Moon Maid’s fried his bacon.Junior wraps his arms around the one he loved to touchMany years of heartache, missing her so much.Lightning bolts and sparks ignite, Junior gets a shockPressure tries to crawl away being unable to walk.Being this close to Mysta, the wife Junior thought was deadBrings to mind their secret life, sweet memories in his head.Mysta struggles with her guilt over the Sparkle ZapTells her she’s so sorry, now freed from Pressure’s trap.This apology sets her heart free, not wishing Sparkle harmOutside the sounds of conflict soar down on Wheaton’s farm.

Good morning everyone…

Whoa Baby!

Good morning, VistaBill, Pequod77 and 60sFan.Close encounter of the third kind for Junior!

Good morning, VB!

You can cut the tension with a knife.

Junior has his arms around Mysta right in front of Sparkle, that must mean that he’s choosing her over Sparkle. :-P

Wow!Mysta has come back to her senses, and apologizes to Sparkle in front of a very confused Junior. But considering Mysta just saved her and Nellie, will Sparkle tell Junior the truth?(Love this story!)By the way, after what he’s just been through, Hy may be looking forward to a nice, safe jail cell.

Oh, yeah – mornin’ VistaBill and everyone! Looks like I’m not the only one who had to read the strip before getting to bed!

Junior getting up close and personal with his former main squeeze—YEOW! The tension’s mounting, and you gotta wonder what’s going on in Junior’s mind. I love his “What, I didn’t do anything” posture in panel 3 as he looks at Sparkle. Very clever! I’m loving this strip so much!

These scenes are fantastic! I love this strip!!

Good thing Junior did what he did or Hy Pressure would be looking at a trip to the morgue…..and he still might be (leave us not forget BB Eyes and his fellow felons who have their own problems to deal with).

Good thing Junior did what he did or Hy Pressure would be looking at a trip to the morgue…..and he still might be (leave us not forget BB Eyes and his fellow felons who have their own problems to deal with).

In full view of his current wife, Junior grabs his red hot former wife in a tight embrace, or at least his red hot alleged former wife. Electricity’s flying in every direction, inside and out! This is not a moment any of these three is likely to forget soon. You have to wonder what’s going on in Junior’s mind especially.

While Junior stands there looking like a giant question mark, Sparkles body language seems to say, “It’s all good, honey.” I see peace on the horizon here. (Except for the boys outside, of course.)

Looks like it’s finally confession time for Mysta. Although Junior looks very confused, I’m relieved to see that he’s otherwise alright. In fact, since Hy Pressure is still among the living we can forget about whether Mysta could be charged for her aiding the two women’s self-defence. She was justified in defending them, but she didn’t need to go so far as to kill HP. She only wants to help, but she does seem to have a bit of trouble with self-control.

If I can read anything into the body language of panel three…….

I think this is what’s going on: Junior is puzzled by Mysta’s remark- He’s looking at Sparkle as if to say: “What does she mean?” Sparkle is giving him a silent hand signal not to pursue the issue, as she has already figured out what Mysta did and wishes to resolve it in a mature way. Probably also because no one is yet quite sure who Mysta really is.

We were wondering when Junior and Mysta were going to have a little conversation, and it finally happened. Took a crisis to throw those two together! It looks like Hy’s alive, so no problem for Mysta there. And her redemption from the Sparkle Zap is pretty much complete now. Looks like she and Sparkle are about to have a heart to heart….

Still wondering, though: Who Is Mysta?!

I’m amazed that anyone who literally became incandescent, could actually survive the shock to his system… I know it’s a comic, but, still….

wow! Now that’s what I’m talking about. I wonder how ole HP comes out of this? I bet his memory is on vacation. lol

Off subject just a moment. I just finished watching ‘DICK TRACY VS. CUEBALL" circa 1946 on DVD. Fun flick, picked up from my favorite used book store. It has the strangest cover art though. Cueball is colored solid green, like an alien space monster or something. Weird. Oh well, it’s just one of those things Tracy fans will find fun to watch.

This story is shocking!!!

Junior saves Hy from death, and Mysta is so shaken that she finally comes clean. Awesome!

He’s going for the gun!!!!

Junior’s attempt to interrupt the electrocution of Hy Pressure gets him some residual electrical owwie (panel 1); a confused berserker coming back to her senses tries to explain hastily that she didn’t mean to shock Junior (panel 2); and as she confesses her sorrow over…what?…, Junior and Sparkle express there puzzlement (panel 3). It all happened so fast, ersatz Moon Maid has not made matters any clearer to anyone who can’t read her mind (excepting the readers beyond the Fourth Wall)….

Junior didn’t do what he did out of affection asyou can plainly see by what he’s yelling to heras he grabs her.

Moon Maid Lite is gonna run out into the storm at full power, electrocuting herself

The body language I see in panel three that I see is Junior is puzzled as to which of his two wives to pick, Sparkle to his left or MM to his right. While Sparkle puts out her “stop right there, uh-uh, talk to the hand” gesture.

I’m still worried about Nellie

Those eyes of Mysta’s …

Just how big is this farm house? Where is everyone else? Didn’t Hy just slip away from Tracy in another room nearby when the power went out?

Excellent example of a story challenge, gentlemen. The climax will have to be incredible now. I’m sure you two are up to the challenge, however.

Why would someone who was ruled to have killed in self-defense be charged with

“criminally negligent homicide?”

What crime is committed in defending your or someone else’s life?

AtomivDog, you have to remember, tsull hates this story so much that he was insisting Tracy committed murder when he tossed Bardoll off the roof of Smith Industries (in self-defense) when Bardoll was trying to strangle him.I’m sure he’ll be back to his old self when this story ends.

It doesn’t bother me. I just wish that my enjoyment of seeing a beloved character return did not have to be accompanied by such blatant trolling by a certain party.

I checked the law. Hostage taking is a federal offense; and Hy Pressure is looking at ten years to life.

Mysta was the best equipped to stun and disarm, which is always better than using lethal force. I think she regrets her desire to cause intense pain beyond what was strictly necessary to control the situation. I don’t think she ever intended to kill.

And if anyone thinks Junior using a firearm in a dark house against a possibly skilled gunman with hostages is a good idea… well you might want to reconsider that.

AtomivDog, on 9/5 we saw that Junior was packing heat. If “Mysta” didn’t intervene it’s certainly possible that he would have sprung into action.____________________

The transformer had blown and the lights were out. Junior couldn’t see in the dark but Moon Maid’s big eyes probably could.

It’s possible that Junior would have sprung into action, but Mysta clearly had the drop on Pressure. There is no indication that Junior did.

the only one who could have stopped that kidnapping was Mysta,

AtomivDog, on 9/5 we saw that Junior was packing heat. If “Mysta” didn’t intervene it’s certainly possible that he would have sprung into action.^I wouldn’t count on it, Jr has never really done a lot of shooting, he’s basically very moral and kind-hearted (Despite his origins)

Anyone who thinks someone shining a flashlight on his intended hostages/victims in a darken room doesn’t put a bull’s-eye on him might want to reconsider their point of view..^^Good point Matt

JPuzzleWhiz said, about 2 hours ago@tsull2121“So, you don’t HATE the story, you just think it has dragged on too long, eh? Hmmm…”

“Well, consider this:

With everything that’s involved in the story, do you honestly think it could have wrapped up in just 6 to 8 weeks? No, we’d have had another “Sweatbox ending,” and you’d be railing about that. This story needed to be told at its own pace."

Superbly put, JPW!