Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for April 09, 2017

Gear up for the CosUcon

Get your fancy costume on

Those so slender. Those with brawn

Just don’t you dare miss it.

See Godzilla standing tall

See Kadaver take a fall

Costumed fun! Let’s have a ball!

Start sewing or you’ll miss it.

You can’t go? Of course you can!

Wonder Woman’s biggest fan

Loading now the travel van

All of us shall bliss it.

Take me to the CosUcon

Nothing there to frown upon

Leaving early, before dawn

Sleep in and you’ll miss it.

Welcome to the CosUcon

Scarlet Sting fans sure shall fawn

Black Widow with game face on

Only fools would miss it.

At the lively CosUcon

Dress up, role-play, make-up on

Laugh and dance and greet the dawn

Pleased we did not miss it.

Good morning all!

Joe is on the credits for Sunday, and it does look like his art.

Locher Auditorium is a nice Easter egg/tribute.

Harold Teen’s clothing works in the 21st century!

For those who don’t know her, this is Sailor Moon.

http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/deathbattlefanon/images/b/b8/Sailor-Moon-sailor-moon-33978582-562-841.jpg

O-KAY! All of you who hated the last story are going to plotz when you see this one!

Cosplay is the term for dressing up as comic book, anime, movie, TV, etc. characters. And this convention is just for them.

Just imagine – the background filled with characters dressed as other characters! Sailor Moon and The Sailor Scouts! Ladybug and Cat Noir! Maybe even some comic book or comic strip characters! (Hey, maybe even Smokey Stover!)

For those who don’t know hot pants (like anyone under 40) I feel obliged to provide an illustration of those too.

http://images.lascana.co.uk/is/image/OttoUK/466w/buffalo-denim-hot-pants~866601FRSP.jpg

One unusual sight I saw at Ohyaocon some years ago…Darth Vader running around the convention wearing a pink bathrobe, fuzzy pink slippers and carrying a mug of coffee…

FYI: Fans attending conventions in costume (now called cosplay) was the creation of legendary film buff, science fiction writer, editor and agent Forrest J. Ackerman, who attended the 1st World Science Fiction Convention in 1939 dressed in a copy of the flight suit worn by Raymond Massey in the 1936 film, “Things to Come” (screenplay by H.G. Wells from his novel!).

I sure hope somebody at the convention will be dressed as film legend Vista Bill! (That’d be my choice for a costume!)

I really enjoyed today’s strip – I like Shelly’s art, and Mike gets to fulfill his hope of seeing Harold Teen back in print! (I’ve enjoyed this Harold Teen flashback!)

Sailor Moon S Title Sequence, v3 …

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiT39z0MgEM

The word cosplay is borrowed from Japanese which borrowed some English words to make it (costume + play). The result was then borrowed back into English.

There are several examples of clipped English words used to make Japanese words. One of my favourites is karaoke which uses the Japanese kara- plus ōke (short for orchestra: ōkesutora) so it’s a sort of “empty orchestra.” Hand in Japanese is te so karate is an empty-handed style of fighting.

The word cosplay appeared in Japanese in 1983 and wasn’t borrowed into English until 10 years later.

I don’t know a darned thing about Harold Teen! I am so loving this,it’s like finding hidden treasure! Thank you Team-Tracy!:>)

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon ‘Tokusatsu’ live-action title sequence …

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqP-CE4uUxk

Hey, Neil- on the subject of Karaoke, guess how long ago the original karaoke machine was invented?

Just so Pops doesn’t go to the convention dressed as Moon Maid

Isn’t this strip supposed to be about a detective named Dick Tracy? And bringing comic criminals to justice? What the h*ll is going on???

Will the last three days lead to the next storyline or have the writers gotten lazy or run outta ideas?

Last night, at the end of “Rodan,” legendary horror-movie host Rich “Svengoolie” Koz let it be known he will be making an appearance in this “Tracy” arc. As a long time follower of Sven, I’m looking forward to it…

I still like to see how this all plays out. It wouldn’t be a Dick Tracy comic if there was no crime that’s about to be committed.

This is my first time seeing Harold Teen. I haven’t bothered to look him up from the past, and won’t bother, either. However, his rendition here in several panels makes him look like the standard character in other 1950s teen oriented comics – as the tough guy or bully. With a little imagination, he even looks like Reggie, Archie’s foil!

Here’s the Wikipedia article on Sailor Moon in case anybody here doesn’t know:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailor_Moon

Basically it’s a Japanese manga (comic book series) about a team of schoolgirl superheroes. Sailor Moon is the leader of the team and main character. It was created in the 1990s and has had three tv show adaptations, one for each decade, including a tv series that’s currently still airing. Today’s youth are much more likely to know who Sailor Moon is than know who Dick Tracy is.

And here’s an article on the history of hot pants:

http://digilander.libero.it/guido_1953/pics/hotpants/hotpants-girls.htm

It was a trend from the mid-60s to early 70s. Pop Jenks here seems to imply he was a teenager back then, indicating he was born in the early 50s. Since Mike Curtis was born in 1953, he’s basically cast his own generation in the role of Pop Jenks.

I’ve never been to a Cosplay con, myself. Been to quite a few SF conventions (where my writing coach brought me into the Fur Fandom about 15 years ago. Should I go to a Cosplay con?

Better not. I’m already a committed fur :). No need to be anything else, not at my age.

So get offa my lawn you young hoodlums! Bring back my lawn chairs! Ohhh..gotta get my pills.

I love this little retro part of town, with all the modern conveniences. Great story arc and art!

I like the reveal of an appeal to young readers with the Sailor Moon themed CosUcon poster. While I possess little knowledge and few memories of Harold Teen, the spirit of fun and variety that Team Tracy brings to the strip is much appreciated.

Thanks to Vista Bill, Gweedo, Neil Wick, Jim in CT, Night-Gaunt49, Chris Sherlock, JPuzzleWHiz and Ray Toler for the kind words. I appreciate it.

Yesterday: 125 Comments

Guessing that, on Monday, we’ll either cut back to members of the regular cast (Honeymoon?) or to other interested parties.

I really liked seeing girls wearing HOT PANTS, especially with seamed pantyhose!!

I just realized – Harold Teen looks like the model for Leo Gorcey’s character in the Dead End Kids, East Side Kids, and Bowery Boys movies.

We’re already well over 100 Comments for the day.

There was a brief period here where only discussions of animated background billboards could stoke such passion.

Incidentally, we still don’t know the identity of the young woman seen on 4/7/17, though her dialogue, “Here’s the poster we’d like to put in your window” (Emphasis mine) suggests that she’s affiliated with whatever group is actually organizing the cosplay convention.

Here’s a piece I stumbled across on ‘Harold Teen’ in comic books …

http://dangertrail.blogspot.com/2007/05/newspaper-reprints-harold-teen.html

I’m afraid this strip has finally jumped the shark.

Weaving a plot around a cosplay convention is a smart move for the Dick Tracy strip, I think. It could help to attract a different universe of new readers. I see a lot of cosplayers in photos from various comics conventions over on that social networking site, so I know it can be exhilarating. I suppose Harold Teen and his buddy Shadow would be eager to attend the convention and maybe even to participate (wear costumes—though they hardly need any, since they resemble certain comic strip characters as it is [ahem] )! And there is certainly plenty of enthusiasm manifesting itself among the regular and quasi-regular readers here, too (excepting the usual grouches). But what crime will be involved is not easy to foresee. All kinds of possibilities arise when a lot of characters are in costumes, which are effectively also disguises. Or someone like Abner Kadaver could show up looking his “normal” self….

150+ Comments today.

With his love for comic books, maybe Doubleup will attend – that would make him in two storylines in a row. In a row!

The con in my town is this Friday..! sakuracon.org

Porgie? Mudhead? Is that you?

Just adding to the number of comments on this page, here’s the (incredibly catchy) intro to the American dub of the first Sailor Moon anime:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5txHGxJRwtQ