Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for April 18, 2017

There’s the ‘Chibi’ version of the ‘CosUCon’ mascot on the program book!

Good morning guys!

Who’s ‘Brian’ …?

So all the Margies live together? :)

There ‘does’ seem to be an art mistake in today’s strip.

Can anyone spot it?

Things we know so far …

- There are three Margies – Big, Middle, and Little.

- The Margies live and/or work together.

- The three are involved in running ’CosUCon’ – Specifically, the Cosplay Contest, possibly additional aspects of the convention as well.

- ‘CosUCon’ is being held at the infamous ‘Locher Auditorium.’

- TV Horror Movie Host ‘Svengoolie’ will be hosting and judging CosUCon’s Cosplay Contest.

- The Cosplay Contest features a grand prize of $10,000.

- CosUCon’s ‘Program Books’ were sent to the ‘Margies’ by mistake, when they should have been sent to ‘Brian.’

- Harold Teen, Shadow, and Pop Jenks are aware of the convention, thanks to a promotional poster placed in the window of ‘The Sugar Bowl.’ by a young woman whose identity we still haven’t puzzled out.

- Honeymoon ‘might’ be competing in the cosplay contest – presumably in the ‘Junior Division,’ as opposed to the ’Adult Class’ – in her ‘Chimetra’ costume.

- Astor will be competing – presumably in the ‘Junior Division,’ as opposed to the ‘Adult Class’ – in his ‘MegaMan’ costume.

- Both Honeymoon and Astor’s costumes include working lights. Might these be used to startle someone at an opportune moment?

- Astor’s brother has a table/booth at the convention, where he will be selling complete cosplay props. This appears to be his specialty.

- Astor’s brother has a blog.

- Astor’s brother’s ‘Latest Build’ is heavy enough that Astor can only wear it for about 40 minutes at a time without taking a break.

- Astor will be wearing his brother’s creation at Astor’s brother’s booth off-and-on, to attract crowds and drum up business.

- Elsewhere, Sam Catchem and Lizz Worthington have gifted Dick Tracy with ‘The Yellow Mask.’

Tracy deeply sighed, he was old but he wasn’t dumb

He knew the end was near, which obviously made him glum

“A title’s always nice but respect’s the name of the game”

It seems the past few years, nothing has been the same

Sure, the strip is called; “Dick Tracy”, no one’s blind

But it seems too often lately that our hero’s hard to find

Tracy knew the past few days he was totally MIA

Pushed aside for no good reason, like a guest who overstayed

“Oh well, it could be worse” he chuckled softly in the air

“I could be a post of Av’s which seems to daily disappear”!

Never been to a ‘CosUcon’, or a Comics Con, but I was once at a Sci-Fi Con in Richmond, BC- it was quite an interesting experience for little ol’ un-initiated me! I was very impressed with the detail and commitment of the ones who came dressed up. There was a very convincing Jack Sparrow in character.

Poor Middle Margie is really struggling to carry that one carton, while Little Margie carries two of them effortlessly. I kind of feel sorry for Middle Margie.

Hey! We gained a whopping three subscribers since yesterday~!!

It’s working.

Good to see Avenger09; hope to see Morrow, too. Here’s hoping that the Phantom Zone isn’t filling up again!

@ Neil Wick: Two items. First, your comments the other day (I think it was you) about how difficult it is to draw heads and hands. To which, someone added, feet. A real problem today in the third panel – the feet are all out of perspective!

Second, you mentioned that crossovers are disturbing, and I agree. I was called to task because I considered the current iteration of Dick Tracy a bit too close to a 1960s television show that drove people batty. Right now, I’m starting to see why I keep drawing those comparisons: Crossover heroes have to have crossover villains! // And one of the prime features of that two-night-a-week show was that each week we would have a “special guest villain”! // That’s kind of how this strip is evolving – if that is the word for it.

Last, and certainly least: The reappearance of the three Margies hopefully portends the next appearance of Svengoolie. Granted, I much prefer his predecessor, but I’ll take any Sven I can get!

And, by the by, does ANYBODY recognize the guitar riff used on the old Jerry G. Bishop Svengoolie bits? It also appeared on some of the early Son of Svengoolie bits. // It’s become kind of an “earworm” for me, and I’d like to know what it was!

Poor Middle Margie: she’s the only Margie whose nickname isn’t ironic.

Tomorrow: Tracy gets wind of these “con” books, assumes they’re trying to scam the entire city, and in the last panel proceeds to gun down all 17 Margies.

(The following day: Turns out to be only minor flesh wounds and they all have a good laugh about it while sharing a case of root beer with Snoopy and Woodstock.)

@ ANYFACE:From late yesterday:

Not like the good ol’ days, when Gould would spend a week or so having Tracy expound the virtues of his newly-installed ‘Doggy Door?’

Yes, I very much remember reading that story (and re-reading it in the IDW Collections) – but, that doggy door turned out to be hugely significant, because Blowtop read about it in the feature section of the newspaper, and wired it so that Tracy’s house would blow up! And, just in case any of his readers thought Gould was just being silly, he dropped hints of impending disaster throughout the week or so he spent on that first little part of the story. He had Tess saying to Tracy “Gosh, I hope nothing happens to this lovely house” or words to that effect. He even put notes in caption boxes like “Tracy, you have no idea the trouble you’ve started!” He didn’t actually write a big sign saying “This is a set-up for something big, folks, so stay with us!” but he was just about that obvious. Plus, Tracy was newly married in that sequence, so the week gave readers a chance to observe a little of Tracy’s home life.

WOW, looks like the fairy princess on the Con book cover has the ability to flip! Guess they make the books with screen rotation ability these days!

Sloppy Joe’s, anyone???

Another excellent job of making sure I miss Mister Staton and desperately want him back on art duties…

Isn’t there any one at TMS who can step in and say to Joe & Mike, “Er, really, guys?”

For the record, since (unless I missed it in perusing all the preceding comments) no one has yet made note of it, Brian is apparently in a wheelchair. This may or may not prove to be significant to the plot, later on.

That would help to explain why he is letting the Margies, at least Little and Middle, schlep the Con books. It strikes me, especially with her half-shut eyes in panel 1, that Big Margie has a bit of a Marilyn Monroe-look going on….

FUN FACT: On an episode of the war era radio series ‘Command Performance’ featuring the comic operetta ‘DICK TRACY IN B-Flat,’ yet another set of ‘Sisters’ – The ‘Summer Sisters’ – were portrayed by the singing ‘Andrews Sisters.’

What makes this unusual is that, while in the ‘Tracy’ strip there were only two sisters, on ‘Command Performance’ there were a total of three.

So there is precedent of sorts for the ‘Margies.’

I wonder if ‘Little Margie’ could more easily tolerate the weight of Astor’s brother’s as-yet-unseen recent cosplay construction.

Yep. The handles on Brian’s wheelchair are obvious in the third panel.

Not a good omen. Hey, Morrow, wherefore art thou Morrow?

: Still Da Avenger is still available in two flavors. But after yesterday, when Neil Wick (I think) noticed the disappearance of comments from Avenger and Morrow, I was wondering whether another round of banishments awaited! // (Get my best Lou Costello voice out and) Hey Morrow!

Boy, reading these comments is like attending a whine tasting.

‘I don’t like their feet.’ "I don’t like the art.’ ‘I don’t like the story.’ Jeeze, it’s like a room full of little kids. The only thing I haven’t seen yet is, “are we there yet?”

Is it wrong that, at this point, when I refresh this page, I don’t even expect the 4/19/17 strip to appear?

Sorry I tried to click on the replies to my question of whether the clock stopped at Go Comics and accidentally deleted it instead. It’s too easy with big fingers on a mobile device. Now I’ll never know the answer. :( There were 7 replies, too.

Anyway, maybe it’s their calendar that stopped. Every strip has yesterday’s date.

Well, it’s 3 am, and no comics. On the plus side, no one’s complained about today’s strip yet.

Honeymoon might have tripped on the cable while looking for Pop Pop’s yellow mask

It only takes three weeks to make or break a habit.

Just sayin’

What is going on? Is this comic show casing a new artist for a new comic? Has “Dick Tracy” run its course? Has political correctness killed Dick Tracy? Have the real artists been kidnapped? Have I turned senile and think the Dick Tracy cartoon changed? Have illegals from the Moon taken over the comic strip? …. blah and ye gads to what is happening!!!!!!!!!

Moose, some friendly advice: don’t ever say anything critical of the strip or you will earn the label as a Troll. Once a Troll, you advance to Master Troll, and then you get your posts erased. Cheer on the kindergarteners…… it will add to your Tracy lifespan.