Buckman-j will be happy to hear that I haven’t written up my overall opinions on the Frieda Frisk story, but that could change later today. We’ll see. In any case, Frisk is promising to return at some point.
The last we heard of Wertham Woods was the last day of February and first two days of March. Just before Splitface’s accomplice, Clybourne, evaded arrest, Splitface told him to go to the place he had told him about and Splitface said he’d find him there after he broke out of jail again. After the subsequent shootout, Splitface was sent back to Wertham Woods.
With the Frisk case wrapped up and the scene shifting to a familiar place that doesn’t seem to have anything to do with that case, it appears we’ve reached the start of a new story. When I’ve decided a new story’s started, I do a list of every Tracy story on GoComics. Unfortunately, soon after I started doing this GC imposed a stupid, asinine character limit of only 2000 characters which includes every letter, space, punctuation, & html, which means I have to do this over several posts. I’ll do my initial introduction in this post and start the list in the next one, because otherwise, I can’t even get past the second year.
My notes are fairly simple. Just my name for the story (usually the name of the main villain or villains, unless they just aren’t the emphasis) followed by the dates the story began and ended. If someone was the main villain for more than one story, I add a “II” and so on to emphasize this. If more than one villain from a past story are in the same story committing major crimes, I include them altogether. Finally, for the two cases of more than one villain with the same name (Chameleon, Mr. Crime) I add, “The Second” in front of their names.
Minit Mysteries Note: at the request of people who wanted to see these listed here, I’ve decided to make a separate post for them to keep the listing of Mike Curtis stories in as few posts as possible.
At the start of the GoComics archive, the writer was the late Mike Kilian. Personally, I like his work on Tracy and think he’s very underrated. At the very least, he knew how to tell a story in the daily strip format where every day, something happens that moves the story along, a quality his successor sorely lacked. I recommend anyone here who hasn’t read these stories to check them out.
Think how much more effective this baby merchant business would have been had it been Lizz at the epicenter, not Frisk. A core member of Tracy’s team is the one with a deadbeat (& progressively out & out criminal) biological parent. But even w/ Frisk as the featured “guest star”, the dramatic scenarios mere muted. We never got a proper Frisk/ Lilly reunion ie. “Hey, Mom? Why did you give me up?” nor a final confrontation ie. “Hey, Mom. Why did you conspire to kill me?” The human interactions used to be Mike’s forte but they’ve been MIA as of late (although we get HEAPS of SugarDaddy Vitamin & his Baby-Faced Bride). Maybe it’s the truncated 6-8 weeks continuity we’ve been seeing 2018/2019? Maybe it’s the not always success seat-of-your-pants plotting that often degrades any cohesive, logical, character-based narrative? I dunno.
I’ll give the last story a 5 out of 10. It had some moments, but absolutely nothing wasn’t predictable days ahead. Too many mistakes in plot, coloring, etc to be scored any higher.
Another loose end, added to so many I’ve long since lost count! Why can’t they follow a story all the way through? What about the envelope with information about “higher-ups” in this baby market racket? Frisk gave that to Tracy, who said he would follow up on his end. It’s a good bet we’ll never hear anymore about that.
Now see… THIS is how it’s done. A nice wrap up to the previous story (albeit seemingly a bit rushed, but i digress) and a nice quick intro to the next story… and its ALL done in only two panels.
i’d tip my hat, but i dont wear one.. so i’ll tip tracy’s instead :)
1-PRIMM: You really know how to show a lady a good time Tracy; from cutting up my coat to car wrecks and death. Let’s be sure to do it again.
DT: Sure! I’ll pick you up at 6.
PRIMM: I was being facetious ya simp.
DT: Ummm, I knew that. So 6?
2-BUILDING: Sigh…I had such high hopes when I was first being designed. Maybe I would eclipse the Guggenheim, the Sydney Opera House or even be more controversial than the pyramidal addition to the Louvre. But nooooo! I get some postmodern weirdo architect that even East Germany would’ve kicked out! And worst of all – I’m known simply as THE NUT HOUSE! Cruel, cruel fate!
In Houston there is a Wortham Center. Though spelled differently. “The Wortham Center is home to Houston Ballet and Houston Grand Opera. Since its opening in 1987, Wortham has entertained more than 8 million people. Bold and beautiful, the Wortham is a facility like no other.”
As a newbie here, it seems like I joined at a good time…. the start of a new story. I am looking forward to learning more. HarryCK’s comments occasionally about Dick Tracy while at Alley Oop made me interested to find out more. I may need to ask questions as I try to learn so, please be patient with me. :)
We’re back at the poor-security funny farm! What inmate shall it be this time? —Most previous comments concentrate on the previous criminally insane Splitface. But this is announced to be a crossover tale, and so I wonder if some celebrated nut from a non-Tracy source will be introduced. One naturally (at least in my case) turns to thoughts of Arkham and some bat-villain….
Everything old is new again. As I remember it was November 1966 when Haf-and-Haf got introduced in this comic strip. If he is going to be featured, okay I can tolerate the third go round. However by Spring 2020 Staton and Curtis will have bought themselves enough time for new villians. Time for some diversity to liven up things.
AnyFace over 4 years ago
That locale sounds vaguely familiar … ✨
Counterpoint over 4 years ago
Wasn’t Wertham Woods the Psychiatric Hospital in which Haf-and-Haf was detained before he assaulted the doctor and escaped?
Neil Wick over 4 years ago
Good morning™, friends and strangers!
Buckman-j will be happy to hear that I haven’t written up my overall opinions on the Frieda Frisk story, but that could change later today. We’ll see. In any case, Frisk is promising to return at some point.
The last we heard of Wertham Woods was the last day of February and first two days of March. Just before Splitface’s accomplice, Clybourne, evaded arrest, Splitface told him to go to the place he had told him about and Splitface said he’d find him there after he broke out of jail again. After the subsequent shootout, Splitface was sent back to Wertham Woods.
HarryCK over 4 years ago
Good morning™, departing now old friends !
Will a new nutjob escape or be released to wreak havoc upon Tracyville ?
boboscar over 4 years ago
With the Frisk case wrapped up and the scene shifting to a familiar place that doesn’t seem to have anything to do with that case, it appears we’ve reached the start of a new story. When I’ve decided a new story’s started, I do a list of every Tracy story on GoComics. Unfortunately, soon after I started doing this GC imposed a stupid, asinine character limit of only 2000 characters which includes every letter, space, punctuation, & html, which means I have to do this over several posts. I’ll do my initial introduction in this post and start the list in the next one, because otherwise, I can’t even get past the second year.
My notes are fairly simple. Just my name for the story (usually the name of the main villain or villains, unless they just aren’t the emphasis) followed by the dates the story began and ended. If someone was the main villain for more than one story, I add a “II” and so on to emphasize this. If more than one villain from a past story are in the same story committing major crimes, I include them altogether. Finally, for the two cases of more than one villain with the same name (Chameleon, Mr. Crime) I add, “The Second” in front of their names.
Minit Mysteries Note: at the request of people who wanted to see these listed here, I’ve decided to make a separate post for them to keep the listing of Mike Curtis stories in as few posts as possible.
At the start of the GoComics archive, the writer was the late Mike Kilian. Personally, I like his work on Tracy and think he’s very underrated. At the very least, he knew how to tell a story in the daily strip format where every day, something happens that moves the story along, a quality his successor sorely lacked. I recommend anyone here who hasn’t read these stories to check them out.
TBC cuz GC decided to suck now
Constantine500 over 4 years ago
Think how much more effective this baby merchant business would have been had it been Lizz at the epicenter, not Frisk. A core member of Tracy’s team is the one with a deadbeat (& progressively out & out criminal) biological parent. But even w/ Frisk as the featured “guest star”, the dramatic scenarios mere muted. We never got a proper Frisk/ Lilly reunion ie. “Hey, Mom? Why did you give me up?” nor a final confrontation ie. “Hey, Mom. Why did you conspire to kill me?” The human interactions used to be Mike’s forte but they’ve been MIA as of late (although we get HEAPS of SugarDaddy Vitamin & his Baby-Faced Bride). Maybe it’s the truncated 6-8 weeks continuity we’ve been seeing 2018/2019? Maybe it’s the not always success seat-of-your-pants plotting that often degrades any cohesive, logical, character-based narrative? I dunno.
GoComicsGo! over 4 years ago
They’re dead. Bye. – WTF?
avenger09 over 4 years ago
I’ll give the last story a 5 out of 10. It had some moments, but absolutely nothing wasn’t predictable days ahead. Too many mistakes in plot, coloring, etc to be scored any higher.
Knightman Premium Member over 4 years ago
Let’s move it along now!!! no loitering!!!
Durak Premium Member over 4 years ago
Ok, let’s!
Gent over 4 years ago
Tomorrow : New Adventure!
Ken in Ohio over 4 years ago
Another loose end, added to so many I’ve long since lost count! Why can’t they follow a story all the way through? What about the envelope with information about “higher-ups” in this baby market racket? Frisk gave that to Tracy, who said he would follow up on his end. It’s a good bet we’ll never hear anymore about that.
tsull2121 over 4 years ago
Now see… THIS is how it’s done. A nice wrap up to the previous story (albeit seemingly a bit rushed, but i digress) and a nice quick intro to the next story… and its ALL done in only two panels.
i’d tip my hat, but i dont wear one.. so i’ll tip tracy’s instead :)
Another Take over 4 years ago
1-PRIMM: You really know how to show a lady a good time Tracy; from cutting up my coat to car wrecks and death. Let’s be sure to do it again.
DT: Sure! I’ll pick you up at 6.
PRIMM: I was being facetious ya simp.
DT: Ummm, I knew that. So 6?
2-BUILDING: Sigh…I had such high hopes when I was first being designed. Maybe I would eclipse the Guggenheim, the Sydney Opera House or even be more controversial than the pyramidal addition to the Louvre. But nooooo! I get some postmodern weirdo architect that even East Germany would’ve kicked out! And worst of all – I’m known simply as THE NUT HOUSE! Cruel, cruel fate!
buckman-j over 4 years ago
Uh, Oh, I sense a recycled villain story coming up. BTW, Thanks Neil
Timothy Miller over 4 years ago
Wertham? Are they making a reference?
Night-Gaunt49[Bozo is Boffo] over 4 years ago
In Houston there is a Wortham Center. Though spelled differently. “The Wortham Center is home to Houston Ballet and Houston Grand Opera. Since its opening in 1987, Wortham has entertained more than 8 million people. Bold and beautiful, the Wortham is a facility like no other.”
Pipe Tobacco Premium Member over 4 years ago
As a newbie here, it seems like I joined at a good time…. the start of a new story. I am looking forward to learning more. HarryCK’s comments occasionally about Dick Tracy while at Alley Oop made me interested to find out more. I may need to ask questions as I try to learn so, please be patient with me. :)
Sisyphos over 4 years ago
We’re back at the poor-security funny farm! What inmate shall it be this time? —Most previous comments concentrate on the previous criminally insane Splitface. But this is announced to be a crossover tale, and so I wonder if some celebrated nut from a non-Tracy source will be introduced. One naturally (at least in my case) turns to thoughts of Arkham and some bat-villain….
Kip W over 4 years ago
Nothing much good ever came from Wertham Woods, just a show of violence.
Don Bagert Premium Member over 4 years ago
The outside of the Wertham Woods facility looks pretty normal (for a psychiatric hospital) compared to Arkham Asylum.
IvanB.Cohen over 4 years ago
Everything old is new again. As I remember it was November 1966 when Haf-and-Haf got introduced in this comic strip. If he is going to be featured, okay I can tolerate the third go round. However by Spring 2020 Staton and Curtis will have bought themselves enough time for new villians. Time for some diversity to liven up things.