Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for September 13, 2020

Features hidden. Long black cape. Enveloped by his shroud

Museum district hunting grounds. Light foggy mist and cloud.

The self-anointed “Vampire” does stalk and strike and kill

Blood lust? Fetish? Compulsion? A nasty taboo thrill?

Beware the night and shadows. There’s evil in the dark

A killer most unsavory does love to leave his mark.

Daylight finds young crime stoppers. These girls bound to go far

Under watchful guidance of reporter Brenda Starr.

Let the sleuthing now begin. A gathering of clues

Separate the wheat from chaff. Decide what one can use.

A reporter’s beat is every street. Killer must be caught

Danger lurks. Yet their good works bring journeys bold and fraught.

For anyone interested, one of the regulars has been posting links to old Brenda Starr strips in the comments for Gasoline Alley.

Good morning™, reporter wannabes!

We finally have Brenda Starr, looking all sparkly. I guess summer has been extended in Tracy-land.

I’m surprised to see that Honeymoon is joining Annie in the journalism pursuit, but it looks like we have a couple of “keeners” ready to do their investigative reporter thing on the “vampire” killing.

And where’s Crystal? She’s not joining the fun?

No! No! Please tell me it ain’t so!

Just when we thought we made it through summer without an Annie crossover!

What else is 2020 going to bring?

Brenda Starr? Who has not appeared in Tracy land? Hmm… Beetle Bailey, Dilbert, Curtis, Blondie, Mary Worth…the list of cameos is endless. The headlines “Vampire Killing”….I guess Carl Kolchak from the Nightstalker series of 1974-75 will be making a walk on in this strip. For a minute, the crime was going to be a “Jack the Ripper” thing and “Scotland Yard” would show up for consulting purposes.

Good morning™, hands on journal students !

Tho’ not a student herself what are the odds they pick up Crystal for a ‘ride along’ helper ?

OH NOOOOOOOOO?

And it was going so good too.

Brenda Starr!!!!!

This guy sort of reminds me of the Tacoma guy….

Does anyone here remember the old TV shows Journey To The Unknown and Ghost Story/Circle Of Fear?

Very interesting! I wonder if the girls will be involved in the capture of the “Vampire Killer”?

Brenda is looking mighty good these days!

WOW! It’s great to see Brenda Starr again! Joe Staton did a wonderful job drawing her. It would be terrific if she had her own strip again. Brenda as a guest in Dick Tracy is a treat! More please!

YEEES! THE DYNAMIC DUO IS HERE!!!!

Does this mean Friday Foster is coming back too? Maybe Claire Voyant?

Annie is now by adoption a character of the strip at least for Mike and Joe.

Oh boy! Look everybody, Annie’s back! Aren’t you excited?

And it wasnt a Mad Scientist but a Vampire. Blah Blah!

When I was kid, Brenda Starr was the first serial strip I read, entirely because of her looks.

cool beans

What next? Are we going to learn that the silent killer from the past week is Abner Kadaver’s cousin Barney Collins, who came to Tracy Town to find out why cousin Abe missed the centennial family reunion?

Maybe Carl Kolchak will put in an appearance…

Or – is Abner Kadaver making a comeback?

Is Brenda married to _ _ _ _ _?

Be the first to complete this ‘joke’ and win the admiration of all fellow readers for ETERNITY!!! *

Contestants may not be related to me nor may they have omnipotent powers.

Hmm…Brenda’s ex Basil St. John wears a patch on his left eye…I hope it’s okay to say that Mike Curtis wears (wore?) one too…

RED: Hey kid. John McEnroe wants his 80’s look back. And you with the fleshy head horns – I think you’d have more luck with the boys if you hid those inside an early 60’s bouffant.

ANNIE: Me and Blondie are investigating the Vampire killing. We’ve learned that the Vampire wanna-be is also an insult comic.

BLONDIE: And your mean-joke greeting puts you AT THE TOP OF THE LIST!

RED: Yeah, well I wasn’t joking, double uglies. Where’s that leave you?

ANNIE: Sigh. ♪♪♫ Alone again… BLONDIE: …naturally ♪♪♫.

Let the complaining begin! Personally, I was looking forward to Annie & Honeymoon, even if the story’s going to be chopped to pieces to squeeze into the 8 week (or so) time frame. Fun seeing Brenda Starr, and – SURPRISE! The attack we saw was murder! (Maybe the only violence we’ll be allowed to see, like the bullet clipping Dethany’s coat in that story.)

Here’s a nice long article about Brenda Starr and how the strip battled the stereotypes of the day https://www.markcarlson-ghost.com/index.php/2020/06/30/brenda-starr/

Double crossover with Annie and Brenda Starr. And is it indicative that I first read the First Responder’s name as “Jerry on the Job”?

I was just thing about Brenda Starr cartoons!

Oh, boy, a triple crossover!

Let’s bring Katy Keene and Lois Lane in. Speaking of remembering, does anyone remember when this was a good cops and robbers strip with extraordinary villains? Naaah only fanboys with pics of Brenda on their walls now read this concoction. Interesting tidbit issue relative to that heroic first responder above. Seems there is evidence our “Dear Leader” and his minions misused some of the money set aside to assist those heroes who became ill. Sad

I love the way that Brenda and Honeymoon have pupils in their eyes, and Annie doesn’t. This demonstrates that Annie has a congenital condition, not just a drawing abnormality. (On the other hand, in her own strip, nobody has pupils—maybe it’s a question of comics geography or something?

This story intrigues me, it’s waaay more interesting than whinings of the complainers there!

Seriously…can’t we get just ONE STORY with a decent new villain and no crossovers? This “Scooby Doo Movies” approach to Tracy is getting tiresome. It’s definitely time for a new writer.

I like it so far. Brenda Starr is an excelent choice for reporter. A nice mix of characters and I don’t expect them to be “doconstructed”.

If blood is drained from the woman they have every right to call it ‘vampire’.

Good ole Brenda Starr!

Dick tracy can’t survive without crossovers.

Also… Everyone else has well-defined pupils.. can Annie even see? Or is she reverse goth?

To those complaining about us complainers (summarized by AngeloVentura), I think Nimblejack said it best:

It’s been a long time now that we’ve been getting pretty much a steady diet of crossovers and Minute Mysteries. Isn’t it about time we got a straight story?

This story started out strong. But the introduction of “those meddling kids” has instantly turned the last week’s fine intro to little more than a “teaser” such as we’d see in a Scooby Doo “mystery.”

But, as artsyguy65 said, it could be worse: It could be Scrappy Doo!

The next special guest to the strip should be Bruce Wayne and his alter ego. Seriously, we already had the Green Hornet and Kato appear.

Brenda Starr and her two apprentice journalists, Annie and Honeymoon, will no doubt in some fashion serve as bait to lure “The Vampire” out into the Open (not literally open, but figuratively—some situation where he can be traced), and Tracy and team will then take over the heavy lifting of cornering and apprehending (or killing) our Mad Scientist/vampire. The question is one of balance: let Brenda and her kids serve their function, but then get them out of the way of the real cops….

My experience with Dick Tracy extends back to the beginning, Of late, I tune in in only about every two or three months. This recent stuff is garbage. I suppose if you have nothing to compare to these modern strips are good. Perhaps the strip continues just to maintain the copyrights. The art is abysmal and the story lines are similar to Tracy in name only. Is this stuff the results of political correctness such that the writers are afraid to offend someone’s over developed sensibilities? Perhaps this civilization has reached the point that comic strips are a thing of the (distant) past. Reminds me of the Comics Code that very nearly killed comics books.