“And now for something completely different.” (And welcome back, Mike! :D )
With the Yeti case all wrapped up, and with today’s strip debuting two new characters we’ve never seen before, 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 3 cases of more than one villain with the same name (Chameleon, Mr. Crime, Shaky) 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.
Well, you might not be hippies, but I think that Aquarius (the likely star of this story) is. So I had to look up the age of Aquarius, because it was the firs tthing that popped into my mind. According to Wikipedia, an astrological age last 2,160 years and the Age of Aquarius started sometime in the mid 1800s to sometime in the future, depending on who you ask. It’s most associated with the 1960s, of course.
His unseen aunt, Auntie Bellum, is a play on the word “antebellum” from the Latin words meaning “before” and “war.” I wonder if the aunt comes from before the war. Maybe it has no significance.
His girlfriend is called Cheesecake, apparently. That’s definitely an interesting name (or nickname maybe).
Groovy. Rock solid. Farmout, man. I bet there’s some Purple Sunshine in that tea. If these folks aren’t the bad guys then they might be impending victims of some.
In the U.S. antebellum is widely used as part of the phrase “Antebellum South”, in reference to the pre-Civil War southern states that would become the secessionist Confederacy.
Aquarius and the song he’s singing are a reference to the popular late-‘60s/early ‘70s vocal group The 5th Dimension, as one of their biggest hit records was a medley of two songs from the hit musical Hair – “Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In.” He even resembles group member Ronald Townson…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILSr9BbhoJQ
“Cheesecake” is a popular synonym for sexy but not indecent pin-up style illustration and photography. Our young lady here could certainly be a model for that style of art.
Many folks already knew all or most of that but just in case there were any gaps…
I thought before ending the story, they should have tied up a few loose ends. What happened to Daisy. What happened to the spider. Going through Yetis paperwork and records, did they find an antidote for the ones in a coma . What about the lost meteorite. Did Yeti actually die from the spider bite. So many unanswered questions.
I’m having comic strip whiplash – a spider the size of a German shepherd scuttles away and we cut to… what? Is that broken plaster on the wall behind Cheesecake, exposing lathe? Well, that does explain all the curtains and decorating it like a fortune teller’s carnival tent.
Ooookay…. Knew the previous story officially ended yesterday, but I was really hoping for a teensy post-mortem. Is Yeti truly dead? Is Daisy? Will the meteorite be recovered, or has a passing motorist taken it home by now to put in their rock garden? Are Dick & Sam still trying to get through the steel door? Is their report on this case going to make any sense at all? It’s as if the past few weeks were just a strange and improbably elaborate dream, ‘Dallas’ style….
The Siam has seen better days. I guess the Covid really crushed their maintenance budget.
That looks like Mysta, trying to hide her horns with a groovy new hairstyle.
Joe has a thing for blondes sprawled out on old style couches (refer back to Fortuna Dyer’s attempt to seduce Tracy from a similar couch). Wait. It’s the colorist that decides that they’re blondes! That kinkster! Joe just digs chicks on couches.
These characters are Hippies. They are stuck in the 60s still singing the lyrics from Hair.
I think the name Auntie Bellum means Anti-Bellum or Anti-War which fits in with the theme of the musical, Hair as well.
Out of the gate, this “back to the 60s” vibe seems, theme-wise, to be another backward-facing nostalgia-based story. I hope I am wrong. The 60s began 60 years ago. I wonder how many old codger readers like me were alive during that time period? How many readers have no idea of what that time period was like, but know it only from the stereotypes on old MeTV shows?
Auntie Bellum seems to be sick in a curtained bed. Perhaps she is the one who keeps the Hippy “good vibrations” alive here. These characters are young and obviously were not alive in the 60s yet their whole lives seem, at first glance, to be immersed in Hippy culture and apart from the “real world normal people of the strip.” Someone needs to tell them that Hippies are not a thing anymore. They are living in a contrived past they never knew.
Whelp, I guess the spider plot is over, folks! I’m now very excited at the prospect of seeing Dick Tracy shoot some hippies, though probably not as excited as Dick is at the prospect of shooting some hippies.
Wow, really educational group of comments. Like I never knew what Ante Bellum meant, or what the Age of Aquarius was all about. Really eye-opening folks. BTW, The C&W group Lady AnteBellum considered their name “racist” and are now just called Lady A. Almost as dumb as the “ending” to the previous, potentially good story.
Auntie Bellum….she will be the criminal in this upcoming story. I’ll be reading to see if she’ll make the mastermind category. Lately the majority of villain’s in Tracy land have fallen short of the mark. Now regarding Aquarius, wonder if he has this name due to his fascination with reading astrology signs in the newspaper or online. And Cheesecake, is her name due to centerfold photos in magazines or that she likes cheesecake for dessert? Introduction of three characters….endless possibilities. I take that back, got hoodwinked and bamboozled by previous characters and ended up disappointed. After a while, I’ll start wondering who is Joe and Mike’s inspiration? Alfred Hitchcock? What’s up with these cliff-hangers?
Nice job of setting a striking scene, even though we don’t yet know for what. We meet Cheesecake, yet another of the hot long-haired blondes to grace the strip; Aquarius, who is stuck in 1969 https://tinyurl.com/yy76wh5k ; and (as yet unseen) Auntie Bellum.
A strong set-up; let us hope the story that unfolds is worthy of it….
Intro (skip if you’ve already read any of the previous intros):
Hello, greetings, casual readers of past Tracy stories. I’m here because I’m on 2 missions. The first is something I’ve never done before, read each Tracy story by Mike Curtis (or his occasional guest writer) in one sitting each. I feel his stories are worth it. IMHO, Curtis is by far the best post-Gould writer this strip has ever had, and we’re all lucky to have him.
My second mission is to provide an immediately useful Featured Comment whenever needed. My 3 friends below will reply to me. You can read their replies if you like, but their only real purpose is to bump up this comment to the Featured Comment.
There are 2 basic types of immediately useful Featured Comments: the first type is to provide you with a Mumblespeak translator when needed. The other type (this type) is anytime that day’s strip quotes a real song. I will provide an html to a recording to that song so you’ll know the tune even if you’ve never heard it before.
End Intro
Our new friend Aquarius at the end is singing a snatch of the song he’s named after, Aquarius/ Let the Sunshine In. Here’s the original:
Brian Premium Member over 3 years ago
We’re entering the 5th Dimension.
avenger09 over 3 years ago
What a waste of time
The past few weeks weren’t kind
Potential flushed down the drain
Leaving us dazed and in pain
So many holes doing a loop De loop
It felt like a after dinner poop
An ending worthy of a cringe
A door with a squeaky hinge
That irritates both sight and sound
I wish Dick Locher was around
boboscar over 3 years ago
“And now for something completely different.” (And welcome back, Mike! :D )
With the Yeti case all wrapped up, and with today’s strip debuting two new characters we’ve never seen before, 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 3 cases of more than one villain with the same name (Chameleon, Mr. Crime, Shaky) 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
blunebottle over 3 years ago
It’s the weekend, so we’ll have to wait for Monday for the Yeti wrap up. Only a few loose ends, of course.
Neil Wick over 3 years ago
Good morning™, hippies!
Well, you might not be hippies, but I think that Aquarius (the likely star of this story) is. So I had to look up the age of Aquarius, because it was the firs tthing that popped into my mind. According to Wikipedia, an astrological age last 2,160 years and the Age of Aquarius started sometime in the mid 1800s to sometime in the future, depending on who you ask. It’s most associated with the 1960s, of course.
His unseen aunt, Auntie Bellum, is a play on the word “antebellum” from the Latin words meaning “before” and “war.” I wonder if the aunt comes from before the war. Maybe it has no significance.
His girlfriend is called Cheesecake, apparently. That’s definitely an interesting name (or nickname maybe).
Gweedo -it's legal here- Murray over 3 years ago
Good morning™, Acid testers !
Groovy. Rock solid. Farmout, man. I bet there’s some Purple Sunshine in that tea. If these folks aren’t the bad guys then they might be impending victims of some.
artsyguy65 over 3 years ago
In the U.S. antebellum is widely used as part of the phrase “Antebellum South”, in reference to the pre-Civil War southern states that would become the secessionist Confederacy.
Aquarius and the song he’s singing are a reference to the popular late-‘60s/early ‘70s vocal group The 5th Dimension, as one of their biggest hit records was a medley of two songs from the hit musical Hair – “Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In.” He even resembles group member Ronald Townson…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILSr9BbhoJQ
“Cheesecake” is a popular synonym for sexy but not indecent pin-up style illustration and photography. Our young lady here could certainly be a model for that style of art.
Many folks already knew all or most of that but just in case there were any gaps…
iggyman over 3 years ago
The moon is in the seventh house and Jupiter aligns with Mars?
iggyman over 3 years ago
And Peace will guide the planet, and Love will steer the stars? Boy I wish!!
charliefarmrhere over 3 years ago
I thought before ending the story, they should have tied up a few loose ends. What happened to Daisy. What happened to the spider. Going through Yetis paperwork and records, did they find an antidote for the ones in a coma . What about the lost meteorite. Did Yeti actually die from the spider bite. So many unanswered questions.
WGillete over 3 years ago
I’m having comic strip whiplash – a spider the size of a German shepherd scuttles away and we cut to… what? Is that broken plaster on the wall behind Cheesecake, exposing lathe? Well, that does explain all the curtains and decorating it like a fortune teller’s carnival tent.
Batster over 3 years ago
Ooookay…. Knew the previous story officially ended yesterday, but I was really hoping for a teensy post-mortem. Is Yeti truly dead? Is Daisy? Will the meteorite be recovered, or has a passing motorist taken it home by now to put in their rock garden? Are Dick & Sam still trying to get through the steel door? Is their report on this case going to make any sense at all? It’s as if the past few weeks were just a strange and improbably elaborate dream, ‘Dallas’ style….
lonniercampbell over 3 years ago
I love new characters!!!!!
TracyFan 65 over 3 years ago
Poison?
kantuck-nadie over 3 years ago
“Auntie Bellum”? Oh deer gods. That’s terrible! But Cheesecake makes it much better. (giggles)
Another Take over 3 years ago
Observations:
The Siam has seen better days. I guess the Covid really crushed their maintenance budget.
That looks like Mysta, trying to hide her horns with a groovy new hairstyle.
Joe has a thing for blondes sprawled out on old style couches (refer back to Fortuna Dyer’s attempt to seduce Tracy from a similar couch). Wait. It’s the colorist that decides that they’re blondes! That kinkster! Joe just digs chicks on couches.
jrankin1959 over 3 years ago
Lemme guess – Yeti’s last customer?
Ray Toler over 3 years ago
These characters are Hippies. They are stuck in the 60s still singing the lyrics from Hair.
I think the name Auntie Bellum means Anti-Bellum or Anti-War which fits in with the theme of the musical, Hair as well.
Out of the gate, this “back to the 60s” vibe seems, theme-wise, to be another backward-facing nostalgia-based story. I hope I am wrong. The 60s began 60 years ago. I wonder how many old codger readers like me were alive during that time period? How many readers have no idea of what that time period was like, but know it only from the stereotypes on old MeTV shows?
Auntie Bellum seems to be sick in a curtained bed. Perhaps she is the one who keeps the Hippy “good vibrations” alive here. These characters are young and obviously were not alive in the 60s yet their whole lives seem, at first glance, to be immersed in Hippy culture and apart from the “real world normal people of the strip.” Someone needs to tell them that Hippies are not a thing anymore. They are living in a contrived past they never knew.
MuddyUSA Premium Member over 3 years ago
Holy crap….did I miss something?
David Rickard Premium Member over 3 years ago
From today’s Comics Curmudgeon:
Whelp, I guess the spider plot is over, folks! I’m now very excited at the prospect of seeing Dick Tracy shoot some hippies, though probably not as excited as Dick is at the prospect of shooting some hippies.
buckman-j over 3 years ago
Wow, really educational group of comments. Like I never knew what Ante Bellum meant, or what the Age of Aquarius was all about. Really eye-opening folks. BTW, The C&W group Lady AnteBellum considered their name “racist” and are now just called Lady A. Almost as dumb as the “ending” to the previous, potentially good story.
VegaAlopex over 3 years ago
Is the Fifth Dimension who’re singing the song? I still have the record from 1969.
RonnieAThompson Premium Member over 3 years ago
RIP Robert Zerman. You gave your all.
IvanB.Cohen over 3 years ago
Auntie Bellum….she will be the criminal in this upcoming story. I’ll be reading to see if she’ll make the mastermind category. Lately the majority of villain’s in Tracy land have fallen short of the mark. Now regarding Aquarius, wonder if he has this name due to his fascination with reading astrology signs in the newspaper or online. And Cheesecake, is her name due to centerfold photos in magazines or that she likes cheesecake for dessert? Introduction of three characters….endless possibilities. I take that back, got hoodwinked and bamboozled by previous characters and ended up disappointed. After a while, I’ll start wondering who is Joe and Mike’s inspiration? Alfred Hitchcock? What’s up with these cliff-hangers?
oakie817 over 3 years ago
Auntie Bellum?? Holey Stephan Pastis, Batman!
Night-Gaunt49[Bozo is Boffo] over 3 years ago
To keep the ambiguity we may not have much of a wrap up.
Sisyphos over 3 years ago
Nice job of setting a striking scene, even though we don’t yet know for what. We meet Cheesecake, yet another of the hot long-haired blondes to grace the strip; Aquarius, who is stuck in 1969 https://tinyurl.com/yy76wh5k ; and (as yet unseen) Auntie Bellum.
A strong set-up; let us hope the story that unfolds is worthy of it….
BreathlessMahoney77 over 3 years ago
Once again quoting copyrighted song lyrics. Does ASCAP know about this?
JDBella over 3 years ago
This strip gets more & more disappointing.
boboscar 28 days ago
Intro (skip if you’ve already read any of the previous intros):
Hello, greetings, casual readers of past Tracy stories. I’m here because I’m on 2 missions. The first is something I’ve never done before, read each Tracy story by Mike Curtis (or his occasional guest writer) in one sitting each. I feel his stories are worth it. IMHO, Curtis is by far the best post-Gould writer this strip has ever had, and we’re all lucky to have him.
My second mission is to provide an immediately useful Featured Comment whenever needed. My 3 friends below will reply to me. You can read their replies if you like, but their only real purpose is to bump up this comment to the Featured Comment.
There are 2 basic types of immediately useful Featured Comments: the first type is to provide you with a Mumblespeak translator when needed. The other type (this type) is anytime that day’s strip quotes a real song. I will provide an html to a recording to that song so you’ll know the tune even if you’ve never heard it before.
End Intro
Our new friend Aquarius at the end is singing a snatch of the song he’s named after, Aquarius/ Let the Sunshine In. Here’s the original:
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:
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/watch?v=06X5HYynP5E