Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for June 27, 2021

Vera humble. Has an ask. Chimera grants no trust

Cartoonist so full of himself. Brings no class, just lust.

Promises that he’ll behave. She’ll have no cause to ZAP!

All about rare comic books, thus not a masher’s trap.

Archival an historian. Collection legendary

Desires to meet Mars Maid. Mysta wise to be so wary.

Chimera, she is well intrigued. Break from the ordinary

Perusing vintage comic strips may prove extraordinary.

Memories of this bold life began in the post-op

The Chimera was reborn. Confusion slow to stop.

Time does pass. This changeling lass knows how to chart her course

Star of film. Steps out on stage. No past and no remorse.

A clean slate can lead to great deeds done on a new path

Archival lays a hand on her, the fool shall know her wrath.

Ms. Chimera agrees to work for the man who has repeatedly harrassed her, because he promises “no funny business” this time? I mean, what could go wrong?

Don’t do it, Mysta!

Vera’s sure able to shrug off those zaps. And now the real story can begin.

Looks like Vera already forgave her for zapping him.

What’s with the stars (or asterisks :) ) all over Mysta? Does that represent something like what the sparks on her horns represent?

Good morning™, everyone!

Okay, we finally get to Brock Archival (and he has a first name now). So, he doesn’t live in his mother’s basement as someone speculated. In fact, he apparently has lots of money to buy those rare comics.

I was puzzled by the “Hanes Catalog” mention, thinking it might be a catalog of socks and underwear, which doesn’t seem relevant. I found out that the Hanes family (the same one that owns the textile business in Winston-Salem) established the Hanes Foundation for the Study and Origin of the Origin and Development of the Book and donated a collection of rare books to the Library of the University of North Carolina. A catalog of these books is still available in a reprint edition:

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51mn+hbsKHL.%5fSX346%5fBO1,204,203,200%5f.jpg

People were wondering yesterday whether Mysta killed or seriously injured Vera. No worries, folks, the harasser is alive and well and back to pestering her again to spend time with him. I’m sure he’s learned his lesson, though. Not.

Look, I don’t want to always be negative but this is just silly that we jump from a zap to a rap!

1. What happened right after Mad Mindy lost control and jolted creepizoid?

2. Did he get hurt? Was he angry? Did he apologize?

3. How much time had gone by since the zapfest?

To have a buildup to yesterday’s attack then immediately move on like nothing happened is insulting.

Team Tracy sadly does this way too often, leaving far too many loose ends.

Just an opinion, you don’t have to agree with me.

I like her better with platinum hair.

Sheesh! Alldid never gives up, does he?

Good morning™, third chancers !

She likes this zapping and so keeps going along with his schemes. Will the rich guy, Brock, imprison them and whisk them away to his own version of Superman’s fortress of solitude to forever be on display, like the freaks of nature they are ?

A “millionaire”…..you mean a billionaire, right? This is 2021…….

I don’t believe it. I wish Honeymoon were there so she could zap Mysta and knock some sense into her! This won’t end well! “Mysta! What are you thinking?!

Do you think maybe Archival made his millions in some other enterprise and now spends it on an expensive hobby? Is there anyone who made a fortune dealing in comic books and strips? Not every comic book is worth as much as a mint Action #1.

I wonder if Mysta can control the amount of “Voltage” she administers with each zap? !

That’s a nasty sneer Alldid has on him.

His smile is a guarantee that something is fishy

I can’t read all the comments before leaving the house for church, so I apologize if someone already said this:

Vera’s always had that silly grin, but today his teeth actually bend with the grin. I guess that is comic strip physics at play.

cue the dark ambient music with discordant overtones which, although broadly tonal, is inflected with chromatic and polytonal passages

Real-world stuff has kept me from reading all the daily comments, so I hope I am not repeating points someone has made earlier…

The (I presume) real menace here is the comics enthusiast.

In 1963, the John Fowles novel The Collector was published. And in 1965, William Wyler’s film adaptation received many Oscar nominations. Between those two events, Moon Maid first appeared in Dick Tracy.

Terence Stamp played an avid butterfly collector. (Or perhaps obsessive more than avid.) The frightening thing is that he decides to add a new beautiful specimen to his collection, as a captive, a beautiful woman played by Samantha Eggar. Crime, suspense, and horror follow.

Could Mr. Archival be planning to “collect” a real live comic strip character, namely “Mars Maid”? Does he see her as the ultimate collector’s item, given his comics obsession?

I don’t think it’s anything other than coincidence that Moon Maid appeared between the Fowles novel and the Wyler film.

With that grin on his face? Yeah, right…

Isolated mansion, creepy invite… You’re about to be pegged as a murderer. Stay home and play with your electric eels!

Well, it appears Alldid is not all done after Saturday’s zap comix.

Too bad. That could have been a good story right there – and in his present incarnation, not many would mourn his loss.

While being a comic collector itself does not a bad guy make, as long as this story has gone – without a bad guy other than Alldid – I guess he’ll have to do.

This is almost making the last Abner Kadaver story look good.

Are Joe and Mike trying to tell us something about themselves through Vera? Are they horndogs with bad haircuts?

@60sFan – indeed, what could go wrong?

Who else finds that laying on the horn gets those old folks hustling across the street at a pretty good clip? Anyone? Nobody? Just me?

JK.

What’s in the jar in the final panel, pickled snakes?

Danger, Will Robinson!

Yeah, but if she doesn’t do it, where will the story go from there! The GAME is a foot!

We have entered either the Twilight Zone, or Bizarro World. BTW, The Collector was a really good film as the man said. This ain’t a really good story.

Apparently, home boy Vera recovered from the zapping. Why does he want Mystra to come along? Brock Archival will relish the chance to show off his collection of comics. In movies and television shows, millionaires like to do the “if we got it, we flaunt it” rountine.

What are Mystra, Vera and Brock going to get out of this encounter? Hmm…Brock gets an autographed book of Vera’s work. Maybe he’ll take a “selfie” of himself and Mystra. Vera looks the place over and says to himself “one of these days I hope to be in the big leagues like this guy”.

SEEMS LEGIT.

There is a plot and a plan somewhere in this storyline that somebody is going to be done in. (murdered) Possibly a market for stolen goods like a collection of comics? That theory will introduce us to someone who has not appeared yet. I am going need a score card to keep up with all these twists and turns being shown before me. Where will Moon Maid and Annie fit in?

Vera not ’tarded, Vera just REALLLLLLLL SLOW!

Some people don’t learn

Has anyone else considered the possibility that Alldid and Archival are working together? Maybe that’s the “better idea” Archival had. Maybe he wants Alldid to bring Mysta and exchange some rare artwork or books for her. Maybe Vera’s made that last step from “law abiding” to “law breaking.”

Act 2 commences. The Collector’s full name is Brock Archival, and Mysta has just agreed (!) to join Vile Alldone at his estate. I have a feeling leaving his estate may be as easy as entering it.

Nefarious deeds wafting in the breeze….

You’d think a millionaire could afford a better haircut.