With everything about Blackjack seemingly wrapped up the story changes completely, which I feel marks the end of the last story and the start of the next one. When that happens 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.
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.
The earliest strip on GoComics is Sunday, April 8, 2001. GC then skips a week to the next Sunday, April 15, then skips the next couple of days to Wednesday, April 18. Sadly, this means GC doesn’t have every strip from this first story. Happily, GC has every strip from Tracy from 4/18/01 to the present.
The Mistress of Death (June 21-September 13)
Snails (September 14-December 5)
A Detective, 2 Gunmen, and a Kitty (December 6, 2001-January 13,
2002)
G. R. Eed (January 14-February 24)
Pinhead (February 25-April 26)
Percy Brillig (April 27-June 27)
Heartless Mahoney II (June 28-August 23)
Hawk (August 24-October 16)
The Abduction of Tracy’s Granddaughter (October 17-December 15)
I believe this is where Junior and Sparkle’s daughter (initially named Sparkle Plenty Junior) was renamed Jewel.
The Second Chameleon (December 16, 2002-February 7,
2003)
The Revenge of Hard Case Harry? (February 8-May 3)
Hard Case Harry was a bitter ex-con who served a harsher sentence than even Tracy felt he deserved. In an earlier story, he initially sought revenge on Tracy, but got a chance to reform. Here, he and a family go missing, and Tracy’s left to wonder if he’s decided to return to crime after all. This leads to reprinting the entire original Hard Case Harry story that ran from December 13, 1993-January 23, 1994, before this second HCH case is solved.
Dr. Beau Tox, Heartless, Mahoney, Prune Hilda, Dab Stract, & No Face (September 23-December 18)
All of the above villains were recurring villains except for Dr. Tox, the main villain. By the end, Prune Hilda is killed, Mahoney and Stract testify against Tox in exchange for freedom, but despite their testimony, Tox is acquitted. So Tox, Mahoney, and Stract were all legally freed (and Locher later confirmed that Stract reformed). No Face, as always, escaped without getting caught, and is still at large. ARGH!
Sal Monella II (December 19, 2003-March 10,
2004)
Mousse (March 11-May 30)
Piggy Bank VI (May 31-August 27)
Yes, this was Piggy Bank’s sixth story as a main villain. And he escapes and remains at large. ARGH!
Flunke (August 28-December 22)
Airport Sabotage (December 23,2004-March 14,
2005)
The Manipulation of Moonrock (March 15-May 27)
Dick Tracy in the Southwest (May 28-August 11)
Cellphone (August 12-November 3)
This is the last story Kilian lived to complete.
Oily II (November 4, 2005-March 22,
2006)
Oily was a villain who debuted in a pre-2001 Kilian story. Sadly, Kilian died in late 2005. The last Sunday strip with his signature on it was January 15, 2006. The last Daily strip with his signature on it was over a week earlier on January 7. Up to that point the story had been moving along at Kilian’s usual brisk pace. He’d even had the story largely wrapped up. Too bad his successor, Kilian’s friend and longtime Tracy artist Dick Locher, stretched out the ending for over two months, that feel like over two months just reading it. A sad omen of things to come.
TBC cuz GC sez 2001 characters is “very, very disruptive on the small screen” so it must be true.
And now, here’s my coverage of Dick Locher’s run as writer. In fairness to Locher, he’d been a good, regular artist for decades. And stepping in at the crisis of Mike Kilian’s unexpected death probably saved the strip and kept it afloat. And earlier, when Max Allan Collins left, Locher wrote and drew one story before Kilian stepped in (which sadly, isn’t on here) that’s actually pretty good. That said, his writing here from 2006 to 2011 is Bad. Really, really Bad. Excruciatingly Bad. I list the stories here, where you can find them, but I really wouldn’t recommend reading them. Although halfway through, the experience starts to become worthwhile on this site, but not for anything Locher is doing (at least not intentionally).
2006
Al Kinda (March 23-August 24)
Dr. Figment Froid (August 25, 2006-January 21,
2007)
Queenie (January 22-May 19)
The Brainwashed Baron (May 20-October 14)
The Haunted House (October 15, 2007-January 22,
2008)
Cole Lector (January 23-May 15)
TBC cuz we’ve reached the halfway point of Locher’s run, it’s about to become (sorta) worthwhile, but I need to explain why and my explanation can’t fit this post. Ain’t character limits wonderful
And this is where it (sorta) becomes worthwhile. When Tracy first found the Internet, TMS published its own Tracy website, complete with a forum. In early August, 2008, the site and forum were completely shut down. Which is when GoComics took off. On August 3, fans began to post here, and with nothing good going on in the strip, the fans resumed what they’d done on the old forum, mocking and making fun of just how awful the strip had become. If you like Riff Trax or Mystery Science Theater 3000, you might get a kick out of these comments, many of which are clever, witty, even hilarious at times.
There’s one caveat however. There were a couple of ugly flame wars started here by Locher’s friend and supporter, Matthew P. Hansel. He would rudely insult anyone who didn’t appreciate Locher’s “genius”, namely just about everyone else posting. It got so bad several times, that the GoComics administrator would have to step in and put a halt to it. Eventually all of Matty’s posts would be deleted, which was no big loss, but several fun commentators would get deleted, too, which was a big loss. Going over these old comments now, while still often amusing, can be a bit odd, because the remaining posts include reactions to comments that are no longer there.
Be that as it may, there’s some entertainment value in the comments section of the following strips, even if there’s none in the strips themselves.
Braces (August 28-December 10)
Angelorious (December 11, 2008-March 2,
2009)
Big Ace & One-Eyed Jack (March 3-July 10)
Murder at the Circus (July 11-November 24)
The Maestro and His Son (November 25, 2009-April 6,
2010)
Johnny Nothing (April 7-July 21)
D’Buckworth (July 22-November 13)
Dr. Mordred (November 14, 2010-March 13,
2011)
And after five years of darkness, there was light.
And now my listing of Curtis’ stories. I have the least to say here, but’s all good and often great. Anyone looking for past good stories can find them here. Highly recommended.
2011
The Fifth & Flyface III (March 14-April 30)
Hot Rize (May 1-June 2)
Doubleup (June 3-25)
B-B Eyes II (June 26-July 30)
Morning Gloria (July 31-September 17)
The Retelling of Tracy’s First Case (September 18-October 23)
The Second Mr. Crime, B-B Eyes, Blaze Rize, Mumbles, Doubleup, & Abner Kadaver (October 24-December 2)
Abner Kadaver is in a unique position among Tracy villains. As a professional hitman, he’s always taking orders from somebody, and they’ve always been main villains in their own right. So technically, Abner is never the “main” villain. But there are stories where he is the main focus, and whenever that is, I boldface his name.
Putty Puss III (December 3, 2011-February 2,
2012)
Thunderchild (February 3-March 7)
Blackjack (March 8-April 24)
The Second Mr. Crime, B-B Eyes, Blaze Rize, Mumbles, Doubleup, & Abner Kadaver II (April 25-July 20)
The Fall of the Blackhearts and the Return and Rise of Mr. Bribery (June 14-October 11)
Where it’s revealed that Mr. Bribery was the secret leader of the Blackhearts, making him the unseen main villain behind the Return of Moon Maid, Abner Kadaver’s second “solo” story (the one I start by listing “The Blackhearts”), and the Great Train Robbery.
Midnight Mirror Mystery (October 12-December 25)
Specs & Spicy and the Return of the Ace of Spades (December 26, 2015-April 6,
Mr. Bribery & Abner Kadaver (June 22-September 24)
Selfy (September 25-December 17)
This story also marks the return of Gould villain Posie Ermine. He’s served his time, and no one tries to arrest him, but he’s definitely still a villain. He knows Selfy is a wanted fugitive but doesn’t alert the authorities, he rear ends Mysta’s car, and tries to forcibly take her with him. I expect we’ll see more of him and some more outright villainy from him in the future.
Dick Tracy Meets The Spirit (December 18, 2016-April 6,
I guess it’s official: It’s the Nitrates! I wonder if they’ll get Hanna Barbera’s Hardy Har Har for a stand in for the Leakin’ Lena? (Old cartoon, Lippy the Lion)
Do they keep people awaiting trial in the State Prison? I’m not entirely familiar with the system, and it probably varies by state, but I would have thought those awaiting trial would have been locked up in a county jail. Unless, of course, they are serving time for something they have already been convicted of, and the trial is for new charges.
We start a new tale at State Prison, with the transfer of 603971 (a.k.a. Silver Nitrate) and (probably from county jail) 715984 (a.k.a. Sprocket “Shoeless” Nitrate) by (respectively) state troopers and sheriff’s deputies to impending trial at an unspecified courthouse. Will they make it that far, or will one or both escape from transport? Surely, somehow, they will be on the loose again soon (otherwise, what is the point here?)….
AnyFace over 6 years ago
Is that …
… Silver Nitrate~?!Neil Wick over 6 years ago
A familiar-looking profile in Panel 2.
boboscar over 6 years ago
“And now for something completely different.”
With everything about Blackjack seemingly wrapped up the story changes completely, which I feel marks the end of the last story and the start of the next one. When that happens 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.
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
Gweedo -it's legal here- Murray over 6 years ago
Good morning, prisoner escort duty officer, Vista Bill !
Could you tie 715984’s shoes ? Seems 715 has trouble keeping them on !
boboscar over 6 years ago
Tracy in GoComics
2001
The Airplane Murder Mystery (March 29-June 20)
The earliest strip on GoComics is Sunday, April 8, 2001. GC then skips a week to the next Sunday, April 15, then skips the next couple of days to Wednesday, April 18. Sadly, this means GC doesn’t have every strip from this first story. Happily, GC has every strip from Tracy from 4/18/01 to the present.
The Mistress of Death (June 21-September 13)
Snails (September 14-December 5)
A Detective, 2 Gunmen, and a Kitty (December 6, 2001-January 13,
2002)
G. R. Eed (January 14-February 24)
Pinhead (February 25-April 26)
Percy Brillig (April 27-June 27)
Heartless Mahoney II (June 28-August 23)
Hawk (August 24-October 16)
The Abduction of Tracy’s Granddaughter (October 17-December 15)
I believe this is where Junior and Sparkle’s daughter (initially named Sparkle Plenty Junior) was renamed Jewel.
The Second Chameleon (December 16, 2002-February 7,
2003)
The Revenge of Hard Case Harry? (February 8-May 3)
Hard Case Harry was a bitter ex-con who served a harsher sentence than even Tracy felt he deserved. In an earlier story, he initially sought revenge on Tracy, but got a chance to reform. Here, he and a family go missing, and Tracy’s left to wonder if he’s decided to return to crime after all. This leads to reprinting the entire original Hard Case Harry story that ran from December 13, 1993-January 23, 1994, before this second HCH case is solved.
Hawk II (May 4-July 2)
The Filligree Murder Case (July 3-September 22)
TBC for no good reason
boboscar over 6 years ago
Tracy in GoComics
2003
Dr. Beau Tox, Heartless, Mahoney, Prune Hilda, Dab Stract, & No Face (September 23-December 18)
All of the above villains were recurring villains except for Dr. Tox, the main villain. By the end, Prune Hilda is killed, Mahoney and Stract testify against Tox in exchange for freedom, but despite their testimony, Tox is acquitted. So Tox, Mahoney, and Stract were all legally freed (and Locher later confirmed that Stract reformed). No Face, as always, escaped without getting caught, and is still at large. ARGH!
Sal Monella II (December 19, 2003-March 10,
2004)
Mousse (March 11-May 30)
Piggy Bank VI (May 31-August 27)
Yes, this was Piggy Bank’s sixth story as a main villain. And he escapes and remains at large. ARGH!
Flunke (August 28-December 22)
Airport Sabotage (December 23,2004-March 14,
2005)
The Manipulation of Moonrock (March 15-May 27)
Dick Tracy in the Southwest (May 28-August 11)
Cellphone (August 12-November 3)
This is the last story Kilian lived to complete.
Oily II (November 4, 2005-March 22,
2006)
Oily was a villain who debuted in a pre-2001 Kilian story. Sadly, Kilian died in late 2005. The last Sunday strip with his signature on it was January 15, 2006. The last Daily strip with his signature on it was over a week earlier on January 7. Up to that point the story had been moving along at Kilian’s usual brisk pace. He’d even had the story largely wrapped up. Too bad his successor, Kilian’s friend and longtime Tracy artist Dick Locher, stretched out the ending for over two months, that feel like over two months just reading it. A sad omen of things to come.
TBC cuz GC sez 2001 characters is “very, very disruptive on the small screen” so it must be true.
boboscar over 6 years ago
Tracy in GoComics
And now, here’s my coverage of Dick Locher’s run as writer. In fairness to Locher, he’d been a good, regular artist for decades. And stepping in at the crisis of Mike Kilian’s unexpected death probably saved the strip and kept it afloat. And earlier, when Max Allan Collins left, Locher wrote and drew one story before Kilian stepped in (which sadly, isn’t on here) that’s actually pretty good. That said, his writing here from 2006 to 2011 is Bad. Really, really Bad. Excruciatingly Bad. I list the stories here, where you can find them, but I really wouldn’t recommend reading them. Although halfway through, the experience starts to become worthwhile on this site, but not for anything Locher is doing (at least not intentionally).
2006
Al Kinda (March 23-August 24)
Dr. Figment Froid (August 25, 2006-January 21,
2007)
Queenie (January 22-May 19)
The Brainwashed Baron (May 20-October 14)
The Haunted House (October 15, 2007-January 22,
2008)
Cole Lector (January 23-May 15)
TBC cuz we’ve reached the halfway point of Locher’s run, it’s about to become (sorta) worthwhile, but I need to explain why and my explanation can’t fit this post. Ain’t character limits wonderful
boboscar over 6 years ago
Tracy in GoComics
2008
Baskerville & Shirl Locke (May 16-August 27)
And this is where it (sorta) becomes worthwhile. When Tracy first found the Internet, TMS published its own Tracy website, complete with a forum. In early August, 2008, the site and forum were completely shut down. Which is when GoComics took off. On August 3, fans began to post here, and with nothing good going on in the strip, the fans resumed what they’d done on the old forum, mocking and making fun of just how awful the strip had become. If you like Riff Trax or Mystery Science Theater 3000, you might get a kick out of these comments, many of which are clever, witty, even hilarious at times.
There’s one caveat however. There were a couple of ugly flame wars started here by Locher’s friend and supporter, Matthew P. Hansel. He would rudely insult anyone who didn’t appreciate Locher’s “genius”, namely just about everyone else posting. It got so bad several times, that the GoComics administrator would have to step in and put a halt to it. Eventually all of Matty’s posts would be deleted, which was no big loss, but several fun commentators would get deleted, too, which was a big loss. Going over these old comments now, while still often amusing, can be a bit odd, because the remaining posts include reactions to comments that are no longer there.
Be that as it may, there’s some entertainment value in the comments section of the following strips, even if there’s none in the strips themselves.
Braces (August 28-December 10)
Angelorious (December 11, 2008-March 2,
2009)
Big Ace & One-Eyed Jack (March 3-July 10)
Murder at the Circus (July 11-November 24)
The Maestro and His Son (November 25, 2009-April 6,
2010)
Johnny Nothing (April 7-July 21)
D’Buckworth (July 22-November 13)
Dr. Mordred (November 14, 2010-March 13,
2011)
And after five years of darkness, there was light.
boboscar over 6 years ago
Tracy in GoComics
And now my listing of Curtis’ stories. I have the least to say here, but’s all good and often great. Anyone looking for past good stories can find them here. Highly recommended.
2011
The Fifth & Flyface III (March 14-April 30)
Hot Rize (May 1-June 2)
Doubleup (June 3-25)
B-B Eyes II (June 26-July 30)
Morning Gloria (July 31-September 17)
The Retelling of Tracy’s First Case (September 18-October 23)
The Second Mr. Crime, B-B Eyes, Blaze Rize, Mumbles, Doubleup, & Abner Kadaver (October 24-December 2)
Abner Kadaver is in a unique position among Tracy villains. As a professional hitman, he’s always taking orders from somebody, and they’ve always been main villains in their own right. So technically, Abner is never the “main” villain. But there are stories where he is the main focus, and whenever that is, I boldface his name.
Putty Puss III (December 3, 2011-February 2,
2012)
Thunderchild (February 3-March 7)
Blackjack (March 8-April 24)
The Second Mr. Crime, B-B Eyes, Blaze Rize, Mumbles, Doubleup, & Abner Kadaver II (April 25-July 20)
Mrs. Flattop (July 21-August 20)
Phishface (August 21-September 28)
Measles II (September 29-November 16)
Broadway Bates II (November 17, 2012-January 5,
2013)
Sweat Box (January 6-March 3)
The Jumbler (March 4-April 16)
The Return of Moon Maid (April 17-October 19)
The Blackhearts, Mrs. Flattop, Abner Kadaver, & Blackjack (Octobr 20, 2013-January 4,
2014)
Silver & Sprocket Nitrate (January 5-March 19)
Tabby Angus (March 20-May 31)
The Search for Annie (June 1-October 12)
Gruesome (October 13, 2014-January 18,
2015)
Silver & Sprocket Nitrate and Mrs. Flattop (January 19-March 21)
TBC cuz GC hates free advertising
Vista Bill Raley and Comet™ over 6 years ago
Good morning guys!
They’re back! What about Leena?
boboscar over 6 years ago
Tracy in GoComics
2015
The Great Train Robbery (March 22-June 13)
The Fall of the Blackhearts and the Return and Rise of Mr. Bribery (June 14-October 11)
Where it’s revealed that Mr. Bribery was the secret leader of the Blackhearts, making him the unseen main villain behind the Return of Moon Maid, Abner Kadaver’s second “solo” story (the one I start by listing “The Blackhearts”), and the Great Train Robbery.
Midnight Mirror Mystery (October 12-December 25)
Specs & Spicy and the Return of the Ace of Spades (December 26, 2015-April 6,
2016)
Mrs. Notta Faller Chin Chiller, Blaze Rize, and Putty Puss (April 7-June 21)
Mr. Bribery & Abner Kadaver (June 22-September 24)
Selfy (September 25-December 17)
This story also marks the return of Gould villain Posie Ermine. He’s served his time, and no one tries to arrest him, but he’s definitely still a villain. He knows Selfy is a wanted fugitive but doesn’t alert the authorities, he rear ends Mysta’s car, and tries to forcibly take her with him. I expect we’ll see more of him and some more outright villainy from him in the future.
Dick Tracy Meets The Spirit (December 18, 2016-April 6,
2017)
Big Margie (April 7-June 2)
Blackjack II (June 3-July 25)
And that’s literally all they wrote (in GC)
boboscar over 6 years ago
And here’s the Dick Tracy wiki page where you can find all these stories listed:
http://dicktracy.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_Dick_Tracy_stories_in_GoComics
Still Da Man! over 6 years ago
I like the Nitrates! Always enjoy their stories.
AnyFace over 6 years ago
Think “Mr. Kleen” might put in an appearance …?
Cheapskate0 over 6 years ago
I guess it’s official: It’s the Nitrates! I wonder if they’ll get Hanna Barbera’s Hardy Har Har for a stand in for the Leakin’ Lena? (Old cartoon, Lippy the Lion)
Cheapskate0 over 6 years ago
Any body else notice? “?comments=visible” isn’t working today!
therese_callahan2002 over 6 years ago
They’ve given them numbers, and taken away their names. Couldn’t resist.
crobinson019 over 6 years ago
The Nitrates are now the Beagle Boys?
Morrow Cummings over 6 years ago
When they transport prisoners, aren’t the prisoners generally cuffed and shackled?
David Rickard Premium Member over 6 years ago
Wonder if 24601 will appear in this story…
seanyj over 6 years ago
The Nitrate’s are back!
Ken in Ohio over 6 years ago
Do they keep people awaiting trial in the State Prison? I’m not entirely familiar with the system, and it probably varies by state, but I would have thought those awaiting trial would have been locked up in a county jail. Unless, of course, they are serving time for something they have already been convicted of, and the trial is for new charges.
skinkis.com over 6 years ago
I really am enjoying everything about these stories. Dick Tracy is such an enjoyable strip. Story, art….EVERYTHING!
BreathlessMahoney77 over 6 years ago
So, it’s a cross-over story with Uncle Scrooge featuring the Beagle Boys?
Sisyphos over 6 years ago
We start a new tale at State Prison, with the transfer of 603971 (a.k.a. Silver Nitrate) and (probably from county jail) 715984 (a.k.a. Sprocket “Shoeless” Nitrate) by (respectively) state troopers and sheriff’s deputies to impending trial at an unspecified courthouse. Will they make it that far, or will one or both escape from transport? Surely, somehow, they will be on the loose again soon (otherwise, what is the point here?)….
I Go Pogo over 6 years ago
Funny – 603971 looks like Fearless Leader to me. Could Boris and Natasha be far behind? Tune in next time for…