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| The Phantom, 2015-05-12. |
Showing posts with label Phantom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Phantom. Show all posts
2015-09-13
The Phantom: The Challenge 2015-05-11 - 2015-09-12
Get comfortable everyone, because this is going to be a long one. Long and irritating.
2014-09-24
Action Tuesday: *For the ghost who is about to kick some arse.
Spider-Man was feeling pretty good about himself after outwitting a man known for being dumb, and decided to push his luck by trying to sneak into Doc Ock's lab. For some reason he felt pretty confident that Octavius wouldn't be expecting him, but it turned out that Octavius totally was expecting him.
The Amazing Spider-Man, 2014-09-19.
"Gotta find out what Doc Ock's planning." thinks Spider-Man as he creeps through the lab. "My Spider Sense is tingling — but that's probably just because Ock's nearby..."
Unseen by Spidey, a metal tentacle snakes around a console and FLIKs a switch.
"ARRRGG" yells Spidey as the floor he's standing on becomes electrified.
ZZRRAPPT
Turns out Doc Ock is planning to hold the city to ransom with his earthquake machine. No surprise there.
The Bozz of Time is about to send Mandrake home, but Mandrake somehow knows that he's been noticed missing in the present (even though there is no way he could know that).
Mandrake the Magician, 2014-09-23.
"If you move me back in time-- just before you kidnapped me-- and don't do it--" says Mandrake, "-- then I won't vanish-- my friends won't worry--"
"Clever, ancestor." says the Bozz. "No-- even I, ruler of time, cannot change the past."
OK, never mind the fact that being "ruler of time" doesn't really seem to mean anything if you can't change the past, what about kidnapping Mandrake in the first place? Was that not changing the past? It seemed like changing the past to me.
The Phantom (Sunday), 2014-09-21.
Jungle scouts! Kidnapped by those who would turn them into guerrillas!
"There's going to be a test later!" says one of the kidnappers.
"Test?" asks a jungle scout.
"Your first firefight, stupid! If you survive, you pass! Try not to flunk out!"
He picks up a rifle and takes aim.
"Okay! Moving on! Sniper's rifle! Sight your enemy through the scope! Like this!"
Suddenly the face of the Phantom appears in his crosshairs. He lowers the rifle.
"Who the... !? I could... swear I... saw..."
He looks through the scope again. Nothing. Just jungle foliage. He lowers the rifle again, visibly shaken. The jungle scouts begin whispering amongst themselves.
"Do you think he saw...?
"You know who!?"
"Yeah! I do!"
The daily Phantom is often boring and dumb, but the Sunday ones rarely disappoint.
The Amazing Spider-Man, 2014-09-19.
"Gotta find out what Doc Ock's planning." thinks Spider-Man as he creeps through the lab. "My Spider Sense is tingling — but that's probably just because Ock's nearby..."
Unseen by Spidey, a metal tentacle snakes around a console and FLIKs a switch.
"ARRRGG" yells Spidey as the floor he's standing on becomes electrified.
ZZRRAPPT
Turns out Doc Ock is planning to hold the city to ransom with his earthquake machine. No surprise there.
The Bozz of Time is about to send Mandrake home, but Mandrake somehow knows that he's been noticed missing in the present (even though there is no way he could know that).
Mandrake the Magician, 2014-09-23.
"If you move me back in time-- just before you kidnapped me-- and don't do it--" says Mandrake, "-- then I won't vanish-- my friends won't worry--"
"Clever, ancestor." says the Bozz. "No-- even I, ruler of time, cannot change the past."
OK, never mind the fact that being "ruler of time" doesn't really seem to mean anything if you can't change the past, what about kidnapping Mandrake in the first place? Was that not changing the past? It seemed like changing the past to me.
The Phantom (Sunday), 2014-09-21.
Jungle scouts! Kidnapped by those who would turn them into guerrillas!
"There's going to be a test later!" says one of the kidnappers.
"Test?" asks a jungle scout.
"Your first firefight, stupid! If you survive, you pass! Try not to flunk out!"
He picks up a rifle and takes aim.
"Okay! Moving on! Sniper's rifle! Sight your enemy through the scope! Like this!"
Suddenly the face of the Phantom appears in his crosshairs. He lowers the rifle.
"Who the... !? I could... swear I... saw..."
He looks through the scope again. Nothing. Just jungle foliage. He lowers the rifle again, visibly shaken. The jungle scouts begin whispering amongst themselves.
"Do you think he saw...?
"You know who!?"
"Yeah! I do!"
The daily Phantom is often boring and dumb, but the Sunday ones rarely disappoint.
2014-08-26
Action Tuesday: What sound do guns make?
Dick Tracy is still stuck in the past (or whatever), but the rest of the team have finally figured out where he was going when he disappeared and are now researching the island.
Dick Tracy, 2014-08-22.
"Lex Associates holds Thunder Island?" says Tess.
"Fritz Ann, can you tell us about them?" asks Patton.
"Pardon me, Chief Patton, but I think we have all we need to know." says the Asp. "Lex Associates, when partially erased and reversed..."
He takes a marker and begins writing on the whiteboard.
"...spells Axel. He is our primary foe."
"Our records list Axel as missing presumed dead." says Fritz Ann.
"If only, Ms. Dietrich."
And everyone is just going to accept tht as though it means something. Wait a second, Dick Tracy left by car. Cars have wheels, connected by... Axles! Axle... Axel... am I the only one seeing this?
And Doc Ock still hasn't revealed his nefarious plan yet and continues to act as a far better super hero than Spider-Man ever was. In fact, he just foiled a bank robbery.
The Amazing Spider-Man, 2014-08-26.
"Always glad to help, officer, when I can spare time from my research." says Octavius.
"Yeah?" says the police officer. "What're you workin' on these days, Dr. Octopus?"
"I fear I'm not at liberty to say... but I can guarantee it will shake things up a bit."
"Why is my spider sense suddenly tingling?" wonders Peter.
Good question, Peter. It's really hard to figure out what will or won't set it off. I thought the basic premise was that it was a sort of proximity warning, but the number of times you've been hit on the head (both by villains and by inanimate objects just falling on you) tells me that can't be the case. And in the past I've seen it go off because there was some important paperwork nearby, and because someone was talking about you. And not even someone nearby where you could have subconsciously overheard them.
In this case though, it's pretty obvious that Doc Ock is building some kind of earthquake machine. For crime. He's not even being subtle about it.
You know who else could use some help spotting the blatantly obvious? Mark Trail. He has finally discovered Dirty's poaching though, and rather than going to the police decided to just confront him about it. In the middle of nowhere, with no witnesses. Well, Lori and Taurus are there, but seriously, dumb move.
Mark Trail, 2014-08-25.
"You've interfered long enough, Trail!" says Dirty, tackling Mark to the ground and drawing a large knife.
"Chris, wait!" pleads Mark, totally forgetting to call him "Dirty".
KAPOW
Taurus holds a smoking rifle in his hands.
"Taurus!?" exclaims Dirty. "What are you doing?"
"I can't let you do that, Chris - now drop the knife!"
Since when does a gunshot sound like "kapow"? And why won't anyone call him "Dirty"?
And we have a new daily story in The Phantom this week, which is already off to a much better start than the last one. We meet two new characters, Barker and Shotgun, criminals who have a "hijack job" to do in the morning. Surprisingly, Shotgun is the more reasonable of the two, advising his partner not to get too drunk the night before.
The Phantom, 2014-08-26.
Barker and Shotgun walk past an alley and notice a homeless man with a shopping trolley walking along it.
"Hey, Shotgun!" says Barker. "Watch this guy flop!"
With that he pulls out his gun and shoots the homeless man.
"Are you out of your mind!?" asks Shotgun, aghast.
I guess they really needed to make this guy super-evil, just so the Phantom would look like the good guy by comparison.
Dick Tracy, 2014-08-22.
"Lex Associates holds Thunder Island?" says Tess.
"Fritz Ann, can you tell us about them?" asks Patton.
"Pardon me, Chief Patton, but I think we have all we need to know." says the Asp. "Lex Associates, when partially erased and reversed..."
He takes a marker and begins writing on the whiteboard.
"...spells Axel. He is our primary foe."
"Our records list Axel as missing presumed dead." says Fritz Ann.
"If only, Ms. Dietrich."
And everyone is just going to accept tht as though it means something. Wait a second, Dick Tracy left by car. Cars have wheels, connected by... Axles! Axle... Axel... am I the only one seeing this?
And Doc Ock still hasn't revealed his nefarious plan yet and continues to act as a far better super hero than Spider-Man ever was. In fact, he just foiled a bank robbery.
The Amazing Spider-Man, 2014-08-26.
"Always glad to help, officer, when I can spare time from my research." says Octavius.
"Yeah?" says the police officer. "What're you workin' on these days, Dr. Octopus?"
"I fear I'm not at liberty to say... but I can guarantee it will shake things up a bit."
"Why is my spider sense suddenly tingling?" wonders Peter.
Good question, Peter. It's really hard to figure out what will or won't set it off. I thought the basic premise was that it was a sort of proximity warning, but the number of times you've been hit on the head (both by villains and by inanimate objects just falling on you) tells me that can't be the case. And in the past I've seen it go off because there was some important paperwork nearby, and because someone was talking about you. And not even someone nearby where you could have subconsciously overheard them.
In this case though, it's pretty obvious that Doc Ock is building some kind of earthquake machine. For crime. He's not even being subtle about it.
You know who else could use some help spotting the blatantly obvious? Mark Trail. He has finally discovered Dirty's poaching though, and rather than going to the police decided to just confront him about it. In the middle of nowhere, with no witnesses. Well, Lori and Taurus are there, but seriously, dumb move.
Mark Trail, 2014-08-25.
"You've interfered long enough, Trail!" says Dirty, tackling Mark to the ground and drawing a large knife.
"Chris, wait!" pleads Mark, totally forgetting to call him "Dirty".
KAPOW
Taurus holds a smoking rifle in his hands.
"Taurus!?" exclaims Dirty. "What are you doing?"
"I can't let you do that, Chris - now drop the knife!"
Since when does a gunshot sound like "kapow"? And why won't anyone call him "Dirty"?
And we have a new daily story in The Phantom this week, which is already off to a much better start than the last one. We meet two new characters, Barker and Shotgun, criminals who have a "hijack job" to do in the morning. Surprisingly, Shotgun is the more reasonable of the two, advising his partner not to get too drunk the night before.
The Phantom, 2014-08-26.
Barker and Shotgun walk past an alley and notice a homeless man with a shopping trolley walking along it.
"Hey, Shotgun!" says Barker. "Watch this guy flop!"
With that he pulls out his gun and shoots the homeless man.
"Are you out of your mind!?" asks Shotgun, aghast.
I guess they really needed to make this guy super-evil, just so the Phantom would look like the good guy by comparison.
2014-08-19
Action Tuesday: Is the Phantom evil now?
Since I last mentioned The Phantom, he and the president took a trip to Wambesi-land to visit Chatu, the Python. Once they got there the Phantom took off his rings and entered the Python's cell and proceeded to beat the shit out of him.
Just to be clear, the Phantom (ostensibly the hero of the story) went to the jail cell of someone he already defeated and imprisoned, and beat the shit out of him for no apparent reason.
The Phantom, 2014-08-18.
"Your rings!" says the president, handing them back.
"Thanks." says the Phantom, then turns to the Python. "Let me explain to you why I took this meeting, Chatu!"
"Please do, old friend! I'm listening too!" says the president.
Yeah, I'm also listening, but I can't see any way to justify this.
And Dick Tracy is still apparently in the past, Mark Trail hasn't discovered Dirty's duplicity yet, Dock Ock is still making Spider-Man look like an idiot (like that's hard) and I don't even know what the fuck is going on in Mandrake. He's been kidnapped and taken to the future for a sight-seeing tour or something. It's all been pretty dull.
Just to be clear, the Phantom (ostensibly the hero of the story) went to the jail cell of someone he already defeated and imprisoned, and beat the shit out of him for no apparent reason.
The Phantom, 2014-08-18.
"Your rings!" says the president, handing them back.
"Thanks." says the Phantom, then turns to the Python. "Let me explain to you why I took this meeting, Chatu!"
"Please do, old friend! I'm listening too!" says the president.
Yeah, I'm also listening, but I can't see any way to justify this.
And Dick Tracy is still apparently in the past, Mark Trail hasn't discovered Dirty's duplicity yet, Dock Ock is still making Spider-Man look like an idiot (like that's hard) and I don't even know what the fuck is going on in Mandrake. He's been kidnapped and taken to the future for a sight-seeing tour or something. It's all been pretty dull.
2014-07-08
Action Tuesday: Time Travel, Flashbacks, Ghosts and Mysterious Deaths
Alley Oop and Ooola have travelled to the future (which is, from our perspective, still the past) and have arrived at Paravox Studios, which Alley believes to be the company that made the first film adaptation of Frankenstein.
Alley Oop, 2014-07-07.
Oop and Ooola have travelled to the Paravox movie studio in 1942 Hollywood in hopes of seeing the filming of "Frankenstein." Instead, they find that the movie was filmed in 1931...
"Let's just go home, Alley!" says Ooola.
"Say, don't leave, though!" says a man who apparently works for Paravox. "You've both got jobs as extras here if you want it!"
"Really?" says Ooola, suddenly interested.
"What's th' movie?" asks Alley, less enthusiastically.
"I'm directing a picture called 'Prehistoric World!'" says the man.
This is such a weird comic.
Dick Tracy is still stuck... wherever (or whenever) he was last week, so now we're back with the rest of the team and Sam's taken Warbucks to meet an informant.
Dick Tracy, 2014-07-08.
"You transported 'The Butcher' and Annie to your boss, but can't remember where?" asks Warbucks angrily. "Did you pilot the boat blindfolded, man?"
"Warbucks!" says Sam, holding him back.
"I -I dunno any more!" says the informant.
"I'll help you." says Warbucks. "The Great Am has told me about your boss, Axel! Where is he?"
"The Am knows?" says the informant, sweating as he begins to panic. "No! I can't say! I ca.. Nnggh!"
Suddenly he convulses and falls off his chair.
"What the...?" says Sam, standing up. "We need a medic!"
Was the informant just killed remotely by some sort of supernatural power? Actual time travel is starting to look more likely.
Jane's World is doing a flashback, as is so often the case, but this time I think I actually know how it relates to the current plot and I sort of know who the people involved are.
Jill and Chelle were meeting up somewhere, but somehow two criminals knew about it and were waiting. They kidnapped Jill and demanded money from Chelle. Apparently the four knew each other from some past interaction, and I think this flashback is that. It seems that Jill and Chelle were both cops at some point, and this flashback concerns a time when the two of them were investigating... some place. At night. I guess the kidnappers will show up at some point and this will all link together. But it's Jane's World, so maybe not.
Jane's World, 2014-07-07.
"Come on!" whispers Chelle.
Jill squeezes through the gate behind Chelle... .. and they move quickly to the darkened stairway...
It's moving a little slowly, but it's holding my attention so far.
And as I mentioned last week, the Phantom managed to get to the president in time and beat up the Python's followers.
The Phantom, 2014-07-04.
"I need to get up to the wire and defuse an armed staring contest!" says the president, helping to tie up one of the terrorists.
"Good idea!" says the Phantom, tying up the other. "Before someone does something stupid!"
"No skull-marks?" asks the president.
"I was never here! Your prisoner, Mr. President! I'll see you soon, old friend! In Mawitaan!"
And then the president got to lead the terrorists out of there at gunpoint and look like a total badass. Of course, they know that the Phantom was there, so they could easily say as much. And at least three members of the Jungle Patrol know that the Unknown Commander was there. Some people could very easily put two and two together here. The Phantom is so cavalier about his secret identities.
Alley Oop, 2014-07-07.
Oop and Ooola have travelled to the Paravox movie studio in 1942 Hollywood in hopes of seeing the filming of "Frankenstein." Instead, they find that the movie was filmed in 1931...
"Let's just go home, Alley!" says Ooola.
"Say, don't leave, though!" says a man who apparently works for Paravox. "You've both got jobs as extras here if you want it!"
"Really?" says Ooola, suddenly interested.
"What's th' movie?" asks Alley, less enthusiastically.
"I'm directing a picture called 'Prehistoric World!'" says the man.
This is such a weird comic.
Dick Tracy is still stuck... wherever (or whenever) he was last week, so now we're back with the rest of the team and Sam's taken Warbucks to meet an informant.
Dick Tracy, 2014-07-08.
"You transported 'The Butcher' and Annie to your boss, but can't remember where?" asks Warbucks angrily. "Did you pilot the boat blindfolded, man?"
"Warbucks!" says Sam, holding him back.
"I -I dunno any more!" says the informant.
"I'll help you." says Warbucks. "The Great Am has told me about your boss, Axel! Where is he?"
"The Am knows?" says the informant, sweating as he begins to panic. "No! I can't say! I ca.. Nnggh!"
Suddenly he convulses and falls off his chair.
"What the...?" says Sam, standing up. "We need a medic!"
Was the informant just killed remotely by some sort of supernatural power? Actual time travel is starting to look more likely.
Jane's World is doing a flashback, as is so often the case, but this time I think I actually know how it relates to the current plot and I sort of know who the people involved are.
Jill and Chelle were meeting up somewhere, but somehow two criminals knew about it and were waiting. They kidnapped Jill and demanded money from Chelle. Apparently the four knew each other from some past interaction, and I think this flashback is that. It seems that Jill and Chelle were both cops at some point, and this flashback concerns a time when the two of them were investigating... some place. At night. I guess the kidnappers will show up at some point and this will all link together. But it's Jane's World, so maybe not.
Jane's World, 2014-07-07.
"Come on!" whispers Chelle.
Jill squeezes through the gate behind Chelle... .. and they move quickly to the darkened stairway...
It's moving a little slowly, but it's holding my attention so far.
 |
| Panel from Jane's World, 2014-07-04. |
And as I mentioned last week, the Phantom managed to get to the president in time and beat up the Python's followers.
The Phantom, 2014-07-04.
"I need to get up to the wire and defuse an armed staring contest!" says the president, helping to tie up one of the terrorists.
"Good idea!" says the Phantom, tying up the other. "Before someone does something stupid!"
"No skull-marks?" asks the president.
"I was never here! Your prisoner, Mr. President! I'll see you soon, old friend! In Mawitaan!"
And then the president got to lead the terrorists out of there at gunpoint and look like a total badass. Of course, they know that the Phantom was there, so they could easily say as much. And at least three members of the Jungle Patrol know that the Unknown Commander was there. Some people could very easily put two and two together here. The Phantom is so cavalier about his secret identities.
2014-07-01
Action Tuesday: Mystery and Deception
Dick Tracy, having received a coded message somehow sent out by Annie, has gone off by himself to look for her in the middle of the night with no backup and no wrist wizard. I'm not sure if he even owns a mobile phone, given that he normally uses the wrist wizard, but it's probably safe to say that he didn't bring one of those either. So of course he's been knocked unconscious and taken to an unknown location.
Dick Tracy, 2014-06-29.
A calendar on the wall reads "June 1944" and rather than a picture the inside cover bears the slogan "Loose Lips Sink Ships". Dick wakes up in an unfamiliar bed. A woman wearing an old-fashioned nurse's uniform stands beside his bed. Her eyes are white, no pupils or irises.
"Is it morning already?" asks Dick. "Where am I?"
"Officer Tracy!" says the nurse. "You're finally awake!"
"Who are you?"
"I'm Nurse Pardene. You're in the hospital at Simmons Corners. You used to be our police officer. Don't you remember?"
"No..." says Dick, clutching his head.
"You enlisted the day after Pearl Harbor. You were sent home when you were injured at Anzio."
Nurse Pardene opens the door.
"Maybe some fresh baked cookies will make you feel better."
Dick looks up as a young red-haired girl comes into the room.
"Annie?"
"Hi, Officer Tracy!" says Annie, apparently totally at ease with her surroundings. "Have some cookies?"
What does this mean? I'm assuming it's not time travel (although given the moon people, clones, space ships, etc. it's not totally out of the question), but why is someone going to all this trouble to make Tracy think it's 1944? Why is Nurse Pardene drawn with Annie-style eyes? If she's an existing character, I don't think she went by this name before since I couldn't turn anything up on Google. Are they still on the island that Dick traced Annie to? What is going on here, and why?
The Phantom, 2014-06-30.
"The Phantom is rough on roughnecks!" - Old Jungle Saying.
Some of those old jungle sayings just don't sound very impressive. There's some awesome violence to distract us in that strip though. Also in today's. The Phantom is so cool.
On the other end of the super-her spectrum, Spider-Man is still being made to look stupid by the apparently reformed Doc Ock. Peter, J Jonah Jameson and Otto were in a car together as JJJ and Ock discussed their proposed business relationship. Jonah hates Spider-Man, but he apparently doesn't have any problem with suddenly repentant super-villains.
Anyway, as they drove they encountered a fleeing carjacker and Octavius decided he'd go after it. Peter tried to convince Jonah to let him out of the car too so that he could take pictures, but JJJ was quick to point out that that was a stupid idea as there was no possible way for a photographer on foot to keep up with a high-speed car chase.
The Amazing Spider-Man, 2014-06-30.
Dr. Octopus goes after the carjacker...
"You wanted me to garner publicity for your paper, Jameson," says Ock, climbing out of the moving car, "will this do?"
"It sure will!" calls Jonah. "Well, what're you waiting for, Parker? Chase after him and take some pictures!"
See, it was a dumb idea when Peter suggested it, but now that Jonah is suggesting it it just makes Peter look even dumber, so everyone wins.
Dick Tracy, 2014-06-29.
A calendar on the wall reads "June 1944" and rather than a picture the inside cover bears the slogan "Loose Lips Sink Ships". Dick wakes up in an unfamiliar bed. A woman wearing an old-fashioned nurse's uniform stands beside his bed. Her eyes are white, no pupils or irises.
"Is it morning already?" asks Dick. "Where am I?"
"Officer Tracy!" says the nurse. "You're finally awake!"
"Who are you?"
"I'm Nurse Pardene. You're in the hospital at Simmons Corners. You used to be our police officer. Don't you remember?"
"No..." says Dick, clutching his head.
"You enlisted the day after Pearl Harbor. You were sent home when you were injured at Anzio."
Nurse Pardene opens the door.
"Maybe some fresh baked cookies will make you feel better."
Dick looks up as a young red-haired girl comes into the room.
"Annie?"
"Hi, Officer Tracy!" says Annie, apparently totally at ease with her surroundings. "Have some cookies?"
What does this mean? I'm assuming it's not time travel (although given the moon people, clones, space ships, etc. it's not totally out of the question), but why is someone going to all this trouble to make Tracy think it's 1944? Why is Nurse Pardene drawn with Annie-style eyes? If she's an existing character, I don't think she went by this name before since I couldn't turn anything up on Google. Are they still on the island that Dick traced Annie to? What is going on here, and why?
The Phantom, 2014-06-30.
"The Phantom is rough on roughnecks!" - Old Jungle Saying.
Some of those old jungle sayings just don't sound very impressive. There's some awesome violence to distract us in that strip though. Also in today's. The Phantom is so cool.
On the other end of the super-her spectrum, Spider-Man is still being made to look stupid by the apparently reformed Doc Ock. Peter, J Jonah Jameson and Otto were in a car together as JJJ and Ock discussed their proposed business relationship. Jonah hates Spider-Man, but he apparently doesn't have any problem with suddenly repentant super-villains.
Anyway, as they drove they encountered a fleeing carjacker and Octavius decided he'd go after it. Peter tried to convince Jonah to let him out of the car too so that he could take pictures, but JJJ was quick to point out that that was a stupid idea as there was no possible way for a photographer on foot to keep up with a high-speed car chase.
The Amazing Spider-Man, 2014-06-30.
Dr. Octopus goes after the carjacker...
"You wanted me to garner publicity for your paper, Jameson," says Ock, climbing out of the moving car, "will this do?"
"It sure will!" calls Jonah. "Well, what're you waiting for, Parker? Chase after him and take some pictures!"
See, it was a dumb idea when Peter suggested it, but now that Jonah is suggesting it it just makes Peter look even dumber, so everyone wins.
2014-06-17
Action Tuesday: Police Brutality
Dick Tracy is finally on the case, looking for Annie. He kind of started last week, but this week the whole team's on board. Leapin' lizards!
Dick Tracy, 2014-06-15.
The search for Annie is on!
"Warbucks, I'm assigning your men to work with members of the Major Crimes Unit while you and I check out leads. There'll be more for you after we meet with Am's informant." says Tracy. "Punjab, I'd like you to accompany Lizz and Lee. The informant they'll be interviewing isn't normally cooperative."
"Ha! Isn't getting info from Pouch always a walk in the park?" says Lizz, referring to Pouch's job as a balloon-seller in the park.
"It will be my honor to escort you both to meet this 'Pouch'." says Punjab, bowing.
City Park
"Balloons!" calls Pouch. "Get yer balloons here!"
Punjab approaches him holding a sword that seems little more than a knife in his hands.
"Memsahib Lizz," he says, "is this the miscreant you wish to question?"
"Yi!!" gasps Pouch as the terrifying giant leans over him.
And Mark Trail is in Africa! No specific country, just Africa.
Mark Trail, 2014-06-16.
"Jacob Hickman has disappeared..." says Kaden, an African man, to Mark. "We found his truck — it had been run off a cliff... he wasn'tr inside! I'm afraid we fear the worst!"
He reaches down to take Mark's suitcases.
"Sorry to greet you with such disappointing news... I can take you to a good hotel with fine dining if you wish!"
Later
Mark sits at an outdoor table.
"Poachers may have gotten Jacob because of his conservation work..." he thinks. "Now I'm stuck here!"
He seems somewhat vexed by the news of his colleague's death. It's a real inconvenience for him.
And this week, The Phantom jumped out of a helicopter and almost hit another helicopter on his way down, but managed to miss it by losing some altitude and made it over the fence.
The Phantom, 2014-06-17.
"What was that?" asks one guard.
"You heard it too?" asks another.
A dog growls.
"Well, something was flapping around up there!" says a third.
"If you say so." says a fourth.
As this speculation continues, the Phantom opens his parachute to land unseen beyond all of them.
And remember how Alley Oop left his dinosaur, Dinny, in the middle of nowhere when he went to rescue Ooola? And then they both rode her dinosaur, Pterry, out of there? Yeah, Alley hasn't even spared Dinny a thought since then.
Alley Oop, 2014-06-13.
"Foozy had a great idea!" thinks Alley. "Ooola's gonna love this! Now, I just hafta find her!"
Suddenly he notices Dinny on the road ahead of him.
"Dinny!!" he calls. "Buddy, I'm glad to see you made it back t'Moo!!"
Glad, perhaps, but not so glad that he bothered to do anything to help.
Dick Tracy, 2014-06-15.
The search for Annie is on!
"Warbucks, I'm assigning your men to work with members of the Major Crimes Unit while you and I check out leads. There'll be more for you after we meet with Am's informant." says Tracy. "Punjab, I'd like you to accompany Lizz and Lee. The informant they'll be interviewing isn't normally cooperative."
"Ha! Isn't getting info from Pouch always a walk in the park?" says Lizz, referring to Pouch's job as a balloon-seller in the park.
"It will be my honor to escort you both to meet this 'Pouch'." says Punjab, bowing.
City Park
"Balloons!" calls Pouch. "Get yer balloons here!"
Punjab approaches him holding a sword that seems little more than a knife in his hands.
"Memsahib Lizz," he says, "is this the miscreant you wish to question?"
"Yi!!" gasps Pouch as the terrifying giant leans over him.
And Mark Trail is in Africa! No specific country, just Africa.
Mark Trail, 2014-06-16.
"Jacob Hickman has disappeared..." says Kaden, an African man, to Mark. "We found his truck — it had been run off a cliff... he wasn'tr inside! I'm afraid we fear the worst!"
He reaches down to take Mark's suitcases.
"Sorry to greet you with such disappointing news... I can take you to a good hotel with fine dining if you wish!"
Later
Mark sits at an outdoor table.
"Poachers may have gotten Jacob because of his conservation work..." he thinks. "Now I'm stuck here!"
He seems somewhat vexed by the news of his colleague's death. It's a real inconvenience for him.
And this week, The Phantom jumped out of a helicopter and almost hit another helicopter on his way down, but managed to miss it by losing some altitude and made it over the fence.
The Phantom, 2014-06-17.
"What was that?" asks one guard.
"You heard it too?" asks another.
A dog growls.
"Well, something was flapping around up there!" says a third.
"If you say so." says a fourth.
As this speculation continues, the Phantom opens his parachute to land unseen beyond all of them.
And remember how Alley Oop left his dinosaur, Dinny, in the middle of nowhere when he went to rescue Ooola? And then they both rode her dinosaur, Pterry, out of there? Yeah, Alley hasn't even spared Dinny a thought since then.
Alley Oop, 2014-06-13.
"Foozy had a great idea!" thinks Alley. "Ooola's gonna love this! Now, I just hafta find her!"
Suddenly he notices Dinny on the road ahead of him.
"Dinny!!" he calls. "Buddy, I'm glad to see you made it back t'Moo!!"
Glad, perhaps, but not so glad that he bothered to do anything to help.
2014-04-02
Action Tuesday on Wednesday: Better Late Than Never
Last week the Dick Tracy team teased us with the promise of resolving the final Little Orphan Annie cliffhanger as Oliver "Daddy" Warbucks made a cameo appearance to announce that he had decided to seek Tracy's help, but since then all we've seen is Dick grumbling about Vera Alldid's J Straightedge Trustworthy comic strip, so for the moment I'm pretty much just waiting it out until something interesting starts happening again.
Starting with bragging extensively about his vast cache of stolen treasures, The Phantom seems to be going out of his way to make himself look like the villain of his own strip. After drugging Lara Bell, the woman who found her way to the skull cave with memory-erasing "ancient Bandar medicine" he had some of his pygmies deliver her back to Mawitaan, but on the way there they discovered that her memory hadn't been as fully erased as planned so they brought her, still unconscious, back to the deep woods, along with her guide, Rick Grubber, (on whom the drug seems to have worked as intended).
"For him, our original plan!" says the Phantom, pointing at Rick. "To Mawitaan!"
"Phan...tom..." murmurs Lara in her sleep.
"This one's going to Wambesi-land!" says the Phantom, adding kidnapping to his list of crimes.
And on Saturday the action kicked off in Mark Trail. When Mark demanded to see the contents of Marlin's bag, Marlin decided that enough was enough and punched him right in the face.
Mark lets fly with a mighty uppercut, knocking Marlin backwards and causing him to drop his bag. The bag falls to the floor, spilling a large number of round, white objects.
"Sea turtle eggs!" says Mark, grimly.
But after that Marlin ran away, so there might still be some more punching coming up. Hopefully.
Starting with bragging extensively about his vast cache of stolen treasures, The Phantom seems to be going out of his way to make himself look like the villain of his own strip. After drugging Lara Bell, the woman who found her way to the skull cave with memory-erasing "ancient Bandar medicine" he had some of his pygmies deliver her back to Mawitaan, but on the way there they discovered that her memory hadn't been as fully erased as planned so they brought her, still unconscious, back to the deep woods, along with her guide, Rick Grubber, (on whom the drug seems to have worked as intended).
"For him, our original plan!" says the Phantom, pointing at Rick. "To Mawitaan!"
"Phan...tom..." murmurs Lara in her sleep.
"This one's going to Wambesi-land!" says the Phantom, adding kidnapping to his list of crimes.
And on Saturday the action kicked off in Mark Trail. When Mark demanded to see the contents of Marlin's bag, Marlin decided that enough was enough and punched him right in the face.
Mark lets fly with a mighty uppercut, knocking Marlin backwards and causing him to drop his bag. The bag falls to the floor, spilling a large number of round, white objects.
"Sea turtle eggs!" says Mark, grimly.
But after that Marlin ran away, so there might still be some more punching coming up. Hopefully.
2014-03-18
Action Tuesday: Suspicious Behaviour in the Jungle
Although he resisted for a while, Mark Trail has finally been forced to acknowledge Marlin's suspicious behaviour and has stumbled upon some actual evidence.
"Names, addresses, photos ..." says Mark to no one as looks through the names, addresses and photos. "Wait, these are photos of Marlin and other men hunting game animals at night!"
Needless to say, Mark is utterly scandalised that anyone could do such a thing. Especially someone as suspicious and obviously up to no good as Marlin.
"Looks like he has been harvesting sea turtle eggs as well ..." shouts Mark. "Marlin has turned this island into his own private illegal hunting grounds!"
Some disgruntled-looking water birds look on disapprovingly.
And something's finally happened in the weekday Phantom story as well. After weeks of the Phantom showing off his stolen treasure, Rick Grubber, the villain who came here to steal that treasure has finally made his move. Unfortunately for him he missed the "minor treasure room" where the Phantom keeps all his gold and jewels and such and stumbled on the "major treasure room" where the Phantom hoards items of historical and cultural significance.
He failed to recognise the value of those items, but since he came all that way he decided he may as well take a few things anyway.
In the dead of night, Rick Grubber makes his way out of the Skull Cave, wearing various pieces of armour and jewellery of both great monetary value and inestimable value to historians, archaeologists and anthropologists, clinking and clattering and looking utterly absurd.
Suddenly a noise freezes him in his tracks. Behind him, in the darkness, someone clears their throat.
We've probably still got at least another week of this, but hopefully the next story will be less dull.
Meanwhile in Judge Parker, the Alan and Katherine have spotted a surveillance drone and seem to be regarding it with more mild interest than any sort of apprehension.
"Do you think it sees us?" asks Katherine as the drone whirs overhead.
"I don't know..." says Alan. "Could be infrared! I must be watching the La Cura compound!"
"Infrared?" asks Katherine in sudden panic. "Does that mean it sees through my clothes?"
Eventually they manage to somehow distract the pilot and the drone crashes into a tree. It can't fly any more but the camera's still working and a couple of swarthy gentlemen in Hawaiian shirts seen observing Katherine on a monitor.
"Names, addresses, photos ..." says Mark to no one as looks through the names, addresses and photos. "Wait, these are photos of Marlin and other men hunting game animals at night!"
Needless to say, Mark is utterly scandalised that anyone could do such a thing. Especially someone as suspicious and obviously up to no good as Marlin.
"Looks like he has been harvesting sea turtle eggs as well ..." shouts Mark. "Marlin has turned this island into his own private illegal hunting grounds!"
Some disgruntled-looking water birds look on disapprovingly.
And something's finally happened in the weekday Phantom story as well. After weeks of the Phantom showing off his stolen treasure, Rick Grubber, the villain who came here to steal that treasure has finally made his move. Unfortunately for him he missed the "minor treasure room" where the Phantom keeps all his gold and jewels and such and stumbled on the "major treasure room" where the Phantom hoards items of historical and cultural significance.
He failed to recognise the value of those items, but since he came all that way he decided he may as well take a few things anyway.
In the dead of night, Rick Grubber makes his way out of the Skull Cave, wearing various pieces of armour and jewellery of both great monetary value and inestimable value to historians, archaeologists and anthropologists, clinking and clattering and looking utterly absurd.
Suddenly a noise freezes him in his tracks. Behind him, in the darkness, someone clears their throat.
We've probably still got at least another week of this, but hopefully the next story will be less dull.
Meanwhile in Judge Parker, the Alan and Katherine have spotted a surveillance drone and seem to be regarding it with more mild interest than any sort of apprehension.
"Do you think it sees us?" asks Katherine as the drone whirs overhead.
"I don't know..." says Alan. "Could be infrared! I must be watching the La Cura compound!"
"Infrared?" asks Katherine in sudden panic. "Does that mean it sees through my clothes?"
Eventually they manage to somehow distract the pilot and the drone crashes into a tree. It can't fly any more but the camera's still working and a couple of swarthy gentlemen in Hawaiian shirts seen observing Katherine on a monitor.
2014-03-04
Action Tuesday: The Valiant Trail Phantom
I know you'll all be eager to hear what's been happening in The Amazing Spider-Man, but I'm actually going to give that a miss this time, because it's kind of in the middle of everything right now and I'll be able to cover it better in a week or two. Instead I'm going to start with Prince Valiant, who recently crashed his ship (with his family on board) onto an island where they all got attacked.
While Val climbed further inland, lured by the call of a siren, Aleta and Karen were attacked by a serpent. Fortunately Aleta had Val's singing sword and has managed to hold the beast at by thus far. Meanwhile, Val managed to offend the siren (who seems to have him confused for someone else) and she set a cyclops, Polyphemus, on him. Val head-butted the cyclops and took his club, but the the cyclops also has a large knife.
The giant swings and Val ducks, hitting him in the knee with the club. Polyphemus steps back, dangerously close to the cliff edge, while in the sea below the serpent rears up to strike at Aleta.
Seizing the opportunity, Val tackles Polyphemus and the two of them fly out into the air...
Seriously, read Prince Valiant, it's awesome.
The Phantom's current Sunday storyline has been pretty great recently, too. The weekday strips have been just incredibly dull, but an entirely separate story runs in the Sunday strips (for the benefit of newspapers that decide to carry the strip either only on weekdays or only on Sundays), and the current plot is a flashback about Juliet Adams Walker, wife of the fifth Phantom and also known as Captain Amazon.
I'd actually like to hear more about Captain Amazon's adventures from before she married the Phantom, but what we are getting is pretty good. See, the Phantom went after a bunch of slave-trading pirates who managed to overpower him and held him prisoner on their ship. Not knowing what had happened to him, Juliet decided to go after him.
She located a girl the pirates had taken prisoner and snuck into the place they were holding her, traded clothes with her and took her place to be taken aboard the ship.
"Juliet Adams Walker boarded that evil ship to learn the fate of her missing husband!" narrates the Phantom.
The year 1652...
"Heh heh!" leers a pirate.
"Filthy vermin." thinks Juliet as she's led past. "Escape now if you can!"
A single pirate brings her down below decks to the room where the prisoners are kept.
"These pirates think I'm that frightened girl they captured!" thinks Juliet, and as the pirate unlocks the door she lands a solid punch to his head, leaving him unconscious.
"Oh, Kit, where are you?!" she thinks, searching the ship.
"Pirates thought their captive must have swam to freedom after felling her guard!" narrates the Phantom.
Meanwhile, below decks...
Juliet finds Kit, beaten, bloody and chained, but still alive...
At the other end of the Spectrum is Mark Trail. People still get punched but instead of it being by badass crime fighters and costumed vigilantes it's by a mentally challenged nature magazine writer.
Mark's heard about a couple, Jessica and Marlin, who live on a private island, and one of them is a taxidermist who mostly works on fish, so he decided to write an article about them. It's incredibly obvious that they are up to no good, but Mark's just bumbling around in his innocent naivety, as he does.
Mark has just spotted Marlin bringing some people with hunting gear back to the island on his boat and something about it doesn't sit right with him.
"Those guys could be clients of his..." says Mark loudly to no one, while standing in the shadows a few meters from Marlin and his clients. "But why bring hunting gear here?"
Losing interest almost immediately, Mark returns to camp.
"I think I have enough material about Jessica for my story ..." he says, again to absolutely no one. "I'll get a few more pictures tomorrow! Then I'll get back to Rusty and Doc at the hotel!"
In the distance, a deer watches.
While Val climbed further inland, lured by the call of a siren, Aleta and Karen were attacked by a serpent. Fortunately Aleta had Val's singing sword and has managed to hold the beast at by thus far. Meanwhile, Val managed to offend the siren (who seems to have him confused for someone else) and she set a cyclops, Polyphemus, on him. Val head-butted the cyclops and took his club, but the the cyclops also has a large knife.
The giant swings and Val ducks, hitting him in the knee with the club. Polyphemus steps back, dangerously close to the cliff edge, while in the sea below the serpent rears up to strike at Aleta.
Seizing the opportunity, Val tackles Polyphemus and the two of them fly out into the air...
Seriously, read Prince Valiant, it's awesome.
The Phantom's current Sunday storyline has been pretty great recently, too. The weekday strips have been just incredibly dull, but an entirely separate story runs in the Sunday strips (for the benefit of newspapers that decide to carry the strip either only on weekdays or only on Sundays), and the current plot is a flashback about Juliet Adams Walker, wife of the fifth Phantom and also known as Captain Amazon.
I'd actually like to hear more about Captain Amazon's adventures from before she married the Phantom, but what we are getting is pretty good. See, the Phantom went after a bunch of slave-trading pirates who managed to overpower him and held him prisoner on their ship. Not knowing what had happened to him, Juliet decided to go after him.
She located a girl the pirates had taken prisoner and snuck into the place they were holding her, traded clothes with her and took her place to be taken aboard the ship.
"Juliet Adams Walker boarded that evil ship to learn the fate of her missing husband!" narrates the Phantom.
The year 1652...
"Heh heh!" leers a pirate.
"Filthy vermin." thinks Juliet as she's led past. "Escape now if you can!"
A single pirate brings her down below decks to the room where the prisoners are kept.
"These pirates think I'm that frightened girl they captured!" thinks Juliet, and as the pirate unlocks the door she lands a solid punch to his head, leaving him unconscious.
"Oh, Kit, where are you?!" she thinks, searching the ship.
"Pirates thought their captive must have swam to freedom after felling her guard!" narrates the Phantom.
Meanwhile, below decks...
Juliet finds Kit, beaten, bloody and chained, but still alive...
At the other end of the Spectrum is Mark Trail. People still get punched but instead of it being by badass crime fighters and costumed vigilantes it's by a mentally challenged nature magazine writer.
Mark's heard about a couple, Jessica and Marlin, who live on a private island, and one of them is a taxidermist who mostly works on fish, so he decided to write an article about them. It's incredibly obvious that they are up to no good, but Mark's just bumbling around in his innocent naivety, as he does.
Mark has just spotted Marlin bringing some people with hunting gear back to the island on his boat and something about it doesn't sit right with him.
"Those guys could be clients of his..." says Mark loudly to no one, while standing in the shadows a few meters from Marlin and his clients. "But why bring hunting gear here?"
Losing interest almost immediately, Mark returns to camp.
"I think I have enough material about Jessica for my story ..." he says, again to absolutely no one. "I'll get a few more pictures tomorrow! Then I'll get back to Rusty and Doc at the hotel!"
In the distance, a deer watches.
2013-12-14
All of today's comics share a single punchline
 |
| Nancy, 2013-12-12. |
Heathcliff, like Batman, has a car designed to suit his theme — that theme being Heathcliff. Unlike Batman, Heathcliff uses his car to go to the shops to buy milk rather than to fight crime.
Heathcliff, 2013-12-12.
"Oh, doctor." calls Flo. "Just the person. Can I ask your advice? I've got this terrible irritating pain and I'm not sure what to do"
"Where is the pain?" asks the Doctor, totally unaware that he's walking right into a real knee-slapper.
"He's at home" says Flo.
She means Andy, you see. She's not in pain, she's saying that Andy is a pain. That's the joke.
Andy Capp, 2013-12-12.
I'm dog-sitting for my neighbors while they're out of town." says Fitch.
"Cool." says Dustin, patting the dog on the head.
"But Charlie has fleas. Yesterday I found one on my ankle."
Dustin immediately stops patting the dog.
"So go to the pet store and buy a flea collar." he says.
"I did that." says Fitch, "But it made my neck itch."
You'd expect him to have put the flea collar on the dog, but actually he tried it on himself. It's funny because it confounds our expectations.
Dustin, 2013-12-12.
2013-12-04
2013-10-05
2012-08-05
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