The Midnite Mirror Series[]
The Midnite Mirror is the name of a newspaper is a popular series of fictional stories written by Adam Austin.
The stories are crime-fiction based on the people from Dick Tracy's life and career, including his friends and his enemies. In the world of the Midnite Mirror, however, characters' affiliations are reversed. Specifically, Dick Tracy is a crime boss known as "Boss Tracy", while Pruneface is the Chief of Police (with many of Tracy's well-known rogues serving under him), Shaky is the Mayor, and Flattop is a private detective/police consultant known as "The Chalice".
The activities of the characters are reported in the headlines of the Midnite Mirror newspaper, hence the name of the series.
Midnite Mirror: The Movie[]
In 2015, production began on a film based on the Midnite Mirror series, with some of the filming taking place in Dick Tracy's city. Some of the people in Dick Tracy's life believed he should take legal action to stop the film from being made, but he decided not to.
The production received threats from an unknown person calling themselves The Hangman. These threats were ignored until the murdered body of Adam Austin's literary agent was discovered on the film's set. This prompted an investigation by Dick Tracy and the MCU.
Later, one of the actors (Freddy Capp, who played Alfred Brau) was also murdered. This prompted a plan wherein Dick Tracy would take over the role of "Boss Tracy" (from actor Morgan Byrd) for one climactic scene, in the hopes that the Hangman would strike and Tracy could apprehend him.
The Hangman did attempt to kill Tracy, but was himself killed in the process. Production of the film was completed.
Some time later, the Midnite Mirror movie was schedule to play at the Lyric Theater, which interfered with Silver and Sprocket Nitrate's attempt to hide out there. Sprocket encountered Adam Austin under innocent circumstances and the two developed a romantic relationship.
Later, a follow-up film was announced entitled Left Breathless, which would chronicle the life of Breathless Mahoney. This film would also be shot in Dick Tracy's city and co-starred Morgan Byrd as Tracy. Unlike Midnite Mirror, Left Breathless was intended to be an accurate (though dramatized) portrayal of the people involved.
Notes[]
- In addition to the name of the newspaper and the series in which it appeared, "Midnite Mirror" has been applied as the name of the overall storyline in the strip.
- It has not been specified if the Midnite Mirror series is comprised of books, short stories, magazine articles, blog postings, or some other media. It has only been identified as a "series".
- Adam Austin was eventually shown to be a novelist, so it is reasonable for readers to conclude that the Midnite Mirror was a series of novels.
- For the first three weeks of the unfolding Midnite Mirror storyline, strips featured scenes from the in-production film, without context. Readers were shown alternate versions of well-known characters, resulting in some fans speculating as to the nature of what was being presented. Some readers suggested that it may be a dream sequence, or possibly a parallel universe/alternate timeline story as is often seen in comic books.
- The Midnite Mirror storyline has some characters being referred to by names that had not previously been established in the strip (such as Shaky being identified as "Mayor Trembly", and The Brow being addressed as "Alfred Brau"). It was later revealed that The Brow's Son's name was Alfred Brau Jr. (indicating that "Alfred Brau" was his father's real name), though the other character's names have not been confirmed.
- There has been some inconsistency in the names of the characters associated with the Midnite Mirror film. The first murder victim to be discovered was identified as Vic Smith, Adam Austin's literary agent, but he was later referred to by the name John Cassaday. Similarly, the actor playing Boss Tracy was addressed by the film's director as Nash, but he was later identified by the name Morgan Byrd.
- An additional inconsistency occurred with Lizz's hair, which went from short (in line with her original character model) to much longer in a subsequent strip.
- The actor who played The Chalice was named Steve Forsythe, most likely after actor William Forsythe who played Flattop in the 1990 Dick Tracy feature film.
- A newspaper clipping about the production of the film Left Breathless spelled Midnite Mirror as Midnight Mirror.