Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for January 05, 2014

Kadaver has a contract he’s paid richly to fulfillTracy’s gun is all jammed up, Abner wields a blade to spillBlood from the Detective, yet quickly he’s disarmedA shot from out of nowhere, swordless but unharmed.Absorbing a right hand roundabout, Abner seems to staggerReaches in his long black cloak, reveals a shiny dagger.Slashing in desperation, he makes a fatal lungeTracy drops down to the ground, Abner takes a nasty plunge.All that’s left atop the vat is a headless, floating hatTracy reaches out to help; won’t swim again in that.Nearby there’s a helper, someone has his backTracy never fired, the crack shot is BlackjackWho relishes a challenge: harming family’s not his styleMade use of a souvenir, rescued hostages with a smile.Tricky Rikki’s vanished; Kadaver’s out of sight.Did he perish in the mess or could it be he mightHave again cheated the Reaper in the face of certain death?An escape hatch in the vat of goo or lifeless without breath?

Mary Perkins?

There’s a familiar name.

Wow! What A blast from the past!

Yeah, That’s funny, that was the name of the comic strip “Mary Perkins On Stage”

But, who is that character in the panel next to the “Crimestoppers Textbook”.

Zowie!

The guy in the first panel could prove interesting…….

For those who really want to know, there’s an excellent series of Mary Perkins reprint books. Somewhere between a soap and an adventure strip, it follows Mary from small-town hopeful to established actress, set against realistic 50s-60s Broadway and Hollywood. The artist, Leonard Starr, eventually retired the strip and launched an excellent revival of Little Orphan Annie (another team succeeded him; they recently ended the strip).

I have a feeling Kadaver will show up again. He’s too good an antagonist for Tracy.

We sure been getting alot of crossovers from a bunch of classic comic strips lately.

Good morning fellow DT fans…

I think that Kadaver had an emergency escape hatch in the cement pond. Rikki’s probably riding away on the death coach.

Great poem, Pequod! Thinking about an escape hatch in the wet concrete, wouldn’t the wet concrete gush out if it were opened? And closing it back might be an interesting trick after Abner got out.

Tracy has another option to retrieve Kadaver….. They can flood the pit with water (City Fire Department) which would separate the concrete mix. They fo’ sho’ need the body this time!

Why would there be an escape hatch (or some other means of escape) in the gravel pit if said pit was meant to kill Tracy? So confused…

I still wonder if Kadaver isn’t using that hat for a breathing tube… of course, in real life, the heat emitted from drying cement might kill him anyway

I’m sure Kadaver subscribes to the principal that you never build a dungeon you can’t get out of yourself. Ditto cement trap. Is it even really “setting” cement? That wouldn’t be very reusable, and the whole setup has been used before, probably many times.

Kadaver’s a master showman, and a genius at misdirection. He’ll be back.

How nice to see Mary in the strip. She looks lovely here but I don’t think anyone’s interpretation could top Leonard Starr’s.

Thank you Joe, Mike, Shelley, Shane and Jim!!! You’re creating the best continuity strip still in print!!!

Tracy’s already given up on finding both Abner and Rikki, so maybe we’ll see both of them together again, though I don’t see how Abner could have escaped. Maybe Rikki helped him?

Nice to see Mary Perkins. I think the character in the first panel is someone major in the next story. Thanks for the poem, Pequod77.

Maybe Mary Perkins will need the services of Dick Tracy good to see the old girl again, have missed her strip too Winnie Winkle should show up soon as a costume designer

The white haired guy must be some sort of Cajun Kingpin. He looks like someone you would find on that t.v. show Cajun Pawn Stars. Almost like a cross between Jerry Lee Lewis and Jughead Jones. The name Jimmy comes to mind, but in Tracyville, it’s going to be a lot more cleaver than that, Gator maybe…

Mary Perkins! Long, LONG time no see!

Is that elderly Elvis (he lost weight in hiding!).

I used to love Mary Perkins, “On Stage” in the funny pages. There was some great characters in that strip too, as I recall..

I have worked with cement most of my life and when a concrete truck brakes down they put a 5 pound bag of sugar in the wet mix and then it WILL NOT get hard or set-up as we say. the trick is to get the sugar mixed in enough to work.

Great detail in Vitamin Flintheart’s face, and Mary Perkins is hot!

I am guessing the new guy next to the Crimestoppers panel is the next villain Tracy will be up against.

RIP (Hopefully) Kadaver. Let’s move on.

We’ll be seeing Brenda Starr before too much longer, yowza!

The ’60s version of the Girls in Apt 3-G were hot! Some of the panels would do well as pin-ups!

Another good drama strip was Steve Roper. Excellent crime drama, and incredible artwork.

I liked this Kadaver tale very much. Great settings—from the Murder Mansion, to Venus’s penthouse, the TV studio, Ray’s chicken ranch and the death traps of the underworld—and story of Tracy putting it on the line for his daughter and Uncle. Great panels today of Tracy and Sam with the crime scene photographer in the background and Kadaver’s hat in the foreground. Finally, a smooth transition to the next tale, with an homage to a fondly recalled strip from days gone by. I wonder if Ray Toler is doing the set design at the Patterson Playhouse? They should be so lucky.Thanks to cpalmeresq, JerryH, morrow, Neil Wick, JPuzzleWhiz and Gweedo for the kudos. Much appreciated!

Mary Whokins?

HOOO-HAA!! Major memory jog here…..!!! I DO REMEMBER THIS!! (from"Indiscipline", great King Crimson song, ’80’s era!!): when I was this creepy ’lil kid way back when, Mary Perkins was officially the first comic strip lady that I “had the hots” for…..loved the often-skimpy outfits!!

How nice to see Mary Perkins On Stage again, in yet another revival of an old Tribune Syndicate strip! And the Patterson Playhouse? Surely, that would be named for Joseph Medill Patterson….

Gawd! I’m old enough to remember when “Mary Perkins On Stage” began….

Kadaver has a contract he’s paid richly to fulfill

Tracy’s gun is all jammed up, Abner wields a blade to spill

Blood from the Detective, yet quickly he’s disarmed

A shot from out of nowhere, swordless but unharmed.

Absorbing a right hand roundabout, Abner seems to stagger

Reaches in his long black cloak, reveals a shiny dagger.

Slashing in desperation, he makes a fatal lunge

Tracy drops down to the ground, Abner takes a nasty plunge.

All that’s left atop the vat is a headless, floating hat

Tracy reaches out to help; won’t swim again in that.

Nearby there’s a helper, someone has his back

Tracy never fired, the crack shot is Blackjack

Who relishes a challenge: harming family’s not his style

Made use of a souvenir, rescued hostages with a smile.

Tricky Rikki’s vanished; Kadaver’s out of sight.

Did he perish in the mess or could it be he might

Have again cheated the Reaper in the face of certain death?

An escape hatch in the vat of goo or lifeless without breath?