Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for April 13, 2021

Good morning™, crypt-keepers!

Well, there you go, Abner resurrected! Somehow, he made his way back from Switzerland, where he supposedly died, and is proceeding to spring his beloved from jail.

Here’s the $64,000 question …

Good morning™, ghost who squawks !

I find it hard to believe he is in the prison yard; how did he get in and how will he and lady deathly fair get out ?

Did Abner ever make a stage villain entrance like this, announcing himself? Seems more like something Vera Alldid might do. Somebody’s probably got hold of Abner’s cache of special effects gear.

Incidentally, if you’re wondering what happened to the blue balloon, check out Bound & Gagged for today.

Somehow his speech bubble looks different from the distinctive look it used to have…

“Still knockin’ ’em dead!”

Were we ever able to decide if that was or wasn’t Abner in the Tracy of October 1, 2020?

Is this the long anticipated second instance of Florsheim Fallout ?

No you’re not!

Not unless team Tracy provides an explanation for your reappearance which is unlikely.

They like to leave all their potholes unfilled.

Or is it?

I was thinking Darkwing Duck, myself.

Heeeeee’s Baaaaaaaack!

I’m afraid that ‘Allo,’ Allo made it impossible for me to take seriously any character who introduces himself with “It is I.”

OMG! IT ABNER KADAVER! We knew was him yesterday. LOL

And if they can keep bringing Abner back from the dead they should Bring back Flattop! Bring back Flattop! Bring back Flattop!

Is really him?

Nope, not buying it.

YEEEEEEEES!!! THE BEST APPARITION EVER!

Abner brought his pool cue with him. He just needs to screw the two halves together.

I was wondering when he was going to return – he was too good a villain to lose.

! WOW ! What great images but this is way out there for me , but I do love the images .

This is going to be a good one!!!!

Googling for more information, I’ve discovered that there’s a whole different character named “Abner Cadaver” (with a C) from Savage Dragon comics. I actually had the 1st issue of that, but I was pretty much done with comic books by that time.

Da Dah!!!

Abner Kadaver? This ought to be an interesting story!

Good morning Gweedo my friend.

1-GUARD: DAG! The old generator is only hittin’ on 3 cylinders today. Cough

2-ABNER: TIS I, THE GENERATOR REPAIR MAN, ARRIVED WITH THE TOOLS OF THE TRADE! RIKKI: PTL!!!

GUARD: You look more like a chimney sweep.

ABNER: Who asked ya? Now direct me to this wounded generator where I can work my miracles.

GUARD: GEEZ, just follow the smoke, genius! If I was a betting man, Rikki, I’d bet that you’ll be asphyxiated by morning.

ABNER: Ah, yes. The smoke. Ummm, so is that the problem then?

RIKKI: Sigh I’d make that same bet…See if you can get any takers for 5 packs of ciggies.

Thanks to all who posted links.

Yay!

Talk about a new story coming out of no where!

I notice they didn’t show his face.

He’s gonna get arrested for smoking in a nonsmoking area…

I’m with Ray on this one.

Further elaboration on the blue balloon, continuation of Pouch’s travails with his troublesome client, all of which would have been great follow ups to itself a troubled story.

Almost anything would have, could have, been a better story than what appears to be next.

Abner Kadaver. Another kill-da-twacy revenge plot line.

Yawn.

Gee Thanks again Neil for explaining the obvious. Since The Walking Dead is again on hiatus, we needed a Zombie, so the Boys resurrect Ol’ standby Abner. Someday, somehow, these guys may create a brand new villain. I mean Gould managed to for over 30 years.

Over at Little Orphan Annie, our good friend Davidf42 posts links to various Annie stories of the past. The one titled “Angel of Peace” is now featuring Asp pulling a similar spooky “It was I!” stunt on a fellow who appears to be a threat to Annie. Somehow Asp is considerably more formidable than this silly Abner character.

One of the better nasties!

What is that other object in Abner’s hand….an unlit tiki torch?

Did Abner take up vaping? Rolling coal? Bean burritos?

It might be someone else becoming Abner.

Assuming that Abner didn’t just conjure himself out of thin air, I’m guessing he made his way into the yard through a hole he cut in the fence which was seen in the first panel of yesterday’s strip, using the trees as coverage (memo to prison officials: don’t have foliage around your perimeter) , & then creating a smokescreen for his dramatic entrance. I guess we’ll learn more tomorrow, when we see how they make their escape.

OK, so we’re almost a whole day in. Am I the only one who remembers that whenever Abner wore gloves, he wore white gloves? And assuming this is an imposter, will this arc conclude with a (possibly ambiguous) encounter with an unhappy authentic Abner?

Other abandoned story lines: the Mole’s wedding, possibly crashed by body-never-found Jimmy Choo Shooz; what did Bribery and Lafayette talk about; who was in the Brush mask; Bribery’s abandoned aircar. More speculatively, where did the Moon Valley people really go (they couldn’t all hide in Antarctica without lighting up every weather/climate satellites)? And the Last Space Coupe was ready to hit relativistic speeds, slowing the occupants’ time to a crawl, so if they gained control of the ship, they could return with only days passing.

Rikki’s back! Vista Bill would be delighted!

Nothing beats making a splashy, smokey Grand Entrance! Ta daa!

Welcome back to the World of the Living, Abner Kadaver! (—As was expected by just about everyone….)

They forgot to color his cape