Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for November 01, 2011

WOW … the hits just keep on coming!!!

Wasn’t Vera Sparkle Plenty’s husband at one time?

YIKES! The previous team couldn’t even keep the ongoing characters in the strip, these guys are diggin’ waaaaaay into the vault. YAY.

Wonder if Vera is still “drawing” “the Invisible Tribe”?

Abner Kadaver and Dick Tracy in panels 1 and 2: When Icons Collide!

I remember Vera in the 1960’s. He was an artist who painted and drew dogs.

Vera wasn’t shady just a young and immature cartoonist. I remember reading that Collins got rid of him because he’d always felt that Sparkle and Junior belonged together. It’d never occurred to me but the match did make sense. The fact that Tracy is related to BO Plenty is still hilarious. Never thought I’d see Vera again! Another very cool choice by Team Tracy.

I never liked Vera even before the divorce. BUT…if the current team is looking for a layer of personal conflict on top of the Kadaver’s cadaver crime plot, bringing back Sparkle’s ex is still a good move. And it looks like Vera has taken a big fall from his big-earning, big-spending cartoonist days…

For an example of Vera’s big spending: does anybody remember Vera’s personalized car?

I wonder if he’s still drawing? It looks like he’s still got his trademark pencil behind his ear.

Vera Aldid is a man not a woman. The name was given to him by his Scandinavian father, after the family had a series of daughters. The family finally had a son, at which the father proclaimed…" Vera Aldid!"

Holy Moley!Vera Alldid! I love the way Mike keeps bringing back classic characters.(And I wonder if this will tie in to Mr. Crime and his collection of bad guys. Loved last week’s peek into crime central.)

Hey, so caught up in the Vera-Sparkle-Junior angle I almost forgot to mention – love Abner Kadaver! Only 3 strips into the new story, and we have returning favorites (Honeymoon, Junior and Sparkle!), a returning cad, an great crime scene, a neat mystery, a romantic triangle sub-plot on the back burner, and Abner Kadaver!Tracy has to be one of the fastest paced comics around! BTW – my one Tracy trivia contribution – Wasn’t the first Space Coupe named “Sparkle Plenty?”

This strip continues to excel in every area. Well done and keep up the good work!

From the way the “speech balloons” are being drawn, there must be somthing very unique about Abner Kadaver’s voice. Does his voice quaver, or in some other way sound eerie? Very interesting!

Today November 1st is “All Saints Day” I guess one can still say good morning at 9:47am!

Don’t forget … Kadaver said he changed his name … so, ya gotta wonder … what was his name before?

Just want to say … I watched the original Thin Man movie on PBS a few nights ago … it holds up very well. Dashiell Hammett was in top form when he wrote that one. Always loved his Maltese Falcon.

Good afternoon all…

This is wonderful! Mr. Staton, Mr. Curtis, you’re doing a fine job. Thank you!

I started reading DT in the late 50’s early 60’s so all of the villains being brought back are new to me but I remember Vera Alldid and Vitamin Flintheart. As time progresses I am still hoping for a return of my all time favorites the 52 Gang.

The “dummy” reminds me of the outlaw Elmer McCurdy, He was an outlaw and when he died his body was kept on display. After many years his corpse ended up in an amusement park. When an episode of the “Six Million Dollar Man” was filming there they tried to move a “dummy” an arm broke off revealing it to be a dead body. You can read about it at http://www.snopes.com/horrors/gruesome/mccurdy.asp

Vera Alldid?! What next, Peanutbutter Bailey?

Love Abner’s design, by the way.

Who is Vera Alldid?

Mdstudio: I believe Vera is also BO Plenty’s nephew.

Just a note from me. Panel 3 in tomorrow’s TRACY will reveal a long hidden pleasure of our hero.

Actually I would think instead of common and nondescript , his name would have been something like Abner Kadoodlehopper , so he wanted to change it.

Thanks for the help remembering Vera, and the “Invisible Tribe”. Wasn’t there another comic strip? Something like “Bugs and Worms” or something. Was that Peanut Butter"s?

@Carlo Coratelli: ’Who is Vera Alldid" Please refer back to the very good answers given by Idesama and Margueritem earlier this morning, and also the link supplied by Tarry Plaguer, which shows Vera in his "glory days " in the strip, when he was still married to Sparkle.

A single speaking appearance, and I instantly hope Kadaver goes from the latest Bg Bad to being Vitamin Flintnheart’s creepy cousin.

I thought Vera drew Sawdust before The Invisible Tribe.…….And when are they bringing back The Space Coupe? That was great.

OK NOW I AM CONFUSED WASN’T MOON MAID KILLED IN 1965 I WAS IN HIGH SCHOOL AND BELIEVE I READ THAT EPISODE IN THE DETROIT FREE PRESS WHICH WAS THE MORNING PAPER

In hindsight, the return of Vera Alldid, a character Max Allan Collins never used once, is an early indicator that Mike Curtis wouldn’t just be following in Collins’ footsteps. Collins’ reverence for the strip’s past was actually fairly limited. With few exceptions, nearly all the characters he brought back and revitalized were created within a narrow, 14-year period, from mid-1940 (the debuts of Jerome Trohs and Mamma) to mid-1954 (the arrest of Dewdrop) and little else outside that period.

Curtis has brought back characters from all eras and all writers from the 30s (Broadway Bates and Belle) to the Mike Kilian years (Detective Frisk). He even made at least one non-insulting reference to the Dick Locher years (Dr. Mordred). It’s a key reason why Curtis is my favorite post-Gould writer.