Dick Tracy and the Unseen Cameo

Cameos by other comic strip characters in Dick Tracy is nothing new. Under the creative team of Mike Curtis and Joe Staton, Dick Tracy has taken on new life -- and not always taken itself too seriously. I've already noted the appearance of Boston Charlie from Terry and the Pirates, and Walt Wallet from Gasoline Alley (even a crossover with the Jumble team).

The sequence run the last week of October, 2013 was a little unusual for two reasons. The first being that the crossover character never appeared in panel (well, not completely). As you can see from the examples below, there's no doubt who the occupants of the neighboring cabin are. (click on images to enlarge).

We get a little foreshadowing with the name of the boat -- Swee'pea. And Olive's profile is unmistakable. I imagine copyright constraints prevented Popeye and the cast of Thimble Theater from appearing onstage. I applaud the creative way X and Staton worked around that obstacle to tell the story they wanted to tell. Well done!

I said there were two things unusual about the sequence. Here's the second. To my knowledge, this is the first time Dick Tracy has gone on vacation without running into a master criminal -- and that includes his honeymoon!

Thanks to Curtis and Staton for giving the world's most famous detective some time off.