The nephews did exist prior to this, unfortunately. They were created by Max Allen Collins back in 1982 or thereabouts. They were part of a very long story where Pat had something of a mid-life crisis. While taking a vacation cruise, Pat bumped into his old flame, Toby Townley (introduced in the strip back in the ‘30s), and impulsively married her while still on that cruise. Upon returning to the City he announced his plans to retire, publish a tell-all autobiography, and raise his two recently orphaned nephews who were in their late teens. Nearly all of this turned out disastrously. First, his ghostwriter twists his autobiography into The Dick Tracy Story. By letting everyone know his book was going to be a tell-all, he made certain crooked higher-ups nervous. And, as it turns out, his nephews were a couple of rude, lazy, good-for-nothing louts who didn’t even like their uncle. In short, poor Pat made a lot of dumb moves in his midlife crisis which very nearly became his endlife crisis as he gets abducted, shot, and left for dead. Fortunately, what at first glance might’ve looked like his dumbest move, his impulsive marriage to Toby, turned out to be the one smart thing he did in this period, as she sounded the alarm early over his disappearance, leading Tracy and Sam to find Pat’s comatose body just in the nick of time. But with Pat in a coma, it was up to Tracy to solve a real whodunit, with the suspects being Pat’s ghostwriter, the crooked higher-ups…and his two no-good nephews. At the end of the case, Pat’s would-be killer turned out to be one of the crooked higher-ups.This case stretched all the way into mid-1983. In the next story, while Pat was still recovering, his nephews went from bad to worse, entering a life of crime working for a crook named Lofty. Tracy exposed and caught them with a little help from Honeymoon and her much younger “Uncle Joe” (Dick and Tess’ young son). Tracy had to break the news to Pat, who confronted his nephews in jail. Pat sadly informed them that since they had committed several major felonies, he could do nothing for them. That’s the last we saw of them until now. I can tell you that it’s not even remotely out of character for one of these jerks to gladly sell out Pat to Rikki for money.BTW, that Lofty/Pat’s nephews story was also one of the last times we saw Toby up until now. Despite being married to one of the main characters, Toby has almost never been seen since then. I do recall seeing her in Christmastime 2011, celebrating Hanukkah at Sam’s house along with the rest of his friends. But she wasn’t named and she didn’t say anything, so if you didn’t recognize her, you’d have no reason to pick her out from the crowd. I’m positive that today’s strip is the first in 33 years to confirm that yes, she and Pat are still married.
The nephews did exist prior to this, unfortunately. They were created by Max Allen Collins back in 1982 or thereabouts. They were part of a very long story where Pat had something of a mid-life crisis. While taking a vacation cruise, Pat bumped into his old flame, Toby Townley (introduced in the strip back in the ‘30s), and impulsively married her while still on that cruise. Upon returning to the City he announced his plans to retire, publish a tell-all autobiography, and raise his two recently orphaned nephews who were in their late teens. Nearly all of this turned out disastrously. First, his ghostwriter twists his autobiography into The Dick Tracy Story. By letting everyone know his book was going to be a tell-all, he made certain crooked higher-ups nervous. And, as it turns out, his nephews were a couple of rude, lazy, good-for-nothing louts who didn’t even like their uncle. In short, poor Pat made a lot of dumb moves in his midlife crisis which very nearly became his endlife crisis as he gets abducted, shot, and left for dead. Fortunately, what at first glance might’ve looked like his dumbest move, his impulsive marriage to Toby, turned out to be the one smart thing he did in this period, as she sounded the alarm early over his disappearance, leading Tracy and Sam to find Pat’s comatose body just in the nick of time. But with Pat in a coma, it was up to Tracy to solve a real whodunit, with the suspects being Pat’s ghostwriter, the crooked higher-ups…and his two no-good nephews. At the end of the case, Pat’s would-be killer turned out to be one of the crooked higher-ups.This case stretched all the way into mid-1983. In the next story, while Pat was still recovering, his nephews went from bad to worse, entering a life of crime working for a crook named Lofty. Tracy exposed and caught them with a little help from Honeymoon and her much younger “Uncle Joe” (Dick and Tess’ young son). Tracy had to break the news to Pat, who confronted his nephews in jail. Pat sadly informed them that since they had committed several major felonies, he could do nothing for them. That’s the last we saw of them until now. I can tell you that it’s not even remotely out of character for one of these jerks to gladly sell out Pat to Rikki for money.BTW, that Lofty/Pat’s nephews story was also one of the last times we saw Toby up until now. Despite being married to one of the main characters, Toby has almost never been seen since then. I do recall seeing her in Christmastime 2011, celebrating Hanukkah at Sam’s house along with the rest of his friends. But she wasn’t named and she didn’t say anything, so if you didn’t recognize her, you’d have no reason to pick her out from the crowd. I’m positive that today’s strip is the first in 33 years to confirm that yes, she and Pat are still married.