Dade Plenty was a member of the extended Plenty family. He had curly light hair and prominent cheekbones.
Dade Plenty was a petty criminal who first came to the attention of Dick Tracy and the MCU when he attempted to steal the purse of the policewoman Lizz while on the city subway. He was arrested after attempting to push Lizz in front of a moving subway train.
At police headquarters, Dade revealed that he was an aspiring fashion designer and a cousin of Perfume Plenty. Perfume confirmed this, and also stated that Dade had stolen her car once. Perfume's employer Da Mill had accompanied her to the police station and was impressed by Dade's quick and innovative talent for clothing design.
Shortly after Dade's arrest and conviction, the Governor's wife Lyda announced a contest for who could design the best gown for her. Dade entered the contest from his prison cell and won. This required Tracy and the MCU had to escort Dade back and forth from the State Capitol under guard so that he could work on the dress. The Governor was unhappy with the political backlash that resulted from someone with Dade's criminal record designing a gown for his wife. The Governor destroyed the completed gown in front of Lyda, who responded by stabbing him with a sword. The Governor was not seriously injured and the incident was not publicized.
Dade escaped from prison by constructing an outfit that matched the clothes worn by a children's choral group that made repeated visit to the facility. His disguised himself as one of them, left the prison, stole a car and drove to the Governor's mansion. There, he found Lyda murdered. Dade attempted to flee but was caught and returned to prison.
The judge in Dade's case then sentenced him to life imprisonment under the "habitual criminal act". Upon further investigation, Dick Tracy discovered that Lyda had been killed by poison, which he believed was not a method that Dade would have employed.
The Governor impeded Tracy's attempts to investigate further. The Governor was then convinced by his personal maid Marie to pardon Dade. Dade came to the Governor's mansion to thank him, and Marie secretly allowed Dade to take up residence in a fallout shelter. The Governor eventually discovered Dade there and, believing Dade to be a threat, held him at gunpoint. The two men grappled and the gun went off, killing Marie. It was soon discovered that Marie had poisoned the Governor's wife, hoping to marry him herself.
Dade reformed and went to work at Da Mill Enterprises. He was approached by some of his former associates who attempted to recruit him into a new criminal scheme. Dade rejected them, and they responded by kidnapping the Governor and Perfume and stranding them at the top of a ferris wheel in freezing cold temperatures. The Governor attempted to escape and fell to his death, but Perfume was rescued. Dade then resolved to completely reform himself to honor the Governor's memory.
Notes[]
- The Dade Plenty storyline was the final storyline in the strip on which creator Chester Gould worked before his retirement.