Dick Tracy: 1940-1941 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Deafy Sweetfellow

Although not a well known Tracy villain, Deafy is well designed and ruthless. Chester Gould is now giving more time and attention to his criminals than Dick Tracy with good results. Dick and Pat are actually in the 'Carolina mountains' while most of this story takes place.

Answer: backs over the bikes

Johnny Naem now introduces Junior to Deafy, who offers cheap parts and even new bikes for Junior to sell the kids who had their bikes ruined. One of the parents gets wise when he finds his kid's (repainted) stolen bike sold to another boy. Junior realizes what has been taking place under his nose and sets out to find the thieves.

Answer: in the back of a truck

Junior attaches a can full of paint to a bike and pokes a hole in it. At night one of the bicycle thieves pedals it to the truck and Junior follows the trail. As they open the back doors of the truck, realizing they have been discovered, the driver backs the truck over Junior. Gould's vivid panels of a crushed boy and his bicycle with exhaust fumes drifting overhead likely had many readers in tears. He was found by a milkman and taken to the hospital, barely alive.
While bicycle theft is hardly a crime for Dick Tracy to take seriously, running over his protégé certainly is.

Answer: a taillight wire is torn off the truck

A policeman stops the truck for driving with no taillights, and is shot by the gang. They then abandon the truck and head for Johnny Naem's mother's café.
Tracy has found a wire in Junior's clothes, stuck on a shirt button. The connection is made to the truck, and now the bicycle thieves are wanted for the murder of the policeman.
Junior has a picture of Johnny Naem, whom Chief Brandon recognizes. They go to his mother's café and become suspicious. With Pat Patton at the back door, Deafy decides to make a run for it knowing Tracy is coming in the front. Bursting the door open, Deafy cracks heads with Pat, knocking both half goofy.

Answer: a skunk

Chester Gould is getting the hang of inserting humor into his comic strip. Deafy's battle with the skunk is very funny. He staggers to the street where a truck load of Christmas trees waits at a stoplight. Tracy and Patton smell the skunk and bring Deafy out of the trees at gunpoint. Handcuffed, he has to ride to jail on the hood of the squad car to keep the smell out.

Answer: murder

Krome and his assistant Lowse carefully time how long it takes the toy kangaroo to jump a certain distance. They then find Minkony the crook and tie him inside his car. A wire is attached to the kangaroo and it begins jumping. When it jumps to another wire, it completes a battery circuit exploding TNT Lowse had placed in the car. Krome is one of my favorite Tracy villains.

He is very well dressed, always smiling and polite and is reminiscent of Johnny Ramm or maybe Clark Gable. He operates Murder Inc. and pins a calling card to his victim, stating the date the hit was ordered and when it was carried out.

Answer: Kitty

Kitty opens fire and hits Lowse in the back. Krome is hit in the arm several times. Tracy throws a vial of nitroglycerin which was supposed to kill the rescued man. Lowse is found dead in the rubble after the dust clears, but Krome has been taken by Kitty, who plans to kill him.

Answer: electrocution

Now on the run, Krome hijacks a car in a snowstorm and heads for Smallville where he knows a doctor. His arm is by now nearly useless, and looks terrible. They get stuck and the driver of the car manages to contact police with his radio before Krome can stop him.

Answer: his arm

The arm has gangrene and is amputated. Krome now hitches a ride back to the city in a snowplow. Tracy and Pat follow. Krome holds the snowplow driver at gunpoint and forces him to cross a river on the ice, which breaks through.

Answer: he is dead

Though never certain what caused Krome's death, Dick speculates that his weakened condition after the amputation and subsequent dunking in the ice cold river caused his heart to stop.