Karpse (full name unrevealed) was a producer of poison gas for a foreign power. He had a long straight nose, light hair, and a sparse moustache.
After the conclusion of the Jojo Nidle case, Karpse's accomplice Marro suggested to Dick Tracy that he should investigate Karpse because of his involvement with the female foreign agent Halone. Junior Tracy and Brighton Spotts had been rescued from a tank car of molasses, and Marro suggested that they trace the recipient of the molasses. It led to an area in South Dakota that was so far from civilization that Tracy found it suspicious.
The only building of significant size was an abandoned hotel housing Karpse's operation that manufactured poison gas using slave labor. One of the laborers faked an illness and was able to escape from the plant, eventually providing information to Tracy and Pat Patton. During a lightning storm, a small aircraft leaving the plant crashed. Tracy and Patton discovered gas canisters in the wreckage, which gave them more indication of what was happening in the hotel.
Karpse learned that Tracy and FBI agent Jim Trailer were investigating him, so he and Halone attempted to escape in an airplane with a supply of poison gas and one million dollars. Their plane crashed when Tracy and Jim Trailer disrupted their propellers with a steel net. Karpse then detonated a bomb on their grounded plane. Tracy and Trailer were affected by the poison gas, rendering Tracy temporarily blind. While Tracy was hospitalized, Trailer was well enough to raid the poison gas plant. Trailer discovered Karpse's accomplices Bartow and Doc Nosiop locked in a gas vault where Karpse had expected that they would die, unaware that it had been shut down for repairs. The two accomplices were angry enough to provide information about Karpse's scheme to Trailer. The slave laborers (unemployed men who had been promised honest work) were then freed.
Traveling on foot through the woods, Karpse and Halone were attacked by a bear. Karpse abandoned Halone, who was killed by the animal. He then made his way to the city, where he took a job as a baker at Mrs. Trueheart's delicatessen using the alias "Janings". He also found Marro and brutally assaulted her. He threatened to kill her unless she continued to help him.
Karpse was badly scalded when a water heater at the delicatessen exploded. At the hospital, Karpse found himself on the same floor as Dick Tracy, who was still blind and mostly confined to an iron lung to counteract the effects of the gas he had inhaled. Marro visited Karpse, but Pat Patton recognized her from police headquarters and this eventually led to her arrest.
Jim Trailer and Pat Patton eventually confronted Karpse, revealing that they had learned his true identity. Attempting to render them unconscious with ether, Karpse burned himself to death when his cigarette accidentally ignited the liquid.
Appearances in Other Media[]
1990 Movie Continuity[]
Karpse does not appear in the 1990 Dick Tracy feature film.
Karpse is a character in the comic book prequel by John Moore and Kyle Baker. In the comic, Karpse was part of a gang of thieves who were stopped by Dick Tracy. Karpse was the only member of the gang who managed to escape from Tracy alive, and he took shelter in the underground hide-out of The Mole.
Karpse had his face changed by Doc Hump. While he was recovering, the hide-out was infiltrated by Dick Tracy (who was disguised as B-B Eyes). Karpse saw through Tracy's ruse and the three criminals prepared to dispose of Tracy. Other police officers arrived and Karpse and Hump were arrested. The Mole was killed while trying to escape.
Gallery[]
