"Alleys of Darkness" features a naive narrator, much like the talkative barber Whitey in Ring Lardner's "Haircut." Added in is a great deal of hyperbole. The violence in this story is an exaggerated cartoon violence. Dennis Dorgan resembles Elzie Segar's Popeye quite a bit. He resembles him so much that I suspect that Popeye may have been an inspiration or model for the character.