The Doctor Death pulp character has a
rather strange history. The first incarnation was in the pages of All
Detective Magazine where the dastardly Doctor Death appeared in July
through October of 1934 and again in January 1935. In these novels, the nemesis is Nibs Holloway, but that character actually debuted a
year prior in the pages of Rapid-Fire Detective Stories. The
1934/1935 Doctor Death stories were authored by Edward P. Norris,
although that could have been a pseudonym. No one really knows. After
the January 1935 story, things change for the character.
All Detective Magazine folded with the
January 1935 issue and that was the end of that particular version of
Doctor Death. Then, February 1935 sees the shocking launch of Doctor Death
Magazine with Norris replaced by prolific writer Harold Ward (using
the bizarre pseudonym Zorro) and nemesis Nibs Holloway replaced by
detective Jimmy Holm. This new version of Doctor Death debuts in the
novel “12 Must Die”, the lead for the first issue. Then comes
“The Gray Creatures” for the next issue followed by “The
Shriveling Murders” for the very last issue of the magazine in
April. That's it, February, March, April of 1935 – three total
issues. Weird, right?
Thankfully, fans of the pulp got two
additional novels that weren't originally published in the magazine -
“Waves of Madness” and “The Red Mist of Murder”. These
appeared in the 1980s in Nemesis Incorporated and Pulp Vault. Note
that a publisher called Pulp Classics also reprinted at least one of
the Doctor Death Magazine issues in 1979.
In 1966, a paperback publisher called
Corinth Regency reprinted the three Doctor Death Magazine novels as
paperbacks with amazing artwork by Robert Bonfils. These books were
titled the same as the novels – 12 Must Die (CR118), The Gray
Creatues (CR121), and The Shriveling Murders (CR125). But, the
publisher also threw a fourth book in there titled Stories from
Doctor Death and Other Terror Tales (CR129) which included the
various shorts that were included in the three issues of the
magazine.
In July, 2008 the Altus Press reprinted
the Spring 1956 issue of Triple Detective Magazine. This issue
featured a novel titled "Doctor Death Returns". It was authored by
Steve Mitchell using the pseudonym Son of Zorro (clever). This same
issue had also been reprinted in 2002 as Double Danger Tales #56.
But, wait..there's more. In 2009 Altus
Press (now part of Steeger Books) published Doctor Death Vs The Secret Twelve Volume 1 which includes the three novels from Doctor
Death Magazine with an awesome introduction by Will Murray. The same
publisher released Doctor Death Vs The Secret Twelve Volume 2 which
featured the two novels that were published in the 80s by Nemesis
Incorporated and Pulp Vault. Then, there is also a combination of
both volumes in one larger collection called The Complete Exploits of
Doctor Death. In that edition there is also a treatment for an
original comic strip that Harold Lamb had pitched.
What's Doctor Death all about? The
backstory for the Doctor Death Magazine version of the character is
that he is really a scientist named Rance Mandarin. He earned his
education at Yale and became a Dean of Psychology there. But,
somewhere along the way Rancine loses his mind and gets the notion
that he himself is more superior to Albert Einstein. With his
superior mental prowess he incorporates a fanatical religious crusade
into an apocalyptic plan. As a mission from God – he claims – he
will work to eliminate all of his contemporaries and completely
destroy modern civilization. By returning Earth back to the Dark Age
humanity can grow and evolve in different ways under his leadership.
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To combat Doctor Death's attempts to
destroy Earth with things like death rays and zombie armies the
President of the United States forms a Secret Twelve committee made
up of leading scientists, government leaders, and even the Mob boss.
But, there are law-enforcement agents that do all of the heavy
lifting.
Policeman Jimmy Holm is Doctor Death's
main foe, an iron-fisted hero that reports to Inspector Ricks, a
“policeman of the old school and head of the greatest body of
manhunters in the world”. Holm is also engaged to Doctor Death's
niece and former assistant Nina Fererra. There is also a psychic
thrown in the mix named Elise Lando and the wealthiest man in
America, Secretary Hallenberg.
If you are familiar with the “clearly
good guy” versus the “clearly bad guy” then this pulp really
isn't much different. It resembles many of the other villain-led
pulps and stories of the time like Fu-Manchu. The Doctor Death novels
are over-the-top and wildly entertaining if you simply suspend
disbelief – which is the obligatory stance for reading any pulp
material. You should know that if you've read this far. How does it
rank with the pulp giants of the time? I'd say middle of the pack.
There's nothing spectacular here, but nothing completely disposable.
It serves the purpose of escaping our hectic troubled modern world
and takes us back to more innocent times. Who can ask for anything
more?