Paperback Warrior Primer - Doctor Death

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.

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?