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Doc Savage (publication order; no omnibus) #100
The Headless Men
A mad scientist has invented a way to decapitate people and let them live as his headless slaves. The Man of Bronze and his crew pursue this deadly genius to Central America, where they are all trapped and captured. Only Doc Savage can prevent the headless horde from taking over the world — but he is strapped to a sacrificial altar and is scheduled to lose his head at midnight!
150 pages, Paperback
First published August 26, 2012
About the author
Kenneth Robeson
927 books139 followersKenneth Robeson was the house name used by Street and Smith Publications as the author of their popular character Doc Savage and later The Avenger. Though most Doc Savage stories were written by the author Lester Dent, there were many others who contributed to the series, including:
William G. Bogart
Evelyn Coulson
Harold A. Davis
Lawrence Donovan
Alan Hathway
W. Ryerson Johnson
Lester Dent is usually considered to be the creator of Doc Savage. In the 1990s Philip José Farmer wrote a new Doc Savage adventure, but it was published under his own name and not by Robeson. Will Murray has since taken up the pseudonym and continued writing Doc Savage books as Robeson.
All 24 of the original stories featuring The Avenger were written by Paul Ernst, using the Robeson house name. In order to encourage sales Kenneth Robeson was credited on the cover of The Avenger magazine as "the creator of Doc Savage" even though Lester Dent had nothing to do with The Avenger series. In the 1970s, when the series was extended with 12 additional novels, Ron Goulart was hired to become Robeson.
William G. Bogart
Evelyn Coulson
Harold A. Davis
Lawrence Donovan
Alan Hathway
W. Ryerson Johnson
Lester Dent is usually considered to be the creator of Doc Savage. In the 1990s Philip José Farmer wrote a new Doc Savage adventure, but it was published under his own name and not by Robeson. Will Murray has since taken up the pseudonym and continued writing Doc Savage books as Robeson.
All 24 of the original stories featuring The Avenger were written by Paul Ernst, using the Robeson house name. In order to encourage sales Kenneth Robeson was credited on the cover of The Avenger magazine as "the creator of Doc Savage" even though Lester Dent had nothing to do with The Avenger series. In the 1970s, when the series was extended with 12 additional novels, Ron Goulart was hired to become Robeson.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 20, 2024
I have to feel a little satisfaction right now, not only because this is my one hundredth review of a 'Doc Savage' novel, in pulp publication order, but because I'm only three months behind where my target put me. I reviewed the first book in the series, 'The Man of Bronze' in November 2015 and I planned to follow it up with another every month. That schedule means that I should have written this in February instead of May 2024, but that's pretty close, I think, for this particular milestone.
Of course, that also means that it's the one hundredth novel to appear in 'Doc Savage Magazine'. Unfortunately, it's hardly a strong effort to commemorate that milestone, partly because it came from the pen of Alan Hathway rather than series creator and most frequent author, Lester Dent, who had to settle for the three before it and the two after. Hathway didn't do badly in his opening contribution to the series, 'The Devil's Playground' five months earlier, but he slips up a lot here, with two especially bad habits on show.
One is a habit of using outrageously bad names, which is notable in a series that's known for that flaw already. We meet Needlenose Swenson in the first paragraph and learn about his disdain for Prof. Norgrud L. Watts on the first page. We also learn in the first chapter that both work at the Stumpp Electrical Co. in New Jersey, which we soon discover is owned by L. Pennfield Stumpp. We suddenly buy into famous transport flier Wings Dedham and Hollywood starlet Lydia Ladore having entirely believable names, just by comparison. Just wait until we find Gen. Smedley Worthington Watson and his junior associate, Sneedfield.
Another is the gimmick with which he saddles Stumpp. Again, this isn't a flaw unique to Hathway, but I honestly can't remember another single character that annoyed the heck out of me the way that Stumpp does with his singsong rhyming dialogue that generally makes no sense whatsoever. The one positive aspect to this gimmick is that even the other characters in the story hate it too, a reaction most pronounced in Monk, who breaks off from his bickering with Ham occasionally to be frustrated at Stumpp instead. At one point, I wanted to cheer him on:
"Omigosh, oh, bigosh, oh, pishtosh!" L. Pennfield moaned in his up-and-down voice. "It was in my pocket... docket... sprocket. Oh, hell!"
L. Pennfield broke down in a sweat. He apparently was sufficiently terrified to speak in a normal tone of voice. Monk drew a sigh of relief.
"Some day," he prophesied, "I'm going to put a cork in that guy's mouth."
Other than this, Hathway's setup work seems fair. Swenson is a janitor at Stumpp Electrical and he isn't the only one to believe that Watts is doing strange things there in his laboratory. Needlenose sees something on one particular night that prompts stark horror, enough to run away to seek the assistance of Doc Savage in New York. Wings Dedham, who's apparently in on experiments Watts is performing on drunks, chases him and trips on a periodical Swenson had with him. It carries the name "The Life of Doc Savage" and advertises "some keys to the bronze man's amazing physical and mental development."
He makes it to Doc's headquarters but doesn't get to meet his idol because, as Monk is telling him about their latest guest, he's decapitated. There was no sound and there's no blood, but suddenly Needlenose Swenson has no head. Now, Doc's already become aware of something strange going on at Stumpp Electrical and Long Tom knows Stumpp personally, but Watts's Lab explodes within a couple of chapters and there's no doubt that Doc's going to investigate and those involved have to do everything they can to stop him.
There is some fun to be had here and the concept of headless men is a good one. It was good when Swenson is mysteriously decapitated in Doc's 86th floor headquarters and it's even better when it grows to headless men delivering messages and promptly leaving again. By the time we witness a whole legion of headless men marching into an Incan temple in the Republic of San Roble, it's very much up there with the most enticing of the series. If only Hathway had fashioned an explanation that didn't suck, it would have been perfect. I'm sure it would work in a particular scenario, but it absolutely would not in every instance provided here.
Unfortunately rather than that being an exception, Hathway actually leans into this sort of thing at other points in the story. Monk and Chemistry actually switch places here more than once, the idea old at this point and already unbelievable. That characters actually fall for it is cheap at this point. When Hathway tries to convince us that Monk and Ham have been experimenting with the concept of telepathy enough to be able to bicker at each other entirely through the power of the mind, we have to wonder if he's going to try to sell us the Brooklyn Bridge in the next chapter.
In other words, this one had a lot of potential and Hathway was capable enough a writer to set up a solid story. However, he clearly wasn't supervised enough or edited enough to stay on track. The result is partly frustrating, partly annoying and partly disappointing. I can cut him a little slack in ideas like Stumpp's Electrical Massage Vibrator not dating well in the slightest, because that's on history rather than him, but most of the failures here are clearly his fault. If there had been more successes, I wouldn't have minded so much, but the longer than this book runs on, the more those seem to vanish into nowhere like the heads of the headless men.
And that means that I'm especially looking forward to Lester Dent's return in February 1941 with 'The Green Eagle'. Hathway did a lot of good in 'The Devil's Playground', slipping up his series lore and relying too heavily on gadgets, but setting things up wonderfully and slotting in well with the times in which it was written; appropriately so, given that Hathway was a newspaperman of the old school right out of thirties movies, being best known as the editor of 'Newsday'. Let's see if Dent gets things back on track in July and let's see if Hathway derails them again in September in 'The Mindless Monsters'.
Originally posted at the Nameless Zine in May 2024:
https://www.thenamelesszine.org/Voice...
Index of all my Nameless Zine reviews:
https://books.apocalypselaterempire.com/
Of course, that also means that it's the one hundredth novel to appear in 'Doc Savage Magazine'. Unfortunately, it's hardly a strong effort to commemorate that milestone, partly because it came from the pen of Alan Hathway rather than series creator and most frequent author, Lester Dent, who had to settle for the three before it and the two after. Hathway didn't do badly in his opening contribution to the series, 'The Devil's Playground' five months earlier, but he slips up a lot here, with two especially bad habits on show.
One is a habit of using outrageously bad names, which is notable in a series that's known for that flaw already. We meet Needlenose Swenson in the first paragraph and learn about his disdain for Prof. Norgrud L. Watts on the first page. We also learn in the first chapter that both work at the Stumpp Electrical Co. in New Jersey, which we soon discover is owned by L. Pennfield Stumpp. We suddenly buy into famous transport flier Wings Dedham and Hollywood starlet Lydia Ladore having entirely believable names, just by comparison. Just wait until we find Gen. Smedley Worthington Watson and his junior associate, Sneedfield.
Another is the gimmick with which he saddles Stumpp. Again, this isn't a flaw unique to Hathway, but I honestly can't remember another single character that annoyed the heck out of me the way that Stumpp does with his singsong rhyming dialogue that generally makes no sense whatsoever. The one positive aspect to this gimmick is that even the other characters in the story hate it too, a reaction most pronounced in Monk, who breaks off from his bickering with Ham occasionally to be frustrated at Stumpp instead. At one point, I wanted to cheer him on:
"Omigosh, oh, bigosh, oh, pishtosh!" L. Pennfield moaned in his up-and-down voice. "It was in my pocket... docket... sprocket. Oh, hell!"
L. Pennfield broke down in a sweat. He apparently was sufficiently terrified to speak in a normal tone of voice. Monk drew a sigh of relief.
"Some day," he prophesied, "I'm going to put a cork in that guy's mouth."
Other than this, Hathway's setup work seems fair. Swenson is a janitor at Stumpp Electrical and he isn't the only one to believe that Watts is doing strange things there in his laboratory. Needlenose sees something on one particular night that prompts stark horror, enough to run away to seek the assistance of Doc Savage in New York. Wings Dedham, who's apparently in on experiments Watts is performing on drunks, chases him and trips on a periodical Swenson had with him. It carries the name "The Life of Doc Savage" and advertises "some keys to the bronze man's amazing physical and mental development."
He makes it to Doc's headquarters but doesn't get to meet his idol because, as Monk is telling him about their latest guest, he's decapitated. There was no sound and there's no blood, but suddenly Needlenose Swenson has no head. Now, Doc's already become aware of something strange going on at Stumpp Electrical and Long Tom knows Stumpp personally, but Watts's Lab explodes within a couple of chapters and there's no doubt that Doc's going to investigate and those involved have to do everything they can to stop him.
There is some fun to be had here and the concept of headless men is a good one. It was good when Swenson is mysteriously decapitated in Doc's 86th floor headquarters and it's even better when it grows to headless men delivering messages and promptly leaving again. By the time we witness a whole legion of headless men marching into an Incan temple in the Republic of San Roble, it's very much up there with the most enticing of the series. If only Hathway had fashioned an explanation that didn't suck, it would have been perfect. I'm sure it would work in a particular scenario, but it absolutely would not in every instance provided here.
Unfortunately rather than that being an exception, Hathway actually leans into this sort of thing at other points in the story. Monk and Chemistry actually switch places here more than once, the idea old at this point and already unbelievable. That characters actually fall for it is cheap at this point. When Hathway tries to convince us that Monk and Ham have been experimenting with the concept of telepathy enough to be able to bicker at each other entirely through the power of the mind, we have to wonder if he's going to try to sell us the Brooklyn Bridge in the next chapter.
In other words, this one had a lot of potential and Hathway was capable enough a writer to set up a solid story. However, he clearly wasn't supervised enough or edited enough to stay on track. The result is partly frustrating, partly annoying and partly disappointing. I can cut him a little slack in ideas like Stumpp's Electrical Massage Vibrator not dating well in the slightest, because that's on history rather than him, but most of the failures here are clearly his fault. If there had been more successes, I wouldn't have minded so much, but the longer than this book runs on, the more those seem to vanish into nowhere like the heads of the headless men.
And that means that I'm especially looking forward to Lester Dent's return in February 1941 with 'The Green Eagle'. Hathway did a lot of good in 'The Devil's Playground', slipping up his series lore and relying too heavily on gadgets, but setting things up wonderfully and slotting in well with the times in which it was written; appropriately so, given that Hathway was a newspaperman of the old school right out of thirties movies, being best known as the editor of 'Newsday'. Let's see if Dent gets things back on track in July and let's see if Hathway derails them again in September in 'The Mindless Monsters'.
Originally posted at the Nameless Zine in May 2024:
https://www.thenamelesszine.org/Voice...
Index of all my Nameless Zine reviews:
https://books.apocalypselaterempire.com/
June 9, 2020
The Headless Men - A Return to Classic Doc Savage
After a couple of lackluster entries, “The Headless Men” is a return to all the things that I love about the Doc Savage super-sagas.
• Maniacal mad scientist - Check!
• Devastating super-weapons (two of them) – Check!
• Bizarre deaths or disaster – Check!
• Ancient civilization – Check! (more or less)
• International travel and setting – Check!
• Doc at his super-human best – Check!
The premise is that some sort of unknown weapon is decapitating people at a distance, leaving either a cauterized wound on the neck of a corpse, or a walking headless man, able to deliver extortion demands.
Four out of the five of Doc’s aides are present, with only Johnny getting a mention. While all get their moment in the spotlight, Renny gets the short end of the stick in this adventure, as compared to the other three whose actions are more useful or integral to the story.
The action ranges from New Jersey to New York to finally a tiny Central American nation just south of Mexico named San Roble. Most intriguing is the fact that the villain is quite competent and is one step ahead of Doc for the majority of the adventure. How he gets his intel to do so is glossed over, but the action is so fast paced, Lester Dent doesn’t give the casual reader a chance to consider this point. This happens a few times in the super-saga.
I won’t go into SPOLIERS as to how the story unfolds, but there are a few points that may be of interest to Doc afficionados reading this.
1. The Hidalgo Trading Company appears in the story when the heroes are set to travel to an exotic locale. Doc’s zeppelin is highlighted and then promptly destroyed. I’m not sure if he replaces it later on, as I’m reading these in publication order.
2. Dent’s penchant for unusual characters is in full force with L. Pennfield Stumpp, a man who can’t help but rhyme is dialogue. This idiosyncrasy is so maddening that Monk and Ham stop their squabbling because of it.
3. Doc uses quite a few gadgets from his utility vest, which at one point is described as him having to struggle to get into it, yet in another “[T]he killers had missed Doc’s thin equipment vest. The garment was made to look so much like his own flesh that a microscopic examination would have been necessary to detect it.” From the first description, I got the impression that the vest was cumbersome, but I guess you need to struggle to put on a second skin garment.
4. Monk gets to use a few gadgets of his own, such as the anesthetic globes and vials of highly corrosive acid. Plus, his use of ventriloquism seems to be on par with Doc’s.
5. Both pets are in on the adventure, but while Habeas is plot invisible, Chemistry is pivotal in a couple of places. Again the resemblance to Monk is so striking that Chemistry is able to fool multiple people into thinking he’s our erstwhile chemist, not once, but twice.
6. A (to us) historical reference is made as to the Mexican oil expropriation, which was, “too fresh in the minds of everyone who could read,” I wasn’t aware of this, but I found the following:
On March 18, 1938, Mexican President Lázaro Cárdenas signed an order that expropriated the assets of nearly all of the foreign oil companies operating in Mexico. He later created Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX), a state-owned firm that held a monopoly over the Mexican oil industry, and barred all foreign oil companies from operating in Mexico. The U.S. Government responded with a policy that backed efforts by American companies to obtain payment for their expropriated properties but supported Mexico’s right to expropriate foreign assets as long as prompt and effective compensation was provided.
7. Here’s one that I don’t remember ever reading previously: Monk and Ham are able to communicate telepathically. Yep – you read that right. I went back and re-read it to make sure, but apparently, “the two had long ago begun experiments in mental telepathy. In fact, they had become quite proficient about it.” Wow. And frankly, this gimmick goes no where as it really doesn’t solve any problems other than the ability to continue their interminable arguing when they can’t speak. Why Dent added this, I honestly have no idea.
8. Lastly, this is the first and only time when the purported mad genius made a fortune by inventing “Electrical Massage Vibrator”. Right. I’ll just leave it at that.
Does the adventure have any faults? Yes, quite a few. The solution for one of the mysteries is ridiculous and the science behind one of the inventions is sketchy pseudo-science, at best. Likewise for the inevitable defense Doc develops for one of the weapons, though his solution for the second is actually really cool and makes for an exciting scene.
But these plot holes can be kindly forgiven due to the fast pace of the plot and the action – action – action that keeps you wanting to keep turning the page to find out what happens next.
While “The Headless Men” doesn’t rise to the level of the classics of the early 30’s, it really is a cracking good adventure, especially for a 1940’s Doc.
I highly recommend reading it.
After a couple of lackluster entries, “The Headless Men” is a return to all the things that I love about the Doc Savage super-sagas.
• Maniacal mad scientist - Check!
• Devastating super-weapons (two of them) – Check!
• Bizarre deaths or disaster – Check!
• Ancient civilization – Check! (more or less)
• International travel and setting – Check!
• Doc at his super-human best – Check!
The premise is that some sort of unknown weapon is decapitating people at a distance, leaving either a cauterized wound on the neck of a corpse, or a walking headless man, able to deliver extortion demands.
Four out of the five of Doc’s aides are present, with only Johnny getting a mention. While all get their moment in the spotlight, Renny gets the short end of the stick in this adventure, as compared to the other three whose actions are more useful or integral to the story.
The action ranges from New Jersey to New York to finally a tiny Central American nation just south of Mexico named San Roble. Most intriguing is the fact that the villain is quite competent and is one step ahead of Doc for the majority of the adventure. How he gets his intel to do so is glossed over, but the action is so fast paced, Lester Dent doesn’t give the casual reader a chance to consider this point. This happens a few times in the super-saga.
I won’t go into SPOLIERS as to how the story unfolds, but there are a few points that may be of interest to Doc afficionados reading this.
1. The Hidalgo Trading Company appears in the story when the heroes are set to travel to an exotic locale. Doc’s zeppelin is highlighted and then promptly destroyed. I’m not sure if he replaces it later on, as I’m reading these in publication order.
2. Dent’s penchant for unusual characters is in full force with L. Pennfield Stumpp, a man who can’t help but rhyme is dialogue. This idiosyncrasy is so maddening that Monk and Ham stop their squabbling because of it.
3. Doc uses quite a few gadgets from his utility vest, which at one point is described as him having to struggle to get into it, yet in another “[T]he killers had missed Doc’s thin equipment vest. The garment was made to look so much like his own flesh that a microscopic examination would have been necessary to detect it.” From the first description, I got the impression that the vest was cumbersome, but I guess you need to struggle to put on a second skin garment.
4. Monk gets to use a few gadgets of his own, such as the anesthetic globes and vials of highly corrosive acid. Plus, his use of ventriloquism seems to be on par with Doc’s.
5. Both pets are in on the adventure, but while Habeas is plot invisible, Chemistry is pivotal in a couple of places. Again the resemblance to Monk is so striking that Chemistry is able to fool multiple people into thinking he’s our erstwhile chemist, not once, but twice.
6. A (to us) historical reference is made as to the Mexican oil expropriation, which was, “too fresh in the minds of everyone who could read,” I wasn’t aware of this, but I found the following:
On March 18, 1938, Mexican President Lázaro Cárdenas signed an order that expropriated the assets of nearly all of the foreign oil companies operating in Mexico. He later created Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX), a state-owned firm that held a monopoly over the Mexican oil industry, and barred all foreign oil companies from operating in Mexico. The U.S. Government responded with a policy that backed efforts by American companies to obtain payment for their expropriated properties but supported Mexico’s right to expropriate foreign assets as long as prompt and effective compensation was provided.
7. Here’s one that I don’t remember ever reading previously: Monk and Ham are able to communicate telepathically. Yep – you read that right. I went back and re-read it to make sure, but apparently, “the two had long ago begun experiments in mental telepathy. In fact, they had become quite proficient about it.” Wow. And frankly, this gimmick goes no where as it really doesn’t solve any problems other than the ability to continue their interminable arguing when they can’t speak. Why Dent added this, I honestly have no idea.
8. Lastly, this is the first and only time when the purported mad genius made a fortune by inventing “Electrical Massage Vibrator”. Right. I’ll just leave it at that.
Does the adventure have any faults? Yes, quite a few. The solution for one of the mysteries is ridiculous and the science behind one of the inventions is sketchy pseudo-science, at best. Likewise for the inevitable defense Doc develops for one of the weapons, though his solution for the second is actually really cool and makes for an exciting scene.
But these plot holes can be kindly forgiven due to the fast pace of the plot and the action – action – action that keeps you wanting to keep turning the page to find out what happens next.
While “The Headless Men” doesn’t rise to the level of the classics of the early 30’s, it really is a cracking good adventure, especially for a 1940’s Doc.
I highly recommend reading it.
June 1, 2025
This was a pretty good read. It was a bit thrilling and in the end a bit gimmicky. However, the gimmicky part at the end, although kind of apparent, did not really detract from the story. This is one of Doc Savage’s more entertaining yarns. Most of the action takes place in New York City and ends in the Central American country of San Robel. Land locked San Robel that is mostly desert. Apparently, the authors aren’t to keen on their geography. Again, it didn’t take away from the enjoyment of the book.
Although Johnny comes in near the end of the book, the rest of Doc’s aids join Doc in this adventure.
This story was originally published June, 1941 and authored by Alan Hathway.
Although Johnny comes in near the end of the book, the rest of Doc’s aids join Doc in this adventure.
This story was originally published June, 1941 and authored by Alan Hathway.
July 11, 2017
One of the Doc Savage series that has a really great hook: the mad scientist villain can a)instantly disintegrate people's heads and b)make headless bodies walk around and do his bidding. He's also smart enough to keep one step ahead of Doc and his crew for most of the book. I really enjoyed this one.
February 10, 2016
I was a huge fan of the original books when I was a kid so I though I'd give this a try. Wow. None of the charm or heart of the originals, and truly crappy writing. What a waste!
October 29, 2016
One of the best Doc Savage adventures in my opinion. A mad scientist, decapitated bodies that apparently stay alive, a Latin American dictator.... this one has everything!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews