• Originally published in Doc Savage Magazine, July 1936
• Reprinted by Bantam as DS # 76
• Laurence Donovan writing as Kenneth Robeson
So it’s not a “Dent Doc”. Usually this results in disappointment — or worse. (To be fair, there are a handful of Doc Savage tales not by Lester Dent that rank quite high in the canon; Dent cranked out some real stinkers of his own, too.) I’d previously only read one Doc written by Laurence Donovan, the initially promising but utterly bungled Cold Death. Consequently I held out little hope. Happily, The Black Spot turned out to be substantially better than I expected. Flawed but fun.
One by one the names on a “death list” of super-rich Wall Street financiers are being crossed off. The men are murdered in an extremely bizarre fashion — a perfectly round core of dark matter is found penetrating their hearts, the blood in their bodies turned inky black. Doc Savage is asked for help by the first listed millionaire, arriving too late to save him. Doc works to protect the other intended victims but finds himself a target of notorious gang leader “Jingles” Sporado and his small army of goons. Are mobsters behind the Black Spot killings? If so, why were stacks of cash and other valuables always left at the crime scene? Until he can unlock the secret of the Black Spot and devise a countermeasure, Doc deliberately keeps his five assistants out of danger by ordering them on a false mission.
No trips to unexplored jungles or lost cities this time out; the story all takes place in and around NYC. Jingles Sporado — aside from having a cool name (like something out of Ian Fleming’s Diamonds Are Forever) * — is a bit different from the typical mob boss faced by our heroes throughout the saga; a former actor, Jingles is an excellent impressionist, able to fool Renny by perfectly imitating both Doc and Ham’s voices. Always a welcome presence, vivacious Pat Savage figures prominently in the opening chapters, after which she unfortunately disappears for long stetches in between very brief walk-ons. Confining Doc’s aides to the warehouse hangar on the Hudson for most of the adventure would also seem to cut down on the fun, but Doc is kept plenty busy on his own (with the occasional assist from Pat) in compensation. Donovan keeps the pace brisk and structures the story just like a multi-chapter serial, complete with cliffhangers. He keeps you turning the page. But he’s unable to sell the action scenes like Dent could, and his dialog and powers of description are inferior. The implausibilty quotent is a tad high. I was taken aback when Donovan neglected to really explain how the Black Spot Murders were carried out, something Dent would’ve at least taken a token stab at… Just a single brief sentence about an “electro-chemical device” is all that’s offered.
Doc does some incredibly superhuman (read: modern day action movie hero) stuff in this one. He survives a number of high speed car crashes — in one case forcing his way out of the crumpled wreckage by sheer brute strength — and plummets 100 feet into the East River from the side of a building he’s clinging to. He even takes a bullet to the head at close range (!) but his noggin is protected by the metal skullcap he’s wearing. (The blow does knock him out, though, resulting in his capture.) If you simply can’t abide this sort of implausible, over-the-top action then the Doc Savage stories of the 1930s just aren’t going to be your cup of tea. After all, it’s what makes him a superhero.
Grade: C+
* He constantly plays with the fistfuls of loose change he habitually carries in his trouser pockets, thus “Jingles”.
• Reprinted by Bantam as DS # 76
• Laurence Donovan writing as Kenneth Robeson
So it’s not a “Dent Doc”. Usually this results in disappointment — or worse. (To be fair, there are a handful of Doc Savage tales not by Lester Dent that rank quite high in the canon; Dent cranked out some real stinkers of his own, too.) I’d previously only read one Doc written by Laurence Donovan, the initially promising but utterly bungled Cold Death. Consequently I held out little hope. Happily, The Black Spot turned out to be substantially better than I expected. Flawed but fun.
One by one the names on a “death list” of super-rich Wall Street financiers are being crossed off. The men are murdered in an extremely bizarre fashion — a perfectly round core of dark matter is found penetrating their hearts, the blood in their bodies turned inky black. Doc Savage is asked for help by the first listed millionaire, arriving too late to save him. Doc works to protect the other intended victims but finds himself a target of notorious gang leader “Jingles” Sporado and his small army of goons. Are mobsters behind the Black Spot killings? If so, why were stacks of cash and other valuables always left at the crime scene? Until he can unlock the secret of the Black Spot and devise a countermeasure, Doc deliberately keeps his five assistants out of danger by ordering them on a false mission.
No trips to unexplored jungles or lost cities this time out; the story all takes place in and around NYC. Jingles Sporado — aside from having a cool name (like something out of Ian Fleming’s Diamonds Are Forever) * — is a bit different from the typical mob boss faced by our heroes throughout the saga; a former actor, Jingles is an excellent impressionist, able to fool Renny by perfectly imitating both Doc and Ham’s voices. Always a welcome presence, vivacious Pat Savage figures prominently in the opening chapters, after which she unfortunately disappears for long stetches in between very brief walk-ons. Confining Doc’s aides to the warehouse hangar on the Hudson for most of the adventure would also seem to cut down on the fun, but Doc is kept plenty busy on his own (with the occasional assist from Pat) in compensation. Donovan keeps the pace brisk and structures the story just like a multi-chapter serial, complete with cliffhangers. He keeps you turning the page. But he’s unable to sell the action scenes like Dent could, and his dialog and powers of description are inferior. The implausibilty quotent is a tad high. I was taken aback when Donovan neglected to really explain how the Black Spot Murders were carried out, something Dent would’ve at least taken a token stab at… Just a single brief sentence about an “electro-chemical device” is all that’s offered.
Doc does some incredibly superhuman (read: modern day action movie hero) stuff in this one. He survives a number of high speed car crashes — in one case forcing his way out of the crumpled wreckage by sheer brute strength — and plummets 100 feet into the East River from the side of a building he’s clinging to. He even takes a bullet to the head at close range (!) but his noggin is protected by the metal skullcap he’s wearing. (The blow does knock him out, though, resulting in his capture.) If you simply can’t abide this sort of implausible, over-the-top action then the Doc Savage stories of the 1930s just aren’t going to be your cup of tea. After all, it’s what makes him a superhero.
Grade: C+
* He constantly plays with the fistfuls of loose change he habitually carries in his trouser pockets, thus “Jingles”.
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