Satan Black / Cargo Unknown

Doc Savage (Bantam) #97, 98

by Kenneth Robeson (House Name)

Satan Black
The Man of Bronze is pegged for murder in a family feud over a pipeline stretching from Arkansas to the Atlantic. The precious oil it carries is needed by the army for the invasion of Europe that will end the war. Only Doc Savage and his fearless sidekicks can find the real culprit and see that the pipeline gets built — at the risk of death by dynamite!

Cargo Unknown
Doc Savage’s men are on a top secret mission aboard the Pilotfish when the submarine explodes and sinks to the ocean floor. The Man of Bronze tracks down the treacherous vipers behind the sabotage and searches for the purgatory of terror 200 feet below the ocean surface — with only 12 hours of air left!

213 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Kenneth 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.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first Doc Savage story appeared in 1933 and the series ran in pulp and later digest format into 1949. Bantam reprinted the entire series in paperback with wonderful, iconic covers starting in the 1960's. Doc was arguably the first great modern superhero with a rich background, continuity, and mythos. The characterizations were far richer than was common for the pulps; his five associates and their sometimes-auxiliary, Doc's cousin Pat, and the pets Chemistry and Habeas Corpus, all had very distinctive characteristics and their byplay was frequently more entertaining that the current adventure-of-the-month. The settings were also fascinating: Doc's Fortress of Solitude, the Hidalgo Trading Company (which served as a front for his armada of vehicles), and especially the mysterious 86th floor headquarters all became familiar haunts to the reader, and the far-flung adventures took the intrepid band to exotic and richly-described locations all over the world. The adventures were always fast-paced and exciting, from the early apocalyptic world-saving extravaganzas of the early days to the latter scientific-detective style shorter works of the post-World War Two years. There were always a few points that it was difficult to believe along the way, but there were always more ups than downs, and there was never, ever a dull moment. The Doc Savage books have always been my favorite entertainments... I was always, as Johnny would say, superamalgamated!

[Little Timmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of all the pulp era heroes few stand out above the crowd, Doc Savage is one of these. With his 5 aides and cousin he adventures across the world. Fighting weird menaces, master criminals and evil scientists Doc and the Fab 5 never let you down for a great read. These stories have all you need; fast paced action, weird mystery, and some humor as the aides spat with each other. My highest recommendation.

[Ronald]

read "Satan Black" some time in 1981

[Stormcrow Hayes]

For a long time I've been reluctant to read some of the later Doc Savage books and this double novel which includes a story from late 1944 and early 1945 bears me out (not that I won't give others a shot, as a Doc fan I can't help myself). Both stories in this volume involved the war effort in some small way.

In Satan Black, Doc is sent to investigate what's holding up a line of oil pipe in Arkansas. The oil is needed to fuel the upcoming European invasion, but a Hatfield and McCoy style feud has started and one faction is sabotaging the pipeline which is owned by the other.

At first, I thought this would be a solo Doc adventure as he's alone for the first 40 pages or so (in a 107 page book). But then Doc completely disappears and Monk, Ham, and Renny take over till he reappears at the end. It wasn't hard to guess the mastermind behind the plan.

Sadly, it wasn't very interesting and it felt like a filler adventure. However, Unknown Cargo was far worse. So much of this story felt like someone rushing through their homework assignment on a Sunday night.

In this adventure, Renny, Monk and Ham have all finished working on projects in London and are looking forward to coming home. A member of the Admiralty talks them into taking a submarine back because of some unnamed reason that will be revealed later. They board the sub which makes its transatlantic journey without mishap until they're near the east coast. Then, members of the gang masquerading as crew, sabotage the sub. Renny barely makes it out, but Monk, Ham and the rest of the crew are trapped. Renny finds Doc and the rest of the book is about if they can rescue them before they run out of oxygen.

What's interesting about both of these books is that while the characters of Doc and his crew are more human, they're also more sadistic. At one point, Doc threatens Renny with his fist if he doesn't get over his grief of leaving Monk and Ham in the sub. Later, Renny physically tortures a member of the gang for information as Doc watches. Doc used to hypnotize people for info all the time, but I guess he forgot he could do that. But what really struck me is when Doc comes across a man stabbed by the gang and he tells someone to call for a doctor! Doc Savage is a world renowned surgeon! His nickname is "Doc"! He invested a brain surgery to cure criminals and performed a delicate eye surgery on Littlejohn. But he can't deal with a simple stab wound?!? A few moments later, Doc becomes angry with the summoned doctor for taking so long.

Without a doubt, these books are only for hardcore fans of Doc.