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All-New Wild Adventures of Doc Savage #20
Doc Savage: Empire of Doom
It began with the hijacking of a destroyer from the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The stolen warship struck midtown Manhattan with its mighty guns, then vanished far out to sea.
Who were the strange men wearing the golden uniforms of no known power who pulled off the daring highjacking? And who was their mysterious leader, a being of seemingly supernatural abilities?
Doc Savage did not know. But The Shadow did! Combining forces, the Man of Bronze and the Dark Avenger follow the trail of a superfoe from The Shadow’s past.
But can they learn to trust one another?
From fog-shrouded New York to a futuristic underground kingdom in the heart of Asia, the battle sprawls––with the world’s fate at stake!
Who were the strange men wearing the golden uniforms of no known power who pulled off the daring highjacking? And who was their mysterious leader, a being of seemingly supernatural abilities?
Doc Savage did not know. But The Shadow did! Combining forces, the Man of Bronze and the Dark Avenger follow the trail of a superfoe from The Shadow’s past.
But can they learn to trust one another?
From fog-shrouded New York to a futuristic underground kingdom in the heart of Asia, the battle sprawls––with the world’s fate at stake!
- GenresPulpScience Fiction
462 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 5, 2017
30 people are currently reading
78 people want to read
About the author
Kenneth Robeson
915 books134 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 - 13 of 13 reviews
July 29, 2017
I read all of the original Doc Savage adventures by Lester Dent in the Bantam paperback editions, which were 4" x 6.5" paperbacks and averaged around 120 to 140 pages each. This book is 6" x 9" with about the same size type and is 434 pages. It's a pretty good story, but it's just too long for either Doc or The Shadow; part of the appeal of the originals for me was that the story picked up and swept me away and I could usually read one in a single evening, whereas Empire of Doom was more of a major commitment. I wasn't bothered by the crossover aspect as I was afraid that I might be, but it didn't really grab me, either. The Shadow is very much the one from the Walter Gibson stories, not the Lamont Cranston radio iteration; he's kind of cruel and seems kind of half-crazy most of the time and I don't think Margot would be attracted to him at all. All of Doc's associates appear except Johnny, though Pat only gets a brief telephone cameo. The story is pretty good and the characters seem to have the right voices, but it just keeps going too long.
January 16, 2017
Empire of Doom was a terrifically exciting Doc Savage novel, and one of the best of the batch of new Doc novels that have recently been produced. It features the "dream team" of Doc Savage and The Shadow taking on a true world beater of a villain. Shiwan Khan is a great choice to fill this role he was always a handful for The Shadow alone-he provides a significant challenge for both men. This adventure is grounded in the mythos of The Shadow much more than Doc's so I was at a bit of a disadvantage here, as I have read a lot fewer of the former's exploits-I am sure there are references I did not get, but that did not detract from my enjoyment of the story. There are little touches that show such utter respect for the characters from both series-these make the book wonderful just as much as the overarching plotline does. (Example: Ham Brooks and Lamont Cranston, who are both clotheshorses, excitedly discuss men's fashion while on a plane-putting both Monk and Renny to sleep.) The relationship between The Man of Bronze and The Master of Darkness is portrayed as one of grudging respect, thought the two men definitely do not see eye to eye. (In fact at one point Doc absolutely loses his temper, to the extend that he ever does, and yes Doc fans this really is not out of character in context-read the book and see.) I would have enjoyed seeing more interaction between The Shadow's agents and Doc's aides-can you imagine Monk and Ham, constant womanizers that they were, chasing after Margo Lane?
Ample clues exist to place Empire of Doom in the Doc Savage chronology-as I am not familiar enough with The Shadow's exploits I'll have to reserve referencing it. We know the events depicted here begin on Halloween and the lend-lease program between Britain and America is in place. This book takes place quite a few years after the events of The Sinister Shadow. World War Two has yet to start. So the events in Empire of Doom start on October 31st, 1941 and go on for several weeks of November of that same year. There is a lot of room in the chronology to accommodate this. Presumably a lot of Doc's activities after Pearl Harbor are classified anyway which is why his next recorded adventure is The Talking Devil in April of 1942.
Ample clues exist to place Empire of Doom in the Doc Savage chronology-as I am not familiar enough with The Shadow's exploits I'll have to reserve referencing it. We know the events depicted here begin on Halloween and the lend-lease program between Britain and America is in place. This book takes place quite a few years after the events of The Sinister Shadow. World War Two has yet to start. So the events in Empire of Doom start on October 31st, 1941 and go on for several weeks of November of that same year. There is a lot of room in the chronology to accommodate this. Presumably a lot of Doc's activities after Pearl Harbor are classified anyway which is why his next recorded adventure is The Talking Devil in April of 1942.
January 16, 2017
Excellent Doc Savage story. Doc gets involved with both the Shadow (whose more violent methods Doc deplores) and an old enemy of the Shadow's, Shiwan Khan, who reminds me of the classic Oriental villain, Fu Manchu. Khan manages to run rings round both Doc and the Shadow in the early parts of the book; he has tremendous hypnotic powers and even manages to turn Doc's old mates Monk and Long Tom against him at different times! This is a very enjoyable read - fans of both Doc and the Shadow should love it.
January 22, 2017
The best in the series so far in my opinion
This novel literally starts off with a bang and never let's up. I personally feel that this may well be the best in the 20 book series so far. I STRONGLY recommend this book and hope that the series continues to run for many many years to come.
This novel literally starts off with a bang and never let's up. I personally feel that this may well be the best in the 20 book series so far. I STRONGLY recommend this book and hope that the series continues to run for many many years to come.
February 8, 2017
I'm always glad to see the Shadow return
February 9, 2017
The Shadow lives, and he’s more alive than ever in this second meeting between The Man of Bronze and The Master of Darkness.
Shadow creator Walter Gibson occasionally waxed poetic about his man in black, but beyond the aura of mystery, the character, despite his many guises, remained one-dimensional. But our new Kenneth Robeson (alias Will Murray), I’m pleased to say, has performed a great feat: He’s given The Shadow not only a personality, but a sense of humor, while making him more mysterious than ever.
Humor is to be expected in a Doc Savage adventure. But EMPIRE OF DOOM, like its predecessor THE SINISTER SHADOW, is also a Shadow story, and Mr. Murray mixes it up with scenes reminiscent of Gibson at his best, back to back with his usual fine channeling of Lester Dent.
The story opens in fine Maxwell Grant tradition, setting a dark and foreboding mood as Shiwan Khan, The Shadow’s most persistent enemy, steals a battleship and bombards The Hotel Blackwell, home to The Shadow’s sanctum in the heart of Times Square. In the confusion, Shiwan’s men bust in and make off with a number of diabolical weapons confiscated from earlier adventures.
Unfortunately for Shiwan Khan, Doc Savage was at home in the Empire State Building at the time, and couldn’t fail to take notice. So right from the start, the would-be conqueror of the world has two world class heroes on his case, chasing him around the globe until they finally come to grips at his seat of power, the fabled city of Xanadu.
This one has all the action you’d expect from such a monumental tussle, but what makes it special is the relationship between Doc and the Shadow. The wary alliance they began in THE SINISTER SHADOW has reached firmer ground, but they’re forced to deal with opposing viewpoints concerning life and redemption. Doc is the eternal Boy Scout, opposed to killing and believing everyone (even one as patently evil as Shiwan Khan) can be rehabilitated, while The Shadow plays the bad boy, insisting on the curative powers of steal-jacketed lead. Every interaction between the two is amusing, and some make sparks fly.
Part of the fun is trying, along with Doc and his men, who figure out who The Shadow really is, and what guise he’s wearing. When they meet Lamont Cranston, they (and we) have no way of knowing if he’s the real one or not. And the mystery deepens: Is The Shadow really Kent Allard, as Shadowphiles have been led to believe, or is Allard just another mask? As Doc’s aide Renny observes, “The Shadow is like a ball of yarn with no beginning or end.”
As usual, Will Murray uncorks some great descriptive lines that would make both Walter Gibson and Lester Dent smile. When Doc smacks one of Shiwan Khan’s minion in the jaw, “The stunned attacker seemed to fall apart like a bundle of sticks that had been untied.” A victim of one the death machines has a “mangled body that looked like a human sponge soaked in blood.” The stalking Shadow is seen “looking like some fugitive revenant from a midnight graveyard.” And we’re treated to a several words that would have warmed the heart of Clark Ashton Smith, like “cahinnation” and “xanthocroid.”
EMPIRE OF DOOM gives you all that, plus a bucket of fingers. Yes, there is a bucket of fingers in this book. In fact, there are TWO. What are they doing there? Read it and find out!
Shadow creator Walter Gibson occasionally waxed poetic about his man in black, but beyond the aura of mystery, the character, despite his many guises, remained one-dimensional. But our new Kenneth Robeson (alias Will Murray), I’m pleased to say, has performed a great feat: He’s given The Shadow not only a personality, but a sense of humor, while making him more mysterious than ever.
Humor is to be expected in a Doc Savage adventure. But EMPIRE OF DOOM, like its predecessor THE SINISTER SHADOW, is also a Shadow story, and Mr. Murray mixes it up with scenes reminiscent of Gibson at his best, back to back with his usual fine channeling of Lester Dent.
The story opens in fine Maxwell Grant tradition, setting a dark and foreboding mood as Shiwan Khan, The Shadow’s most persistent enemy, steals a battleship and bombards The Hotel Blackwell, home to The Shadow’s sanctum in the heart of Times Square. In the confusion, Shiwan’s men bust in and make off with a number of diabolical weapons confiscated from earlier adventures.
Unfortunately for Shiwan Khan, Doc Savage was at home in the Empire State Building at the time, and couldn’t fail to take notice. So right from the start, the would-be conqueror of the world has two world class heroes on his case, chasing him around the globe until they finally come to grips at his seat of power, the fabled city of Xanadu.
This one has all the action you’d expect from such a monumental tussle, but what makes it special is the relationship between Doc and the Shadow. The wary alliance they began in THE SINISTER SHADOW has reached firmer ground, but they’re forced to deal with opposing viewpoints concerning life and redemption. Doc is the eternal Boy Scout, opposed to killing and believing everyone (even one as patently evil as Shiwan Khan) can be rehabilitated, while The Shadow plays the bad boy, insisting on the curative powers of steal-jacketed lead. Every interaction between the two is amusing, and some make sparks fly.
Part of the fun is trying, along with Doc and his men, who figure out who The Shadow really is, and what guise he’s wearing. When they meet Lamont Cranston, they (and we) have no way of knowing if he’s the real one or not. And the mystery deepens: Is The Shadow really Kent Allard, as Shadowphiles have been led to believe, or is Allard just another mask? As Doc’s aide Renny observes, “The Shadow is like a ball of yarn with no beginning or end.”
As usual, Will Murray uncorks some great descriptive lines that would make both Walter Gibson and Lester Dent smile. When Doc smacks one of Shiwan Khan’s minion in the jaw, “The stunned attacker seemed to fall apart like a bundle of sticks that had been untied.” A victim of one the death machines has a “mangled body that looked like a human sponge soaked in blood.” The stalking Shadow is seen “looking like some fugitive revenant from a midnight graveyard.” And we’re treated to a several words that would have warmed the heart of Clark Ashton Smith, like “cahinnation” and “xanthocroid.”
EMPIRE OF DOOM gives you all that, plus a bucket of fingers. Yes, there is a bucket of fingers in this book. In fact, there are TWO. What are they doing there? Read it and find out!
January 23, 2017
“A Classic Pulp Adventure.”
Shiwan Khan, The Golden Master, once thought dead after battling The Shadow in four pulp adventures, is back and gunning for The Shadow as he prepares to gather his Golden Horde for another try at world conquest. Stealing a destroyer in the New York Navy Yard, he aims the big guns at a hotel in New York, hoping to destroy The Shadow while Kha Khan’s men steal scientific weapons The Shadow has stored in the Sanctum in the hotel basement. With these super weapons he then heads out to sea in his quest for Xanadu, his Mongol kingdom hidden beneath a mountain range in Asia. This time he believes himself unstoppable.
This novel starts off with action, bringing both The Shadow and Doc Savage into the fight from the start. The Shadow is driven with a passion to stop the self-claimed descendant of Ghanghis Khan before he can set up his kingdom and rule the world. Doc Savage just wants to stop the madman from killing more people. The trail leads Doc and his aides, Monk, Ham, Renny, and Long Tom on the trail of the stolen destroyer, while The Shadow is in hot pursuit of Shiwan Khan. Aiding The Shadow are Slade Farrow and Miles Crofton. Also present in the US is Senator Ross Releston and FBI agent, Vic Marquete. This was a highly action-packed novel featuring the two pulp heroes together for the second time, and I had the idea that Doc Savage wasn’t sure how to take The Shadow and his violent ways, but working together, Doc and The Shadow are also an awesome pair. A really fun story, but I am anxious for Will Murray to write a lone Shadow novel without Doc some day. Personally, I think he can do it with ease. Highly recommended.
Shiwan Khan, The Golden Master, once thought dead after battling The Shadow in four pulp adventures, is back and gunning for The Shadow as he prepares to gather his Golden Horde for another try at world conquest. Stealing a destroyer in the New York Navy Yard, he aims the big guns at a hotel in New York, hoping to destroy The Shadow while Kha Khan’s men steal scientific weapons The Shadow has stored in the Sanctum in the hotel basement. With these super weapons he then heads out to sea in his quest for Xanadu, his Mongol kingdom hidden beneath a mountain range in Asia. This time he believes himself unstoppable.
This novel starts off with action, bringing both The Shadow and Doc Savage into the fight from the start. The Shadow is driven with a passion to stop the self-claimed descendant of Ghanghis Khan before he can set up his kingdom and rule the world. Doc Savage just wants to stop the madman from killing more people. The trail leads Doc and his aides, Monk, Ham, Renny, and Long Tom on the trail of the stolen destroyer, while The Shadow is in hot pursuit of Shiwan Khan. Aiding The Shadow are Slade Farrow and Miles Crofton. Also present in the US is Senator Ross Releston and FBI agent, Vic Marquete. This was a highly action-packed novel featuring the two pulp heroes together for the second time, and I had the idea that Doc Savage wasn’t sure how to take The Shadow and his violent ways, but working together, Doc and The Shadow are also an awesome pair. A really fun story, but I am anxious for Will Murray to write a lone Shadow novel without Doc some day. Personally, I think he can do it with ease. Highly recommended.
January 3, 2025
This thrilling story was the sequel (of sorts) to Doc Savage: The Sinister Shadow, which I read late last year. While both books featured Doc Savage and the Shadow, their storytelling could not have been more different, and while I enjoyed both books for different reasons, I think I might have preferred this one by a little bit. It was a juicy story that was really hard to put down, admittedly a little gruesome, but thrilling and fun. Will Murray is a very worthy successor to Lester Dent and I look forward to reading even more by this author in 2025!
August 15, 2021
Respectful of the Original Stories
The author has a great knowledge of both pulp heroes, and engages their differences well in developing his tale. These stories allow me to relax, and remember my working to acquire the reprints of these stories in the 70s.
The author has a great knowledge of both pulp heroes, and engages their differences well in developing his tale. These stories allow me to relax, and remember my working to acquire the reprints of these stories in the 70s.
June 30, 2024
Couldn’t be better
For all fans of Doc Savage and the Shadow- a story that portrays them both as they should be written. Better than most of the original stories (with apologies to Walter Gibson and Lester Dent).
For all fans of Doc Savage and the Shadow- a story that portrays them both as they should be written. Better than most of the original stories (with apologies to Walter Gibson and Lester Dent).
November 19, 2025
A pulp novel featuring Doc Savage and The Shadow. Shiwan Kahn returns. Much chaos ensues.
January 30, 2017
The Bronze Man and the Master of Darkness face Shiwan Khan!
Four times the Shadow has battled the Golden Master, Shiwan Khan. During their final battle, recorded in the Shadow Magazine: Masters of Death (May 1940); it seemed that the oriental mystic had perished. Evil still breathed…
Shiwan Khan raises a gang of misfits which he uses to gain possession of decommissioned US Destroyer Bransfield’s. The ship is in the Brooklyn Naval Yard being completely refitted to be transferred to British Command during WWII. After stealing the ship, Shiwan Khan takes it up the Hudson River.
There he fires upon the Hotel Blackwell in Times Square. Afterwards he discharges lightning at the hotel. The hotel is the residence of a certain man Khan believes to be the greatest foe he has ever faced—The Shadow! And it might be true for the Shadow’s Sanctum is discovered in the basement and robbed by Khan’s forces.
Much like Doc Savage had discovered when facing John Sunlight, taking super-weapons created by defeated foes and storing them is not the best idea. Shiwan Khan gains control of a vast array of weapons the Shadow has confiscated through the years. Before leaving New York, Shiwan Khan makes one final move—he fires lightning at the skyscraper headquarters of Doc Savage!
Frankly, Doc Savage or the Shadow makes for exciting reading on their own. Combining them in a common cause is sheer genius! I was thrilled to recognize the plethora of gadgets from the different Shadow novels as they were used one after the other! I also thought it sublime that the Shadow remains the Shadow—he isn’t going to take orders, not even from Doc Savage! He also isn’t going to definitively reveal his actual identity. Just when everyone thinks they have the Shadow figured out, poof!
The action is fast and furious. Doc Savage is forced to confront things the scientist in him says are impossible. He is faced with telepathy, mind control, mental constructs that seem very real and a man vanishing, cloaked in the effects he uses to cloud men’s minds.
It is a full-fledged adventure that should be a delight to fans of both Pulp Heroes. Winding from New York to a cavern under the mountains in China Khan calls Xanadu, our heroes are close to death on many occasions. Surprises occur all along the way, even to the very end.
I give the book five stars plus! Bravo, Will!
Quoth the Raven…
Four times the Shadow has battled the Golden Master, Shiwan Khan. During their final battle, recorded in the Shadow Magazine: Masters of Death (May 1940); it seemed that the oriental mystic had perished. Evil still breathed…
Shiwan Khan raises a gang of misfits which he uses to gain possession of decommissioned US Destroyer Bransfield’s. The ship is in the Brooklyn Naval Yard being completely refitted to be transferred to British Command during WWII. After stealing the ship, Shiwan Khan takes it up the Hudson River.
There he fires upon the Hotel Blackwell in Times Square. Afterwards he discharges lightning at the hotel. The hotel is the residence of a certain man Khan believes to be the greatest foe he has ever faced—The Shadow! And it might be true for the Shadow’s Sanctum is discovered in the basement and robbed by Khan’s forces.
Much like Doc Savage had discovered when facing John Sunlight, taking super-weapons created by defeated foes and storing them is not the best idea. Shiwan Khan gains control of a vast array of weapons the Shadow has confiscated through the years. Before leaving New York, Shiwan Khan makes one final move—he fires lightning at the skyscraper headquarters of Doc Savage!
Frankly, Doc Savage or the Shadow makes for exciting reading on their own. Combining them in a common cause is sheer genius! I was thrilled to recognize the plethora of gadgets from the different Shadow novels as they were used one after the other! I also thought it sublime that the Shadow remains the Shadow—he isn’t going to take orders, not even from Doc Savage! He also isn’t going to definitively reveal his actual identity. Just when everyone thinks they have the Shadow figured out, poof!
The action is fast and furious. Doc Savage is forced to confront things the scientist in him says are impossible. He is faced with telepathy, mind control, mental constructs that seem very real and a man vanishing, cloaked in the effects he uses to cloud men’s minds.
It is a full-fledged adventure that should be a delight to fans of both Pulp Heroes. Winding from New York to a cavern under the mountains in China Khan calls Xanadu, our heroes are close to death on many occasions. Surprises occur all along the way, even to the very end.
I give the book five stars plus! Bravo, Will!
Quoth the Raven…
March 26, 2017
This is the second Shadow/Doc Savage crossover by Will Murray writing as Kenneth Robeson. Murray who seems to be as conversant with the Shadow's many tales as he as with Doc's, tackles the once popular, but now largely shunned "yellow peril" type story. If you have read Murray's Docs, you know he does not update the 1930s, 1940s settings at all; in fact, the verisimilitude of the writing in reflecting the pulp style is one of the delights of the books. There is no way to simultaneously maintain that style and be 100% politically correct by today's strict standards, so if that bothers you, you should read something else. I am always happy to have yet one more Doc to read (I have read them all, though I have not read too many Shadows) and Murray provides that fix for me. My only complaint is that the books have gotten longer and longer -- much longer than a real pulp novel, and the action at times (especially when the gang is stuck outside of the palace towards the end of the book) is fairly static. But I quibble. Certainly these books are for the pulp aficionado, but, if you haven't sampled the real thing, there are plenty of pulp reprints around nowadays. I would suggest you try reading some original Docs, or The Shadow, or The Spider, or G-8, or etc., first.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews