Doctor, doctor, give me the news, I’ve got a bad case of reading blues. (Did you really think my bad musical references would stop?) This column’s theme has a bit of a scientific medical bent, with all the main characters — be it the good guys or bad — having something in common: years and years of learning for their prestigious fields.

DOC SAVAGE: HIS APOCALYPTIC LIFE by Philip José Farmer — Here are two things I grew up on: 1) Doc Savage novels, usually in those now-hard-to-find omnibuses, and 2) the writing of Philip Jose Farmer. As a little sci-fi geek, I read a ton of his stuff, including the whole RIVERWORLD series.

But talk about a book that seems geared toward the obsessive types. This purports to be the biography of one Clark Savage Jr., but is more like THE NITPICKER’S GUIDE TO DOC SAVAGE. Farmer takes the approach that Savage was a real person, with Lester Dent transcribing all the adventures for the pulps. Each chapter details a certain aspect of Savage’s life, and each member of the Fabulous Five is given his own chapter, detailing exactly where their appearances were and how come some just disappear all together.

This 1973 book goes into such minutia, it’s unbelievable right down to all the inconsistencies of where Doc lived and the setup. But what really lost me was the Doc Savage family tree in 40 pages. It ties him to pretty much every literary figure of note. We are made to believe that Doc’s cousins include such figures as Fu Manchu, Lew Archer, Phileas Fogg, Travis Magee and Sam Spade, and the list goes on. We’re also told early on that Doc was trained by likes of Sherlock Holmes. I mean, it would have been easier — and shorter — to list the people he was not connected to. If you’re a longtime fan of Doc and his crew, this is a fun read, but casual fans will be scratching their heads.

THE DEPTHS by John Creasey — From the ever-prolific Creasey comes what purports to be a Doc Savage-like adventure, from 1963. Sure, the cover might evoke that imagery, but when you read it, you’re like, “Oh, it’s just a super scientist who works for some government agency called Z5 —  some sort of global organization that answers to no one and governments bend over backward to help.”

Our hero is go-to man Dr. Palfrey. The basic plot deals with these giant waves that have been appearing with no warning or any type of seismic activity. But what really becomes apparent after the latest attack is that a scientist or mathematician is taken with the waves each time, with the last one leaving behind a mysterious woman named Leah, whom Palfrey takes hostage, while one of Palfrey’s own agents has been taken.

The rest of the novel is pretty much a showdown between Palfrey and a man named Garri-Garri, who is idolized by his followers and has secured himself a base under the sea. Now, at this point, I was like, “Gee this plot seems really familiar,” and it should since I covered a Nick Carter book with pretty much the same story. This one seems to go on forever, as it literally is just a drawn-out gab fest, with, of course, the evil Garri’s idea to start a new life with his followers while he kills the rest of the world via water.

But instead of Palfrey being all action-like or even Doc Savage-esque, he goes the extreme route to clear up this problem. Trust me: It would make Matt Helm smile. Take a pass on this one, but I do like Creasey’s more action-oriented series that we’ve covered before.

THE DESTROYER #5: DR. QUAKE by Richard Sapir & Warren Murphy — From 1972, here is a super-early Destroyer novel, especially since the creators consider #3 to be the real starting point for the series. Someone is blackmailing a small California town, demand of a payoff … or else. The “else” is that someone is creating earthquakes that can do some major damage.

This is proven a few times, to the point that Harris Feinstein — one of the richer people in town — wants the government to help, so he gets in touch with some geologist to look into it. Well, it does not go well when both Feinstein and the scientist who comes to town are found dead, with their intestines sucked out and stuffed in their mouths. At this time, Dr. Harold Smith has seen enough reports that Remo Williams is sent in to figure it out.

But once Remo arrives with Chiun — and his cover of being the new owner of the vacant department store — Feinstein is dead. Of course, Remo ruffles a few feathers, mainly that of the local sheriff who’s being blackmailed by the real culprits behind the earthquakes. Then there is the mob, which believes that Remo is actually the cause of the quakes, so it tries to squeeze Remo. But who is this Dr. Quake at the seismic institute with these two Russ Meyer-like working for him?

It’s nice and gory and action-packed. Murphy and Sapir were hitting their stride, even if it lacks the classic bickering of the later adventures. Still, I can’t think of a better way to spend a few hours.

Next time: 52 Pick-Up. —Bruce Grossman

Buy it at Amazon.

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF JOHN CREASEY:
• THE BLACK SPIDERS by John Creasey

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THE DESTROYER SERIES:
• THE BEST OF THE DESTROYER by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir
• THE DESTROYER #11: KILL OR CURE by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #13: ACID ROCK by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #14: JUDGMENT DAY by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #15: MURDER WARD by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #18: FUNNY MONEY by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #22: BRAIN DRAIN by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #23: CHILD’S PLAY by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #24: KING’S CURSE by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #30: MUGGER BLOOD by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #32: KILLER CHROMOSOMES by Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #38: BAY CITY BLAST by Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #39: MISSING LINK by Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #46: NEXT OF KIN by Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #48: PROFIT MOTIVE by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #49: SKIN DEEP by Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #52: FOOL’S GOLD by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #11: KILL OR CURE by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #55: MASTER’S CHALLENGE by Will Murray
• THE DESTROYER #78: BLUE SMOKE AND MIRRORS by Will Murray
• THE DESTROYER #89: DARK HORSE by Will Murray
• THE DESTROYER #104: ANGRY WHITE MAILMEN by Will Murray
• THE DESTROYER #145: DRAGON BONES by Tim Somheil
• THE NEW DESTROYER: CHOKE HOLD by Warren Murphy and James Mullaney
• THE NEW DESTROYER: DEAD RECKONING by Warren Murphy and James Mullaney
• THE NEW DESTROYER: GUARDIAN ANGEL by Warren Murphy and James Mullaney

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THE DOC SAVAGE SERIES:
• DOC SAVAGE: FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE / THE DEVIL GENGHIS by Kenneth Robeson
• DOC SAVAGE #10: THE PHANTOM CITY by Kenneth Robeson
• DOC SAVAGE #19: PIRATE OF THE PACIFIC by Kenneth Robeson
• DOC SAVAGE: THE CZAR OF FEAR by Kenneth Robeson
• DOC SAVAGE: THE SPOOK LEGION by Kenneth Robeson

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF WARREN MURPHY:
• GRANDMASTER by Warren Murphy
• TRACE: GETTING UP WITH FLEAS by Warren Murphy