Shiff Test

   2024-09-19

Doc Table Complete version 2
htm






Using 300 words per page








#

 Title

Author

 Date

Pages

Comments
001 The Man Of Bronze LD 03/33 170 Above average. Origin story.
Mayan section needs tightening
002 The Land of Terror LD 04/33 187 Good story with Doc killing left
and right
003 Quest Of The Spider LD 05/33 165 Nonsensical, weird, and silly to
where you can’t even call it bad
004 The Polar Treasure LD 06/33 155 Great fun and succeeds at most
levels as escapist entertainment
005 Pirate Of The
Pacific		 LD 07/33 167 Not a bad story but little
stands out of note
006 The Red Skull LD 08/33 159 Not a great book but not that
bad either once it’s all said and done
007 The Lost Oasis LD 09/33 157 Wins on points in spite of yet
also because of its weird elements
008 The Sargasso Ogre LD 10/33 163 One of the better books could be
made great with a few changes
009 The Czar Of Fear LD 11/33 179 A kids’ story. As adult reading
it’s bad and at times laughably so
010 The Phantom City LD 12/33 171 Elbow-deep fantasy fiction.
First Stupid Pig appearance
011 Brand Of The
Werewolf		 LD 01/34 173 On its own level it’s well told
but little goes on. First Pat Savage
012 The Man Who Shook
The Earth		 LD 02/34 170 Dense with good material, rates
relatively high based on its best features
013 Meteor Menace LD 03/34 159 Good story more fun than
meaningful. Reads like cheap serial film
014 The Monsters LD 04/34 159 Solid strengths of menace and
galloping plot devoid of padding
015 The Mystery On The
Snow		 LD 05/34 162 Good book suffering from first
draft blues and being half-baked
016 The King Maker

HAD/LD

 06/34 160 Good, intricate story with
tropes and clues obvious than usual
017 The Thousand-Headed
Man		 LD 07/34 182 Beginning and ending are very
good, otherwise overrated
018 The Squeaking Goblin LD 08/34 167 Makings of a decent tv show if
filler removed and whittled down by half
019 Fear Cay LD 09/34 162
Nice
story moves along with good characters and accentuated violence
020 Death In Silver LD 10/34 169 Winningly silly, filled with
action and moves along at a frantic pace
021 The Sea Magician LD 11/34 151 Decent story that could be great
if shortened about twenty pages
022 The Annihilist LD 12/34 174 Easily one of the best books but
has two major plot faults
023 The Mystic Mullah RS/LD 01/35 165
First
half a chore mitigated by better second half. Floating green snakes
024 Red Snow LD 02/35 177 Barely compensates for weaker
parts with what it gets right
025 Land Of Always-Night WRJ/LD 03/35 167 Good for ten chapters then
stage-dives into Fantasy Land
026 The Spook Legion LD 04/35 154 Top Choice. Reads well and
quickly, good for a tv adaptation
027 The Secret In The
Sky		 LD 05/35 143 Would be classic if more
coherent with fewer hanging threads
028 The Roar Devil LD 06/35 143 Doc less super. A number of
correctable shortcomings
029 The Quest Of Qui LD 07/35 149 Not that great but less so if
you skim over the bad parts
030 Spook Hole LD 08/35 145 Better than it aspired to be
because of the strength of its parts
031 The Majii JAD/LD 09/35 155 Great story. Intimate,
immediate, gritty, brutal, big, and grand
032 Dust Of Death HAD/LD 10/35 165 Many good parts, some procedural
drag, bad mastermind reveal
033 Murder Melody

LDon

 11/35 180 A glorious mess, corrected would
be a nutty great fun ride
034 The Fantastic Island

WRJ/LD

 12/35 150 A great kitchen sink of camp and
cheesy Technicolor absurdity
035 Murder Mirage LDon 01/36 169 Edited down would work as a
ten-part serial film
036 Mystery Under The
Sea		 LD 02/36 151 Fan favorite is slow moving and
fantasy fictional
037 The Metal Master LD 03/36 141 If not considered a top novel
it’s then the most underrated
038 The Men Who Smiled
No More		 LDon 04/36 157 Good ambition and tone derail
slowly in confusion on its own premises
039 The Seven Agate
Devils		 MEB/LD 05/36 145 Fast-moving but messy with a
laughable terror reveal
040 The Haunted Ocean LDon 06/36 154 Long on ambition and short on
knowing what’s going on
041 The Black Spot LDon 07/36 162 Equally a good reading
experience as it is a bad one
042 The Midas Man LD 08/36 135 Less
boring than padded with descriptive language that borders on surreal
043 Cold Death LDon 09/36 156 Hot mess of unfathomable,
incoherent, illogical, nonsensical, etc.
044 The South Pole
Terror		 LD 10/36 144 Thrilling story peters out with
run and fight ending
045 Resurrection Day LD 11/36 131 Points for magnitude loses
points for being unbelievable
046 The Vanisher LD 12/36 137 Nice combo of complicated plot,
action-packed, and ridiculous
047 Land Of Long JuJu LDon 01/37 159 Technically there are
worse books than this one
048 The Derrick Devil LD 02/37 145 Great first half weighed down by
sluggish and weak second
049 The Mental Wizard LD 03/37 141 Great first half, then fizzles
and eventually ends
050 The Terror In The
Navy		 LD 04/37 128 Very good story almost sunk by
shortcomings
051 Mad Eyes LDon 05/37 145 Bad yet glorious train wreck of
"things" happening
052 The Land Of Fear HAD/LD 06/37 143 A horrible book and punishing to
work through
053 He Could Stop The
World		 LDon 07/37 149 A fever dream of creative
insanity
054 Ost / The Magic
Island		 LD 08/37 135 Indifferent storytelling with
endless production notes
055 The Feathered
Octopus		 LD 09/37 138 A lot to like but needs
tightening and correction
056 Repel / The Deadly
Dwarf		 LD 10/37 141 A generally fun read just for
the characters that fill its pages
057 The Sea Angel LD 11/37 128 Half-baked and Ludicrous go to
war with Unbelievable
058 The Golden Peril HAD/LD 12/37 149 As a rough draft it’s one of the
best DS adventures
059 The Living-Fire
Menace		 HAD/LD 01/38 123 Hit-or-miss
and mainly a swirling vortex of whiff
060 The Mountain Monster HAD/LD 02/38 129
An interminable cavalcade of
failure for kids and idiots
061 Devil On The Moon LD 03/38 123 Not a great story but good naive
science aspects and running around
062 The Pirate’s Ghost LD 04/38 139 Small-ambition DS adventure
works well as genre literature
063 The Motion Menace WRJ/LD 05/38 129 Disjointed and harmless,
reworked by indifferent L. Dent
064 The Submarine
Mystery		 LD 06/38 126 Worth reading despite it failing
the sniff test of plausibility
065 The Giggling Ghosts LD 07/38 131 Fun, but the blatant obviousness
of it all is diminishing
066 The Munitions Master HAD 08/38 135 Improbable and Impossible battle
it out. Stupid wins as it bet on a tie
067 The Red Terrors HAD 09/38 130 Very good first half drowns
underwater in second
068 Fortress Of Solitude LD 10/38 136 Putz John Sunlight is all build-up and
no delivery. Sad
069 The Green Death HAD 11/38 145 Potentially best story ever
falls apart in every direction
070 The Devil Genghis LD 12/38 132 Great story for 13 of 20
chapters. Then enter putz John Sunlight
071 Mad Mesa LD 01/39 129 Nice adventure in need of
momentum and forgiveness
072 The Yellow Cloud EC/LD 02/39 135 Good conspiracy and characters
meet odd/silly choices
073 The Freckled Shark LD 03/39 131 As good as it is not that good.
Strong start loses steam
074 World’s Fair Goblin WGB/LD 04/39 125 Fun for kids, silliness for
adults, better as a comic book
075 The Gold Ogre LD 05/39 123 Spin-off story for younger
readers is just that
076 The Flaming Falcons LD 06/39 120 Thoroughly enjoyable. Fun and
loose
077 Merchants Of
Disaster		 HAD 07/39 140 Formal and stiffly written.
Convenient resolutions
078 The Crimson Serpent HAD 08/39 146 Barely readable. For skimming
only
079 Poison Island LD 09/39 127 Doesn’t earn itself much
positive praise or negative derision
080 The Stone Man LD 10/39 121 Generic lost world adventure.
Not much to like or not like
081 Hex WGB/LD 11/39 128 Nice adventure with only a few
errors and oddities
082 The Dagger In The
Sky		 LD 12/39 124 Very good story with forgivable
one cheap out
083 The Other World LD 01/40 119 Mostly negligible, hard to
finish sentences and paragraphs
084 The Angry Ghost WGB/LD 02/40 118 Gets better upon reflection.
Equally exciting and monotone
085 The Spotted Men WGB/LD 03/40 123 Very good
story with a marked lack of exposition/recap overload
086 The Evil Gnome LD 04/40 119 Good story screaming for
re-write corrections
087 The Boss Of Terror LD 05/40 107 Minor story would be great
without its glaring simple mistakes
088 The Awful Egg LD 06/40 126 Does a number of things well,
lacks follow-through on same
089 The Flying Goblin WGB 07/40 117 50/50 readable and unreadable
090 Tunnel Terror WGB 08/40 120 What your average DS story
should be
091 The Purple Dragon HAD/LD 09/40 137 Hits the trifecta of Expedient,
Ridiculous, and Nonsensical
092 Devils Of The Deep HAD 10/40 117 A mess of a story that reads
well enough but makes little sense
093 The Awful Dynasty WGB 11/40 112 Humorous charm of the opening
doesn’t lead to much
094 The Men Vanished LD 12/40 127 Potpourri of the good, the bad,
and the two-faced fugly
095 The Devil’s
Playground		 AH 01/41 141 From the "Jot Down Anything"
school of speed writing
096 Bequest Of Evil WGB 02/41 119 Gets better and makes more sense
as it goes along
097 The All-White Elf LD 03/41 133 Above-average with a few
let-downs in follow-through
098 The Golden Man LD 04/41 128
Underrated, underappreciated, and unique story
099 The Pink Lady LD 05/41 123 Great opening and tone is not
sustained as it should be
100 The Headless Men AH 06/41 132 Dumb DS story might be classic
for kids and idiots
101 The Green Eagle LD 07/41 132 Good story falls victim to rote
storytelling
102 Mystery Island LD 08/41 122 Great characters and ideas meet
little effort to make it work
103 The Mindless
Monsters		 AH 09/41 143 Good potential ends up
surprisingly half-baked when not stupid
104 Birds Of Death LD 10/41 120 Above average until relocation
to Travelogue Land
105 The Invisible Box
Murders		 LD 11/41 124 Between good and better ‘n’
good, held back by things that didn’t work
106 Peril In The North LD 12/41 125
Very serviceable middle-period Doc Savage book. Smooth, no
errors
107 The Rustling Death AH 01/42 122 Slow moving, random, bogged down
in stage direction
108 Men Of Fear LD 02/42 123 Odd book that gets better as it
moves along
109 The Too-Wise Owl LD 03/42 130 Good, intricate story. Most
things make sense in context
110 The Magic Forest WGB/LD 04/42 129 Mostly drags with a healthy
portion of dumb sprinkled on top
111 Pirate Isle LD 05/42 120 Piss-poor story claustrophobic
and overly long
112 The Speaking Stone LD 06/42 123 Not a bad story. Should follow
its own rules
113 The Man Who Fell Up LD 07/42 122 Audacious, silly, and brimming
with the unnecessarily complex
114 The Three Wild Men LD 08/42 128 A great DS novel firing on all
cylinders
115 The Fiery Menace LD 09/42 123 Good story for first ten of
fifteen chapters
116 The Laugh Of Death LD 10/42 127 Average. Too much talking and
plot with boring people
117 They Died Twice LD 11/42 114 Enjoyable if you suspend your
disbelief when needed
118 The Devil’s Black
Rock		 LD 12/42 115 Pulps meets comic books to
create fun and slight story
119 The Time Terror LD 01/43 112 Well done lost world dinosaur
fantasy fiction
120 Waves Of Death LD 02/43 121 Strong story with good
characters and quotes
121 The Black, Black
Witch		 LD 03/43 115 Not stellar but concept and
basic story outline are fantastic
122 The King Of Terror LD 04/43 112 Light farce makes for weird and
interesting storytelling
123 The Talking Devil LD 05/43 115 Average storytelling of
something with above average potential
124 The Running
Skeletons		 LD 06/43 104 Great story with odd madcap
elements and horrific bad guy reveal
125 Mystery On Happy
Bones		 LD 07/43 112 Good but standard
trouble-comes-looking-for-Doc. Quick resolution
126 The Mental Monster LD 08/43 110 Small scale, potentially
excellent. Good 1st book for genre newbie
127 Hell Below LD 09/43 109 Excellent story from a year you
weren’t expecting it
128 The Goblins LD 10/43 116 Small story of small consequence
could have been quaint
129 The Secret Of The Su LD 11/43 119 Core of a decent story, not much
done with it
130 The Spook Of Grandpa
Eben		 LD 12/43 109 Repetitive and long-winded
settles into good ghost story
131 According To Plan of
a One-Eyed Mystic		 LD 01/44 113 Plot holes turn into Swiss
cheese. Weak resolution
132 Death Had Yellow
Eyes		 LD 02/44 113 Works well visually. Too much
(necessary) exposition
133 The Derelict Of
Skull Shoal		 LD 03/44 111 Low point where Doc is barely
Doc and little happens
134 The Whisker of
Hercules		 LD 04/44 118 Last of the great old-timey
stories
135 The Three Devils LD 05/44 110 Not much of a story not told all
that well
136 The Pharoah’s Ghost LD 06/44 109 A top pick. A pleasure to read
from start to finish
137 The Man Who Was
Scared		 LD 07/44 109 Vague and noncommittal. With
more effort could have been worse
138 The Shape Of Terror LD 08/44 105 Premise and outline are good but
goes through the motions
139 Weird Valley LD 09/44 109 Fun 3 chapters
goes to autopilot
and shuffles to weak conclusion
140 Jiu San LD 10/44 112 Top story if you forgive the raw
hatred of our WWII enemy
141 Satan Black LD 11/44 112 Lazy and overrated
142 The Lost Giant LD 12/44 113 Barely a DS story. 3 good
elements buried in bad
143 Violent Night/The
Hate Genius		 LD 01/45 109 Could be good if Doc wasn’t a
pit of fear and self-doubt
144 Strange Fish LD 02/45 108
Good characters and a serviceable plot allowed to flounder
145 The Ten Ton Snakes LD 03/45 108 Has a shell and characters worth
saving from lack of effort
146 Cargo Unknown LD 04/45 106 Nail-biting open and close with
procedural center
147 Rock Sinister LD 05/45 99 Great writing trips over nothing
and ends up confusing and wrong
148 The Terrible Stork LD 06/45 103 Doc barely Doc. Simple plot not
that bad
149 King Joe Cay LD 07/45 104 Doc is 12% Doc. Filler material
150 The Wee Ones LD 08/45 99 Bad, small story made smaller to
where it barely exists
151 Terror Takes 7 LD 09/45 106 Really bad. Not "good" bad but
"bad" bad
152 The Thing That
Pursued		 LD 10/45 113 Fascinating post-DS experiment,
needs boring parts removed
153 Trouble On Parade LD 11/45 104 Barely a DS story. Good until
last third
154 The Screaming Man LD 12/45 105 Strong open and close.
Meandering middle
155 Measures For A
Coffin		 LD 01/46 104 Falls apart immediately. Writing
barely pays attention
156 Se-Pah-Poo LD 02/46 109 A crapper of a tale with little
effort put into it
157 Terror And The
Lonely Widow		 LD 03/46 106 Good 1st part, dies in 2nd, a
rotting corpse in 3rd
158 Five Fathoms Dead LD 04/46 106 Interesting, then another plot,
then unreadable
159 Death Is A Round
Black Spot		 LD 05/46 108 Not really a DS story. Needs
gadgets and DS "things"
160 Colors For Murder LD 06/46 106 Spook Hole rehash. Great first
chapters, then fizzles
161 Fire And Ice WGB/LD 0746 84 Inconsequential and harmless
162 Three Times A Corpse LD 08/46 104 Starts well then nautical
jibber-jabber and fizzle
163 The Exploding Lake HAD/LD 09/46 102 Decent setup with overly average
storytelling
164 Death In Little
Houses		 WGB/LD 1046 93 So little goes on it barely
exists. Thankfully short
165 The Devil Is Jones LD 11/46 101 Fifty shades of excruciatingly
bad and painful reading
166 The Disappearing
Lady		 WGB 12/46 102 Good but small and not complete
in scope
167 Target For Death WGB 01/47 90 A top pick. Close to perfect for
DS especially at this time
168 The Death Lady WGB 02/47 95 Basic detective-action-adventure
with a basic resolution
169 Danger Lies East LD Ma/Ap/47 101 Lesser effort starring a Bizarro
World Doc Savage
170 No Light To Die By LD Ma/Ju/47 107 First person by C-grade street
smart with literary pretensions
171 The Monkey Suit LD Ju/Au/47 88 First person with lead character
begging to be face-punched
172 Let’s Kill Ames LD Se/Oc/47 100 First person, excellent if
shortcomings corrected
173 Once Over Lightly LD No/De/48 94 First person, not that bad for
quickly converted non-DS story
174 I Died Yesterday LD Ja/Fe/48 100 First person Pat Savage nice but
loses steam and focus
175 The Pure Evil LD Ma/Ap/48 96 Better than expected, impressive
metaphysical considerations
176 Terror Wears No
Shoes		 LD Ma/Ju/48 83 Short espionage thriller needs
fewer DS inner doubts
177 The Angry Canary LD Ju/Au/48 95 First draft of a good story that
needs polishing
178 The Swooning Lady LD Se/Oc/48 87 Nice, simple story played out in
real time
179 The Green Master LD Win/49 91 Great first two-thirds, last
third not great
180 Return From Cormoral LD Spr/49 90 Nice quasi-retired DS story
becomes rote with plot change
181 Up From Earth’s
Center		 LD Sum/49 94 Excellent eerie ending with all
conclusions respected





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