Dusk Before the Dawn

The very first Doc Savage novel (unless you are counting chronologically the Philip Jose Farmer authored Escape from Loki) is, as it should be, an origin story, showing how Clark Savage, Jr., returning from his Fortress of Solitude and finding his father dead and possibly murdered from a disease called the Red Death, embarks on a mission with his five fellow adventurers to find the legacy his father left him, and to track down his murderer. The trail, including clues left by his father, take him to the Central American country of Hidalgo, to the Valley of the Vanished and a tribe of Mayan Indians. Doc’s father left him legal documents stating that he has a claim there. But Savage has barriers put between him and his destiny by Mayans with red-tipped fingers, the warriors led by a villain masked as Kukulcan, the Feathered Serpent. The Secretary of State of the Republic of Hidalgo tries to deny the claim, but the President, who was sick and healed by Doc’s father, supports Savage. The group heads to the Valley of the Vanished, where the meet with King Chaac and his daughter, the lovely Princess Monja. The warriors with red-tipped fingers try to stop them from learning more from the tribe, and battle/treachery ensues.

As this was the first of well over 150 stories, an amazing amout of information that will remain consistent throughout the series is given in this book. The personalities of his five friends are given, and have only minor changes throughout the series. Doc’s exercise regiem, his dedication to doing good and righting wrongs, his office on the 86th floor, and his uncanny reasoning and reacting abilities are all on display here. It is assumed that here is where the ability of the team to speak the Mayan dialect, which they use when they do not want to be understood by outsiders, is learned.

My sortable table of Doc Savage books is here.

• Written by: Lester Dent
• Villain: a non-Mayan masquerading as the Mayan god Kukulcan, the Feathered Serpent
• Doc Gadget: black-light writing to pass secret messages (used in many stories); portable alarm system created on the spot in Hidalgo
• Doc Feat: punching out a shark
• By the numbers: originally published Mar, 1933;  Bantam #1 published Oct 1964; Philip Jose Farmer #1, date Mar/April 1931