After a several years, we get a new Doc Ardan volume with two stories from his creator: The Hurricane Master and The Secret of Frigidopolis, this time “adapted and retold” by Michael Shreve. I have posted before on Doc Ardan, and Black Coat Press has put out previous volumes and long promised this one.
First up, French author Guy d’Armen created young adventurer Dr. Francis Ardan in a trio of sf-adventure novels: The City of Gold and Lepers (1928), The Troglodytes of Mount Everest (1929), and The Giants of Dark Lake (1931), serialized in a French pulp magazine. All tell of Ardan’s adventurers going up against several super-science villains in distant areas of Asia. The first novel actually occurs after the second and third.
Because of his similarities to Doc Savage, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier made some tweaks to their translation (or “adaption”) to have “Francis Ardan” be an alias used by a young Clark Savage before his pulp adventures. This allowed others to use “Doc Ardan” as a Doc Savage pastiche in the Tales of the Shadowmen series and other works. As the earlier works were never available in English, claiming they were an influence on the creation of Doc Savage is a bit much.
Now d’Armen (or under other pseudonyms such as Francis Annemary and Jacquis Diament) also wrote many other stories of adventurers who, while they have different names, are pretty much the same character: set in the 1920s, a doctor/scientist, polymath, tall, blond, and with a driving father. So changing their names to Francis Ardan, and we have more Doc Ardan stories. You can read more about this in the intro of the book. I do wonder how many such works were written or if it’s a case of discovering more.
To be clear, Black Coat Press has put out four volumes of Doc Ardan, and this is the fifth and maybe final one.
In The Hurricane Master (1931), Doc Ardan is asked to investigate mysterious hurricanes that disturb maritime traffic in the French Pacific. Taking off from the Marquesas, his yacht has a mutiny on board, as some of the sailors conspire to kill the captain. Soon, Ardan finds himself on Hurricane Island, an unchartered island ruled over by a man known as Krakatax. He is told the man’s real identity, a Russian physicist who has been on the run for 15 years.
Krakatax has learned to create hurricanes to keep people away, causing ships to crash on his island. Most of the survivors are turned over to the natives (who, it is hinted, kill them), only keeping those he can use or ransom. One of his hostages is Mable Dorgan, daughter of American billionaire William Dorgan. With her help, they escape the island and soon have a series of harrowing escapades, including getting locked up in an insane asylum by a fake doctor, before they can connect with her father.
Her father has come with an operative from the Continental Detective Agency, and they start working on finding and putting an end to Krakatax. The Continental Op engages flying ace Phineas Pinkham (created by Joe Archibald in Flying Aces) to fly a seaplane in their search. Again, with several more escapades, they are able to discover Hurricane Island and put a stop to things.
In The Secret of Frigidopolis (1933), Doc Ardan receives a mysterious inheritance from a long-lost uncle in Argentina. The amount is great, but there is a hint of a further “treasure.” He goes to his uncle’s ranch to look into things, as he mysteriously died eight years prior. There he is captured by a man named Hernandez, who demands a high ransom for his release, saying he knows that Ardan’s uncle obtained his wealth through criminal means. But Ardan is rescued by a young lady named Esperanza Cancellos, whose father was a close friend of his uncle’s.
Together, they start on a long journey, with several bizarre escapades that include encountering a pilot who crashes near them and tells them a strange tale before dying. This leads them to Tierra del Fuego, a bizarre futuristic city hidden in a valley. They are captured and brought before the Master of the Cold, who rules over Frigidopolis. It is Hernandez, who they learn is a former German U-boat captain. And it is he who is the criminal, having killed Ardan’s uncle to take over Frigidopolis. But Ardan and Esperanza are able to turn the tables on him.
These are a couple of fun reads. I liked that they were again able to include the original artwork. They are a bit rough, which is typical of the time; they would have needed more re-working to make them better reads.
I found it interesting that in both Ardan soon teams up with a woman and they both share in the adventure more or less equally. I think these are the last of such original stories we will get. But if there are more, that would be welcomed.
I did like that they worked in other characters into these stories. If you haven’t checked out the original Doc Ardan stories, do so.
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