The Mad Science of Doc Savage

February 18th, 2009

Filed under: Comics, Medicine

Recently, I’ve been reading through DC’s Doc Savage comic book series from the late ’80s. It features the titular hero brought forward into modern times and having his usual world-spanning adventures. As to be expected from a character who got his start in the pulp magazines of the ’30s and ’40s, the stories are chock full of improbable — if not downright impossible — science (or should that be Science!). Since I’m a fan of the old pulps, I’m willing to accept these in the spirit of the times.

Sometimes, though, I run across a scene where the science is just a little too mad…

scene from Doc Savage #12scene from Doc Savage #12scene from Doc Savage #12scene from Doc Savage #12

So…the “magnetic ray” exerts a force on the iron in the blood (I can buy that), but this somehow causes the pulse to race, the blood pressure to skyrocket, and then the heart to explode. I’d be interested to know how the hemoglobin in the red blood cells has that powerful an affect on the heart, since normally it exerts exactly zero influence on it. I can’t even conceive of a mechanism how this would work. A racing heart could certainly raise the blood pressure, but other severe problems would occur (severe sudden heart failure, a fatal arrhythmia, a stroke, or a heart attack) long before the heart exploded. This is another example of trying to explain things too much — they should have just left it at “magnetic ray.”

Of course, I do appreciate the fact that I get to add another entry to my “Things Which Cause Nose Bleeds in Comic Books” list.

scene from Doc Savage #12 by Mike Barr and Rod Whigham

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13 Responses to “ The Mad Science of Doc Savage ”

  1. Harvey
    February 19th, 2009 at 6:20 am

    So his heart exploded and…escaped…out of the holes in his…head?

  2. RichterCa
    February 19th, 2009 at 8:28 am

    Harvey: Specifically out of his eyes. You can still see his nose in the 3rd pannel, so the blood can’t be comming out his nose or mouth…

  3. Metz77
    February 19th, 2009 at 8:35 am

    I thought the top of his head popped off, to be honest.

  4. arkonbey
    February 19th, 2009 at 8:42 am

    you know, it looks like Doc earned his name that day. What a terribly tortuous way to kill a guard. Couldn’t he have just shot him?

  5. Scott
    February 19th, 2009 at 8:59 am
    Official Comment

    Savage didn’t shoot the guard with the magnetic ray, his opponent John Sunlight did — using a weapon he stole from a cache of Doc’s weapons.

    So while Savage didn’t pull the trigger, he’s still on the hook for inventing and building the gun in the first place.

  6. Sean Duggan
    February 19th, 2009 at 9:56 am

    I could see, theoretically, rapidly vibrating the iron, creating kind of a microwave effect (didn’t Magneto kill someone that way?), but it just does not work with his techobabble.

  7. Bash
    February 19th, 2009 at 11:10 am

    So the magnetic ray made his heart beat faster till it tore itself apart. Hmmm….I would think given that, his heart would tear open, cause massive internal bleeding, making the guard clutch his CHEST screaming pain, then slump the to the floor. There should be little or no blood. Also, as his heart rate increased would he have passed out? Thus there would have been no need to keep going until his head exploded?

    Also, umm, isn’t his gun made mostly of steel? Cool how the magnetic ray is percise enough to only effect the iron in his body, but can’t be controlled enough to prevent his head from exploding.

    There is just no respect for generic guards. Where is thier union? What about thier families who need to be taken care of? They are just killed off without a care in the world. It’s a shame.

  8. skizelo
    February 19th, 2009 at 11:14 am

    Out of interest, are exploding hearts ever known in medicine? That would be a good episode of House. Though I guess the effect would be similer to an aneurysm, so maybe just a short episode of House.

  9. Metz77
    February 19th, 2009 at 12:15 pm

    Scott, have you ever done a review of The Killing Joke? I just read it for the first time and it doesn’t look to me like the gunshot should’ve hit Barbara’s spine.

  10. Mr. B
    February 19th, 2009 at 6:02 pm

    —–So…the “magnetic ray” exerts a force on the iron in the blood (I can buy that),—–

    Who in the heck knows what will happen if you appy enough magnetism. I saw a “flying frog” (on PBS or theDiscover Channel) in a giant magnetic device.

    It reversed the spin of the atoms somehow? I think it screwed with the electrons. Fellow scientists thought it was a joke, until they saw it for themselves.

    Floating Frog
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CO94fK8SdPs

    The Frog That Learned to Fly
    (Molecular Magnetism and Levitation)
    http://www.hfml.ru.nl/froglev.html

  11. James
    February 19th, 2009 at 7:23 pm

    this is just wrong…Doc would never kill someone in cold blood like that.
    even though I kindof like that better, it goes against Dents version and just feels so wrong…

  12. Metz77
    February 19th, 2009 at 10:01 pm

    According to Scott it was John Sunlight using a weapon Doc Savage developed.

  13. Bash
    February 24th, 2009 at 12:56 pm

    Yeah, Doc Savage didn’t kill the guard. He just invented the magnetic gun whose soul purpose to exist is to kill people. Doc in no way bears any repsonsiblity in the guards death.

    To para-phrase a BASF commercial, “At Doc Savage Laboratories, we dont make the Death Ray, we make it Deathier. At Doc Savage Labs, we dont make a lot of the products that can normally kill you, we make them kill you faster and more painfully.”

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