SOURCE: "The Sunset of the Superman," in The Man Behind Doc Savage, Robert Weinberg, 1974 pp. 56-62.

In the following essay, Murray recounts Doc Savage's exploits in Dent's World War II era novels, and the changes Savage's character underwent during this period.

Doc Savage was a superman. His men were near-super-men. Originally, they got together during the first World War where the excitement got into their blood. The—y decided to band together as a small army after it was all over for the avowed purpose of fighting evil. The war must have had a great effect on Doc and his men. It was there that they saw their first action and much of their equipment was patterned after military hardware.

It was only natural, then, that when the second World War broke out they would do their best to scramble back into uniform. Indeed, that is precisely what...