THE THOUSAND-HEADED MAN

[Dave]

From 1934, immediately after THE KINGMAKER, and #2 in the Bantam
reprints, with a cringe-worthy cover....

Great opening -- DOC and the guys arrive at night at London's
airport. And jump right into a mysterious far-eastern plot. Good
contrast with American-British customs, and DOC is doing stuff right
from the very beginning (I can't stand a DOC where he doesn't show up
until Chapter 5)

to becontinued..

Dave

[Dave]

The London fuzz are easy to deal with, and DOC goes from being wanted
for murder, to allowed to procede on his way to Indochina in just 10
hours. We get some 1930s aviation advenutre, and then we're in
mysterious Indo-China by the halfway point.

to be continued

dave

[Dave]

This has to be the longest DOC ever, or close to it.

And throught the whole thing, I don't think long tom speaks a single
word

Dave

[Marcus Tee]

Post by Dave
This has to be the longest DOC ever, or close to it.
And throught the whole thing, I don't think long tom speaks a single
word
Dave

Actually Dave, he says a little more than one word:

"Papers in a desk show this Sen Gat is an importer," offered Long Tom.
"Trades in merchandise from Indochina."

"A scheme to grab us," Long Tom surmised.

"And there's the little question of a thousand-headed man and three
black keys," Long Tom added.

Long Tom, the electrical wizard, pointed a pallid finger at Indigo.
"Suppose we put the pump on these babies."

"We're hot on the trail," Long Tom said grimly.

"Probably depends on the lightning," said Long Tom, the electrical
wizard. "The stuff is always likely to make a spark that will ignite
the fuel tanks. The bonding - the thoroughness of electrical
connection between the different parts of the plane - has a bearing
also."

"The girl's plane landed somewhere ahead, I think," said Long Tom.

They stared a second search of the pagoda vicinity, and soon Long
Tom's shout drew them toward the river. They ran to where he stood.
"Look!" he pointed.

"Dead!" Long Tom muttered. "All three dead, and not a mark on 'em!"

"From what cause?" Long Tom demanded.

"Sen Gat's wagons!" Long Tom snapped.

Long Tom, the pale electrical wizard, came up. "Doc, it looks like
they've got us hemmed in," he said.

"But we'd be still better off if we had the guns," groaned Long Tom.

"Papers in a desk show this Sen Gat is an importer," offered Long Tom.
"Trades in merchandise from Indochina."

MT

[Dave]

.

Post by Dave
And throught the whole thing, I don't think long tom speaks a single
word
Dave

.
I stand much corrected.

He talks, but you just don't notice it. If you look at his lines of
dialogue, you realize that

1) He's not part of a conversation, and
2) Most of them coul dhave been delivered by any of the 5

Long Tom and Johnny have the least dialogue in any DOC adventure. Big
word Johnny requires a dictionary to write his lines, and Long Tom is
the least well--realized character of the bunch, so they both get
shorted on the adventures. My guess is that in total mentions, they
finish behind the damn pig

dave

[Ravage]

Post by Dave
This has to be the longest DOC ever, or close to it.
And throught the whole thing, I don't think long tom speaks a single
word

You may be right, but doesn't that honor belong to "The Land of
Terror"? I seem to remember it being unusually long.

[T Guy]

Post by Ravage

Post by Dave
This has to be the longest DOC ever, or close to it.

You may be right, but doesn't that honor belong to "The Land of
Terror"?  I seem to remember it being unusually long.

(T Guy):

ISTR that the honour of longest adventure belongs to The King Maker.

Anyone got a definitive cite on this?

T Guy

[Ted Nolan <tednolan>]

Post by T Guy

Post by Ravage

Post by Dave
This has to be the longest DOC ever, or close to it.

You may be right, but doesn't that honor belong to "The Land of
Terror"?  I seem to remember it being unusually long.

ISTR that the honour of longest adventure belongs to The King Maker.
Anyone got a definitive cite on this?
T Guy

Nope, but it could change too. The current reprints are going from Dent's
manuscripts when available, and restoring some stuff that was never printed
before..

Ted

[TBerk]

Post by T Guy

Post by Ravage

Post by Dave
This has to be the longest DOC ever, or close to it.

You may be right, but doesn't that honor belong to "The Land of
Terror"?  I seem to remember it being unusually long.

ISTR that the honour of longest adventure belongs to The King Maker.
Anyone got a definitive cite on this?
T Guy

Nope, but it could change too.  The current reprints are going from Dent's
manuscripts when available, and restoring some stuff that was never printed
before..
                                Ted
--

Ooh, ooh, this is news to me; Thx.

Happy New Year,
berk

[b***@volcanomail.com]

On Thu, 31 Dec 2009 07:04:00 -0800 (PST), T Guy

Post by T Guy

Post by Ravage

Post by Dave
This has to be the longest DOC ever, or close to it.

You may be right, but doesn't that honor belong to "The Land of
Terror"?  I seem to remember it being unusually long.

ISTR that the honour of longest adventure belongs to The King Maker.
Anyone got a definitive cite on this?
T Guy

The top 5 Docs in terms of word length:

The Land of Terror ............................ 55915
The Thousand Headed Man ................ 54184
Murder Melody .................................. 53829
The Czar of Fear ............................... 53396
Red Snow ........................................ 53092

The King Maker comes in at #23 with 47912 words

These counts are based on the text versions that had been posted years
ago on the Blackmask website and as counted by Microsoft Word.

For anyone interested, the 5 shortest Docs are:

Terror Wears No Shoes ... 24791
Fire and Ice ................... 25007
The Swooning Lady ....... 25871
The Monkey Suit ........... 26387
Target For Death .......... 26896


Bruce

[T Guy]

Post by b***@volcanomail.com
The Land of Terror ............................ 55915
The Thousand Headed Man ................ 54184
Murder Melody .................................. 53829
The Czar of Fear ............................... 53396
Red Snow ........................................ 53092
The King Maker comes in at #23 with 47912 words
These counts are based on the text versions that had been posted years
ago on the Blackmask website and as counted by Microsoft Word.
Terror Wears No Shoes ... 24791
Fire and Ice ................... 25007
The Swooning Lady ....... 25871
The Monkey Suit ........... 26387
Target For Death .......... 26896

(T Guy):

Thanks for the data, Bruce.

T Guy