Iron Man Adventure Dorgan

by Darrell C. Richardson, Robert E. Howard, Ana Huang

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0441373658
• ISBN13: 9780441373659
• Release Date: October 1983
• Publisher: Ace Books
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.38 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Dennis Dorgan may be Howard's greatest character

Although most famous for his laconic barbarians and the dour Puritan swordsman Solomon Kane, Robert E. Howard's work spilled over genre lines to include sports and pulp adventure, among other themes. The lead story, the novella "The Iron Man," is a standard Howard celebration of machismo, starring a boxer whose sole claim to attention is the ability to absorb inhuman amounts of punishment. Of considerably greater interest are the Dennis Dorgan stories that follow. Dorgan, a not-too-bright merchant marine and shore-leave pugilist with an English bulldog, is a delight. The Dorgan stories, told in a Runyonesque first-person palooka-ese, demonstrate a wit and charm that rarely surface in Howard's better-known works.

Could be Howard's best work

Robert E. Howard churned out a lot of fiction during his short lifetime, and most of the attention has been claimed by his laconic barbarians-Conan, Kull, and Bran Mak Morn-and that humorless Puritan Solomon Kane. As a result, the fantasy crowd has tended to overlook these idiosyncratic gems about a not-too-bright prizefighting sailor and his bulldog. Forget the lead story "The Iron Man"-it's just more of Howard's self-serious exploration of machismo. The Dorgan stories, however, show a real sense of humor and an ear-however odd-for palooka dialogue that approaches the Runyonesque. Sure, it's out of print, but pulp fans will find it worth hunting for.