Reviews for Gladiator

The average rating for Gladiator based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-02-07 00:00:00 Marie Alan I picked up Gladiator because I heard it was an inspiration for Doc Savage and Superman. That is an understandment. Gladiator is the story of Hugo Danner. Hugo is the son of a scientist who injected him with a serum when he was still in the womb, giving him unbelievable strength. For example, Hugo kills a bully at school with his superhuman strength, branding him an outsider for the rest of his life. Over the course of the book, Hugo goes from relationship to relationship, works in a circus, fights in a war, all the while looking for a place to belong. Hugo being an outsider reminded me a lot of the way The Hulk and the X-Men are treated. In fact, Hugo's story seems like the template for a lot of later superhero characters. I'd recommend this to any comic book or Doc Savage fan interested in looking at the ancestor of their heroes.

Review # 2 was written on 2013-07-24 00:00:00 Sherwin Peterson A friend of mine reviewed this saying it was progenitor of Superman & Doc Savage. Dan's review is here: I found it for free on Gutenberg.org This is a story of angst, a coming of age story. An experiment, Hugo Danner is as strong as the Hulk & quite intelligent with only his conscience as a guide. As Dan mentions in his review, I can see the early seeds of almost every super hero in this book. It's the mother of them all. A must-read.