I guess that if the reader suspends his or her scientific knowledge to temporarily accept for entertainment value the author's premise that Dr. Hypno can send his mind into the brain of another being's body, and take over use of that body, that the reader would have to accept whichever result that author would give to the death of the host being, and stoppage of function of his body.
I think you've hit the nail on the head there, Robb. It depends on the amount of scientific knowledge the reader has (in my case, not a lot!) and the degree to which the reader is prepared to suspend that knowledge for the sake of entertainment (in my case, again, near-to-totally if it suits me! )
Which is why I'm quite content to accept any load of unscientific, brain-rotting old tosh in the sake of temporary entertainment. The reason I'm not interested in Funny Animal Comics is not because the existence of talking, clothed animals exhibiting human behaviour offends my sense of scientific logic. I'm not interested in Funny Human Comics either! I'm quite prepared to follow any illogical premise the author puts forward, as long as my desire for entertainment is satisfied.
I can understand why such things would be anathema to someone with your scientific background and dedication to logic, but such things mean little to a fool such as I. Hope this explains the appeal of massively illogical old mind-rot like Dr. Hypno to some CB+ readers, thanks again for giving Dr H. your best shot. All the best, K1ngcat
I just think it's a shame that the publishers paid storywriters so very little, that if these writers wanted to stay in their ridiculously expensive no-bedroom so-called studio apartments in New York, or fleabag, tenement apartments in Newark or Hoboken (NJ), they felt compelled to spend as absolutely little time in thinking about each of their story plots, and almost started writing the script as soon as they got the spark of the idea.
I was spoiled for comic book reading and fandom by having been first introduced to the fastidiously-crafted Carl Barks stories of the early and mid 1940s at the tender age of 2 and a half and 3 years old. I was still young, at 20, when I first met him, in 1966, and he told me, "I've NEVER submitted a story that wasn't good enough to make me eager to plunk down my hard-earned dime to buy the comic book it was in, when I was a kid." Having lived through 3 economic depressions, he felt that kids deserved quality for their hard-earned money. He didn't have to tell me that. I knew that by 1949, just from reading his stories. Part of the reason I never earned much money is because I draw slowly, and think long and hard about my plots, and take a lot of time staging my storyboards, to make stories I'd want to read and buy, and would stand out from the crowd in the memories of my readers.
When writing my first time travel story, I had a physicist friend of mine explain Einstein's and the other theories on time, and when writing another one many years later, which involved the creation of several new dimensions, I read up on the latest theories on the possibility (or lack of it) for eventual practical time travel. Most young children comic book readers might not even know any difference between mine and completely cliche-based non-thought-out stories. But, I appreciated such efforts when they are made. If one has a feel for the science, he or she should be able to come up with nonsensical pseudo-scientific jargon, that will at least allow such unlikely happenings to "appear" to be somewhat plausible, IF the reader doesn't stop reading and ponder deep into the logic of the subject. We don't mind at all, IF they bought the book because the subject looked interesting, and they read it through the first few times without stopping; and THEN, they look up scientific articles on the subject to find out if it is bullshit, or there really IS maybe a tiny chance that it will someday come to pass in the distant future.
In any case, I'm SURE that if I took some time, I could come up with a different premise than a hypnotist hypnotizing a "less intelligent" being, and by my willpower, forcing my brain functions to "enter" the animal's body from the air, taking it over, and operating it as a vehicle with Human capabilities. That is too much "magic" that is taken on faith with no evidence of how it could even potentially happen. AND, of course, comic books are a VISUAL medium, which has more ability to SHOW how things happen, than books mainly filled with text. So why not show a bit of how the transferring of The Good Doctor's brain power might occur. I would have MY doctor not be a hypnotist, but, rather an expert on Human (and animal brain functions, who has a laboratory filled with brain scanners that can monitor activities in the different areas of the brain, to see where control can be gained, and to find out how he can manipulate the animal's activities. I might rather have MY doctor remain conscious, while his brain waves are being sent into the animal's brain (through radio waves), controlling the behaviour of the animal while following him at a distance where he is usually safe from being detected by the criminals. So, there is no danger of his losing his "mind", or dying, if the animal dies. But, there will always be danger of things going wrong, leading to climactical action-filled splash panel scenes. And, of course, the animal will remain conscious, but not understand why he is doing things unlike he normally does (because unbeknownst to him, his brain waves are being manipulated from outside. So, any animal The Doctor uses, MIGHT rebel against his commands at any time, because they "feel" so unnatural. And, therein, lies the danger to the doctor (i.e. the animal instinctively knows The Doctor is trying to manipulate him because he has noticed him following him (his pursuer is ALWAYS near when the animal feels anxious or unnatural). So he may attack The Doctor. OR, the criminals may discover The Doctor when the animal turns on him. There are ways to Tell an entertaining story without using unexplained "magic". Of course no one yet has been able to discern the minute details of brain wave strength as represented on a screen, to learn to mimic those waves to from outside, and send them inside another being to reproduce desired activities from him or her. But, I think my also very unlikely events have at least SOME chance of occurring in the future, and, therefore, sound somewhat more plausible. And more readers could probably read through the somewhat plausible story without stopping for a long time to decide whether the story is too"silly" to bother to read through to the end.