Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze,

REVIEW: DOC SAVAGE: THE MAN OF BRONZE
By Ian | Filed in Blog >Reviews-edited by blog editor Doc Thompson 12/17/2010 | 11:44 pm | 10 Comments

Find This Book At: Amazon (Softcover) Half.com (Softcover) Ebay (Search by Title) Ebay (ISBN/Softcover) View our database entry Includes Issues: Doc Savage 1-8 Issue Dates: October 1972 – January 1974 Creators: Ernie Chua,later Earnie Chann, Frank Giacoia, Frank Springer, Gardner Fox,George Roussos, Jack Abel, Jean Izzo, Jim Mooney, Jim Steranko, John Buscema, John Costanza, June Braverman, Kenneth Robeson/Lester Dent, Klaus Janson, Richard F. Buckler, Ross Andru, Roy Thomas,Steve Englehart, Tom Orzechowski, Tom Palmer Sr., Tony Isabella

This review is spoiler free! Skip To The Verdict? »

THE ORIGINAL SUPERHERO.

It’s a weighty claim.
While Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze is missing some features that historians might argue would make him a full fledged superhero, he certainly was one of the earliest and most influential science adventurers.
The absolute first superhero might be Nyctalope, who debuted in french pulps in 1911. But not many have heard of that guy.
Likewise, the masked comic adventure The Clock, from 1936, isn’t particularly memorable.
Those that are interested in the intricacies can lose a few hours in the Superhero fiction article at wikipedia.
As for the Man of Bronze, he’s one of these primordial characters to have moved past the Golden Age of pulps and comics.
Originally appearing in a Doc Savage Magazine run that started in 1933, the pulp literature character was introduced as a “peak” human. Trained from birth by a team of scientists and experts in every field, Clark Savage Jr.’s intense daily exercise regime and supreme intellect keep him at the top of his game as the perfect adventurer.
Along with five other rough and tumbling experts that he met during World War I, Doc Savage travels the world, using his ingenious inventions to solve mysteries, right wrongdoings, and aid the oppressed and needy.

Doc was created by Lester Dent, who under various pen names (such as house name Kenneth Robeson) wrote some 181 Savage stories.
He’s seen many homages, including notable ones in Warren Ellis’ Planetary and the Alan Moore’s Tom Strong, and is still in print himself, having been included directly in DC’s 2010 First Wave title.
Also published by DC this year is Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze, which actually collects a Marvel comic that ran in the early 70s.
This Bronze Age title, in turn, reworked some of Lester Dent‘s earliest stories from 1933 and 1934.
There are four stories here, The Man Of Bronze, Death in Silver,The Monsters, and Brand of the Werewolf, each taking place across two issues-originally produced and published by Marvel in the 1970's..

The first couple stories are adapted by Roy Thomas and Steve Englehart with Gardner Fox and Tony Isabella handling the latter two. Ross Andru does the majority of the pencils along with help by Richard Buckler.
There’s a good smattering of talent here and don’t let the mix scare you. This book is very consistent, with no jarring differences between writers and artists, delivering a fun adventure story in a mix of the original pulps and Kirby influenced Marvel house style.The book,you'd think would have gathered the success Marvel had with Conan,but it didn't.One problem was Doc Savages silly design,that lowered the original pulp material down to comic book fan boy groundling expectations.Second,Marvel seem to adapt,the first and last parts,skipping whole chapters.Third,placing Clark Savage in the 1970's and in its original 193o's era,where he belongs and was created.
When I first sat down with the book, the comic historian in me was very excited by the Savage name. The Jim Steranko cover didn’t hurt either.
I have to admit that the first few pages were kind of jarring. Instead of a nice historical introduction, there’s a bit introducing the cast. While not badly written, sometimes such pages are a hint that the book you’re opening is overburdened by continuity.
Also, the character design for Doc Savage is really weird – perhaps inaccurate to the magazines, though I’ve seen some much more human looking versions – but he looks like a cross between a manhunter robot and a genie addicted to tanning beds.Doc Savage,unfortunately,looked silly and gay,in the vest.I know,Marvel Comics was trying to ape the James Bama look,with widows peak and give a standard superhero look,but if you read the novels or origigal pulps-neither is present.Doc dosen't parade about 1930's New York,nor anywhere else bare chested,with tiny girlie vest.

Luckily, Savage grew on me, and I needn’t have worried about the continuity. While the story seems to jump right into the action (with some very Bronze Age Marvel villain designs) it works perfectly like that. I think the book actually opens with an adaptation of the very first pulp story, so it must have worked like this right from the start.
You needn’t know much more about the characters than Doc’s mastery of just about everything and kind nature, Monk’s gorilla type frame holding the brain of a genius chemist, or Ham’s role as a well dressed lawyer with a sword hidden in his cane. They’re adventurers and you get to know them by watching what they do best – adventure!

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. I expected it to be interesting and fun on a level similar to many older comics, getting by mainly on a sense of fauxstalgia (nostalgia for events and styles that were popular before you were born).
But while many of the plots are similar to stories I’ve read before in Golden and even Modern Age comics (probably because these Savage stories were influential), I was also kept constantly on my toes.
As an example, Batman aficionados might want to read The Monsters, which was originally published in April 1943 and was probably quite influential on the 1940 Batman storyline about Hugo Strange. I’d have a hard time believing that Kane and Finger were not familiar with Lester’s work, not that there’s any stealing – just some fun parallels along  with some material barrowed from the 1930's King Kong original.
Creators like Gardner Fox, who were around for both stories, must have been particularly excited about this project. In fact, I’m willing to bet most of the artists and writers treated this one as revisiting a childhood treasure.
Without having read the original shorts, I feel like the adaptation is faithful. Elements like slightly offensive ethnic stereotypes are still there, but alongside the good factors as well – strong female characters, for example. The dialogue is modern enough while still retaining a very pulp feel.

There’s a no-apologies craziness about the whole series of events, rather explaining afterwords than ruining a surprise with unneeded build up.
Characters constantly display new skills, which some how makes sense while remaining unexpected. We know these guys are badass and part of the fun is them topping past feats.
Just as surprising and perhaps a little confusing, is the use of gadgetry. It seems (and the art style might be a factor here) to be much too advanced for the 30s, when these stories supposedly take place. But interestingly enough, many of the inventions (like television, advanced submarines and helicopters, rapid-fire firearms) were featured in the original stories.
Never underestimate a speculative fiction author.
Ross Andru illustrated this book right at what many would consider the height of his career.
He had just come to Marvel from DC Comics and was working the newly launched Defenders and Marvel Team-Up, soon working as the regular artist on Amazing Spider-Man. Only a few years later he would co-create The Punisher.
His work here isn’t quite as memorable as some of those other issues (and the design for Doc Savage isn’t nearly as aesthetically sleek as The Punisher and his overly broad build can see quite awkward at times) but it’s still great for the book.
It’s worth talking a little bit more about how terribly ridiculous Doc looks here. Little blue vest?
And in the last issue, a little blue furry vest? What was this about,other Marvel trying to keep with their dopey ideas comprimising the actual winter wear,Clark Savage uses in the original story.And that spray tan and widow’s peak other that trying to ape Bama?

Not at all the Doc I always thought of from the covers of pulp paperbacks, but by the end I couldn’t help loving it, at least with a healthy dose of hipster-like irony.
I’ll admit that Andru isn’t some peoples favorite artist of this era, as they might always felt his work was stuck partway between the angular intensity of Jack Kirby and the sleek musculature of artists like Neal Adams.Here,though inked by Earnie Chua/Chan and Tom Palmer,his work seems to fit.
There were some times where I was reminded of Kirby more directly, mostly with the Fabulous Five that assist Savage – for some reason always conjuring memories of the Newsboy Legion and other early Kirby creations. Especially the broad face and meaty hands of Monk.Monk,here is made to look like the 5th Beatle,and not as he was written as a Curley Howard type,can ignored.
Andru was an admirable craftsman, though, and his compositions flow with the action, keeping the story moving at a thrilling pace.

While Doc Savage himself feels a bit too smooth at times, seeming less than human, many of the other characters have striking features.
It’s especially obvious when Ross Andru plays with the light in a scene, creating dramatic and sometimes terrible effects.
I think his best work is in The Monster Men and the first issue of Brand of The Werewolf, where the more monstrous adversaries allow him to really let loose.
I’m not sure why the reigns had been handed to Rich Buckler for the last issue.
Perhaps because Andru was working on three issues of Spider-Man, two of X-Men, and a Marvel-Team up from October to December of 1973, so he may have just been busy.

In any case, Buckler, along with Tom Palmer, who inked most of the work, and Jack Abel do a fine job with the last issue. I didn’t even notice the switchover on the first readthrough, since I was ambling along with my full attention on the action. The art here has perhaps a little bit more hatching instead of smooth lines, but it’s not particularly evident.
Altogether, Doc Savage: The Man Of Bronze was a big bundle of fun.
I didn’t have high hopes, since you never know what to expect with a book that’s been uncollected for so long.
I wish there was a bit of a historical introduction in this volume, but I understand the more direct presentation since it’s a set of stories that can appeal to all ages of readers hoping for some quick hopping adventure.
Forty years past his creation, then another forty  past the adaptation, Doc Savage still stands strong.
The Man of Bronze can brave danger with the best of em.
Verdict:
4 out of 5.
Both an excellent introduction to a classic pulp hero and some fun comics that stand up to the test of time, Doc Savage: The Man Of Bronze comes highly recommended despite some flaws.
Pick it up for the kid inside, the kid you know, or the culture historian pretending to be past childish things.
Essential Continuity:
Doc Savage doesn’t have a very large publishing history in comics, and his origin isn’t really as important as his adventures.
I’m actually not sure if the origin story is ever told as more than a couple blurbs or mentions. But this is a good place to start.
Read first:
For the comics reader, you can start here. We also place it very early on our DC timeline. It’s in the 30s, right after Showcase Presents Enemy Ace, taking place in WWI.
But if you are interested in the original pulps many of them (along with a lot of scholarly publication) are available on Amazon.
I’m not an expert on all the various print runs, comics being more my thing, but it seems a lot has been collected past the original magazine format.
Read next:
As far as trades go, Doc next shows up in Doc Savage: The Silver Pyramid, which collects the late 80s DC miniseries.
There are also some contemporary trades (probably why DC published this one), Doc Savage: The Lord of Lightning and First Wave.
I haven’t read any of these others yet, so I can’t guarantee they will be as high quality as this book.
I personally reccomend Planetary and Tom Strong, as mentioned before in this review. Both have some examination of this kind of science adventurer, in addition to being good reads.
This book also got me in the mood for some classic Kirby art action, and I might jump into the recent Newsboy Legion hardcover if I can find the time.

Doc Savage Manual

Apart from the pun in the name, the Manual of Bronze is a slim below-comic sized volume, a totally unique object printed by Millennium Comics in 1992, during the brief time they had the Doc Savage comics license.

Millennium's work can be pointed out as the single most accurate interpretation of Doc ever, remembering details scattered through 150+ novels, like how Long Tom had a gold tooth that, whenever it was knocked out, he'd vow to get the guy responsible. Their comic adaptation of Repel (aka the "Deadly Dwarf") is one of the most artistically successful ever, and maybe one of the showiest, featuring Doc's archfoe, an evil gay millionaire midget who insists his henchmen walk around shirtless (yes, really).
The Doc Savage Equipment Vest or Utility Vest,more than like looked something like this.

The Manual of Bronze includes detailed character bios on Doc, the Gang, and a few selected villains (including the aforementioned Deadly Dwarf), and it's even a scrapbook of Doc Savage art by different artists, a prospect that must have been a lot more tantalizing before the invention of Google Image Search. My favorite is Adam Hughes, and here's why:

It's worth owning for no other reason than it's intimately researched and complete and shows diagrams of gadgets and equipment like Doc's Helldiver, the Fortress of Solitude, etc. I didn't care for the Supermachine Pistols' out-there design; since the machine pistol later on became a reality in the form of the uzi, wouldn't it stand to reason they'd look something like that, only with a curled magazine?
Actually,the drawing is inaccurate to Lester Dent often describes.Whatever Dent was describing,more than likely resembled a standard Tommy Thompson Machine Gun of the 1930's,but shorter.Jim Steranko's reconstruction has a front handgrip that can swing down for more steady aiming using both hands. It also has interchangeable barrels which includes a silencer/flash suppressor as described in the quotation from Red Snow, and an extended barrel for increased effective range.

The Super-Machine Pistol appeared to use a small bullet -- likely a .22 caliber. We are also told that the usual type of bullet used was a "Mercy bullet" which was a hollow metal shell that contained a rapid acting anesthetic liquid. In Brand of the Werewolf, we are told that one mercy bullet had enough anesthetic to render an average 70 kg man unconscious for around 30 minutes.

A hollow-shelled bullet would not penetrate well at all, which was a positive thing in a non-lethal bullet. But it would still need to deliver its payload through the skin and into the bloodstream. I submit that the most likely anesthetic used was a ketamine derivative dissolved in Di-Methylsulfoxide (DMSO) solvent. If you touch DMSO to your little finger, you will taste it in your mouth in less that 30 seconds. Ketamine is a very rapidly acting agent that renders a person unconscious within seconds but does not suppress respiration or blood pressure. In fact it supports cardiac and respiratory function. Its effects last for about 20-30 minutes. It would be most effective if the mercy bullet penetrated the skin, but if you got this mixture on your clothing and it touched your skin, it would be rapidly absorbed and would still knock you out in just a few moments.


In the Super Sagas, they describe other types of bullets:

-Regular Ball ammunition

-Explosive bullets that could bring down "a small house"

-Tracer bullets that burn brightly and can be tracked with the naked eye day and night

-Incendiary bullets that could light fires on flammable targets



We can speculate about other types of ammunition as well:

-"Death Cap" ammunition: Just like a Mercy Bullet but with 100 mg of hydrogen cyanide dissolved in DMSO. Even getting the liquid on your skin from one bullet would be rapidly fatal. They were designed for special commando operations. The shells were pointed and designed to penetrate more deeply than mercy slugs. You could never confuse the two becasue they looked so different frm each other. Eventually "Death Cap" pistol rounds would become standard issue for designated U.N.C.L.E field agents

-Steel-Jacketed Ball ammunition: For military use. These would meet the requirements of the Geneva Convention.

-Hollow Point: Expands on impact to deliver a maximum kinetic pulse.

-Armor Piercing: Using a tungsten carbide or hardened steel core, these could penetrate light steel plates that were one-half inch thick. Effective even against most modern light body armor.

-Ultra High Velocity ammunition: Delivers more kinetic energy knock-down power than a .38 special round. In either ball, jacketed ball, or hollow point forms.

-Bird-Shot round: Fires a spray of smaller projectiles like a shot gun. Most useful for small game.

-Sabotted Flechette rounds: High velocity nail-like sabotted flechettes designed to penetrate between the fibers in a bullet proof vest or heavy clothing. These can be tinged with poisons. A drop of ricin toxin on one of these flechettes hitting anywhere in the chest or head would cause almost immediate death.

-"Memory" Ammunition: This is an exotic alloy bullet that has "memory". On impact, it "remembers" to expand itself into into an enlarged disc or lattice work shape that does extensive damage in side the body.

-"Smart" Bullet: An exotic alloy which remains hard when striking soft tissue but becomes soft on hitting a hard surface. This type of bullet does not expand in the tissues and is more humane than a hollow point. But it also will completely discharge its kinetic energy if it hits a wall preventing ricochets and further penetration. It is considered safer in a crowded urban environment.

-Piezoelectric Shock rounds: Based on the electric rounds invented by Hareton Ironcastle for the ill-fated Maple White Land expedition in 1918. The initial shock of the discharge in the pistol is converted partly into an electrical charge by the exotic alloy bullet and an electric discharge is released on impact into the target. It has an effect similar to a TASER. The shock is only ~10,000 volts, but it can knock a man out if you hit him just right with one round or in several places at once. The exotic metal alloy that Ironcastle first used was very heat labile, so he could not use a standard gun powder. Contrary to popular belief, gun powders do not explode. They combust rapidly releasing large amounts of hot gas that push the bullet out of the gun while the flame heats up both the gun and the bullet in the process. Ironcastle developed a "cold gun powder" that released large amounts of gas adiabatically without heating either the bullet or the gun. It produced no flash and gave off a popping sound instead of a sharp report. The rifle that fired this special shell was dubbed an "air gun" but this was a misnomer.

-Silent Ammunition: Used for special operations. Uses any kind of projectile with Ironcastle's "cold gun powder" and a silencer. The powder charge could be set for subsonic muzzle velocity which might obviate the need for the silencer.

ADDENDUM: During World War II, Doc redesigned his Super-Machine Pistol to fire a higher caliber 9mm round for use in military operations. The variant ammunition included mercy bullet, jacketed ball, armor piercing, explosive, piezoelectric, incendiary, tracer, and sabotted flechette. All of these rounds, except the tracers, also came in silent ammunition form. After the war, Doc reverted to the .22 caliber Super-Machine Pistols again.

In any case, if you like to clip and save diagrams from comics about vehicles and gadgets (and I sure do), this is for you.

What's more, this is the only book of its kind thus far made for Doc Savage. Perhaps one day we'll get a more detailed illustrated reference. Until then, this one will have to do.

DOC SAVAGE #68: THE CRIMSON SERPENT

DOC SAVAGE #68: THE CRIMSON SERPENT

Monk and Ham are in real trouble

Recently published by Anthony Tollin’s Sanctum Books is Doc Savage
#68: “The Crimson Serpent” and “The Exploding Lake” [$14.95]. The
former was written by Harold A. Davis and Lester Dent and first saw
print in the August 1939 edition of Doc Savage Magazine.  The novel
was adapted for the second Doc Savage comic-book story and appeared
in Shadow Comics #2 [1940].  From the back cover:

A series of corpses bearing the bloody mark of the Crimson Serpent
leads Doc Savage to an ancient castle, modern-day conquistadors and
the Fountain of Youth.

“The Exploding Lake” was also written by Davis and Dent, appearing
in the September 1946 edition of Doc Savage Magazine:

The Man of Bronze journeys to South America to investigate the 
bizarre mystery of The Exploding Lake.

Comics writer Mike W. Barr provides the foreword to this volume and
Will Murray and Katrina Tollin add historical essays.  The Tollin
piece is “Elmer Stoner, Comic Book Pioneer” and it’s a fine look at
the life and career of one of the first African-American artists to
work in comic books. 

As with other Sanctum Books editions - The Avenger, The Shadow and
others - these Doc Savage double novels are entertaining journeys
into the heroic fiction of the pulp era.  They’re wonderfully made
books and I regularly despair I might never get around to reading
all of them.  But what I can and will do is let you know about the
new releases as they appear.  More Sanctum Books news is on the
way.

The Crimson Serpent (Doc Savage #78) (Vintage Bantam, S8367) Mass Market Paperback – January 1, 1974

by Kenneth Robeson (Author)

From the back cover: To the world at large, Doc Savage is a strange, mysterious figure of glistening bronze skin and golden eyes. To his amazing co-adventurers-the five greatest brains ever assembled in one group-he is a man of superhuman strength and protean genius, whose life is dedicated to the destruction of evil-doers. To his fans he is the greatest adventure hero of all time, whose fantastic exploits are unequaled for hair-raising thrills, breathtaking escapes and blood-curdling excitement. WEIRD TERROR. A ferocious killer is stalking the Arkansas swamp! As THE MAN OF BRONZE and loyal companions venture forth to unmask the dread villain, they encounter some of the most horrifying perils of their careers-including the Crimson Serpent itself!

Shane Black Bringing ‘Doc Savage’ Back To The Big Screen?

Shane Black Bringing ‘Doc Savage’ Back To The Big Screen?

Movie News By Rob Hunter on October 24, 2009 | (12) Comments

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Who’s excited to finally see a brand new Doc Savage movie up on the big screen?

Anyone? No one? Oh wait, Harry Knowles is! Normally at this point I would poke fun at his enthusiasm for questionable motion pictures, but after reading his post over at AICN this morning I’m actually almost as jazzed about it as he is. (Were I equally as jazzed as Harry I would have spelled ‘jazzed’ slightly differently.)

Per AICN, a new Doc Savage adventure is moving forward with Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci serving as producers. And no, that’s not what turned me on. The exciting part of the news is that the duo has brought on Shane Black to write the film’s screenplay. Black is best known for writing theLethal Weapon series, The Monster Squad, The Last Boy Scout, and The Long Kiss Goodnight. But he should be better known for writing and directing the phenomenal Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang.

Doc Savage is a pulp comic hero from the thirties and forties who transitioned into other mediums including radio and one feature film and also made a return to print in the sixties with a series of adventure novels. Per Wikipedia, the good doctor…

…was a physician, surgeon, scientist, adventurer, inventor, explorer, researcher, and, as revealed in The Devil Genghis, a musician. A team of scientists assembled by his father deliberately trained his mind and body to near-superhuman abilities almost from birth, giving him great strength and endurance, a photographic memory, a mastery of the martial arts, and vast knowledge of the sciences. Doc is also a master of disguise and an excellent imitator of voices.”

Ignoring the fact that a seemingly invincible and perfect genius makes for an incredibly boring character, there’s obviously a lot that can be done here adventure-wise. Savage also has a team of buddies known as The Fabulous Five, each with their own area of expertise. Again, ignoring the fact that a know-it-all like Doc Savage wouldn’t need anyone else’s expertise, a bad-ass team like this is always fun to watch in action as they walk in slow-motion towards the camera.

Knowles asked Black if he plans on updating Savage’s adventures to present day, and he replied in the negative saying the character cannot be seperated from the 1930′s. Black plans on incorporating Savage and The Fabulous Five into an original story, and while I have faith in him I can’t help but see visions of The Phantom and The Shadow dancing through my head.

Are you familiar with Doc Savage? Are you sad that Arnold Schwarzenegger is no longer available for the role?

DOC SAVAGE

MONDAY, APRIL 16, 2007

DOC SAVAGE

While wandering through a book store the other day, I was pleased to find that a small publishing company was reprinting old Doc Savage novels in the same format as they appeared in the original Doc Savage Magazine some 70 years ago. Doc Savage is one of those characters that has faded from the pop culture collective unconscious, which is a shame because he really was the prototype for so many super heroes that came later. His exploits were chronicled in a series of breezy, action-packed novels published in Doc Savage Magazine between 1933 and 1949. Once comic books got rolling in the late 30s, the young comic writers borrowed heavily from pulp adventure heroes like Doc, The Spider, and The Shadow. In my opinion, Doc Savage was the best of the lot.

Clark Savage, Jr., or “Doc” to his friends, was a supreme representation of human kind. In an effort to create the most perfect man, Doc’s father raised his son in isolation, trained by the best minds in every field of study. He was also taught to maintain a rigid exercise regimen which kept his body in peak physical condition. After his father’s death, the adult Doc chose to use his inherited wealth to help mankind and fight crime. Along with his old Army buddies, each an expert in his own chosen profession (law, chemistry, archeology, etc.), Doc and his gang became globe-trotting adventurers, often helping decent individuals who were preyed upon by evil-doers.

Doc probably would’ve been forgotten after his magazine run ended had it not been for Bantam reprinting the novels inpaperback form, starting in 1964. This was the era of James Bond and Batman and campy adventure, so Doc Savage fit right in on the book shelves. The books became enormously popular and Bantam continued to release new paperbacks on a regular schedule right into the mid-80s. I discovered Doc Savage through my Uncle Melvin, a voracious reader who remembered the stories from his adolescence. I soon started buying the books from a neighborhood second-hand book store, and I was hooked. In the 70s, Doc was at the height of his comeback with a Marvel comic book and a feature film in addition to the books. Okay, the movie was a piece of crap, but it never hurt his popularity. Although the broad characterizations and far-fetched plots are cringe-worthy to an adult, this stuff was right up my alley as a teenager. Also, in an era when a pocket calculator was high-tech, the clunky pre-WW II technology did not seem as out of date as it would today. With over 100 paperbacks published by the late 70s, I stockpiled Doc Savage books and picked one up whenever I was in the mood for a fast-paced thriller.

I was still reading my back log of paperbacks in college when Bantam decided to cease publication of the old pulp stories. A huge outcry from fans caused Bantam to rethink their decision, however, and the company reprinted the remaining stories in large, omnibus format books containing several novels in one volume. The last of the omnibus volumes came out in the early 90s, but Bantam tried to continue the series with new Doc Savage novels written by various authors. While I was excited to finally see all the original stories reprinted, I wasn’t too keen on the new books. I guess others felt the same way because Bantam discontinued publishing new novels after a couple of years. Not that they were poorly written, but by the early 90s, it seemed rather pointless to continue writing about a character who was stuck in a by-gone era.

Which is why I think Doc Savage has faded while his off-spring like Superman and Batman have flourished. When the novels were originally written, Doc Savage represented something new and exciting. His crime fighting techniques and the technology he used were state-of-the-art or even futuristic. He and his friends were dynamic and talked in the lingo of the day. However, once his stories ended in 1949, Doc remained stuck in the past. The super heroes he spawned, however, continued to grow and evolve, remaining eternally fresh. Ol’ Doc never got a regular update and became an anachronism. I’d love to see a Hollywood hotshot like J.J. Abrams or Sam Raimi take a crack at creating an updated version of Doc Savage, but I guess there wouldn’t be much point since there’s no market gain in the name other than among the over-40 crowd.

Anyway, to preserve the memory of the world’s first and greatest super hero, I created a custom action figure using one of the basic G.I. Joe figures that they were selling a few years back. I know that the Bantam paperbacks always showed Doc in a ripped-up shirt, but I don’t think he actually walked around all day in ripped-up shirts like the Hulk, so I chose to portray him as I assumed he looked most of the time, in a properly intact shirt. I repainted the head to reflect Doc’s bronze complexion, close-cropped haircut with widow’s peak, and his gold-flecked eyes. Although Doc usually avoided using guns, I pretend that it’s loaded with knock-out bullets. Long live Doc Savage!

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