Doc Savage
From Open Encyclopedia
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Doc Savage is a fictional character, one of the most enduring pulp heroes of the 1930s and 1940s.
Contents |
Overview
The character was created by Street and Smith Publications executive Henry Ralston and editor John Nanovic, but fully realized by Lester Dent, who wrote most of the 190 short novels in the series, which originally ran from 1933 to 1949, published by Street and Smith and now owned by Condé Nast Publications. The "house name" of the author was Kenneth Robeson. The final eight novels were written in the early 1990s by novelist Will Murray and published under the house name.
After the development of Henry W. Ralston and the further treatment by Lester Dent, Doc Savage almost became a Superman in the fight against the evildoers of the world. Dent, who wrote most of the 190 novels, described the hero as crossing between Sherlock Holmes with his deductive abilities, Tarzan with his outstanding physical abilities, Craig Kennedy with his scientific education and Abraham Lincoln with his goodness.
Doc Savage, who is really Doctor Clark Savage, Jr., also known as "the Man of Bronze", is a physician, surgeon, scientist, adventurer, inventor, explorer, researcher and musician - a renaissance man. A team of scientists (assembled by his father) trained his mind and body to near-superhuman abilities almost from birth, giving him great strength and endurance, a photographic memory, mastery of the martial arts, and vast knowledge of the sciences. "He rights wrongs and punishes evildoers."
He resides on the top floor of a New York City skyscraper, implicitly the Empire State Building. Doc owns a fleet of cars trucks, aircraft, and boats which he stores at a secret hangar on the Hudson River, under the name The Hidalgo Trading Company. He sometimes retreats to his Fortress of Solitude in the Arctic. All of this is paid for with gold from a Central American mine the natives gave his father and his father left to him.
Dent based the look of Doc Savage on the film actor Clark Gable. His height and weight varied, with most of the books listing his height as 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m). Reprint book covers by illustrator James Bama depict Doc as a muscular man with bronze skin and a crew cut with a pronounced widow's peak, usually wearing a partially ripped shirt. Bama based his version of Doc on model/actor Steve Holland.
Doc's companions in his adventures (the "Fabulous Five") are:
- lawyer Brigadier General Theodore Marley "Ham" Brooks and his pet monkey Chemistry
- industry|industrial chemist Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Blodgett "Monk" Mayfair and his pet pig Habeas Corpus
- construction engineer Colonel John "Renny" Renwick
- electrical engineer Major Thomas J. "Long Tom" Roberts
- archaeologist and geologist William Harper "Johnny" Littlejohn
Doc's cousin Patricia "Pat" Savage also joins Savage for many of his adventures, despite Doc's best efforts to keep her away from danger. Pat chafes under these restrictions, or indeed any effort to protect her simply because she is female.
Doc's greatest foe, and the only one to appear in more than one book, was the Russian-born John Sunlight. Early villains were bent on ruling the world, but a late change in format had Savage operating more as a private investigator breaking up smaller crime rings.
In early stories some of the criminals captured by Doc received "a delicate brain operation" to cure their criminal tendencies. The criminals returned to society fully productive and unaware of their criminal past. A non-canonical comic book series published in the 1980s states these were actually lobotomies.
Dent, the series' creator and principal author, had a mixed regard for his own creations. Though usually protective of his creations he could be derisive of his pulp output. In interviews, he stated that he harbored no illusions of being a high-quality author of literature; for him, the Doc Savage series was simply a job, a way to earn a living by "churning out reams and reams of sellable crap."
All of the original stories were reprinted in paperback form by Bantam Books in the 1960s through 1990s. The first 96 paperbacks reprinted one of the original novels per book. The next 15 paperbacks were "doubles", reprinting two novels each. The last of the original novels were reprinted in a numbered series of 13 "omnibus" volumes of four to five stories each. It was one of the few pulp series to be completely reprinted in paperback form. There is an active market for used Doc Savage reprints in all formats, on eBay and elsewhere. There are also dozens of fan pages and discussion groups on the Internet. All out-of-copyright stories are available online at Blackmask Online.
A camp Doc Savage movie was made in 1975, starring Ron Ely as Doc who confronts smuggler Captain Seas. It was the last film produced by George Pál. A sequel, Doc Savage: The Arch-Nemesis of Evil, was announced but was never filmed.
Also notable is that some of the gadgets described in the series became reality, including telephone answering machines, the automatic transmission, night vision goggles, and hand-held automatic weapons.
Novels
| Month | Year | Novel Title | Author |
| Mar. | 1933 | The Man of Bronze | Lester Dent |
| Apr. | 1933 | The Land of Terror | Lester Dent |
| May | 1933 | Quest of the Spider | Lester Dent |
| Jun. | 1933 | The Polar Treasure | Lester Dent |
| Jul. | 1933 | Pirate of the Pacific | Lester Dent |
| Aug. | 1933 | The Red Skull | Lester Dent |
| Sep. | 1933 | The Lost Oasis | Lester Dent |
| Oct. | 1933 | The Sargasso Ogre | Lester Dent |
| Nov. | 1933 | The Czar of Fear | Lester Dent |
| Dec. | 1933 | The Phantom City | Lester Dent |
| Jan. | 1934 | Brand of the Werewolf | Lester Dent |
| Feb. | 1934 | The Man Who Shook the Earth | Lester Dent |
| Mar. | 1934 | Meteor Menace | Lester Dent |
| Apr. | 1934 | The Monsters | Lester Dent |
| May | 1934 | The Mystery on the Snow | Lester Dent |
| Jun. | 1934 | The King Maker | Harold Davis/Lester Dent |
| Jul. | 1934 | The Thousand-Headed Man | Lester Dent |
| Aug. | 1934 | The Squeaking Goblin | Lester Dent |
| Sep. | 1934 | Fear Cay | Lester Dent |
| Oct. | 1934 | Death in Silver | Lester Dent |
| Nov. | 1934 | The Sea Magician | Lester Dent |
| Dec. | 1934 | The Annihilist | Lester Dent |
| Jan. | 1935 | The Mystic Mullah | Lester Dent |
| Feb. | 1935 | Red Snow | Lester Dent |
| Mar. | 1935 | Land of Always-Night | W.Ryerson Johnson/Lester Dent |
| Apr. | 1935 | The Spook Legion | Lester Dent |
| May | 1935 | The Secret in the Sky | Lester Dent |
| Jun. | 1935 | The Roar Devil | Lester Dent |
| Jul. | 1935 | Quest of Qui | Lester Dent |
| Aug. | 1935 | Spook Hole | Lester Dent |
| Sep. | 1935 | The Majii | Lester Dent |
| Oct. | 1935 | Dust of Death | Harold Davis/Lester Dent |
| Nov. | 1935 | Murder Melody | Lawrence Donovan |
| Dec. | 1935 | The Fantastic lsland | W.Ryerson Johnson/Lester Dent |
| Jan. | 1936 | Murder Mirage | Lawrence Donovan |
| Feb. | 1936 | Mystery Under the Sea | Lester Dent |
| Mar. | 1936 | The Metal Master | Lester Dent |
| Apr. | 1936 | The Men Who Smiled No More | Lawrence Donovan |
| May | 1936 | The Seven Agate Devils | Lester Dent |
| Jun. | 1936 | Haunted Ocean | Lawrence Donovan |
| Jul. | 1936 | The Black Spot | Lawrence Donovan |
| Aug. | 1936 | The Midas Man | Lester Dent |
| Sep. | 1936 | Cold Death | Lawrence Donovan |
| Oct. | 1936 | The South Pole Terror | Lester Dent |
| Nov. | 1936 | Resurrection Day | Lester Dent |
| Dec. | 1936 | The Vanisher | Lester Dent |
| Jan. | 1937 | Land of Long Juju | Lawrence Donovan |
| Feb. | 1937 | The Derrick Devil | Lester Dent |
| Mar. | 1937 | The Mental Wizard | Lester Dent |
| Apr. | 1937 | The Terror in the Navy | Lester Dent |
| May | 1937 | Mad Eyes | Lawrence Donovan |
| Jun. | 1937 | The Land of Fear | Harold Davis/Lester Dent |
| Jul. | 1937 | He Could Stop the World | Lawrence Donovan |
| Aug. | 1937 | Ost | Lester Dent |
| Sep. | 1937 | The Feathered Octopus | Lester Dent |
| Oct. | 1937 | Repel | Lester Dent |
| Nov. | 1937 | The Sea Angel | Lester Dent |
| Dec. | 1937 | The Golden Peril | Harold Davis/Lester Dent |
| Jan. | 1938 | The Living Fire Menace | Harold Davis/Lester Dent |
| Feb. | 1938 | The Mountain Monster | Harold Davis/Lester Dent |
| Mar. | 1938 | Devil on the Moon | Lester Dent |
| Apr. | 1938 | The Pirate's Ghost | Lester Dent |
| May | 1938 | The Motion Menace | W.Ryerson Johnson/Lester Dent |
| Jun. | 1938 | The Submarine Mystery | Lester Dent |
| Jul. | 1938 | The Giggling Ghosts | Lester Dent |
| Aug. | 1938 | The Munitions Master | Harold Davis |
| Sep. | 1938 | The Red Terrors | Harold Davis |
| Oct. | 1938 | Fortress of Solitude | Lester Dent |
| Nov. | 1938 | The Green Death | Harold Davis |
| Dec. | 1938 | The Devil Genghis | Lester Dent |
| Jan. | 1939 | Mad Mesa | Lester Dent |
| Feb. | 1939 | The Yellow Cloud | Lester Dent |
| Mar. | 1939 | The Freckled Shark | Lester Dent |
| Apr. | 1939 | World's Fair Goblin | William G.Bogart/Lester Dent |
| May | 1939 | The Gold Ogre | Lester Dent |
| Jun. | 1939 | The Flaming Falcons | Lester Dent |
| Jul. | 1939 | Merchants of Disaster | Harold Davis |
| Aug. | 1939 | The Crimson Serpent | Harold Davis |
| Sep. | 1939 | Poison Island | Lester Dent |
| Oct. | 1939 | The Stone Man | Lester Dent |
| Nov. | 1939 | Hex | William G.Bogart/Lester Dent |
| Dec. | 1939 | The Dagger in the Sky | Lester Dent |
| Jan. | 1940 | The Other World | Lester Dent |
| Feb. | 1940 | The Angry Ghost | William G.Bogart/Lester Dent |
| Mar. | 1940 | The Spotted Men | William G.Bogart/Lester Dent |
| Apr. | 1940 | The Evil Gnome | Lester Dent |
| May | 1940 | The Boss of Terror | Lester Dent |
| Jun. | 1940 | The Awful Egg | Lester Dent |
| Jul. | 1940 | The Flying Goblin | William G.Bogart |
| Aug. | 1940 | Tunnel Terror | William G.Bogart |
| Sep. | 1940 | The Purple Dragon | Harold Davis/Lester Dent |
| Oct. | 1940 | Devils of the Deep | Harold Davis |
| Nov. | 1940 | The Awful Dynasty | William G.Bogart |
| Dec. | 1940 | The Men Vanished | Lester Dent |
| Jan. | 1941 | The Devil's Playground | Alan Hathway |
| Feb. | 1941 | Bequest of Evil | William G.Bogart |
| Mar. | 1941 | The All-White Elf | Lester Dent |
| Apr. | 1941 | The Golden Man | Lester Dent |
| May | 1941 | The Pink Lady | Lester Dent |
| Jun. | 1941 | The Headless Men | Alan Hathway |
| Jul. | 1941 | The Green Eagle | Lester Dent |
| Aug. | 1941 | Mystery Island | Lester Dent |
| Sep. | 1941 | The Mindless Monsters | Alan Hathway |
| Oct. | 1941 | Birds of Death | Lester Dent |
| Nov. | 1941 | The Invisible-Box Murders | Lester Dent |
| Dec. | 1941 | Peril in the North | Lester Dent |
| Jan. | 1942 | The Rustling Death | Alan Hathway |
| Feb. | 1942 | Men of Fear | Lester Dent |
| Mar. | 1942 | The Too-Wise Owl | Lester Dent |
| Apr. | 1942 | The Magic Forest | William G.Bogart/Lester Dent |
| May | 1942 | Pirate Isle | Lester Dent |
| Jun. | 1942 | The Speaking Stone | Lester Dent |
| Jul. | 1942 | The Man Who Fell Up | Lester Dent |
| Aug. | 1942 | The Three Wild Men | Lester Dent |
| Sep. | 1942 | The Fiery Menace | Lester Dent |
| Oct. | 1942 | The Laugh of Death | Lester Dent |
| Nov. | 1942 | They Died Twice | Lester Dent |
| Dec. | 1942 | The Devil's Black Rock | Lester Dent |
| Jan. | 1943 | The Time Terror | Lester Dent |
| Feb. | 1943 | Waves of Death | Lester Dent |
| Mar. | 1943 | The Black, Black Witch | Lester Dent |
| Apr. | 1943 | The King of Terror | Lester Dent |
| May | 1943 | The Talking Devil | Lester Dent |
| Jun. | 1943 | The Running Skeletons | Lester Dent |
| Jul. | 1943 | Mystery on Happy Bones | Lester Dent |
| Aug. | 1943 | The Mental Monster | Lester Dent |
| Sep. | 1943 | Hell Below | Lester Dent |
| Oct. | 1943 | The Goblins | Lester Dent |
| Nov. | 1943 | The Secret of the Su | Lester Dent |
| Dec. | 1943 | The Spook of Grandpa Eben | Lester Dent |
| Jan. | 1944 | According to Plan of a One-Eyed Mystic | Lester Dent |
| Feb. | 1944 | Death Had Yellow Eyes | Lester Dent |
| Mar. | 1944 | The Derelict of Skull Shoal | Lester Dent |
| Apr. | 1944 | The Whisker of Hercules | Lester Dent |
| May | 1944 | The Three Devils | Lester Dent |
| Jun. | 1944 | The Pharaoh's Ghost | Lester Dent |
| Jul. | 1944 | The Man Who Was Scared | Lester Dent |
| Aug. | 1944 | The Shape of Terror | Lester Dent |
| Sep. | 1944 | Weird Valley | Lester Dent |
| Oct. | 1944 | Jin San | Lester Dent |
| Nov. | 1944 | Satan Black | Lester Dent |
| Dec. | 1944 | The Lost Giant | Lester Dent |
| Jan. | 1945 | Violent Night | Lester Dent |
| Feb. | 1945 | Strange Fish | Lester Dent |
| Mar. | 1945 | The Ten-Ton Snakes | Lester Dent |
| Apr. | 1945 | Cargo Unknown | Lester Dent |
| May | 1945 | Rock Sinister | Lester Dent |
| Jun. | 1945 | The Terrible Stork | Lester Dent |
| Jul. | 1945 | King Joe Cay | Lester Dent |
| Aug. | 1945 | The Wee Ones | Lester Dent |
| Sep. | 1945 | Terror Takes 7 | Lester Dent |
| Oct. | 1945 | The Thing That Pursued | Lester Dent |
| Nov. | 1945 | Trouble on Parade | Lester Dent |
| Dec. | 1945 | The Screaming Man | Lester Dent |
| Jan. | 1946 | Measures for a Coffin | Lester Dent |
| Feb. | 1946 | Se-Pah-Poo | Lester Dent |
| Mar. | 1946 | Terror and the Lonely Widow | Lester Dent |
| Apr. | 1946 | Five Fathoms Dead | Lester Dent |
| May | 1946 | Death is a Round Black Spot | Lester Dent |
| Jun. | 1946 | Colors for Murder | Lester Dent |
| Jul. | 1946 | Fire and Ice | William G.Bogart/Lester Dent |
| Aug. | 1946 | Three Times a Corpse | Lester Dent |
| Sep. | 1946 | The Exploding Lake | Harold Davis/Lester Dent |
| Oct. | 1946 | Death in Little Houses | William G.Bogart/Lester Dent |
| Nov. | 1946 | The Devil Is Jones | Lester Dent |
| Dec. | 1946 | The Disappearing Lady | William G.Bogart |
| Jan. | 1947 | Target for Death | William G.Bogart |
| Feb. | 1947 | The Death Lady | William G.Bogart |
| Mar. | 1947 | Danger Lies East | Lester Dent |
| May | 1947 | No Light to Die By | Lester Dent |
| Jul. | 1947 | The Monkey Suit | Lester Dent |
| Sep. | 1947 | Let's Kill Ames | Lester Dent |
| Nov. | 1947 | Once Over Lightly | Lester Dent |
| Jan. | 1948 | I Died Yesterday | Lester Dent |
| Mar. | 1948 | The Pure Evil | Lester Dent |
| May | 1948 | Terror Wears No Shoes | Lester Dent |
| Jul. | 1948 | The Angry Canary | Lester Dent |
| Sep. | 1948 | The Swooning Lady | Lester Dent |
| Jan. | 1949 | The Green Master | Lester Dent |
| Apr. | 1949 | Return From Cormoral | Lester Dent |
| Jul. | 1949 | Up From Earth's Center | Lester Dent |
| Jul. | 1979 | In Hell, Madonna | Lester Dent |
| Aug. | 1991 | Escape from Loki | Philip Jose Farmer |
| Oct. | 1991 | Python Isle | Lester Dent/Will Murray |
| Mar. | 1992 | White Eyes | Lester Dent/Will Murray |
| Jul. | 1992 | The Frightened Fish | Lester Dent/Will Murray |
| Oct. | 1992 | The Jade Ogre | Lester Dent/Will Murray |
| Mar. | 1993 | Flight into Fear | Lester Dent/Will Murray |
| Jul. | 1993 | The Whistling Wraith | Lester Dent/Will Murray |
| Nov. | 1993 | The Forgotten Realm | Lester Dent/Will Murray |
Cultural references
- Doc Savage is referenced in Truman Capote's book In Cold Blood.
- In Philip José Farmer's sexually explicit A Feast Unknown, (1969) the "Ultimate Nature Man" (Tarzan) confronts his urban counterpart and younger half-brother (Doc Savage, called Doc Caliban), which continues and concludes in The Mad Dwarf and Lord of the Trees.
- In his book Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life, Philip José Farmer lays out Savage's key role in the fictional Wold Newton family linking Doc to Tarzan and numerous other fictional heroes and villains.
- Doc Savage has starred in a number of comics adaptations, dating back to the 1940s, put out by numerous publishers. However, Doc Savage: The Monarch of Armageddon, a four-part limited series released by Millennium Publications in 1991-92 is generally considered to be the best and most faithful of the many comic adaptations of the character. Written by novelist Mark Ellis and penciled by Green Lantern artist Darryl Banks, the Comics Buyer's Guide Catalog of Comic Books refers to their treatment as the one "to come closest to the original, capturing all the action, humanity and humor of the original novels."
- Doc Savage has influenced the creation and development of several fictional heroes, including Superman, Batman, Buckaroo Banzai, and Alan Moore's Tom Strong, and was one of the main influences in the creation of Doc Brass in Warren Ellis's Wildstorm Comics series Planetary. He was also the clear inspiration for Tim Byrd's Doc Wilde, a modern day hero who adventures with his kids in a series of juvenile adventure tales illustrated by Australian comic book artist Gary Chaloner, as well as Chaloner's own comic hero Red Kelso.
- The animated series The Venture Bros. also references Doc in the recurring hallucination/flashbacks that Doctor Thaddeus "Rusty" Venture has about his father, Jonas, who is obviously based on Doc.
- The good doctor makes a cameo appearence as a character in the Roger Zelazny novel Roadmarks
- Doc has teamed up with The Thing and Spider-Man in a couple of issues of Marvel Comics, during the time Marvel was published a Doc comic.
External links
- Doc Savage Organized
- Doc Savage Information
- Doc Savage:The Supreme Adventurer
- The 86th Floor
- Flearun: a Doc Savage Discussion group
- Dr. Hermes Reviews All 182 books reviewed
- Doc Savage on the Web
- Downloadable Doc Savage
- {{{2|{{{title|Doc Savage}}}}}} at The Internet Movie Database
- Doc Savage, l'Homme de Bronze Humorous French mini-website about the moviede:Doc Savage
