Outside of the pulps themselves, Bantam Books published the series that most fans of Doc Savage are familiar with. With eye-catching lettering and cover designs, these paperbacks were highly visible on the spinner racks. It didn't hurt that a large percentage of the covers were painted by James Bama who had a knack with the art of the fantastic that included his run on the earlier Aurora monster model box art.
The series ran for 96 books, just a few shy of one hundred, the last being MYSTERY ON HAPPY BONES, published in October 1979 with a cover by Bob Larkin. One indication of their longevity, when the first book came out in 1964 the cover price was 45-cents and the price for the last book was $1.75
All covers are by Bama with the exception of METEOR MENACE (James Avati), BRAND OF THE WEREWOLF (Mort Kunstler), and THE LOST OASIS and THE LAND OF TERROR (Douglas Rosa).
These Bama covers are so tasty! Amazing stuff! I passed on a near full set of the Bantams several years ago because of the price, and I did the right thing at the time, but I sure wish I had another tumble at that.
ReplyDeleteBantam also released a slipcase set with 5 or six of the first books way back when. I remember having the money to buy it, but I already had all the books!
ReplyDeleteJames Bama is absolutely a great artist. My only issue is that Doc's "widows peak" is jusssst a bit low. Sometimes right between the eyebrows. A little low for a hairline, lol. His covers were my first visual depiction of Doc when I was a kid, and I always thought he was wearing some type of skull cap/helmet. Still, he was the definitive artist for the character.
ReplyDeleteRick, Doc's "skullcap" hairstyle as painted by Bama is a bit inexplicable and I agree that his widow's peak is exaggerated. I seem to recall that Dent described Doc's hair as darker than his bronze skin tone, but on some of Bama's covers it looks the opposite. Go figure -- artistic license, I guess!
ReplyDeleteThat bizarre buzzcut is absolutely the image that jumps to mind when I think Doc Savage, the covers of those invaluable Bantam reprints. But I was never sold on the widow's peak. And as I saw more and more original covers, I really prefer those.
ReplyDeleteDixon, me too. The buzzcut almost makes him look like an alien. There must be a story behind it, but so far I haven't come across one yet.
ReplyDelete