Sunday, March 17, 2024

DOC SAVAGE COVER GALLERY


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).





















6 comments:

  1. 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.

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  2. Bantam 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!

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  3. James 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.

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  4. Rick, 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!

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  5. That 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.

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  6. Dixon, 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.

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