THE DOC SAVAGE CLUB

In the 1960's it wasn't just the writings of Tolkien, Lovecraft and Howard that were resurrected and mass-marketed for the first time ever; the pulps also had their day in the sun. Comic strip heroes that had previously starred in their eponymously-titled magazines along with detective, horror, science-fiction and fantasy titles were mined for anything that would appeal to the seemingly never-ending and voracious appetites of readers seemingly looking for anything anachronistic that was repackaged and served up to them.

For more than one summer my buddy and I would spend hours at his backyard pool and pour over -- no, absorb like crazed amoebas -- our latest treasures purchased at the local drugstore or newsstand. Between comparing who got the best baseball or monster cards out of a wax pack and swimming as much as we could like the Sub-Mariner (after all, being in the pool was the best chance one had in duplicating those crazy poses drawn by Jack Kirby or Steve Ditko!) we also read insatiably.

Among the Marvel's, the DC's the Conan's and the Bond's, we devoured our fair share of the re-issued novels of Doc Savage, the legendary crime-fighter known as The Man of Bronze. Although we could never figure out how the strange, "trilling sound" he would make under stress in many of his stories would actually sound like, we were nevertheless endlessly transfixed with his adventures in strange places, inhabited by strange people -- and even a monster or three. We worked our way through many of the early ones, published by Bantam paperbacks with covers painted by James Bama (although we hadn't yet made the connection between these and his Aurora box art): "The Man of Bronze", "Brand of the Werewolf", "The Lost Oasis", "The Thousand-Headed Man", and, oh, even one called "The Monsters". We thrilled to these stories, imagining ourselves right in the middle of the action along with Doc, Littlejohn, Renny, Monk, Long Tom and the sword-cane wielding Ham. And yes, there was plenty of action. They were a fast read and our thirst for more was easily slaked by the enormity of titles being cranked out in succession.

Lester Dent's (a.k.a. Kenneth Robeson) stories were written in the typical fashion of the pulps with fast-paced plots and high adventure. Unfortunately, it was at the expense of good writing, much of which is downright weak. Even if one reads them in a nostalgic state of mind, they are often pretty hard going. He does find time to develop his main characters and villains and the imaginative story-telling sometimes overshadows the shortfalls. On a side note, one of the devices that Dent uses is Doc's mysterious "Fortress of Solitude" where he goes to suss out and solve problems too great to manage on the fly. You may recognize the name that became more recognizable after DC Comics appropriated it for a similar reason for their own hero, Superman.

A few years ago, I tried reading a Doc Savage novel and gave up on it as Dent's use of grammar was just too painful to read. However, since beginning to write this post, I'm giving Doc another try and I'm a few chapters into "The Polar Treasure" -- so far, so good!

Despite all this, Doc Savage and his crew were very popular and the mountain of books available to read are a testimonial to his enduring interest with fans of the pulp hero.

As late as the end of the 70's fan magazines were being privately printed by conservators of his exploits, as this example of the DOC SAVAGE CLUB READER (#10, 1979) can attest. It includes a long article on a TV show that I lived for, THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.