Doc Savage: The Man Of Bronze

Doc Savage is the popular nickname for Clark Savage Jr. a near-superman whose exploits were documented in over 181 issues of Doc Savage Magazine during the 1930's and 1940's. Reprinted by Bantam Books, they were released well into the 80's.

Doc Savage books are a special kind of book. The writing style is fast and furious (now called "pulp"), the pace is exciting. When you pick up a Doc Savage adventure you never know if you are heading for the center of the earth, the steaming jungles of South America, a lost city in Arabia or the Canadian wilderness but you know the action will be non-stop. Escapist fiction at its finest, the setting is the 1930's but the enemies and their plots are timelessly fiendish. Doc and his trusty associates battle criminals that cannot be touched by the authorities, masterminds that pull U.S. warships under the water, cause earthquakes, direct meteors that cause men to lose their brains, walk through solid metal, kill innocents with nefarious gadgets, etc. Criminal organizations that create monsters, steal millions, invent invisibility devices, sabotage American war efforts (remember the time period), lost cities where the streets are literally paved with gold, etc.

Doc Savage existed during a tough time for America. The great depression had reduced the average wage by 40%, with a family of 4 averaging just $1500 per year. The gangster era was ending but its influence still was pervasive. People were discouraged, big fancy buildings like the Empire State building were being completed but the common working man was struggling to survive. Low cost recreation became popular: board games, baseball and pulp novels. The pulp novels (so-called because they were printed on the cheapest high-pulp paper) fueled everymans desire for adventure and escape. Detective stories were very popular, the more lurid the crime the better, adventure stories were also popular usually with a hero at the helm so amazing he was almost a superhuman.

Enter Doc Savage.

To appeal to the typical male, he was so handsome virtually every woman fell for him and he frequently had to rescue the "damsel in distress".
To appeal to the poor, he had an unending supply of money and could do anything he wanted. He owned dozens of cars, boats, airplanes, even submarines!
Plus, he lived in the most lavish place imaginable.. the entire 86'th floor of a "prominent New York Skyscraper"
He was a super-genius and could out-think anyone.
He was a physical marvel with muscles that could crush an ordinary man like paper.
He fought super criminals, ones who had invented fantastic crimes that the police were powerless to stop.
Since most people were too poor to travel, Doc went everywhere in the world, saw every fantastic place that was known and plenty that were not known.
To appeal to the best in men and give them someone to identify with, he was incorruptible. He never cheated, never lied, never did the wrong thing, never killed anyone if he could help it, never failed to save the innocent and punish the guilty

Its no wonder he was so popular!

One thing that set Doc stories apart from others of the era was that Doc tried not to kill. Most pulp stories, whether it was westerns, war stories (such as G-8), or "modern" stories (such as Spider and Shadow) had lots of killing - the more the better. But Doc was different, he worked hard to save people, even the bad guys.

Another thing that set Doc stories apart was the gadgets, Doc loved them. Since he didn't use a gun very much because of his philosophy not to kill, he needed other methods of dealing with bad guys and he was always inventing new ways of taking them down, some of which were far ahead of his time, like car transmissions that actually shifted themselves! or small glass balls filled with knock-out gas, or infrared goggles, ultraviolet glasses and chalk enabled them to send messages without anyone knowing. .

In order to keep the plots moving and give dialog, Doc was assisted by his group of 5 associates....There is the chemist, the lawyer, the electrical wizard, the engineer and the archaeologist, each a master in his field, but tied together by their love of adventure. Together they comprised an unstoppable team of adventure hunters that circled the globe whenever danger threatened someone.

I like the early Doc Savage stories the best (the first hundred or so), in them the plots were wild, the writing style incomparable, and Doc used a wide variety of gadgets to get his job done. After a new publisher took over, a decision was made to remove gadgets and make Doc rely on his wits more. This sounds good but what happened is that Doc would spend an entire chapter trying to get away from bloodhounds for instance, whereas in the older books he would have just whipped out a bottle of pepper smell or anti-bloodhound or something. As a result the plots took less twists and turns in the later stories.

(For an interactive list of Doc's gadgets click here)

Doc Savage still lives on, new books are being published - still under the pen name of Kenneth Robeson. Comic Books come and go. Posters of some of the more famous Doc covers sell for hundreds of dollars and bronze busts appear regularly in the collectables magazines. If you are looking for a little escape from the realities of this world....looking for a few hours of excitement where thugs with blackjacks, gangs with Tommy guns and weird inventions battle for world domination....looking for fast paced reading in small easily digestible stories...then you might go down to a used book store and spend a buck and give Doc Savage a try. I did and have never regretted it.

Special Note: I have created an audio book of the "Birds Of Death" adventure and made it available for downloading. This unabridged reading of the story is enhanced with extensive sound effects. Note that since the story is copyrighted, you must already own a copy of the book in print before downloading it.

On to plot Writing Examples

Try out the Doc Savage WebRing, click on a button below to leave Starship Butler and move around the ring. Sometimes its slow so keep trying, its worth it!

(coming soon)