Doc Savage meets Dracula, Godzilla, the Rocketeer

[dr_hermes.insanejournal.com]

What an unexpected treat for Doc fans. Keith "Kez" Wilson has fabricated forty of these "What If" covers using art by the great James Bama from the Bantam paperbacks. In the original pulps, the seemingly supernatural menaces which the Man of Bronze faced always turned out to have a rational explanation. But imagine Doc coming up against the likes of the Wolf Man, or Count Dracula? Or science fiction threats like the Blob, the Creature from the Black Lagoon or Klaatu and Gort? The Doctor in his Tardis? Fu Manchu? IF these books were authorized by Conde Nast and someone like Will Murray was writing them, I'd cash in my life insurance to buy them if I had to.Wilson has also done clean-ups and make-overs on those Bantam Doubles where the Bob Larkin art was reduced to teeny little images. It's great to see how they would have looked as regular covers.

Thanks, "Kez!" I hope you realize how much your efforts are appreciated. It made my day brighter.

http://www.miscmayhemprods.com/doc/

For comics legitimacy, here is a splendid page by Doug Moench and Tony DeZuniga from Marvel's 1974 black & white series... a good introduction to the character.

Comments

[darkblade.insanejournal.com]

The Godzilla cover uses the picture of Godzilla from the DVD of Godzilla 2000. A terrible choice, it doesn't have the rustic older feel that you'd associate with Doc Savage.

[flyingfoxman.insanejournal.com]

Yeah, but it doesn't it just SCREAM Godzilla to you? The way Bela Lugosi just screams Dracula. In case you want to sell to the illiterate yet culturally literate.

[dr_hermes.insanejournal.com]

I might prefer an image from the 1954 GOJIRA for the atmosphere.

There's a bit of irony in the cover with the Rocketeer, considering Doc guest-starred in Dave Stevens' original Rocketeer story.

[foxhack.insanejournal.com]

Dracula is watching you masturbate?

[blakeyrat.insanejournal.com]

I think all the images are just taken from movie posters. Yah, would have been nice to see more creativity.

[blakeyrat.insanejournal.com]

It *is* an awesome poster.

Not nearly as good as this Gamera one though:



It's got a little bit of everything. Gamera. Star Wars. Superman. WTF.

[filkertom.insanejournal.com]

Oh.

Freakin'.

Yeah.

[yaseen101.insanejournal.com]

You should know that Stoker's description of Dracula included the fact that he had hair on his palms.

[foxhack.insanejournal.com]

In Transylvania, Dracula masturbates you!

[foxhack.insanejournal.com]

GIANT FARTING TURTLE IN SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!

[dr_hermes.insanejournal.com]

$20, same as in town.

[dr_hermes.insanejournal.com]

Like what? Art from magazines or book covers? I think the movie stills go well with Bama's attention to detail, where most art would have a jarring contrast.

[yaseen101.insanejournal.com]

There was another moment when Johnathan Harker cut himself shaving and Dracula who was next to him, jumps at him to lick off the blood. Then later when Harker is seduced by Dracula's brides, Dracula himself comes and drives them off screaming, "He is mine!". That's hell of a lot of subtext for something written in the 1800's.

[dr_hermes.insanejournal.com]

At one point, Street & Smith was considering putting out the Doc Savage pulp twice a month, like the Shadow.

[dr_hermes.insanejournal.com]

You should read Stoker's "Lair of the White Worm." A lot of repressed unhappy sexual imagery packed into a story.

[geoffsebesta.insanejournal.com]

good stuff. Also liked the Mummy and Gamera.

[thekamisama.livejournal.com (from insanejournal.com)]

Somehow I imagine a pulp cover Godzilla looking like a cross between the old original Japanese movie posters and the Dave Dorman G-art done for Dark Horse.

[yaseen101.insanejournal.com]

I heard Stoker wrote some short stories set in different periods in his Dracula Novel. Is the 'Lair of the White Worm' one of them? I will check it out anyway though, Stoker's pretty impressive though, I never knew a book written in the 1800's could be so interesting.

[icon_uk.insanejournal.com]

Perhaps more of the artists OWN take on the characters instead of taking screenshots or publicity material and incorporating them.

Some of these work very well, some... not so much, I really can't see Doc Savage and the Tom Baker Doctor (or the Tennant one) working that well as a team, though I like the George Pal War of the Worlds, and the Creature from the Black Lagoon.

[dr_hermes.insanejournal.com]

"Lair of the White Worm" is an unrelated story.

If you haven't read any 19th Century books you found interesting, you might want to try some Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. THE PRISONER OF ZENDA by Anthony Hope is also fun. I liked H Rider Haggard's SHE and KING SOLOMON'S MINE but there's a lot of travelogue material in them.

[dr_hermes.insanejournal.com]

I don't know if the guy who did these has any artistic ability of his own. A lot of people don't (as many webcomics show). He took the art by James Bama from the Bantam paperbacks and incorporated it with stills or publicity material from old movies, producing some amusing and evocative results.

Personally, I would really like to have seen a Doc Savage crossover with the Shadow. Both Will Murray and Philip Jose Farmer mentioned the possibility but it didn't happen. Doug Moench said he planned a big clash between Doc and Fu Manchu back when Marvel had rights to both characters, but again it didn't come to pass.

[yaseen101.insanejournal.com]

Sherlock Holmes and Dracula were pretty much the only work of fiction from the 19th Century I've read. I'll check out your recommendations though.

[dr_hermes.insanejournal.com]

To be honest, almost all fiction from the 1800s will seem rather slow-paced and leisurely to a modern reader. You have to sort of shift your mental gears to enjoy it.

[yaseen101.insanejournal.com]

Not a problem for me, I try to treat each work of fiction as it's own thing.

[dr_hermes.insanejournal.com]

That's great. I've kind of lost some of that ability, it takes more of a conscious decision to let a new author sink in.

[yaseen101.insanejournal.com]

I've lost some of it too some time ago but I'm trying to regain it back.

[khamelea.insanejournal.com]

"'Lair of the White Worm.' A lot of repressed unhappy sexual imagery packed into a story."

The title isn't too bad, either.

[thatnickguy.insanejournal.com]

More like Bram STROKER!

Right? Right? *holds his hand up for a high five*

[psychop_rex.insanejournal.com]

DC did one, back when they were publishing the adventures of both characters. I only have a couple issues of it, but I thought it worked out pretty well.