Scans_Daily

See, this sequence is the sort of thing I would like to see Batman stories emphasise more. Observation and deduction are skills essential to solving mysteries and catching criminals. You don't see much of this lately, partly because it's harder for the writer to come up with than fight scenes and gore, but also because CSI-type gadgetry and doubletalk has taken over. One great aspect of the Doc Savage pulps was that (having been trained since infancy by experts),he was a multi-skilled genius with Olympic-level physical prowess ("Sherlock Holmes in the body of Hercules"). In one story, he ran up stairs with a full-grown man under each arm, then glanced into a ransacked room and could tell it had been searched twice-- because spilled liquids which dry at different rates were equally gelled. (This is one reason his fans say, "Doc Savage: adventure hero or THE adventure hero?").

This sequence is from Marvel's black & white DOC SAVAGE magazine, second issue from October 1975. Story by Doug Moench, art by Tony DeZuniga. Most of the story is a wild yarn about a huge cavern civilization of Reptilian people, a Mad Viking, lost treasure, that sort of thing. But to learn about this, the Man of Bronze casually shows some impressive detective ability. It's exactly the sort of engimatic clue that Lester Dent used to toss around in the pulps. What is that strange coin?

This page by Doug Moench and Tony DeZuniga appeared before the story in the second issue of Marvel's black & white DOC SAVAGE magazine. This title appeared in 1974 to tie in with the George Pal movie starring Ron Ely as Doc, but that film didn't exactly kick off a new franchise as successful as James Bond. Actually, it was a dud. My theory is that it would have been decent Saturday afternoon fun but Pal was instructed by the powers that be to Camp it up (*ack!*). So it goes and too bad.I really like the way this page introduces Doc and his five aides, the layout is attractive and the prose is just bombastic enough. It's not as etched into my DNA as the back cover blurb to the Bantam paperbacks ("To the world at large, Doc Savage is a strange mysterious figure..."), but it's decent. I hope by putting it up here, maybe one or two browsers will be curious enough to pick up a Doc reprint and become still another fan of "the greatest adventure hero of all time."The magazine also featured some Doc interpretations by other artists as well.

( Ed Davis art, with the cast and some bad guys )

( Neal Adams, complete with the Doc Savage oath )

( James Bama, THE definitive portrait )

This appeared on the 1964 Bantam paperback of THE MAN OF BRONZE, starting a series of reprints that lasted until all 181 original novels had been put back into print, along with a handful of new adventures by Will Murray and Philip Jose Farmer


And then, today's mystery guest. What the heck, I'm not even going to provide any clues.

( not a fat balding middle-aged guy with a cigar )