Reading Doc Savage in 2025

[@CourteousKitsch]

I have been reading Doc on Kindle, but once again, you managed to peak my interest in going for the physical media. Those illustrated reprints look tempting.

[@JereWilkerson]

I discovered Doc Savage in 1972. My first Doc adventure was The Devil's Playground. I have read the majority of the Doc adventures. The new Doc adventures by Will Murray are really good also. In one of the newer adventures he teams up with The Shadow. I am glad you are reading these they are great books.

[@bobbehers1625]

Glad you are feeling better my friend!

[@GrammaticusBooks]

Fantastic Doc Savage collection Michael! I have a few of these laying around...I really should read one!

[@michaelsamerdyke108]

I remember seeing Doc Savage books on every paperback book stand when I was a kid in the Sixties and Seventies. Was never tempted to buy one. The movie "Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai" was meant as a parody of/tribute to Doc Savage. I really like that film.

[@stevezeidman7224]

I read most of the Doc Savage books in paperback in the 70s. I loved his crew as well. It’s pretty good stuff. The shirt always shredded!

[@MysteryandMayhem-gr7nn]

I always love a good Doc Savage story. There are a few of them on my shelves. I might join you in reading them in 2025.

[@victorvonmetal6384]

Love Doc Savage and the pulp heroes. Fun stuff.

[@Falconlibrary]

Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry was a huge Doc Savage fan and based the crew dynamics on Savage and his Fabulous Five.

[@jamesholland8057]

Sounds like Stan Lee read them too.

[@deselby6669]

Remembering Ron Ely playing the part of Doc Savage :The Man of Bronze...fun stuff....Great review MKV..

[@StevenEverett7]

Really terrible movie but it was still great fun! I always enjoyed Ron Ely as Tarzan. I believe he also starred in an episode of Fantasy Island.

[@deselby6669]

@StevenEverett7 They played heavy on the cheese..

[@deselby6669]

Gotta love Doc Savage's comedic eye twinkle as used before by Tony Curtis:..The Great Leslie in the movie 'The Great Race'...Nerd Alert.Ahoy.!

[@nedmerrill5705]

You can always tell Doc Savage in the artwork. He's the one with the shredded shirt. Roger wears Doc Savage hand-me-downs.

[@anotherbibliophilereads]

There are hundreds of Doc Savage books. At 1 per month I have to live to my 90s to read them all.

[@williamjackson6705]

Will you also be reading Philip Wylie's " The Savage Gentleman" which I read was a precursor to the Doc Savage character? I would love to hear a comparison.

[@ellesse3862]

Cool, thats the next 15 or so years of Reading Reports that just got even more entertaining, thanks Doc. Lester Dent vid? Only yesterday you said you'd make that soon, I was rewatching an older episode about Doc Savage, spooky continuity. Some years ago there was a great resource book for fans, A History of the Doc Savage Adventures, documents the pulps, books, comics, radio, film. Glad you feel better, good to know Roger's smelly poultice remedies still work.

[@tonette6592]

Glad you are better already! I thought this was the Weekend Reading Report to start with so Hallelujah, we get another tomorrow.

[@kurtreichenbaugh6284]

I think Lost Oasis also featured Doc's beautiful and capable cousin Pat Savage. She showed up frequently in earlier Doc adventures.

[@SG-js2qn]

I remember discovering and starting to read these in the summer of 4th grade. My first sampling of fiction written for an older audience. It greatly improved my language skills, like overnight. The book was "Spook Hole," found on the shelf at JC Penny's, I think - not your usual book spot - while my mother was shopping for other things and wanted to distract me.

[@RichardFay]

At the rate of one story per month, you're going to be reading them for more than 15 years.

[@deeebeee1758]

Fun factoid, Steve Holland played Flash Gordon in the fifties series - very much a bit of cold war propaganda. God, I loved doc Savage as a kid. I read all the Doc Savage I could get my hands on in order a few years ago (probably more than a decade now - I'm afraid to do the math), but that was nowhere near the 181 books. I found it didn't really make a huge difference other than to reveal Dent's style and interests. Not all are written by Dent and you'll know which ones are and aren't pretty quick. It is pretty amazing how inventive the plots are, even given how the characters are just little puppets doing their thing over and over. I did the same with The Shadow, which did benefit from reading in order a little bit more. Both series are more cookie cutter in the early years and shift through the war years significantly. If you can get Operator #5, many are reprinted by Adventure House, those are best read in order, and they are mad and amazing. Viva pulp! Real werewolf, lol. Oh, dude. Kunstler's cover is boss, but, yeah, hope you like Scooby Doo.

[@russworks2882]

Operator 5 was such a straight-laced hero, but the adventures of his I've read are just insane apocalyptic nightmares. I was subscribing to _High Adventure_ when they serialized the 13-part "Purple Invasion" series; it broke my brain.

[@StevenEverett7]

I'm sure that you'll enjoy reading or re-reading this series Michael. If I'm not mistaken the werewolf story is where Pat Savage is introduced. Back in the day I always had a crush on her. 💕

[@SuperDevilDoctor]

Doc adopts his “No Killing” policy in QUEST OF THE SPIDER. (In the previous story, LAND OF TERROR, he’s a lethal bronze terminator!)

[@michaelestabrook2018]

had his own fortress of solitude before superman.

[@telstar9367]

I'm a big fan of the Doc Savage books and treasure my well-loved complete set of the Bantam paperbacks.

[@thewestisthebest]

Excellent!!

[@freelivefree7221]

Yeah, it was mean of Superman to steal Doc's Fortress of Solitude. I mean he just flew in there, lifted it with his super strength and took off. They were in a legal dispute for years over it. I actually think of Doc (and the Shadow) as proto-superheroes rather than superheroes. I can certainly see an argument for him being a superhero though. Doc was quite influential. Kirby acknowledge his influence on the Challengers of the Unknown and the Fantastic Four. Alan Moore's Tom Strong was influenced by Doc (and Tarzan and Reed Richards and Superman.) It was one of the best of his America's Best Comics line. (If for no other reason than it did not have a lot of the weird sex stuff Moore put in other comics.) The creators of Jonny Quest, after the show was cancelled, tried to create a Doc Savage animated series. I think there is even some promotional art floating around the internet for it. That would've been awesome.

[@russworks2882]

Credit to art director Len Leone for having Bama change his original painting of Doc's hair to the more futuristic skull-cap widow's peak. It was likely the unique design combined with Bama's moody art that was the major reason for the series' success. Steve Holland played almost every hero on paperback covers in the 60's and beyond. He was also the Avenger, the Phantom, and even Conan, as painted by Bob Larkin. What few people know is that the bear that modeled for the cover of _The Polar Treasure_ also modeled for Frazetta's cover of _the Silver Warriors_ .

[@fangs1972]

And now James Patterson has a Doc Savage (Jr.) book for the pleasure of you and Roger 😮

[@slasher0630]

Is that big one you have a facsimile?

[@stephennootens916]

You can skip the new ones by James Patterson and one of his writers.

[@tristanhogue4690]

I started reading the first one. It’s alright

[@jamesholland8057]

Read one in 1970. Loved the 1930’s ambience.

[@ps2gamingforever364]

What we really need is an adventure comic about a real life super hero, Donald Trump The Man of Orange.

[@Elfenlied8675309]

On the note of Doc Savage being a "bronze giant" while only being 6 feet tall. When the first story was published in 1933, the average US height for men was 5'8, So he technically would have been a little taller than most men. Even Doc Savage's weight in 1933 would have been significant compared to the average man, the US average weight in 1933 was 129 pounds, and Doc was said to be 200 pounds. According to Google at least, modern Doc Savage stories make him 6'8! They actually made him a giant lol.

[@PhillipBurger-x4g]

The adult me prefers the later war and post-war Docs, which are often tightly plotted spy/espionage thrillers like "Danger Lies East" and "No Light to Die By." RKO Studios should have adapted some into a movie series starring Lex Barker, who would have rocked the torn shirt.

[@dqan7372]

Love the covers. Not feeling the widow's peak though. But it's probably an easy easier style to maintain, easier to draw too.

[@BookBlather]

Huh. I had no idea the numbered bantam ones were in the wrong order. I’ve only read the first one. I bought the next five, but it sounds like they’re not actually the next five. I’ll have to save this video. Interestingly, my copies also have numbers on the spine that are slightly off from the numbers on the cover, as though it was part of a series that also contained other books. Although my Meteor Menace (No 4 on the cover) and The Polar Treasure No 5 on the cover) both say No 5 on the spine, even though they look the same and are the same price, so definitely appear to be the if the same Bantam “series). So who knows 🤷‍♂️