Every Doc Savage fan seems to remember how he or she discovered Doc. Care to share your story with other fans? You can by clicking "What's your Doc Savage story?" below...or share your memories of specific novels throughout DocSavage.Org by clicking on "Click here to comment on this novel"...

"I found my first Doc Savage novel in my closet. I have no idea how The Phantom City made it into there. Of course, you could have lost Jimmy Hoffa in my closet when I was a kid. In any case, I devoured that book in a day. (Days were longer then.) It was May of 1975. I had just turned 15. I was the perfect age to come under the spell of a hero. It took many years of haunting book stores, yard sales, and one, I swear to God, date to complete my collection. Then they just sat there wrapped in plastic. Until I discovered the web...and Doc Savage fans everywhere! Now, I've pulled my novels out again. And I just bought a few copies for reading purposes. I wonder what time the used bookstore opens Saturday?"

I first read Doc Savage in French. I followed in that way my big sister's footsteps. I was 11 the first time I picked up a Doc but I put right back on the library shelf because of the back cover (I have to explain now that the front cover of Bantam's The Man of Bronze was on the back covers of the French books). I found that guy a little too freaky to my taste. But I came to my senses a few months later and got hooked. I would actually practise my typing with excepts of the books.

It seems Doc has always been with me though I only started reading the adventures last year. I was the youngest of 5 and, growing up in the late 60s and 70s, it was hard not to be aware of The Man of Bronze. I used to see the books around the house mixed in with Peanuts, B.C., and Wizard of Id paperbacks which my whole family loved. Being very young, the image of Doc on those Bantam paperbacks scared me. One in particular, #90 (The Flying Goblin) was extremely creepy with Doc bathed in blood red light. Needless to say I never read one. Then around 1980 I began collecting Spider-Man comics, picking up back issue for $0.75 a piece (remember those days?) at a local used book store. The store was narrow with the door on one end and the cash on the other with comics behind the counter. They had a shelf full of Doc books and I used to feel creeped out just walking by them. Later I used to see the omnibuses at my favourite book store and, intrigued by the covers and wanting to conquer my fear, I almost bought a few but I thought they were just collections of previous Bantams -- reruns in other words. Then in 1996 I moved from my hometown of Montreal to Vancouver. Feeling nostalgic one day in a huge used book store I remembered Doc and thought the time had come give him a try. So I picked up Bantam #1: The Man Of Bronze. Well, guess what? I DIDN'T LIKE IT! Though I was pleased to learn that it was written in 1933 (a favourite period of mine) the story didn't do anything for me. Too bad, too because the store had two drawers FULL of Docs. Singles, doubles, omnibuses, the works. A year later I was at a garage sale and 3 of the Doc books were up for sale at $0.25 each. And lo and behold, the dreaded #90 was one of the three. Well, I had to pick them up and decided to give Doc one more try. It would be fitting if #90 was the one that hooked me but as it happened #16 was the culprit. The Spook Legion was just a lot of fun and I "got" what Doc was all about and rushed down to that store with the full drawers only to find that the Doc renaissance craze had begun and the drawers were empty. Through the internet I was able to put together a list of all the Doc covers which I gave to a used book store more than eager to hunt the books for me and began hunting on my own picking up 30 or so books before everyone started overcharging for them. Now, it's a year later and I'm only missing 8 of the Bantams. If anyone out there has spare copies of: Doubles 123/124, 125/126 and/or omnibuses 2, 5, 7, 9, 10, 12 please get in touch with me and help a new fan complete his collection. Anyway that's my story. Thanks for coming this far with me.

In 1970, I was nine years old. I was just beginning to collect comic books, which would become a serious, lifelong thing for me beginning the very next year. I had a Captain America coloring book that made a big impression on me; he remains my favorite superhero. One day, while waiting with my mother for her order at a little, local shoe repair/used book store near my home in Casper, WY, I spotted The Red Skull. I didn't know who Doc Savage was, but I knew the Red Skull as Captain America's nemesis. I had no idea who the figure on the cover of the book was, but was awestruck by the ultra-realistic Bama painting (I actually believed it was a photograph; give me a break-I was only nine years old). I was not disappointed by the read, either. The multitude of gadgets; the good-natured and witty ribbing between Monk and Ham; Doc's amazing foresight; the curiously melodious yet harsh names (Buttons Zortell, Lea Aster, Nate Raff, et al.). And that was the beginning of a serious, lifelong thing for me.

It was 1975 and I was in the 6th grade. At Batcholor Middle School we always got these book handouts (I don't remember if they were from Schoolastic or what) but they were very much like the ones kids bring home today. This particuler handout had a very cool looking book in it called "Doc Savage the man of Bronze". On the cover was Ron Ely whom I knew from the Tarzan show reruns I always watched and liked. I think it cost .75 cents and I had to ask my mom for the money. I remember reading this book and being blown away by the characters, action, and Ideas of honor courage and self improvment. Very cool stuff.

When I was about 11 or so, I found a box full of my dads old paperbacks. There were alot of them, but Doc Savage popped out at me, mostly because of the cover art, the first one I found and read was Red Snow. Amazing stories, Ham is my favourite "second" if you will, they are all cool. The Man who Shook the earth was another really great one, they are all fine books but those are my two most favourite stories. And in this age of HAARP technology, and human cloning, smart bombs, and VX gas, the Savage books throw into sharp relief our need to constrain, and understand science, and human nature.