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Doc Savage on the Funny Pages

Chuck Welch — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 00:48:24 +0000

Doc Savage Comic Strips by Dave Cockrum

We rarely feature Doc Savage material that doesn’t reside in the Hidalgo Trading Company. (Links get moved, sites close, and other problems just remind us it’s better to keep everything in-house.) That said, rush over to Rip Jagger’s Dojo to read The Return of Dave Cockrum’s Doc Savage — two weeks of Doc for the funny pages.

Doc Savage on the Funny Pages is a post from: Doc Savage Organized

The Doc Savage Waiting Game

Chuck Welch — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 14:13:49 +0000

May 1933

For the sake of argument pretend you were born around 1920.

Now jump forward to when you turned 13. (Let’s say May 17, 1933.)

You’ve been buying each issue of the new Doc Savage Magazine as soon as it hits the newsstand. (Where are you getting the money? You sell Grit.)

You become successful. From Grit you graduate to the New York Times. Pretty soon you’re in college, but you never stop buying Doc Savage Magazine. They’re taking up room in the attic, but Mom loves to have something of yours at home.

You’re kinda sad when you buy the last issue just before your 29th birthday. You hoped to have a son and introduce him to the Fabulous Five.

Flash forward to 1964. You’re 44 and you do have a son. He’s 13 and he finds the Bantam copy of The Man of Bronze at Parrino’s Drugstore. He’s hooked!

After a few months you’re disappointed to find they’re not in the order you remember. You’d get out the old issues for the boy, but you threw them away when your wife convinced you to build her a sewing room in the attic.

You had the pool room downstairs. What could you say?

The years go by. Bantam re-releases Docs in something that looks like random order. Sometimes one a month…sometimes months between reissues. It’s OK. Your son doesn’t care what order as long as Bantam publishes them all. he’s a collector.

It’s October 1990. You’re 70. You’re on the porch with your grandson. He’s 13. (Amazing how that works.) He brings you a book he found at Hawley-Cooke. He remembered you and his Dad talking about the Man of Bronze. He’s found a copy of Doc Savage Omnibus #13.

You look over Up From Earth’s Center and get that feeling again. You tell your grandson it’s been over 40 years since you saw that story and you still remember it.

“Fourty-one years and three months, grandpa.” You’re happy the kid inherited his mother’s smarts. You think aloud, “I wonder what the longest it was between when a novel came out and when Bantam reprinted it?”

The next day your grandson gives you a printout. It’s a list of all the novels and the length of time between pulp publication and Bantam reprint publication.

“I figured it out for you Grandpa. You had to wait an average of 37 years and 8 months between the time a novel was first published and the time Bantam reprinted it.”

You give your grandson a funny look. Gas, but he misinterprets it.

He shows you the list. “See here Grandpa? The Green Eagle came out in July 1941 and Bantam reprinted it in May 1968. That’s 26 years and 10 months.”

“That would have been the shortest wait. The longest was Bequest of Evil. It was first printed in February 1941, but Bantam didn’t reprint it until June 1990.”

You look up, “That’s, uh, almost 50 years.”

“49 years and 5 months, grandpa. I put them all on that printout I gave you.”

You smile at the boy and think, “He’ll give up all this foolishness as soon as he discovers girls.”

Bantam #	Magazine #	Wait #	Bantam Title	Years	Months
24	101	1	The Green Eagle	26	10
25	95	2	The Devil’s Playground	27	5
29	83	3	The Other World	28	9
30	76	4	The Flaming Falcons	29	5
23	68	5	Fortress of Solitude	29	6
37	81	6	Hex	29	7
40	82	7	The Dagger in the Sky	29	9
2	17	8	The Thousand-Headed Man	30	3
41	77	9	Merchants of Disaster	30	3
39	74	10	World’s Fair Goblin	30	4
42	75	11	The Gold Ogre	30	6
3	13	12	Meteor Menace	30	7
9	23	13	The Mystic Mullah	30	10
14	34	14	The Fantastic lsland	30	11
28	56	15	The Deadly Dwarf	30	11
12	29	16	Quest of Qui	31	0
7	14	17	The Monsters	31	2
15	33	18	Murder Melody	31	2
5	11	19	Brand of the Werewolf	31	3
21	43	20	Cold Death	31	4
57	79	21	Poison Island	31	5
13	25	22	Land of Always-Night	31	6
1	1	23	The Man of Bronze	31	7
6	7	24	The Lost Oasis	31	7
11	19	25	Fear Cay	31	8
4	4	26	The Polar Treasure	31	10
33	50	27	The Terror in the Navy	31	10
34	51	28	Mad Eyes	31	10
16	26	29	The Spook Legion	31	11
59	72	30	The Yellow Cloud	32	2
10	10	31	The Phantom City	32	3
8	2	32	The Land of Terror	32	4
50	61	33	Devil on the Moon	32	4
20	27	34	The Secret in the Sky	32	6
27	36	35	Mystery Under the Sea	32	6
36	45	36	Resurrection Day	32	6
56	65	37	The Giggling Ghosts	32	6
49	57	38	The Sea Angel	32	7
58	66	39	The Munitions Master	32	7
48	55	40	The Feathered Octopus	32	8
55	58	41	The Golden Peril	33	0
65	69	42	The Green Death	33	0
66	71	43	Mad Mesa	33	0
67	73	44	The Freckled Shark	33	0
63	64	45	The Submarine Mystery	33	2
32	32	46	Dust of Death	33	3
47	47	47	Land of Long Juju	33	3
62	62	48	The Pirate’s Ghost	33	3
54	53	49	He Could Stop the World	33	4
64	63	50	The Motion Menace	33	4
61	59	51	The Living Fire Menace	33	5
46	42	52	The Midas Man	33	7
53	49	53	The Mental Wizard	33	7
17	6	54	The Red Skull	33	9
18	8	55	The Sargasso Ogre	33	9
26	20	56	Death in Silver	33	9
52	46	57	The Vanisher	33	9
45	38	58	The Men Who Smiled No More	33	10
31	22	59	The Annihilist	34	0
19	5	60	Pirate of the Pacific	34	2
51	40	61	Haunted Ocean	34	2
22	9	62	The Czar of Fear	34	4
38	24	63	Red Snow	34	5
94	143	64	The Hate Genius	34	5
35	18	65	The Squeaking Goblin	34	8
44	21	66	The Sea Magician	35	2
78	78	67	The Crimson Serpent	35	2
98	146	68	Cargo Unknown	35	3
106	154	69	The Screaming Man	35	7
60	31	70	The Majii	35	8
97	141	71	Satan Black	35	8
43	12	72	The Man Who Shook the Earth	35	10
100	142	73	The Lost Giant	35	10
79	70	74	The Devil Genghis	35	11
82	86	75	The Evil Gnome	36	1
96	125	76	Mystery on Happy Bones	36	3
74	48	77	The Derrick Devil	36	5
75	52	78	The Land of Fear	36	5
81	80	79	The Stone Man	36	5
85	87	80	The Boss of Terror	36	6
101	136	81	The Pharaoh’s Ghost	36	7
104	137	82	The Man Who Was Scared	36	9
71	35	83	Murder Mirage	36	10
72	37	84	The Metal Master	36	10
73	39	85	The Seven Agate Devils	36	10
86	84	86	The Angry Ghost	36	11
87	85	87	The Spotted Men	37	0
103	134	88	The Whisker of Hercules	37	0
107	140	89	Jin San	37	0
70	30	90	Spook Hole	37	1
99	127	91	Hell Below	37	1
90	89	92	The Flying Goblin	37	2
77	44	93	The South Pole Terror	37	4
109	138	94	The Shape of Terror	37	5
76	41	95	The Black Spot	37	9
114	145	96	The Ten-Ton Snakes	37	9
83	67	97	The Red Terrors	37	10
91	91	98	The Purple Dragon	37	10
110	132	99	Death Had Yellow Eyes	37	11
130	178	100	The Swooning Lady	37	11
102	119	101	The Time Terror	38	0
129	177	102	The Angry Canary	38	1
69	15	103	The Mystery on the Snow	38	2
92	88	104	The Awful Egg	38	4
111	131	105	One-Eyed Mystic	38	5
93	90	106	Tunnel Terror	38	6
84	60	107	The Mountain Monster	38	7
108	121	108	The Black, Black Witch	38	7
105	117	109	They Died Twice	38	8
68	3	110	Quest of the Spider	39	0
113	123	111	The Talking Devil	39	7
142	175	112	The Pure Evil	39	7
89	54	113	The Magic Island	39	10
112	113	114	The Man Who Fell Up	39	11
147	174	115	I Died Yesterday	40	1
146	173	116	Once Over Lightly	40	3
145	172	117	Let’s Kill Ames	40	5
144	171	118	The Monkey Suit	40	7
80	16	119	The King Maker	40	8
143	170	120	No Light to Die By	40	9
116	112	121	The Speaking Stone	41	0
115	111	122	Pirate Isle	41	1
120	122	123	The King of Terror	41	2
134	152	124	The Thing That Pursued	41	3
182	181	125	Up From Earth’s Center	41	3
126	129	126	The Secret of the Su	41	4
125	128	127	The Goblins	41	5
136	155	128	Measures for a Coffin	41	5
133	149	129	King Joe Cay	41	6
181	180	130	Return From Cormoral	41	6
119	116	131	The Laugh of Death	41	8
151	166	132	The Disappearing Lady	41	8
155	169	133	Danger Lies East	41	8
180	179	134	The Green Master	41	9
88	28	135	The Roar Devil	41	11
122	115	136	The Fiery Menace	42	1
150	161	137	Fire and Ice	42	1
118	106	138	Peril in the North	42	2
121	114	139	The Three Wild Men	42	2
138	144	140	Strange Fish	42	4
141	147	141	Rock Sinister	42	5
179	176	142	Terror Wears No Shoes	42	5
154	158	143	Five Fathoms Dead	42	7
117	98	144	The Golden Man	42	10
137	135	145	The Three Devils	43	1
128	124	146	The Running Skeletons	43	2
172	165	147	The Devil Is Jones	43	3
159	153	148	Trouble on Parade	43	4
176	168	149	The Death Lady	43	4
153	148	150	The Terrible Stork	43	5
175	167	151	Target for Death	43	5
124	100	152	The Headless Men	43	6
135	130	153	The Spook of Grandpa Eben	43	6
170	162	154	Three Times a Corpse	43	6
167	157	155	Terror and the Lonely Widow	43	8
169	160	156	Colors for Murder	43	8
174	164	157	Death in Little Houses	43	8
171	159	158	Death is a Round Black Spot	43	9
177	163	159	The Exploding Lake	43	9
163	151	160	Terror Takes 7	43	10
162	150	161	The Wee Ones	43	11
168	156	162	Se-Pah-Poo	44	0
123	92	163	Devils of the Deep	44	2
158	139	164	Weird Valley	44	6
132	107	165	The Rustling Death	45	0
131	103	166	The Mindless Monsters	45	4
127	97	167	The All-White Elf	45	5
156	126	168	The Mental Monster	45	7
140	108	169	Men of Fear	45	8
139	102	170	Mystery Island	46	2
149	110	171	The Magic Forest	46	4
178	133	172	The Derelict of Skull Shoal	46	7
165	120	173	Waves of Death	46	9
164	118	174	The Devil’s Black Rock	46	11
160	105	175	The Invisible-Box Murders	47	8
166	109	176	The Too-Wise Owl	47	8
148	93	177	The Awful Dynasty	47	9
161	104	178	Birds of Death	47	9
157	99	179	The Pink Lady	47	10
152	94	180	The Men Vanished	47	11
173	96	181	Bequest of Evil	49	4

Originally published on DocSavage.Info and one of the many early incarnations of the Hidalgo Trading Company

The Doc Savage Waiting Game is a post from: Doc Savage Organized

The Timeline of the Bleeding Sun

Chuck Welch — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 14:04:08 +0000

Cover of Bantam 127

Quite a few years ago there was a shenanigan perpetuated by Doc Savage fans. Well, not all of the fans. Just a few. At dinner during a Pulpcon, a few of us marveled over the lists of Jay Ryan. In a homemade collection of sheets Jay has assembled all sorts of information about the various editions of Doc Savage. We wondered, “What if Jay has missed one?” Many eyes lit up and we agreed…there had to be a novel that Bantam had planned to publish. One that had been announced. Cover art commissioned. Maybe even a few copies were printed for book reviewers.

And Jay had missed it.

What follows is the timeline of that shenanigan. Written almost 14 years ago, the timeline has been resurrected for DocSavage.Org. As for Bleeding Sun itself, ask around at Pulpfest. Maybe someone has a copy you can borrow.

•

First, we had the idea for the shenanigan. Next we had a cover. Then we had the back cover blurb.

8-4-1998 Doc and his courageous crew race to the Far East to combat the Axis plague! Can they solve the mystery of an insidious new weapon certain to turn the tide of the war? What causes the sun to turn red and ships to disappear? Can mere light really turn a man to smoke and ashes? Will Doc and Monk save Ham in time or will he too die under a bleeding sun?

Then, Bill had a story idea.

Email 8-6-98 This is my idea on the story line. Doc and Long Tom are in Norfolk working on a new radar system for the Navy in preparation for the invasion of Japan. The head of Naval intelligence, Admiral J. Ryan, disappears after a strange red cloud appears in the Navy base in Norfolk and causes ships to melt and turns men to ashes. Doc analyzes the remains and discovers a rare element that is only found in the coastal islands of Japan. Doc and Long Tom immediately take off for Japan in hopes of finding Admiral Ryan before he reveals the secret plans for the invasion.

We didn’t have a real novel though. Bleeding Sun might have ended then and there. Then another email from Duane.

Email excerpt 8-13-98 Meanwhile, I have a weird idea: If you think it’s worth trying, I’d like to take the ideas everyone’s thrown out about #127 and actually take a stab at writing the “unpublished novel.” (Okay, okay, I’ve always had a grandiose dream of wanting to be one of the Kenneth Robesons.) You could serialize it on your site as the Chapter of the Week or something like that.

A great idea! Which led to a lot of hard work. Two years of hard work. Using the barest bones of the blurb he began writing Bleeding Sun. I promised to publish each chapter as he finished it. At a chapter per month I figured we’d have the novel finished by Pulpcon 2000. Of course, neither one of us counted on family and careers delaying the project.

I doubt Duane let Bill’s idea and my cover blurb dictate his novel. We didn’t discuss how he planned to plot the novel and my editorial interference was limited to a couple of suggestions.

Email 10-29-1998 After reading the two adventures that supposedly precede and follow “Bleeding Sun” — “Trouble on Parade” and “The Screaming Man” — it’s clear that the Doc who appears in 1945 is quite different from the Doc of the early 1930s. Even the language and tone that Dent uses is quite different. So I’ve tried to combine a little of both the early 1930s and 1945. I hope it works. — Duane

I know he had planned the tone and timing of the novel pretty early on. There are a few familiar names used as character names and I want to state emphatically that all characters in this novel are fictions and any resemblance to persons living or dead is unintended.

It was wonderful reading each new chapter as Duane mailed them to me. Even more I enjoyed being able to read the complete novel in one weekend last week. I hope you’ve enjoyed this welcome addition to the Doc Savage cannon as much as I have.

Now if I can just convince Duane to start writing Terror of the Death Devil

The Timeline of the Bleeding Sun is a post from: Doc Savage Organized

How the Doc Savage Novel ‘Bleeding Sun’ Came to Be

Chuck Welch — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 14:00:48 +0000

Reprinted from DocSavage.Info March 2001

shenanigan: “a playful or mischievous act; a prank.”

At first Bleeding Sun was a shenanigan. In 1998, a few attendees of Pulpcon pretended there was a Doc Savage novel named Bleeding Sun. There wasn’t. That was the fun.

Now it really is a novel. A fine work of fiction written by a true Brother of Bronze. No longer can anyone say, “The Bleeding Sun doesn’t exist. It’s a hoax.” No one can claim to own all the Doc Savage novels if they don’t have Bleeding Sun. (2012 Note: Finding the novel is possible. You just have to ask the right person at the Pulpfest dealer room.)

Then again maybe it wasn’t really a shenanigan. Maybe we just pretended to “discover” what already existed. For those who weren’t there…and only a few of us were… here is the true story of the Bleeding Sun….

In the summer of 1998 I attended my second Pulpcon. The year before I had a great time and I was looking for more of the same. This year was to be even better. Fate wanted me to meet my (then) future wife, Catherine. Thank you, Fate.

We did all the usual Doc Savage fan activities. We spent hours in the dealer room looking for coverless magazines and pristine Bantam’s. We sat and thumbed though a near mint copy of The Man of Bronze. We oohed and ahhed over Jay Ryan’s detailed account of the publishing history of Doc Savage. We argued over the relative merits of the various authors. We learned the difference between “e”, “e”, and “e.”

We were Doc fans at “the” convention. All those years of being the only Doc fan in town were forgotten as we had a great time. You won’t find a more dedicated group of crazy and inventive people than at Pulpcon.

The event that would reverberate for months in Doc fandom started with a simple comment over Jay’s book, “What if Jay had missed something?”

The cartoons are right: light bulbs literally appear over our heads.

Email excerpt 8-23-1998 I know it was in the dealer room where the subject was first mentioned. I know that we had been discussing the rather high price that was put on Doc doubles by some of the dealers. — Bill

The story developed over the next two days. The principal members of the shenanigan operated the more popular Doc Savage websites. People looked to us for information on Doc Savage.

What if we quietly inserted information about a Doc Savage novel that had been published by Bantam? A novel that never existed, but that would seem to be as real as any of the others.

Primarily over a single dinner we developed our “back story.” Our Doc Savage was novel scheduled to run late 1945 but was pulled at the last second. The editors at Street and Smith thought the novel was too wrapped up in the war to be published after VJ Day. So the manuscript was filed away until Bantam discovered it 30 years later. Of course they would publish it! Bantam editors would remember the cash they had reaped over The Red Spider.

We decided to insert the novel as Bantam Number 127. That’s when the novels went to Bantam Omnis. Our #127 would be the last numbered Bantam Doc Savage. We all knew that a Bantam 127/128 double had been announced but was pulled in favor of the first omni edition. It would only confuse the issue more.

Next, we had to have a novel synopsis. We attacked the story logically. Since it was to be set at the end of the war it needed to feature the war in the Pacific. The Japanese empire was called the rising sun. We bandied about plays on such words as “sun” “red” “blood” and “setting sun.” We thought about the red sun of the Japanese flag, which took us to “Bloody Sun” and finally to Bleeding Sun.

That would be our title: Mystery of the Bleeding Sun. Of course, Bantam would have shortened that to Bleeding Sun.

You may have noticed I haven’t identified all of the names of the perps of the shenanigan. I’ll leave it up to the dedicated Savageoligist to uncover the posts and interview the participants. Suffice it to say that we numbered at least seven and each had his or her role.

The story and title developed over an otherwise forgettable dinner. During the next day we would identify certain needs to carry out the shenanigan. We needed a blurb. I volunteered to write one. I had just completed an interview with the original Bantam blurb writer, Nick D’Annuzio, and thought I was up to the task.

Chris Kalb not only operated the prime Doc Savage website but was also an award-winning artist. (Later someone claimed the art had been put together by some “idiot with photoshop.”) He agreed to make up a Doc Savage cover….using Photoshop. We didn’t want to make it too hard to figure out.

Email excerpt 8-4-1998 The cover might be a little too nice considering the cheap crap Bantam put on the fronts of the first omni. BTW, looking at the list there’s plenty of time between the doubles (mar 85) and omnis (aug 86). –Chris

We would place that cover and blurb on all of our sites. There would be no special announcement. We wanted it to seem like it had been there all along. Crazy, huh?

I was taking quite a few pictures of the festivities. The previous year I had posted them on the Hidalgo Trading Company along with a record of the event. To sell the shenanigan, I took a picture of Catherine holding up a novel she had purchased. Chris finished the cover and digitally placed it on Catherine’s novel.

Now we had a picture of someone holding Bleeding Sun. It had to exist! We went home and started fixing our sites. Someone noticed the picture of Catherine and asked about Bleeding Sun. I feigned surprise they didn’t own a copy.

The story started to unravel when a copy was placed on eBay. I know it sounds like we were pushing our luck, but it seemed to make sense at the time. Only one person bid on the novel and he laughed when he learned of the joke.

One participant tried to enlist someone outside the group to help. In retrospect, that was the beginning of the end. The first rule of any shenanigan is “Don’t try to involve anyone who doesn’t have a sense of humor.”

Accusations, recriminations and many angry Usenet posts later the word was out. We had pulled a fast one. No one was really hurt and the alt.fan.doc-savage newsgroup was more alive than it had been for months.

Only one person seemed angry. Most laughed when they discovered the joke. We had a few emails thanking us for injecting some fun into fandom. I think the following two comments were representative of the majority response to the shenanigan:

Usenet excerpt Aug 13, 1998 As I happen to have been one of the people who actually bid on “Bleeding Sun” and therefore was “taken” by the “hoax”, I want to say to one and all, “Relax”. I appreciate the laugh and I really appreciate the fact that the only thing I lost was some time placing a bid on Ebay. It was a masterful hoax, and I applaud its originators. If, however, in any real or imagined guilt they may or may not feel, they desire to commit acts of restitution, I will gladly accept, though I do not compel this action, help in getting the last 3 Doc PB’s that I need for my collection.
Sincerely, Marcel Allen Lamb

Email 1-16-99 Just wanted you to know I fell for the Bleeding Sun book scam, and loved it! You have to understand I was in a vulnerable state when I saw it, I had just been at J__ G_____ site and found out the hardcover versions of the Bantam pb’s exist so I thought anything was possible. Thanks, Mike S_______

I tried to write Marcel recently. I wonder if he finally completed his collection? Maybe he bought those three to reach his Nirvana. I hope someone sends him a copy of Bleeding Sun so he will truly discover “completion peace.”

Chuck Welch
March 2001

How the Doc Savage Novel ‘Bleeding Sun’ Came to Be is a post from: Doc Savage Organized

Pulpfest 2012 is Mere Months Away

Chuck Welch — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 16:30:42 +0000

The annual pilgrimage for pulp fans is making a pair of changes this year. First off, the con is moving to downtown Columbus. From August 9th to the 12th, the Hyatt Regency Hotel will host Pulpfest. Room rates will be $109 a night, which includes parking for one. It’ll probably be best to split your room with someone without a car. You can find more information here about the hotel and surrounding amenities.

Since 2009 the Munsey Award has been awarded to “a deserving person who has given of himself or herself for the betterment of the pulp community, be it through disseminating knowledge about the pulps or through publishing or other efforts to preserve and to foster interest in the pulp magazines we all love and enjoy.” Starting in 2012, the Munsey has been renamed The Rusty Hevelin Service Award in honor of the man who guided Pulpcon and influenced the Pulp fan world for many years.

This year’s guest of honor is author Mike Resnick. Some highlights of Pulpfest 2012 programming include “How French Literature May Have Influenced American Pulp Heroes” with Rick Lai, Christopher Paul Carey will read from his novel co-authored with Philip José Farmer, the FarmerCon VII panelists will “discuss a sampling of the Burroughsian works of Philip José Farmer,” panels on the depiction of Mars in pulp fiction and J. Allen St. John, the artist most associated with Edgar Rice Burroughs, a panel on Conan of Cimmeria and much more.

The early bird Pulpfest registration this year is $30. Children 15 & younger are free. Dealer tables are $70 or $80, which does not include Pulpfest membership.

You can get more information about Pulpfest at the website, email, RSS feed, Facebook page or Twitter account.

Pulpfest 2012 is Mere Months Away is a post from: Doc Savage Organized

A 2000 Interview with Will Murray

Chuck Welch — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 11:23:29 +0000

From the interview... All of the books you wrote were based on his outlines? Every one of them. Does he have any left? Yeah, I've got enough for about seven or eight books. I started about four of them when Bantam Books pulled the plug on the series in '93. That's too bad. It was too bad, especially since I was caught in the middle of several books. I dearly wish to finish them, and I expect I will at some point, for some publisher. I would love to come in and do some new ones because that also is where a lot of the interest lies.

A 2000 Interview with Will Murray is a post from: Doc Savage Organized

Lester Dent Short Video Biography

Chuck Welch — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 14:17:42 +0000

A 2-minute film about Missouri pulp author Lester Dent, creator of Doc Savage. Third place winner in the Columbia Missouri 2007 Gimme Truth contest.

Interesting super-short documentary from a couple of years ago. See which Doc Savage fans you recognize from the final few seconds…

Lester Dent Short Video Biography is a post from: Doc Savage Organized

Doc Savage Was Born on…

Chuck Welch — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 18:46:54 +0000

When was Doc Savage born?

Philip Jose Farmer chose a day.

Will Murray thought PJF might have been thinking of the day Lester Dent starting writing the first novel.

But neither answer the question: What was the day Clark Savage, Jr. was born?

Determining the birth date of a fictional character is not a simple task. I began my quest to find Clark Savage’s birth date after reading about the confusion regarding the exact day and time in alt.fan.doc-savage. I had no idea where to start or the path to take, but that never stopped me before.

First, I looked to Doc Savage’s parents. No, not Clark Savage Senior and his wife, but Henry Ralston and Lester Dent. As Doc’s “creators” they had the perfect opportunity to set his birth date in stone.

They didn’t.

Nor did any of the numerous “Kenneth Robesons” who followed Dent (including the latest Robeson, Will Murray.) As Doc’s “mentors” these authors had the chance to give us Doc’s birthday. Oh, they hinted, but never a clear cut date.

Finally, Doc’s biographer, Phillip Jose Farmer, set the matter to rest by declaring Doc’s birth date to be November 12, 1901 based on evidence in the novels.

Unfortunately, he was mistaken.

He was close, very close, but in the rush to meet a deadline Farmer missed a few key clues. Just enough key clues to throw him off the track. Let’s look at Farmer’s path to the day and where he went astray.

The Search Begins in Ernest (er, Lester)

In “Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life” Farmer mentions that the editorial page of the May-June 1947 issue of Doc Savage states that “This thing started November 12, 1932. This brusque notation, so it happens, was made the day the writing of the first Doc Savage novel began….”

Farmer continues by relating that the notebook actually reads “This thing started December 10, 1932.” He proposes that “Dent was actually thinking of Doc’s birth date, November 12, when he told the editor about the first day of writing the Man of Bronze.”

In that one clue Farmer decides that Dent’s poor memory pointed to Doc’s birthday. Farmer was so sure that he didn’t investigate further. He took a little trouble to unearth 1901 as the year Doc was born.

That left fans everywhere with the belief that Doc was born November 12, 1901. Simple and end of story. Except, as I said, Farmer missed a couple of clues.

I went back to the canon to check Farmer’s work: the 180 odd novels published between 1933 to 1949.

Consulting them we find that only two mention Doc’s birth. In Peril in the North, Pat Savage mentions that “Monk, Ham, Johnny, Long Tom, and Renny are all getting ready to throw you a birthday party. They have everything all set. The trouble is, they haven’t been able to find you. Where have you been? They thought you’d be at that doings at the Ritz-Astoria.”

The “doings” Pat mentioned was described by Doc to Snooker as “reception for foreign notables and army commanders here at the hotel, and I am supposed to be in the receiving line.” Remember this, it’ll be important.

Of course, Peril in the North doesn’t mention the month or year. We can deduce the latest the events could have occurred though. Peril in the North was published in November 1941. We know it takes awhile to write a novel, edit it, and publish it. So, Doc’s birthday party wasn’t in November 1941. Farmer places the novel in his fine chronology in November 1940. It fits our available facts and with a little more digging we can set the day. Again, remember this, we’ll get back to it.

As an aside:

Doc does have an unusual reaction to hearing about the party.

“Doc Savage did not ordinarily talk a great deal. Now that he thought of it, he had talked more tonight than was his custom. He felt, for some reason or other, more free. It might be because it was his birthday. But the truth was that he had completely overlooked the fact that this was his birthday.”

Now we know why there are so few mentions of Doc’s birthday.

He just rarely noticed.

The Golden Man Knows Where to Start

The other novel that mentioned Doc’s birth was The Golden Man, published in March 1941. (By the way, Bantam published these two novels as a double: #117/#118. Weren’t they just the most considerate company?)

In the novel Doc has his world rocked by the “Golden Man.” Doc meets the Golden Man for the first time and the man recognizes Doc Savage on sight before any introductions are made. Doc is “amazed” and asks the man, “You know me?” Obviously, Doc was being sarcastic. After all, who wouldn’t know a bronze man well over 6 feet tall who has been mentioned in almost every major newspaper of the world for the past decade?

That aside, the Golden Man does let slip an important piece of info for our quest: “Since that stormy night when you were born on the tiny schooner Orion in the shallow cove at the north end of Andros Island, you have done much good, and many things that are great.” Wow, not exactly an impressive piece of biography, is it? But “Doc was floored, figuratively.” Doc knew of no living person who knew of his birthplace. It wasn’t even something he had shared with his crew.

So add two mentions in the novels to some generous research and add a smidgen of conjecture and, viola, Doc’s birth date! We’ve given you the novel excerpts. Let’s move on to Farmer’s conjecture. Though much research recounted in his book, Farmer set Doc’s birth year as 1901. The clues seem solid. We’ll leave it to you to investigate his reasoning. We’ll call this one a given.

The Golden Man states Doc’s birthplace is Andros Island. There are actually two islands called Andros. The first is off the coast of Greece. The second is one of the Bahama Islands. Farmer believes it is the latter island. He barely explains his reasoning for that decision. We can’t call the location a given. We’ll leave it to another article to decide this question.

I consulted world weather patterns and as many weather records for the time as I could find. I wasn’t able to unearth weather records for 1901 for either island and had to rely on seasonal averages. Both islands have a rainy season in November. According to the Climate Advisor (Gilbert Schwartz, 1977) this is the end of the season for the Bahama islands. The mean annual rainfall there ranges from more than 150 cm for the Northern islands to less than 65 cm for the Southern. Hurricanes occur primarily from May to September. The gist of the weather information is: a storm is easily possible on both islands in early November.

What about 1940?

Now on to the fun stuff. Just what was happening in New York City in November 1940? (Remember, we set that month as the “true date” for the events written as Peril in the North.) Let’s look first at November 12th, 1940 in NYC. There were showers and the weather report mentioned that it was “colder” than it had been. The New York Times reported that the forecast was for “rather cold” on the 13th. In the news there was still talk about the death of Neville Chamberlain on November 9th, and reports on the activities during the 22nd anniversary of Armistice Day (November 11th).

Nowhere in Peril in the North is any of this mentioned. The weather doesn’t seem to be cold. No one is mentioned wearing coats. There is not a hint of the cold causing breath to be visible. And especially, no mention of the death of one of the world’s leaders just days before.

Why? The answer is simple. Doc’s birthday is not November 12th. Farmer didn’t have the time to check every fact while writing the book. Some things he just had to propose and let history debate the question.

So when was Doc born? Well, Farmer was close. Very close. I started investigating the events of the city for the month of November. Some days fit the weather, some had events that were close, but no day fit as well as November 7, 1940.

Remember the “Ritz-Astoria” we mentioned earlier as the site for the conference? Street and Smith had no desire to allow a mention of THE Waldorf that might bring a lawsuit. Obviously, the various Robeson’s were instructed to tweak the names of actual locations. So, enter the actual location for the conference: on November 7, 1940 there were two conferences at the Waldorf-Astoria.

The first was the First Annual Medical Meeting of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis. The agenda included information by Dr. Herbert Hipps regarding their new operation to “improve the strength of selected muscles in victims of infantile paralysis that have failed to improve with rest.”

Can you imagine Doc, one of the world’s foremost surgeons, not attending that event? Immediately after the medical meeting was a meeting of the Allied Relief Fund and British War Relief Fund at the same hotel.

Remember that Peril in the North mentioned that Doc was at a meeting of foreign dignitaries and war types at the hotel. A war relief fund meeting would certainly attract “foreign dignitaries and war types.” Not to mention one of America’s leading citizens: Doc Savage. These two conferences are perfect for the events as related in Peril in the North.

Moving on to the weather for the 7th: The New York Times reported that the weather was mild for the day and the forecast was simply for “partly cloudy.” Sounds like another match for the 7th.

And so we conclude…

No date fits better than November 7th, 1901. It fits everything we know about Doc’s birthday. The possibility for storms exist at Andros Island in 1901. Moving to 1940 we find the reception that Doc attends in Peril in the North. The weather is just as was described in the novel. The facts simply favor the 7th. I guess you owe him a belated birthday card.

Any questions?

Doc Savage Was Born on… is a post from: Doc Savage Organized

Novel Submission Order

Chuck Welch — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 12:03:14 +0000

Doc Savage fans are a particular lot. Some have read the novels in the order they were published by Bantam. Some insist a better method is to read them in the order they were originally published. The latest “best order” is to read the novels in the order they were “submitted to Street and Smith.” Guess who has that order for you?
Year
# Mag Title
1932
001 The Man of Bronze
1933
002 The Land of Terror
003 Quest of the Spider
004 The Polar Treasure
005 Pirate of the Pacific
006 The Red Skull
007 The Lost Oasis
008 The Sargasso Ogre
009 The Czar of Fear
010 The Phantom City
011 Brand of the Werewolf
012 The Man Who Shook the Earth
013 Meteor Menace
014 The Monsters
015 The Mystery on the Snow
1934
016 The King Maker
017 The Thousand-Headed Man
018 The Squeaking Goblin
019 Fear Cay
020 Death in Silver
021 The Sea Magician
022 The Annihilist
023 The Mystic Mullah
024 Red Snow
025 Land of Always-Night
026 The Spook Legion
027 The Secret in the Sky
1935
028 Spook Hole
029 The Roar Devil
030 Quest of Qui
031 Cold Death
032 The Majii
033 Mystery Under the Sea
034 Murder Melody
035 The Fantastic lsland
036 Dust of Death
037 The Seven Agate Devils
038 Murder Mirage
039 The Midas Man
040 The Black Spot
041 The Men Who Smiled No More
042 The Metal Master
043 Haunted Ocean
044 The South Pole Terror
045 Land of Long Juju
046 The Vanisher
047 Mad Eyes
048 He Could Stop the World
049 The Terror in the Navy
050 The Derrick Devil
1936
051 The Mental Wizard
052 The Land of Fear
053 Resurrection Day
054 Repel
055 The Motion Menace
056 Ost
057 The Sea Angel
1937
058 Devil on the Moon
059 The Golden Peril
060 The Feathered Octopus
061 The Living Fire Menace
062 The Mountain Monster
063 The Pirate’s Ghost
064 The Red Terrors
065 The Submarine Mystery
1938
066 The Giggling Ghosts
067 The Munitions Master
068 Fortress of Solitude
069 The Devil Genghis
070 The Green Death
071 Mad Mesa
072 The Yellow Cloud
073 Merchants of Disaster
074 The Freckled Shark
075 World’s Fair Goblin
076 The Gold Ogre
1939
077 The Flaming Falcons
078 The Crimson Serpent
079 Hex
080 Poison Island
081 The Stone Man
082 The Angry Ghost
083 The Dagger in the Sky
084 The Other World
085 The Spotted Men
086 The Evil Gnome
087 The Boss of Terror
088 The Flying Goblin
1940
089 The Purple Dragon
090 Tunnel Terror
091 The Awful Egg
092 The Headless Men
093 The Awful Dynasty
094 Devils of the Deep
095 The Men Vanished
096 The Devil’s Playground
097 Bequest of Evil
098 The All-White Elf
099 The Golden Man
100 The Pink Lady
101 The Magic Forest
102 The Mindless Monsters
103 The Rustling Death
104 The Green Eagle
105 Mystery Island
1941
106 Birds of Death
107 Peril in the North
108 The Invisible-Box Murders
109 Men of Fear
110 The Man Who Fell Up
111 The Too-Wise Owl
112 Pirate Isle
113 The Speaking Stone
1942
114 The Three Wild Men
115 The Fiery Menace
116 The Laugh of Death
117 They Died Twice
118 The Devil’s Black Rock
119 The Time Terror
120 The Talking Devil
121 Waves of Death
122 The King of Terror
123 The Black, Black Witch
124 The Running Skeletons
125 Mystery on Happy Bones
1943
126 The Goblins
127 The Mental Monster
128 Hell Below
129 The Secret of the Su
130 The Spook of Grandpa Eben
131 The Whisker of Hercules
132 According to Plan of a One-Eyed Mystic
133 Death Had Yellow Eyes
134 The Derelict of Skull Shoal
135 The Three Devils
136 The Pharaoh’s Ghost
1944
137 The Man Who Was Scared
138 The Shape of Terror
139 Weird Valley
140 Jin San
141 Satan Black
142 The Lost Giant
143 Violent Night
144 Strange Fish
145 The Ten-Ton Snakes
146 Cargo Unknown
147 Rock Sinister
148 The Terrible Stork
149 King Joe Cay
1945
150 The Wee Ones
151 Terror Takes 7
152 The Thing That Pursued
153 Trouble on Parade
154 The Screaming Man
155 Measures for a Coffin
156 Se-Pah-Poo
157 Terror and the Lonely Widow
158 Five Fathoms Dead
159 Death is a Round Black Spot
160 Colors for Murder
1946
161 Fire and Ice
162 Three Times a Corpse
163 The Exploding Lake
164 Death in Little Houses
165 The Devil Is Jones
166 The Disappearing Lady
167 Target for Death
168 Danger Lies East
169 The Death Lady
170 No Light to Die By
171 The Monkey Suit
1947
172 Let’s Kill Ames
173 Once Over Lightly
174 I Died Yesterday
175 The Pure Evil
176 Terror Wears No Shoes
1948
177 The Angry Canary
178 The Swooning Lady
179 In Hell, Madonna
180 The Green Master
181 Return From Cormoral
1949
182 Up From Earth’s Center

Originally published on the Hidalgo Trading Company and DocSavage.Info

Novel Submission Order is a post from: Doc Savage Organized

183 08/91 Escape from Loki

Chuck Welch — Thu, 01 Aug 1991 10:17:00 +0000

A brilliant supervillain has dreamed up the ultimate secret weapon ... a desperate masterstroke that will assure victory for the Kaiser -- or obliterate mankind from the face of the earth! Young Clark Savage and his team come together for the first time in this action-packed saga of World War I. Though only sixteen, he's the real Doc -- hard fisted, cerebral, the compassionate Man of Bronze. Shot down behind enemy lines. Captured by a German baron and his exotic mistress. Escaped. Recaptured. Finally imprisoned in escape-proof salt mines -- where the baron's experiments on human guinea pigs could result in a sinister weapon of total destruction. It's Doc's young mind against evil's keenest intellect. And unless Doc wins, the war could end for the Allies -- in a blaze of genocidal fury!

183 08/91 Escape from Loki is a post from: Doc Savage Organized