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The good thing about owning a web site with rules is one can break them at will. We usually do not review books by publishers not on the MWA list, but when I saw The DOC SAVAGE pulps at a booth at BEA, I was immediately transported back to the summers of my childhood. I must have been about 10 or 12 when I found a cache of old pulp fiction magazines in a friend's closet. I borrowed them and read them avidly, lying on the porch swing of our summer home at the beach. DOC SAVAGE was a favorite, along with The Lensmen series and a few others. DOC SAVAGE: THE CZAR OF FEAR and WORLD'S FAIR GOBLIN are reprints of novels from 1933 and 1939 respectively. In all the stories, Doc and his assistants - Lt Col Andrew Blodgett Mayfair (Monk), the world's greatest chemist (beside Doc of course); Col John Renwick, (Renny), an engineer; Maj Thomas J Roberts (Long Tom), an electrical wizard; Brig Gen Theodore Marley Brooks (Ham), a lawyer; and William Hayes Littlejohn (Johnny) ageologist and archeologist - fight the good fight and beat the bad guys. THE CZAR OF FEAR, 1933, sees Doc and his men struggling against a mysterious figure whose minions wear black hoods and have a green bell on their black gowns. Whenever the bell tolls, someone dies. Doc and his men have to determine why the Green Bell wants to destroy a perfectly nice town and cause people to go mad or die. This story first appeared in Volume 2 #4 of the magazine, with a cover date of December, 1933, during the Depression. It was written by Lester Dent, using the house name of Kenneth Robeson. WORLD'S FAIR GOBLIN was actually written by William Gibson Bogart before the NYWF opened in 1939. A giant 8 foot tall monster was running amok through the fair, scaring the customers. There are many descriptions of the fairgrounds and the finale takes place in the perisphere. which, together with the trylon, were the iconic images of the Fair. Doc Savage was always ahead of his time. He had closed circuit television in his apartment and he and his cronies could make or do anything. The Man of Bronze was indeed, a hero for his time, and the direct ancestor to Buckaroo Banzai.
Reviewed by Barbara Franchi, July 2008
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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