Doc Savage – Hombre de Bronce #9

My first Doc Savage reprint from Spain (published in Barcelona)!  This one reprints Marvel’s black & White Doc Savage Magazine #7 (originally presented in January 1977).  Fun to see Doc in Spanish, but reproduction is a bit muddy, as though this is a second generation reproduction instead of shot from the original art.  Perhaps understandable since all the dialogue needed to be translated and they probably didn’t want to do that on the actual original art boards.

Bob Bretall – bob@comicspectrum.com
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Doc Savage – ReelArt Studios Statue

Photo by Bob Bretall

This ReelArt Studios statue stands over 17 inches high, not including the 3-tiered base that adds another 2 inches to its height.  This is a Bob Larkin design sculpted by Tony Cipriano.  The statue I have, seen here, was an edition of 225 pieces.  You can see the 1966 Gold Key comic in the background as well, what a great cover on that comic!

Image CREDIT: Bob Larkin

Here is the Bob Larkin image the statue is based on!

ReelArt also did a run of 50 in a faux bronze paint that was a BigBadToyStore.com exclusive.  I didn’t know about this one or I’d have opted for the bronze version, Doc just seems appropriate in bronze.  That said, I’m very happy with the color statue that I have, it looks like a book cover rendered in 3D.  I’d consider doubling up on a bronze painted edition if I ever found one at an affordable price.

Photo by Terry Allen – Faux bronze on left, true bronze on right

Finally, there was supposed to have been a run of 30 of these statues cast in true bronze using the “lost wax” method of bronze casting that were sold for $3800 each…and those would have been terrifically sweet!  I’ve seen pictures of this version and it’s absolutely gorgeous.  It’s a good thing I didn’t see it before it was sold out or I’d have had to think of a way to convince my wife to let me spend $3800.  I have heard that there may not have been 30 cast after all.  I heard that only 2 were actually made, a run limited by the number of people ready & willing to shell out that $3800, I’d wager.

There are some high-end Doc Savage collectors out there.  Since I collect so many other things I’m just not as on top of all the Doc collectibles as I could be if I had a razor focus in just collecting Doc.  I’m not in that top tier of Doc collectors, but I think I’m at least a few rungs up the ladder from the bottom…

Bob Bretall – bob@comicspectrum.com
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Put a Little Savage Under Your Mouse

Photo CREDIT: Bob Bretall Image CREDIT: Joe DeVito

My old Doc Savage mouse pad was getting pretty beat up from years of use.  It was one that blended a Baumhofer Doc, with Ron Ely & a James Bama image.  Obviously something someone photoshopped together, made up, and was bootlegging on eBay, but it was cool so I bought it and used it for years.

When I decided I wanted a new pad and also wanted to continue the Doc tradition, I looked around for something officially licensed.  Not finding anything I decided to cut out the middle man and searched the internet for a likely image that I used to create a one-off mousepad for myself using Zazzle.  I found the great image by Joe DeVito shown here. I’m not mass producing or selling these so hopefully the gods of pirated images will forgive me my one-off transgression here, made for personal use.
EDIT: Thanks to someone on the Fearun group on Facebook, I have messaged Joe to see how I can compensate him for using his image.

Bob Bretall – bob@comicspectrum.com
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Doc Savage – Pencil Drawing by Golden Age artist Ken Bald

From the collection of Bob Bretall

Ken Bald has still got it.  He was born in 1920 and has worked for Timely Comics (the predecessor to Marvel), Fawcett, Street & Smith, ACG, and King Features, among other work in the illustration field.  To still be rendering art like this at 94?  Applause to you, Mr. Bald, well done!

When I saw this delicately rendered pencil image of Doc, I had to have it.  Mr. Bald has done an exquisite job of capturing the Doc Savage I grew up with on the Bantam paperback covers (though different from the “full head of hair” Doc that was on the pulp covers when he was working for Street & Smith in 1941-42).

Check out the Ken Bald web-site and see if you’d like a sketch, print, or commission yourself.

Bob Bretall – bob@comicspectrum.com
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Doc Savage – George Perez Pencil Drawing

From the collection of Bob Bretall

This is a REALLY early example of George Perez’s work, from the era when he started comics in the 1970s working for Marvel. Some nice detail (I love how we’d get his name on the belt buckle just so you know who it is you’re looking at) from the Marvel Comics era of Doc’s career in comics.

My main concern in purchasing this piece was the signature, it’s certainly not the signature Perez uses today.  But some research turned up the fact that he changed his somewhat illegible early signature into what we see today.  If you look at this image of a sanctioned “all the creators signing a limited edition” you can see that the Perez signature matches what we have here in general form.

In any event, a nice image of Doc and a great addition to my Doc Savage collection by an iconic comics artist.

Bob Bretall – bob@comicspectrum.com
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Doc Savage #8 – Original Cover Art by Alex Ross

Photo Credit: Daniel Corey

I happen to LOVE Alex Ross art; ever since I saw his work on Marvels in 1994.  His work on Kingdom Come in 1996 cemented his position as one of my favorite artists of all time. I have several lithographs of his work in my comics room at home right now.  But no originals.

Slap an Alex Ross cover on a comic and I’ll buy it (well, not if it’s a 1:75 chase cover, but I’ll buy it if it’s a regular priced comic!)  Alex Ross covers on the recent Doc Savage series from Dynamite?  Wow!  I’m very happy! A lot of Doc fanatics seem to decry this current series, but I’m loving it, it’s the best IMHO since the 1970s B&W Marvel magazine.  When I was browsing the original art at the Alex Ross booth at the recent 2014 San Diego Comic Con I saw a number of Ross’ recent Doc Savage covers up for sale.  Since the Doc Savage fan is a much rarer breed than super-hero fans they were all significantly less expensive than any cover with a Marvel/DC super-hero on it.  An extra benefit for me, since the Doc covers were the most appealing to me!

Then it became a matter of deciding which one to get, a little wheeling & dealing, both with the guys at the booth to get a little better price AND with my wife so she would not kill me in my sleep upon my return home.  Ultimately, the deal was made and I was the happy owner of the original cover painting to the (at that moment) yet to be released Doc Savage #8.  That was Friday morning and I then proceeded to attend a lot of panels at the Con because I was done with spending for the duration.  The first time in 24 years I went the majority of Friday, and All Saturday/Sunday without spending a single $1 at SDCC.  For interested parties, you can see all my highlights of SDCC 2014 here.

Now that I’m home again, I need to get this framed & onto the wall!  I think it will be displacing an Alex Ross lithograph of the Justice League of America…

Bob Bretall – bob@comicspectrum.com
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Doc Savage – Graphitti Designs Bust by Randy Bowen

This is the “grand old man” of my Doc Savage collection.  This is the cold cast porcelain bust. It stands about 9 inches high and is painted in a bronze color from an edition size of 543, commemorating Doc’s 60th anniversary.  It was sculpted by Randy Bowen based on a design by the great James Bama and issued by Graphitti Designs (this was before Randy Bowen had created Bowen Designs).

It came out when my kids were very young, my wife had quit her job to be a stay at home Mom and money was TIGHT.  Purchasing this at the time was an extravagance, but I had to have it.  I think it was $100, which was quite a lot for mew to spend in those days.

There was also a version of this cast in real bronze that shipped in a wooden crate (an edition size of only 60 on this one)!  My understanding is that the bronze retailed for $1200 back when it first came out, which was certainly more than  I could afford back then.  Heck, I’m not sure I’d be willing to spend $1200 on a bust today and I’m certain the bronze edition sells for MUCH more today ($5000+ ???)

I am completely happy with the “regular” one that I got.  I remember bringing this treasure home and putting it on display.  Even now, many years later, it remains my favorite piece of Doc memorabilia (until/if I ever lay my hands on something actually cast in bronze….)

Bob Bretall – bob@comicspectrum.com
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Doc Savage – Quest of the Spider (Ideal Library)

Quest of the Spider was the third Doc Savage pulp novel, originally published in May 1933 and the last of the three that ultimately saw print as a hardcover reprint from Street & Smith’s “Ideal Library” imprint in 1935.

Doc faces off against the Gray Spider and the Cult of the Moccasin in the Louisiana swamps.  No global threat here, the villain basically wants to make money off the lumber industry.  This story is notable for being the first in which Doc uses his signature gadget, the anesthetic gas globes (encased in thin glass that somehow didn’t break while carried but easily broke when thrown at enemies…).

From the forward to this edition:

Nothing has given me more real pleasure, more the feeling of work well done, than the preparation of these volumes on the life and exploits of Doc Savage and his companions. In “The Man of Bronze,” this man of unusual character, and his unusual companions, were introduced to you. In “The Land of Terror,” his further exploits were recounted. Now, in “Quest of the Spider,” he continues his fight for the welfare of humanity; his ceaseless ambition to help those who are in need of help, and punish those who seek to foist injustice upon the world.

I have no doubt but that you will thrill to this story, as hundreds of thousands of readers have thrilled to this and the previous accounts. That is the one purpose of these tales. But there is something else which I know you will get out of them; something greater than the enjoyment of this volume. It will leave with you the feeling of doing better in this world; of making your own life approach that of Doc Savage as nearly as you can in your own existence. Though you may not find it possible to leave your daily existence in search of adventure; though you cannot go to the far ends of the world to aid others; you can do as much good in your own neighborhood by doing right at all times, helping your fellow men as much as possible even in the smallest of things. In this way you will find life more livable, and you will be accomplishing as worthwhile things as any one can expect.

May the work of Doc Savage go on forever, repeated in countless episodes through the individual efforts of each one who reads this volume.

Indeed, may Doc’s work go on forever. It’s been more than 80 years since the first Doc Savage novel was published and we’re still seeing new Doc adventures coming out, thanks to novels written by Will Murray and comics from Dynamite.

Bob Bretall – bob@comicspectrum.com
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Doc Savage – The Land of Terror (Ideal Library)

The Land of Terror was the second Doc Savage pulp novel, originally published in April 1933, and the second to get the hardcover reprint treatment from Street & Smith’s “Ideal Library” imprint in 1935.

Doc faces off against Kar and his “smoke of eternity” that can disintegrate anything it touches on the mysterious tropical Thunder Island that is also inhabited by dinosaurs (of all things!).  Adventurers facing dinosaurs is a familiar trope but think back to 1935, it hadn’t been done to death at that point, imagine the thrill of reading an adventure where Doc faces off against a T-Rex in the days before TV and movies…

From the forward to this edition:

His life not that of an ordinary man, but a life devoted to the welfare of mankind, to the betterment of the world, Doc Savage goes from one end of the world to another, righting wrongs, punishing crime, helping the weak and innocent. With his five companions, he carries on the will of his father, who trained Doc Savage from the cradle for this unusual career of assistance and adventure.

The welfare of humanity is the goal of Doc Savage. No matter where the cry for help, no matter where the need for justice, Doc Savage will go there. His life is not the pursuing of adventure, but the following of an ideal. That this results in the most thrilling adventure is only incidental; that the accounts of these adventures are marvelous stories of thrills and excitement adds to their value. The real purpose is to instill more of true idealism in the hearts of all men; to make others do, in their own way, what Doc Savage risks his life to do. Giving every man his due; playing square with the world–that is a perfect goal for every one. I know that reading of Doc Savage and his admirable companions will serve to make others strive to follow in their footsteps, and thus make this world a better place.

Playing square with the world.  A sentiment we should all aspire to!

Bob Bretall – bob@comicspectrum.com
https://comicspectrum.com/ Covering the full spectrum of comics culture

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Doc Savage – The Man of Bronze (Ideal Library)

I promised to get back to Doc’s roots after the last few entries focusing on the 1975 movie and this is the oldest Doc Savage item I own.  The Man of Bronze first appeared as a softcover pulp in March 1933, opening with the sentence:

There was death afoot in the darkness.

As part of their “Ideal Library” imprint, Street & Smith reprinted the first three Doc Savage pulps as hardback books for the princely sum of 25 cents (compared to the 10 cent price on the regular pulps).  These hardcover volumes were 5″ x 7.5″ and about an inch and a half thick.  Even though they were hardbacks the interior pages were the same cheap pulp paper as the softcover version.

The forward to this volume reads:

There is a yearning for adventure, for the unusual, for the far distant, in the heart of every being. Not often is this yearning realized in fact. Most of us must be content to read of the adventures of others and get our thrills in that manner.

The life of Clark Savage, Jr., is the exact antithesis of ordinary existence. Raised from the cradle for just one purpose in life–to devote it to helping out humanity in distress–he starts on his eventful career. With his companions, The Man Of Bronze goes to all corners of the world, living a life of thrills and danger, but one of great endeavor and huge kindness to man.

There is always injustice in this world, so Doc Savage and his men have much to do. But their task is a great and noble purpose; their work makes this world a better place. And the reading of their adventures has served to build higher ideals in the minds of this generation. His work goes on and on, increasing in thrills and excitement. I know that it will serve to bring others to believe more strongly in the gospel of doing right to all, and wronging no one.

Well said!

Bob Bretall – bob@comicspectrum.com
https://comicspectrum.com/ Covering the full spectrum of comics culture

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