REVIEW SUMMARY: Pulp legends collide as Doc Savage encounters King Kong shortly after World War I, augmenting the history of Doc Savage.
MY RATING: 
BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Called upon to take care of King Kong’s body after his fall from the Empire State Building, Doc Savage recounts to his aides the story of his first meeting with Kong, shortly after World War I when he and his father were searching the southern seas for Doc’s grandfather.
MY REVIEW:
PROS: Adds to the origins and background of Doc Savage and features a younger, still maturing, more complex Doc; and it has Kong! And DeVito art of Kong!
CONS: Would have enjoyed seeing more of Kong; and more DeVito art of Kong!
BOTTOM LINE: Near the 80th anniversary of both King Kong and Doc Savage, this novel is a well-paced look at a younger Doc Savage, uncertain of his future, uncomfortable in his relationship with his father, and searching for a grandfather he barely knows. This “origin” story provides a more complex Doc Savage than other novels, and can be enjoyed by Savage zealots (guilty!) and neophytes alike. Kong’s portrayal is true to DeVito’s Kong: King of Skull Island, and more Kong is the main thing I would ask of this novel.
[For newbies: check out A Doc Savage Primer and this list of all of the Doc Savage novels]
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REVIEW SUMMARY: The first new Doc Savage novel in eighteen years, written by Will Murray based on notes from Lester Dent, is true to the originals and a great read.
MY RATING:
BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Doc Savage and his team descend upon California, to investigate mysterious red dust demons from the sky that are killing Hollywood types; Pat Savage, Doc’s cousin, is missing and may be one of the victims.
MY REVIEW:
PROS: Shows the “science investigator” Doc and the “human enough to get mad” Doc; the inclusion of Pat Savage is always a plus; dirigibles, baby!; excellent Afterwords by Will Murray and cover art by Joe DeVito; promises of more new Docs to come.
CONS: The eighteen year wait nearly killed me; even after all these years, I still dislike the inclusion of the pig and the monkey.
BOTTOM LINE: Not only a great story for starving Doc fanboys (guilty!), also contains elements of steampunk (Doc was punk before it was cool), westerns and adventure. Not my favorite Doc of all time, but an excellent start to a new set of stories.
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REVIEW SUMMARY: Radio theater meets the Man of Bronze in this remastered edition of NPR’s 1985 broadcast of two classic Doc Savage Stories.
MY RATING:
BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Variety Arts Radio Theater perform Fear Cay and The Thousand Headed Man, two Doc Savage stories by Lester Dent, adapted for radio by Will Murray and Roger Rittner.
MY REVIEW:
PROS:Two great stories; dead-on voices (that matched the voices in my head) for Monk, Renny and Johnny; enjoyable behind-the-scenes CD.
CONS: slight variations from the books; Doc’s trilling sounded like a tea kettle!
BOTTOM LINE: My first pick would always be to read a Doc Savage story, but this enthusiastic radio theater production (which sounds excellent in this remastered 8 CD edition from Radio Archives) is a great alternative. It might just hold us until Mr. Murray is able to get the new Docs published!
[For newbies: A Doc Savage Primer]
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When SF Signal asked if I was interested in reviewing the recently released re-mastered audio version of two Doc Savage radio adventures, I quickly agreed. Since reading the Bantam books during my youth and going on a re-reading rampage lately, I’ve always been a big Doc fan.
As I was listening to the re-mastered CD versions with my college-age son, I quite enjoyed it when he mimicked Johnny (one of Doc’s five aides) shouting “I’ll be super amalgamated!” But he was always asking me who Doc Savage was, wondering what drove me to collect the 130+ Bantam paperbacks (still taking donations of any mint condition Omnibuses!).
So before we print the review of the CD Version of The Adventures of Doc Savage, here’s a bit of background on one of the longest running “pulp” heroes and largest influences on fiction and comics.
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