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Doc Savage (Bantam) #127-130
Doc Savage Omnibus #1
The All-White Elf
A weapon of incredible hypnotic power has fallen into evil hands. Doc Savage must uncover the secret of the paralyzing peril — or face a fiery death at sea.
The Running Skeletons
Doc Savage and his crew are suddenly guinea pigs in an experiment of terror — and a fiendish gang of gun slinging skeletons are out to skin them alive.
The Angry Canary
High in the mountains of India, Doc and his crew battle a madman genius whose frightening invention can doom the entire human race.
The Swooning Lady
Hot on the trail of two million in diamonds, Doc is caught in jungle treachery by ruthless thugs, head-hunting natives — and a lovely lady with cold-blooded murder on her mind.
A weapon of incredible hypnotic power has fallen into evil hands. Doc Savage must uncover the secret of the paralyzing peril — or face a fiery death at sea.
The Running Skeletons
Doc Savage and his crew are suddenly guinea pigs in an experiment of terror — and a fiendish gang of gun slinging skeletons are out to skin them alive.
The Angry Canary
High in the mountains of India, Doc and his crew battle a madman genius whose frightening invention can doom the entire human race.
The Swooning Lady
Hot on the trail of two million in diamonds, Doc is caught in jungle treachery by ruthless thugs, head-hunting natives — and a lovely lady with cold-blooded murder on her mind.
373 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 1, 1948
About the author
Kenneth Robeson
927 books139 followersKenneth Robeson was the house name used by Street and Smith Publications as the author of their popular character Doc Savage and later The Avenger. Though most Doc Savage stories were written by the author Lester Dent, there were many others who contributed to the series, including:
William G. Bogart
Evelyn Coulson
Harold A. Davis
Lawrence Donovan
Alan Hathway
W. Ryerson Johnson
Lester Dent is usually considered to be the creator of Doc Savage. In the 1990s Philip José Farmer wrote a new Doc Savage adventure, but it was published under his own name and not by Robeson. Will Murray has since taken up the pseudonym and continued writing Doc Savage books as Robeson.
All 24 of the original stories featuring The Avenger were written by Paul Ernst, using the Robeson house name. In order to encourage sales Kenneth Robeson was credited on the cover of The Avenger magazine as "the creator of Doc Savage" even though Lester Dent had nothing to do with The Avenger series. In the 1970s, when the series was extended with 12 additional novels, Ron Goulart was hired to become Robeson.
William G. Bogart
Evelyn Coulson
Harold A. Davis
Lawrence Donovan
Alan Hathway
W. Ryerson Johnson
Lester Dent is usually considered to be the creator of Doc Savage. In the 1990s Philip José Farmer wrote a new Doc Savage adventure, but it was published under his own name and not by Robeson. Will Murray has since taken up the pseudonym and continued writing Doc Savage books as Robeson.
All 24 of the original stories featuring The Avenger were written by Paul Ernst, using the Robeson house name. In order to encourage sales Kenneth Robeson was credited on the cover of The Avenger magazine as "the creator of Doc Savage" even though Lester Dent had nothing to do with The Avenger series. In the 1970s, when the series was extended with 12 additional novels, Ron Goulart was hired to become Robeson.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 21, 2014
This was the first of the original Doc Savages I've read in a long time and it was pretty fun. I only have 14 of the original Docs to go before I finish them all. It's been a long mostly fun ride since I started reading them almost 50 years ago. I still remember buying my first one (The Phantom City) off the spin rack at a drug store.
I always enjoyed the earlier ones more than the later ones; in the early ones Doc was much more like a superhero (although since he predated them, I guess they were like him).
But I'm older now and these were mostly pretty good (in the sense that I enjoyed them, not that they were well written). Never great from a plot consistency perspective, the stories are fun quick reads (although there seemed to be even bigger holes than normal in The Running Skeletons).
The four novels here were originally published in 1941 (The All-White Elf), 1943 (The Running Skeletons), and 1948 (The Angry Canary and The Swooning Lady). As I read the last one I noticed that it seemed awfully short (and it even ended rather abruptly). So after I finished I checked the page counts and each one was shorter than the one before it: The first, The All-White Elf, was 114 pages but the last, The Swooning Lady, was only 73. They make the Will Murray Docs seem positively gargantuan: his most recent, DOC SAVAGE: THE WAR MAKERS was over 300 pages!
I always enjoyed the earlier ones more than the later ones; in the early ones Doc was much more like a superhero (although since he predated them, I guess they were like him).
But I'm older now and these were mostly pretty good (in the sense that I enjoyed them, not that they were well written). Never great from a plot consistency perspective, the stories are fun quick reads (although there seemed to be even bigger holes than normal in The Running Skeletons).
The four novels here were originally published in 1941 (The All-White Elf), 1943 (The Running Skeletons), and 1948 (The Angry Canary and The Swooning Lady). As I read the last one I noticed that it seemed awfully short (and it even ended rather abruptly). So after I finished I checked the page counts and each one was shorter than the one before it: The first, The All-White Elf, was 114 pages but the last, The Swooning Lady, was only 73. They make the Will Murray Docs seem positively gargantuan: his most recent, DOC SAVAGE: THE WAR MAKERS was over 300 pages!
May 28, 2020
As a fan of the pulp fiction of the early 20th century, I was really looking forward to reading “Doc Savage, Man of Bronze”. He’s a distinctly American superhero, one that is both physically strong but also extremely intelligent, a hero that supposedly uses his brain-power as much as his muscle-power. He’s also a hero of a particular time.
Kenneth Robeson (a pseudonym used by publishers Street & Smith for a team of in-house writers) wrote hundreds of Doc Savage stories for the pulp magazines during the 1930s and 40s. Author Lester Dent is credited as being the main writer and creator of the famous superhero.
Savage was unique as a hero, namely for the myriad of abilities and “powers” that he possessed. While not necessarily superhuman in the way that, say, DC’s Superman was super, Savage was raised from infancy to be knowledgable in nearly every field of science, master in the martial arts, and proficient in deductive reasoning. On top of all that, he also had a photographic memory and was a musical prodigy.
Dent had envisioned him to be a combination of Sherlock Holmes and Tarzan.
In the mid-80s, Bantam Books republished many of the pulp stories in omnibus collections that featured four or five stories per book. “Omnibus Volume 1” featured four stories: “The All-White Elf”, “The Running Skeletons”, “The Angry Canary”, and “The Swooning Lady”.
While entertaining, the stories featured in this omnibus are, for the most part, pretty forgettable.
Maybe that’s harsh for stories that were meant solely for popular entertainment in pulp magazines, but it’s also the truth.
The sad truth is that, unlike Arthur Conan Doyle’s Holmes or Edgar Rice Burrough’s Tarzan, Doc Savage simply wasn’t that interesting. He’s almost too perfect to be likable, in much the same way that Superman was too super to be believable. He simply has no personality.
This may have changed in later stories, but if the first four stories in this collection are any indication, Doc Savage is just a muscle-bound behemoth who happens to be well-read and can play a few musical instruments really well.
Kenneth Robeson (a pseudonym used by publishers Street & Smith for a team of in-house writers) wrote hundreds of Doc Savage stories for the pulp magazines during the 1930s and 40s. Author Lester Dent is credited as being the main writer and creator of the famous superhero.
Savage was unique as a hero, namely for the myriad of abilities and “powers” that he possessed. While not necessarily superhuman in the way that, say, DC’s Superman was super, Savage was raised from infancy to be knowledgable in nearly every field of science, master in the martial arts, and proficient in deductive reasoning. On top of all that, he also had a photographic memory and was a musical prodigy.
Dent had envisioned him to be a combination of Sherlock Holmes and Tarzan.
In the mid-80s, Bantam Books republished many of the pulp stories in omnibus collections that featured four or five stories per book. “Omnibus Volume 1” featured four stories: “The All-White Elf”, “The Running Skeletons”, “The Angry Canary”, and “The Swooning Lady”.
While entertaining, the stories featured in this omnibus are, for the most part, pretty forgettable.
Maybe that’s harsh for stories that were meant solely for popular entertainment in pulp magazines, but it’s also the truth.
The sad truth is that, unlike Arthur Conan Doyle’s Holmes or Edgar Rice Burrough’s Tarzan, Doc Savage simply wasn’t that interesting. He’s almost too perfect to be likable, in much the same way that Superman was too super to be believable. He simply has no personality.
This may have changed in later stories, but if the first four stories in this collection are any indication, Doc Savage is just a muscle-bound behemoth who happens to be well-read and can play a few musical instruments really well.
October 15, 2016
The first Doc Savage story appeared in 1933 and the series ran in pulp and later digest format into 1949. Bantam reprinted the entire series in paperback with wonderful, iconic covers starting in the 1960's. Doc was arguably the first great modern superhero with a rich background, continuity, and mythos. The characterizations were far richer than was common for the pulps; his five associates and their sometimes-auxiliary, Doc's cousin Pat, and the pets Chemistry and Habeas Corpus, all had very distinctive characteristics and their byplay was frequently more entertaining that the current adventure-of-the-month. The settings were also fascinating: Doc's Fortress of Solitude, the Hidalgo Trading Company (which served as a front for his armada of vehicles), and especially the mysterious 86th floor headquarters all became familiar haunts to the reader, and the far-flung adventures took the intrepid band to exotic and richly-described locations all over the world. The adventures were always fast-paced and exciting, from the early apocalyptic world-saving extravaganzas of the early days to the latter scientific-detective style shorter works of the post-World War Two years. There were always a few points that it was difficult to believe along the way, but there were always more ups than downs, and there was never, ever a dull moment. The Doc Savage books have always been my favorite entertainments... I was always, as Johnny would say, superamalgamated!
August 7, 2014
Fun to return to since my kidhood.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews