Doc Savage Omnibus #7

Doc Savage (Bantam) #152-155

by Kenneth Robeson

The Men Vanished
A mysterious man with a face like a pre-Columbian stone image lures Doc and his crew to a madman’s secret empire deep in the Amazon jungles — where seven of the world’s foremost explorers have inexplicably vanished. Is Doc next?

Five Fathoms Dead
When a submarine commandeered by crooks begins hijacking warships from the U.S. Navy, Doc races to the rescue — only to find himself up against a bloodthirsty gang of modern-day pirates!

The Terrible Stork
Why are people being murdered for a cheap tin statuette of a stork? The search for an answer takes Doc and his crew from a Long Island cemetery at night to a secret vault in the lowest and most dangerous depths of the Grand Canyon!

Danger Lies East
War is about to break out in the Middle East — unless Doc and his men can stop a fanatic from giving the word to his millions of crazed followers. Doc’s quest to find the madman becomes a terrifying race to save the world from total annihilation!

Genres: Fantasy

384 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 1, 1988

About the author

Kenneth 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.

Reviews

[Craig]

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!

[Curt Jeffreys]

I love the Doc Savage adventures but I have to say that I enjoy the pre-war stories much more than the post-war tales. The Doc of the thirties and early forties was a larger than life yet completely human protagonist who got by on his incredible physical strength, his amazing intellect, and his collection of clever gadgets. In many ways Doc was Superman and Batman combined. He even had his Fortress of Solitude. We marvelled at his strength and cleverness and we knew that Doc, along with his five faithful companions, would win out in the end. In the post war stories we still know he will come out on top - he's still Doc Savage, afterall- but he is no longer fun to watch. Full of doubt in himself and his men, this Doc is at times indecisive if not down right confused. Gone are the gadgets and the cool science and most of the stories center around only two of his incredible companions, Monk and Ham.
Having said all this, here's my point - only one story in this collection was pre-war. The other three feature the sad, weak Doc of the post-war years. That's why I'm going back to read The Thousand Headed Man - Doc Savage at his best.