Marvel adapted the great Doc Savage stories in the early 70's. I well remember the small ad which featured Doc's head announcing the new title alongside other new features like Gunhawks and Man-Thing. Of those three, who would have guessed Man-Thing would have the most staying power, at least in comics. But for our purposes here, Doc Savage is the center of attention.
Doc Savage #1 begins a two-part adaptation of the first Doc Savage pulp novel, "The Man In Bronze" by Kenneth (Lester Dent) Robeson. The first part is titled "The Man of Bronze!" and it's plotted by Roy Thomas, scripted by Steve Englehart, and drawn by Ross Andru on pencils and Jim Mooney on inks. The cover is a very muscular and effective image by John Buscema, though the scene doesn't take place in the actual story. As the story opens it appears that Marvel has decided to update the Doc stories to the then present day of the early 70's (Monk in particular gives a clue to this by his clothing which is very much of the period) and this is verified by a comment in the text page in the second issue. But by then, cooler heads had prevailed and the setting for that second part and all subsequent stories was returned to the original 30's-40's era. The plot is pretty straightforward and familiar for those who've read the novel, a strangely garbed assassin climbs a tower next to Doc's NYC headquarters and takes aim through a window at the Fabulous Five (Monk, Ham, Renny, Long Tom, and Johnny) who are awaiting the arrival of Doc Savage himself. The assassin wants Doc it seems so he waits too. Doc appears, fresh from a trip to his secret Fortress of Solitude and we learn that Doc's dad has died of an unkown disease, then heads to his wall safe and discovers papers giving him provisional possession of territory in Hildalgo in Central America, at which time the assassin fires a laser right at him. But trick glass in the window caused the attack to fail and then the team sets about finding out where the shooter is located. The find him and Doc sends Ham off to get the red tape taken care of for a trip to Hildalgo while the rest go to intercept the assassin. Ham leaves via autogyro, and Doc and the rest leave using a tricked out vintage runabout especially equipped with running boards. Doc and the boys get to the location and Doc begins a daring climb up an uncompleted skyscraper after the assassin, and then by use of his athletic skills and some technology in the form of a blinding mirror Doc captures the culprit. An attempt at hypnotism fails and the villain jumps to his death. Doc and the rest return to headquarters to find the wall safe ransacked and a note on the was saying "Savage: Turn back from your quest, lest the Red Death strike once again.". Needless to say this doesn't work and Doc and the boys make plans immediately to head to Hildalgo to avenge the murder of elder Savage. An epilogue introduces us to a mysterious figure called "the Feathered Serpent". There is a small text piece identifying Doc's aides, a task deemed to complex for the story proper.
Doc Savage #2 concludes the adaptation of "The Man of Bronze". The story is titled "The Master of the Red Death" and it's written by Steve Englehart and drawn by Ross Andru inked this time by Ernie Chua (Chan). The cover is an outstanding image by Jim Steranko. The story picks up as the team has just flown to Hildalgo where they've come under attack by military forces. Their plane is shot down but the team survive uninjured due to air bag technology. They are greeted by Carlos Avispa the President of Hildalgo and Don Rubio Gorro the Secretary of State. Very quickly the team is on its way into the interior to follow Doc's father's map and to find the "Valley of the Vanished" hidden among the mountains of the country. After landing the team is attacked almost immedately by men dressed the same way as the assassin from the first part of the story, but the attack is stopped by King Chaac and his daughter Princess Monja. The leader of the warriors, a guy named Morning Breeze objects though. The natives speak Mayan and turn out to be lost descendants of this once great culture. But apparently for the last twenty years they've been dealing with Doc's father. After 30 days of observation, the King is to make available to Doc a great treasure, if he makes the grade. The team are made comfortable, but that night Monk can't rest and he goes out just in time to see his friends being thrown into a pit by the costumed warriors, the thuds of their bodies sicken him. After the villains leave, he rushes to the pit to discover that Doc had been tricking the villains by saving his aides and throwing rocks to mimic their bodies hitting the bottom of the pit. Later Doc uses simple trickery to convince the superstitous warriors that his men have returned from the dead. We then cut to a meeting between the frustrated Morning Breeze and his leader the mysterious Feathered Serpent who announces it's time to break out the Red Death. Soon a plague marked by red spots rages through the community. Doc uses his considerable medical skills to concoct a cure and races through the community tending to the afflicted all the while being chased by Morning Breeze and his warriors. They take refuge in the temple but when the once-ill people begin to announce their cure, Morning Breeze loses his nerve but is gunned down by his boss. Doc and the Feathered Serpent fight, the Serpent falls to his death and is revealed to be Don Rubio. Then it's time the King announces to reward Doc, as clearly he's up to the task his father set for him and so Doc is shown the great gold wealth of the hidden Mayans, much of which is now his to use in his work in the larger world. Doc and the team fly away leaving behind a tearful Monja, but headed smiling into a new adventure. There is a text page with information on the pulp roots of Doc, some stuff about Lester Dent, and chatter about how the mileau of the adventures had been changed.
And that closes the first Marvel Comics Doc Savage adventure. More next time.
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