Pulp comics: Doc Savage at Street & Smith

Doc Savage, the Man of Bronze, has long been a popular pulp hero. But he has also appeared in comic books over the years; some good, some not so good.

He first appeared in comic books published by Street & Smith themselves from 1940-49. Sadly, because of the limitations of eight-page stories and artists that were frankly not that good, the stories in these early comics are pretty poor. This was most likely because S&S just weren’t into comics, mainly farming the work to outside studios. But it is interesting to see how S&S tried to adapt Doc to comics, especially as the comics were obviously intended for a younger audience.

It’s also clear that those comic-book stories fall into different phases.

Phase I: March 1940-May 1941

Doc first appeared as a backup series in the “Shadow Comics,” starting with the first issue of that title, before moving to his own title, “Doc Savage Comics.” These initial appearances tried to adhere to the pulp version.

From “Shadow Comics” Vol. 1 No. 1-3 March 1940-May ’40 through “Doc Savage Comics” Vol. 1 No. 1-4 May 1940-May ’41, most of these stories were adaptations of the pulp stories.

We get an adaptation of Lester Dent‘s “The Man of Bronze” radio script in “Shadow Comics” No. 1. Next we get adaptations of “The Crimson Serpent” (“Shadow Comics” No. 2), “Land of Terror” (“Shadow Comics” No. 3/”Doc Savage Comics” No. 1-2), “The Polar Treasure” (“Doc Savage Comics” No. 3), “Terror in the Navy” (“Doc Savage Comics” No. 4).

One source says that these comics were really adaptations of Dent’s radio show adaptations of the pulp stories. But as far as I know, other than “The Man of Bronze,” Dent’s radio shows were original stories or adapted just elements of some stories.

I am aware of scans of two of these stories online:

• “Shadow Comics” (April 1940)
• “Shadow Comics” (February 1941)

In “The Crimson Serpent” story, we lead off with a panel showing Doc Savage (in a ripped shirt!) shooting a conquistador in the head! Due to the limitations of the comic, only two of Doc’s aides, Ham and Monk, appear. This would hold true for most of the Doc Savage comic appearances. We do, however, get to see several Doc gadgets.

“The Polar Treasure” also shows the limitations of the comics, as it’s clear that only part of the story is adapted. We get a lot of text explaining things, and Doc is pretty much by himself for most of the story. All of his aides “appear,” but only at the end. As I understand it, this was the only time they did so.

Phase II: August 1941-October 1943

With the August 1941 (Vol. 1 No. 5) issue of “Doc Savage Comics,” the Man of Bronze turns into a super-hero. In the story written by Carl Formes, Doc crashes in Tibet and is rescued by a hidden monastery. They give him a special hood with a mystic ruby. When he goes into action all he wears are pants, boots and that hood which now gives him superpowers.

With No. 11, Ed Gruskin takes over writing. He adds two new characters, secretary Myrtle Rose and Inspector Rankler. Gruskin was also writing “Supersnipe Comics,” so Doc appeared a couple of times in that title.

Gruskin did the 1943 Doc radio show at the same time, which may explain why it was based on the “mystic ruby” Doc. (While Dent owned the rights to Doc in other media, it appears that S&S owned the “mystic ruby” Doc, so that also may played a part of this shift.) In the last issue of his own comic, Doc doesn’t even appear on the cover, being pushed off by Huckleberry Finn, and Doc’s story was at the end of the book.

After this, he would then move back to “Shadow Comics.”

Phase III: January 1944-September 1945

After his return to “Shadow Comics,” Doc appears in most of them until that title was also canceled. Gruskin continued to write the mystic ruby version until Vol. 3 No. 11 (just two issues), at which point Doc was made into more of a science detective helped by Monk and Ham.

In some stories Ham does not appear, and it would appear that Myrtle Rose was dropped, probably when the ruby was. The appearance of Monk was also changed at some point. At least during the “mystic ruby” phase, he looked like a bald bruiser with a unibrow, but later looked more “normal.”

Here are a couple of examples of stories from this later run:

• “Shadow Comics” (June 1948)
• “Shadow Comics” (October 1948)

There has been no effort to reprint all of these stories. The fanzine Bronze Gazette has reprinted several in the past, and I have indicated which ones I know of. I think it would be interesting to see Dynamite Comics reprint these in a few archive volumes.

Here is an index of Doc Savage’s appearances in Street & Smith comics: