Doc Brazen, a new Doc pastiche

There have been many pastiches of Doc Savage, which range from characters merely inspired by Doc, though more original, to characters who are obviously meant to be Doc.

Ulysses Brazen Jr. created by Jeff Deischer falls more in the second category. Unlike most who have written Doc pastiches, Jeff has the honor of writing one of three Doc chronologies, which I have previously reviewed. So he knows his Doc. He has written other works, several pulp-inspired, but now he does a true Doc pastiche.

Millennium Bug is the first Doc Brazen novel, and should not be the last. A major difference from most Doc pastiches is this is set in 1999, when Doc Brazen has been retired for 50 years. His old aides have all passed on, but he’s brought back into action on a new case that seems connected to his greatest foe, long dead: John Spectrum. So Brazen assembles a new group of associates:

• Ozmatli, “Oz,” an ape-like Aztec warrior of great strength and little self control;
• Tlazotitlapiltzan, “Noble,” Oz’s silent cousin and somewhat conscience;
• Robert Laffite, “Le Chat,” a somewhat reformed French cat burglar;
• Norma Crale, “Thunderbird,” pilot and granddaughter of a famous aviatrix;
• Henry Prevost, computer whiz and Gulf War veteran.

The reason for his return? Someone has discovered his “Crime College,” the Brazen Institute located on Storm Island off Newfoundland, and is reversing his cure. Storm Island is where Brazen was born and raised, actually.

We learn that Brazen had been assisted by five men, all experts in their fields, who were friends of his father. We never learn their names in this work, but do know their professions: chemistry, law, civil engineering, archaeology, and electronics.  There may be a connection to Oz and Noble’s parentage.  Also, Brazen had a cousin, Lucrezia, who disappeared in the Amazon in 1961.

Brazen retired around 1950, moving to Coronado, a small country between Mexico and Guatemala, inhabited by the last Aztecs, and married Princess Ichpochtli. My only question is the age of Oz and Noble, seeing as they seem to be in the late 20s or so in 1999, and what that says about the age of their parents at their birth (or at least their fathers).

As to his new associates, these all come together in this adventure. Oz and Noble grew up in Coronado, being trained by Brazen in fact. Laffite was a patient at the Institute, but not fully cured. He is kind of “on parole” with the group. Prevost works at the Institute, though he needs to get a nickname. That’s the rule with Doc associates. And Norma gets pulled in early on and decides to stay. Interestingly Doc has no problems with her staying, considering how Doc Savage felt about Pat getting involved. Though we don’t know how much Lucrezia was involved with Brazen’s adventures.

Brazen himself is still (largely) hale and hearty, though his hair is now white, and there are some age lines on him. He is said to be “golden”, not as bronze, another difference between the Docs.

We also see his headquarters in the Century Building, as well as his Hudson River warehouse, and we’ll learn about his Citadel of Science.

Now, I kind of feel that John Sunlight as a Doc villain gets a little overused (similar to how Shiwan Khan gets overused with The Shadow). I guess that is expected for the only foe to return. Several of the Doc comics have made use of Sunlight, and some pastiches have as well. But I’ll give props to Deischer for coming up with an inventive way to return his version of John.

At the end, Doc Brazen decides to come out of retirement with his new associates. His next story should be Dead Wrong. I look forward to it. Maybe a future story can look into the disappearance of Lucrezia? While an occasional story tied to old cases would be interesting (a return to one of those lost worlds Doc and friends were always finding?), I hope we also get a mix of new foes/threats as well. And maybe also learn more about the past of Doc Brazen and his associates.