Octopus

Octopus
The Ominous Octopus

Monday, December 13, 2021

Doc Savage's Fabulous Five And The Fantastic Four

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The Doc Savage team had many similarities to the later Fantastic Four.



In each case there was a small group of individuals operating out of a skyscraper, led by a superscientist against the forces of evil.











Jack Kirby Museum:

http://www.kirbymuseum.org/



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Sunday, December 12, 2021

Superman And Doc Savage

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Superman drew inspiration from Doc Savage, as can be shown in a series of comparisons .


The term "Superman" was used for Doc Savage first.





Doc Savage also had The Fortress of Solitude first.





Doc Savage also had a girl cousin in his stories first, Pat Savage.



Pat Savage with Doc on the cover of the issue with FEAR CAY:





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Thursday, December 9, 2021

Doc Savage And His Amazing Crew

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Who is Doc Savage?

An introduction from the back of one of the books:



WHO IS DOC SAVAGE?
To the world at large, Doc Savage is a strange, mysterious figure of
glistening bronze skin and golden eyes. To his amazing co-adventurers,
the five greatest brains ever assembled in one group, he is a man of
superhuman strength and protean genius whose life is dedicated to the
destruction of evil-doers. To his fans he is the greatest adventure hero
of all time, whose fantastic exploits are unequaled for hair-raising
thrills, breathtaking escapes and bloodcurdling excitement.

HIS AMAZING CREW—

WILLIAM HARPER "JOHNNY" LITTLEJOHN -- the bespectacled scientist
who was the world's greatest living expert on geology and archaeology.

COLONEL JOHN "RENNY" RENWICK -- the favorite sport of this
engineering genius was pounding his massive fists through heavy paneled doors.

LIEUTENANT COLONEL ANDREW BLODGETT "MONK" MAYFAIR –
only a few inches over 5 feet tall and yet over 260 pounds. His brutish
exterior concealed the mind of a world-renowned chemist.

MAJOR THOMAS J. "LONG TOM" ROBERTS was the physical weakling
of the crowd but a wizard at electricity and radio.

BRIGADIER GENERAL THEODORE MARLEY "HAM" BROOKS -- slender and waspy and the
greatest lawyer Harvard ever produced -- was never without
his ominous, black sword-cane.

PAT SAVAGE is Doc’s cousin from Canada with the same bronze hair and skin
and the same thirst for justice.

With their leader, they would go anywhere, fight anyone, dare everything –
all-the-while seeking excitement and perilous adventure!


*               *              *

They didn't used to list Pat Savage along with the guys on the back of the bantam reprints although she was in some of the stories, the description of Pat comes from one of the later books where they did list her with the others.

And here's an illustration of Pat Savage with the team from one of the later books:





Actually Pat Savage probably turns up more often in the new books by Will Murray than she did in the original series. She was the most important female character in Doc Savage adventures. Two other recurring female characters are Monja, the Mayan Princess who first appeared in THE MAN OF BRONZE and returned in THE GOLDEN PERIL and THEY DIED TWICE,




and Monk's pretty secretary Lea Aster, who was the main girl character in THE RED SKULL and occasionally mentioned in other stories afterwards.

Pat Savage was shown on the cover with Doc on the issue with FEAR CAY:





Here we have Doc Savage's Fortress of Solitude 





The Fortress of Solitude was Doc Savage's secret arctic base, which usually was only mentioned in the stories as somewhere Doc went. His usual base of operations was a skyscraper office building in New York, which is usually thought of as being the Empire State Building. Something which is not actually stated in the stories themselves.




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Tuesday, December 7, 2021

Merry Christmas

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Seasons greetings from Frances Gifford, who played Nyoka in the first serial.






Monday, December 6, 2021

Nyoka Announcement

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From Master Comics 31 (October, 1942), Bulletgirl introduces famous serial heroine Nyoka to the Fawcett Comics line up.




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Saturday, December 4, 2021

Janet Warren

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Janet Warren, the gorgeous Goose Girl from GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN, with Glenn Strange as Frankenstien.





Janet Warren in another publicity shot.







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Friday, December 3, 2021