The pulp adventure hero, The Shadow, hit the stands in April of 1931 as explained in Pulp Heroes: The Shadow, and he was an instant hit, spawning literally every pulp action hero that followed.

Less than two years later, in March of 1933, the third of such heroes appeared in his own magazine (The Phantom Detective beat him out by just one month). Street and Smith published Doc Savage magazine which included the full-length novel The Man of Bronze. The public was introduced to Clark Savage, Jr., better known to the criminal underworld as Doc Savage. Like his Street and Smith stablemate, The Shadow, Doc Savage was also a crime fighter — though he differed in many respects from the darker, more clandestine Shadow.

Within six months, Doc Savage magazine was one of the best selling pulp magazines on the market.

The stories also introduced readers to Doc Savage’s team, five assistants who were each experts in their field.

Here’s our first introduction to them in The Man of Bronze:

The first of the 5 men was a giant who towered 4 inches over 6 feet. He weighed fully 250 pounds. His face was severe, his mouth thin, grim, and compressed tightly as though he had just finished uttering a disapproving “tsk tsk!” sound. His features had a most puritanical look.

This was “Renny” — or Colonel John Renwick. His arms were enormous and his fists were bony monstrosities. His favorite act was to slam his great fists through the solid panel of a heavy door. He was also known throughout the World for his engineering accomplishments.

Behind Renny came William Harper Littlejohn. Very tall and very gaunt, “Johnny” wore glasses with a peculiarly thick lens over the left eye. He looked like a half-starved, studious scientist. He was probably one of the greatest living experts on Geology and Archaeology.

Next was Major Thomas J. Roberts, dubbed “Long Tom”. Long Tom was the physical weakling of the crowd. Thin, not very tall, and with a none-too-healthy-appearing skin, he was a wizard with Electricity.

“Ham” trailed Long Tom. ‘Brigadier General Theodore Marley Brooks’ was what Ham was designated on formal occasions. Slender, waspy, quick-moving, Ham looked what he was. A quick thinker and possibly the most astute lawyer Harvard ever turned out. He carried a plain black cane, never went anywhere without it. This was — among other things — a sword cane.

Last came the most remarkable character of all. Only a few inches over 5 feet, he weighed better than 260 pounds. He had the build of a gorilla, arms 7 inches longer than his legs, and a chest thicker than it was wide. His eyes were so surrounded by gristle as to resemble pleasant little stars twinkling in pits. He grinned with a mouth so big that it looked like an accident.

“Monk!” No other name could fit him!

He was Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Blodgett Mayfair. But he heard the full name so seldom that he had about forgotten what it sounded like. He had earned world fame in Chemistry.

The stories explained that these were the five greatest brains ever assembled in one group, and yet, their expertise paled in comparison to that of their leader, Doc Savage. Unlike The Shadow, Doc Savage has no special powers, mental or otherwise; however, he was raised from birth to be the epitome of human perfection, both physically and mentally.

This was described in the first issue thusly:

Clark Savage, Jr. had been reared from the cradle to become the supreme adventurer.

Hardly had Doc learned to walk when his father started him taking the routine of exercises to which he still adhered. 2 hours each day, Doc exercised intensively all his muscles, senses, and his brain.

As a result of these exercises, Doc possessed a strength superhuman. There was no magic about it, though. Doc had simply built up muscle intensively all his life.

Doc’s mental training had started with Medicine and Surgery. It had branched out to include all arts and sciences. Just as Doc could easily overpower the gorilla-like Monk in spite of his great strength, so did Doc know more about Chemistry. And that applied to the engineer Renny, the electrical wizard Long Tom Johnny, the geologist-archaeologist Johnny, and the lawyer Ham.

Doc had been well trained for his work.

The stories, like many pulp adventures of the day, were far from Shakespearean, but they were full of action and adventure, and whereas The Shadow was more detective story, Doc Savage, with his high tech gadgets and super-villains, was more science fiction.

In fact, Doc Savage had a great influence upon the comic books, which came out many years later. Many think that Superman had his beginnings in Doc Savage. Doc Savage was the man of bronze, Superman, the man of steel. They both had a Fortress of Solitude hidden away in the frozen wastelands, Doc’s in the Arctic, Supe’s in the Antarctic. And Doc Savage was often referred to as a superman.

Doc Savage also crossed mediums, like The Shadow, and had a radio show, too, but whereas The Shadow’s was a long running half hour program, Doc had two 15-minute serials, one in 1934 and another in 1943. National Public Radio even aired a Doc Savage radio program in 1985 that lasted 13 episodes.

Also like The Shadow, Doc Savage was adapted to comics throughout the years and in fact, DC is currently publishing his adventures as written by J. G. Jones.

Doc Savage magazine was printed from 1933 to 1949. A total of 181 issues were released. It was a successful run, but it became even more successful when in 1964 Bantam began to reissue the Doc Savage novels with covers by artist James Bama, who created what many consider to be the definitive look for Doc Savage. From 1967 to 1990, Bantam was publishing one new novel a month. All 181 novels were eventually reissued making Doc Savage one of a few pulp heroes to have all his stories made available again to a newer audience.

The Bama paintings and the dramatic stylized logo across the top promised action and adventure and many a reader during the ‘60s and ‘70s waited with breathless anticipation for the newest edition of Doc Savage to arrive in the bookstore. It was a feeling many younger readers enjoyed as they waited for their latest comic books, but it was a rare feeling among adults Doc Savage delivered.

Sadly, there has only been one movie adaptation of Doc Savage. It was released in 1975 as Doc Savage, The Man of Bronze, produced by George Pal and starring Ron “Tarzan” Ely. It was a total flop. Some blamed a lack of funding, but those who saw it blame a lack of respect for the character. Instead of it focusing on the action and adventure of the original stories, it was a tongue-in-cheek retelling and borrowed heavily from the campy leanings of Adam West’s “Batman” television series, complete down to having all Doc Savage’s toys and equipment labeled with a bronze “Doc Savage” logo.

Supposedly there is a new movie rumored in development. A Google search of “Doc Savage 2012” brings up many references but little concrete information. One can only hope the mistakes of the 1975 movie will be avoided.

All but 20 of the 181 Doc Savage stories were written by Lester Dent under the pseudonym Kenneth Robeson. Dent himself was a man of adventure like Doc Savage, a treasure hunter, pilot, explorer, and was nearly as imposing as his character, standing six foot two and weighing 200 pounds. For seventeen years he wrote a novel a month, all the while keeping up a lifestyle of a thrill-seeking globetrotter.