Reading Room: DOC SAVAGE "The Man of Bronze" Part 1

In the early 1970s, bolstered by the success of Conan the Barbarian, both DC and Marvel attempted to relaunch other pulp characters who had successful paperback reprint series as comic book titles.
Hoping that the audiences for them would carry over as Conan's had, Marvel acquired the rights to Doc Savage, while DC snagged both The Shadow and The Avenger.
The Doc title lasted only eight issues from 1972-73, but the license remained in Marvel's hands when the George Pal movie came along and Marvel invoked their right to do a comic based on the movie.

Compare with page 7 below.

Since the flick was an adaptation of the novel The Man of Bronze, which Marvel had already used as the basis for the first two issues of their previous comic, it was decided to repackage that material as a double-sized one-shot to tie-in with the movie's release.
The art was modified to match the appearance of Doc in the movie, substituting an open-collared shirt for his Marvel-created blue vest and a buzz-cut for the James Bama/Bantam paperback "skullcap".
(I always wondered why Marvel didn't go with the torn-shirt look of the Bantam covers on the comics.
Maybe they didn't want people confusing Doc with their resident torn-shirt aficionado, Nick Fury.
Thankfully, they returned to the torn shirt "look" on the b/w magazine covers by Ken Barr.)
The original two-issue comic adaptation had updated the 1933 novel to the then-present 1970s.
The Giant-Size Doc Savage "re-mastering" modified the technology back to 1930s levels, except the adaptation's replacing of the Mayan assassin's elephant gun with a laser rifle, which remained!
They also re-did Monk's hair from the incorrect black-with-blue-highlights to the red color it had in the pulp stories (and the remainder of the Marvel run).

Without further adieu, Part 1 of Giant-Size Doc Savage begins now...

Tune in tomorrow as Doc and his buddies go in pursuit of the assassin...

Video Fridays: The Man of Bronze IS the Man of Steel!

The recent Doc Savage posts have produced some of the biggest hit counts this blog has ever seen!
So, for this week's videos, we're going with The Man of Bronze and Ron Ely as two Clarks, one Bronze, one Steel!

First up, the original theatrical trailer...Have no fear! The Man of Bronze is HERE!

The two major fight scenes in the flick in one clip!

And a very special treat: Ron Ely as the Golden Age Superman!

 From The Adventures of Superboy third season finale; "The Road to Hell Part II"

Don't worry, the opening synopsis gives you all the background you need...

Coming soon: The Doc Savage stories from Marvel Two-in-One and Giant-Size Spider-Man, as well as the Giant-Size Doc Savage one-shot, none of which are included in DC's trade paperback reprint! PLUS: the not-reprinted text features and pin-ups from the various Marvel comics and b/w magazines!
PLUS:
The Shadow's Silver Age run from Archie Comics!
The COMPLETE Fox/Farrell Phantom Lady by Matt Baker!
The Green Hornet (Golden AND Silver Age)!
The SECOND Captain Marvel! (The one between DC's SHAZAM! and Marvel's Mar-Vell!)
Jet Dream and Her StuntGirl CounterSpies: the Complete Saga!
..and much MORE superhero(ine) stuff from 1938-1978!
Don't miss any of the fun!

DOC SAVAGE: The 1960s Movie That ALMOST Was

Comic cover cropped from the paperback art by James Bama

In 1966, with both Bond and Bat-manias at their peak, producers Mark Goodson & Bill Toddman intended to begin a film franchise based on the hot-selling Doc Savage pulp novels being reprinted by Bantam, starting with The Thousand-Headed Man.

1966 Newsweek article about Doc Savage and the movie. Click to enlarge.

They contracted Chuck Connors, who had recently finished a successful run on the RifleMan tv series to play Doc, and began pre-production.

Then, things stopped dead in their tracks.

It seemed that Conde Nast, who now owned the Street and Smith library, including Doc Savage, The Shadow, and The Avenger, didn't own the ancillary media rights to the Man of Bronze!

Those rights had been retained by co-creator Lester Dent, who had written most of the novels (including Thousand-Headed Man) under the "Kenneth Robeson" house name.

(Dent, had previously licensed a short-lived radio version of the character, but had been unable to develop a movie or tv version.
When he passed away, his widow retained the rights.)

Mrs. Dent was more than willing to negotiate, but time was not on the producers' side.
They had already scheduled the production, and had to start shooting something or lose their investment and the cast, most of whom had commitments scheduled after the Thousand-Headed Man shoot!

To recoup, the producers switched to an already-existing Western script called Night of the Tiger, and shot it as Ride Beyond Vengeance.  (Westerns at that point were still an "easy sell" to theatres and tv.)

Looking at the Ride Beyond Vengeance cast, it's fairly easy to guess who would've played whom...

Claude Akins as Monk

Michael Rennie as Ham

William Bryant as Renny

Jamie Farr as Johnny

Bill Bixby as Long Tom

Gary Merrill or Paul Fix as Calvin Copeland

Kathryn Hays as Lucille Copeland

Not sure who would've played Sen Gat

The cast also included Frank Gorshin and James MacArthur.

In the early 1970s, the character's rights were sold to legendary movie producer George Pal, who produced Doc Savage: the Man of Bronze, starring Ron Ely, in 1974.

The Thousand-Headed Man was eventually dramatized...as a radio mini-series for NPR, who had scored great ratings with radio versions of the original Star Wars Trilogy.

Bronze Bonuses

Here's the original pulp cover...

 ...the rarely-seen British paperback, published at the same time as the 1975 Ron Ely feature film, and, oddly enough, based on the James Bama art for #14, The Fantastic Island...

...and the official cd release of the radio show adaptation!

Reading Room Annex: DOC SAVAGE "Thousand-Headed Man" Conclusion

When Last We Left Our Heroes...

James Bama cover for the paperback of the pulp novel. It was cropped and reused as the Gold Key comic's cover.

Doc Savage and his men are drawn to Cambodia to find a missing explorer and investigate a fabulous lost city and rumors of a "Thousand-Headed Man" who rules it.
Upon arriving, they are strafed by an aircraft owned by Sen Gat, who also seeks the lost city, and it's treasures...

The End of The Thousand-Headed Man.

But Doc Savage Will Return...

At least, that was the intent of the movie producers, who wanted to create a James Bond-level franchise, beginning with this novel.

Tune in Monday for that tale!

Reading Room Annex: DOC SAVAGE "Thousand-Headed Man" Part 2

When Last We Left Our Heroes...

An unmarked package thrown to Doc Savage at an airport contains only a plastic key.
When a trio of men seek the Man of Bronze to acquire the key, Monk drives them away with putrid-smelling gas.
Doc follows them to their leader, Sen Gat, and hypnotizes them all.
Sen Gat reveals he wants the key to use with one already in his possession to gain access to the mythical City of the Thousand-Headed Man in Cambodia. He also informs Savage that a third key, owned by the daughter of a famed husband-wife explorer team, is needed to complete the set and that he sent burglars to get it.
Savage races to the daughter's home, is almost skewered by a spear-wielding woman, and discovers Sen Gat's thieves, dead.
A newspaper photograph shows the girl who almost killed him, then escaped, is the explorers' daughter, Lucille.
Now, on to Part 2 of Doc Savage's only Silver Age adventure...

 

 How Will Doc and the Amazing Five Survive This Attack?

Tune in Tomorrow for the Exciting Conclusion!

Reading Room Annex: DOC SAVAGE "Thousand-Headed Man" Part 1

Have NO Fear! The Man of Bronze is HERE!

From 1966, a never-reprinted Silver Age tale, one of many one-shots from Gold Key based on classic properties during the Superhero '60s!
Script by Leo Dorfman, based on the novel by Kenneth Robeson (Lester Dent).
Art by Jack Sparling.

The mystery deepens for the Man of Bronze...tomorrow!