The Man of Bronze

The adventures of Clark “Doc” Savage appeared in his own self-titled pulp magazine from 1933 for over 16 years and 181 issues. His main chronicler was Lester Dent (pictured left). Doc Savage, as developed by Dent, was a giant of a man, with skin tanned by the tropical sun, hence the epithet “The Man of Bronze”. Doc Savage’s father had trained him, with the help of various experts, from birth, so that he had abnormal physical strength and endurance, became brilliantly adept at all sciences especially as a surgeon (hence the “Doc” title), as well as being an extraordinarily talented inventor, musician and master of disguise.

Lester Dent was an imposing man himself, six foot two and 200 pounds with boundless energy. He was able to churn out a 50,000 word plus Doc Savage story monthly as well as throwing himself into travelling the globe as a treasure hunter, mountain climber and adventurer as well as experimenting with new technology such as radio and television. His love of new gadgets saw him predict such things as telephone answering machines, night goggles and automatic car transmissions.

Dents writing style although formulaic, was arresting for its pace and ability to make the unbelievable believable. He was also writing in a time of great optimism about the benefits of science and his ability to effectively communicate Doc’s high tech gadgetry was infectious.

Dent himself was at times derisory of his accomplishments with Doc Savage. After all, his stories did appear in the medium of pulp magazines, publications so named because they were printed on cheap wood pulp paper. The pulps had their golden age in the 1920s and 1930s and included such authors as Ray Bradbury, Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammet and Philip K Dick but were generally looked down upon by opinion makers of the day. The pulps however existed for a public unable to afford middle class literature and at a time before free public libraries, low cost paperbacks and alternative forms of entertainment such as television. Doc Savage’s stories were a publication phenomenon, making the publication firm Street and Smith immensely profitable and bankrolling Lester Dent’s adventurous lifestyle. Doc Savage's popularity also illustrated Dent’s unique gifts as a writer and how Doc’s fantastic stories alleviated the gloom from a world-wide depression and war.

As a cultural touchstone, Doc Savage has had a longer lasting effect. Siegal and Shuster used the Man of Bronze as direct inspiration when they created their comic book Superman, and Doc Savage has been used as a model for other comic book characters. He has also been used as a model for Indiana Jones, James Bond and right down to a feminised version in Buffy the Vampyre Slayer. Indeed Doc Savage even had his own ‘Scooby Gang’ named the ‘Fabulous Five’.

Doc Savage gave pleasure to millions and opportunities for Lester Dent to satisfy his curiosities and live out his fantasies. Doc was superhuman but Lester was not and he died of a massive heart attack aged 54.