#Happy bones review series#

The adventures were always fast-paced and exciting, from the early apocalyptic world-saving extravaganzas of the early days to the latter scientific-detective style shorter works of the post-World War Two years. The settings were also fascinating: Doc's Fortress of Solitude, the Hidalgo Trading Company (which served as a front for his armada of vehicles), and especially the mysterious 86th floor headquarters all became familiar haunts to the reader, and the far-flung adventures took the intrepid band to exotic and richly-described locations all over the world. The characterizations were far richer than was common for the pulps his five associates and their sometimes-auxiliary, Doc's cousin Pat, and the pets Chemistry and Habeas Corpus, all had very distinctive characteristics and their byplay was frequently more entertaining that the current adventure-of-the-month. Doc was arguably the first great modern superhero with a rich background, continuity, and mythos.

#Happy bones review series#

Bantam reprinted the entire series in paperback with wonderful, iconic covers starting in the 1960's. The first Doc Savage story appeared in 1933 and the series ran in pulp and later digest format into 1949. Overall, a fun, but mostly typical adventure in the series. There's also an amusing ruse by Monk and Ham in the first part of the story when they try to fool a messenger boy who they think is an assassin and end up being outwitted. They're mostly minor and he regains control fairly easily, but it's almost a little refreshing to see them take place. But strange things are afoot as Doc and his crew investigate.īeing one of the later adventures, Doc isn't as infallible as he is in the early part of the series and he's seen making several mistakes. Doc tries to unravel the mystery of Happy Bones, an island in the Caribbean where the U.S. This adventure takes place in 1943 and it one of the first ones that I've read involving the war effort. Doc even seems to look upon her admirably and one could almost imagine them on further adventures if the series had ever been allowed to grow outside its normal formula. Though usually not as big a fan of the later adventures, this one had a few interesting aspects including Hannah, the female lead who is no damsel in distress, but quite a capable brawler. The last of the single edition Bantam books, I recently acquired a mint condition copy and I think that's why I grabbed it. In the 1970s, when the series was extended with 12 additional novels, Ron Goulart was hired to become Robeson. In order to encourage sales Kenneth Robeson was credited on the cover of The Avenger magazine as 'the creator of Doc Savage' even though Lester Dent had nothing to do with The Avenger series. Will Murray has since taken up the pseudonym and continued writing Doc Savage books as Robeson.Īll 24 of the original stories featuring The Avenger were written by Paul Ernst, using the Robeson house name.

In the 1990s Philip José Farmer wrote a new Doc Savage adventure, but it was published under his own name and not by Robeson. Lester Dent is usually considered to be the creator of Doc Savage. Though most Doc Savage stories were written by the author Lester Dent, there were many others who contributed to the series, including: Kenneth Robeson was the house name used by Street and Smith Publications as the author of their popular character Doc Savage and later The Avenger.