Doc Savage Omnibus #6

Doc Savage (Bantam) #148-151

by Kenneth Robeson

The Awful Dynasty
When a deadly scarab starts visiting a curse from ancient Egypt on wealthy financiers, Doc and his bold crew face a terrifying death in the mysterious crypts of the most dangerous pyramid on earth.

The Disappearing Lady
The cloying scent of gardenias and a very strange auto leads Doc Savage on a desperate quest to find a kidnap victim deep in the heart of the underworld.

Fire and Ice
Doc saves a beautiful woman stranded in the Alaskan wilderness. But he soon finds more than he bargained for as a black box and a tall, dark and dead man lead Doc to Manhattan on a thrilling mission to solve a macabre puzzle.

The Magic Forest
The mysterious disappearance of Renny and a series of tiny grotesquely carved totem poles send Doc and his hard-fisted crew on a deadly race deep into the Alaskan wilds in search of a strange hidden land.

Genres: Fiction

378 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published July 1, 1988

About the author

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. Though most Doc Savage stories were written by the author Lester Dent, there were many others who contributed to the series, including:

William G. Bogart
Evelyn Coulson
Harold A. Davis
Lawrence Donovan
Alan Hathway
W. Ryerson Johnson

Lester Dent is usually considered to be the creator of Doc Savage. In the 1990s Philip José Farmer wrote a new Doc Savage adventure, but it was published under his own name and not by Robeson. Will Murray has since taken up the pseudonym and continued writing Doc Savage books as Robeson.

All 24 of the original stories featuring The Avenger were written by Paul Ernst, using the Robeson house name. 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. In the 1970s, when the series was extended with 12 additional novels, Ron Goulart was hired to become Robeson.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first Doc Savage story appeared in 1933 and the series ran in pulp and later digest format into 1949. Bantam reprinted the entire series in paperback with wonderful, iconic covers starting in the 1960's. Doc was arguably the first great modern superhero with a rich background, continuity, and mythos. 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. 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 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. There were always a few points that it was difficult to believe along the way, but there were always more ups than downs, and there was never, ever a dull moment. The Doc Savage books have always been my favorite entertainments... I was always, as Johnny would say, superamalgamated!

[Curt Jeffreys · Rating 5 out of 5]

Doc Savage is back! After reading Omnibus #3 I was worried. In #3 Doc seemed insecure, always questioning his actions, unsure of himself. He also seemed to have lost of all his cool gadgets. In this volume he has his cool toys and he's once again the Man of Bronze we all know and love.

Highly recommended!