Doc Savage - Part 3 The Cape-free Crusader

From April 2010: Continuing my look at the history of Doc Savage, today let's look at the many comic book lives of the character.

In this Gold Key issue from the 60s, Doc wraps his hands around a spitting cobra! Get you minds out of the gutter!

Doc headed over to Marvel in the early 70s with an all-new series done in the mighty Marvel style.

Readers (such as I) were introduced to Doc's team of fearless friends in this campy take on the character.

Doc is depicted as a "heart-stopping sight" - and his costume consists of tight white slacks and a skimpy black leather vest.

The text page in Issue #1 goes into detail about Doc's loyal teammates: Monk, Ham, Long Tom, Renny and Johnny!

Issue #2 featured the fearsome foe called The Feather Serpent!

Some dude called Silver Death was the villain in Issue #3.

Doc went topless and took on the Hell Diver in #4.

And then he faced the Night of the Monsters in Issue #6.

A giant sized adaptation of Warner Bros.' feature film  DOC SAVAGE: MAN OF BRONZE  followed. (More on the movie tomorrow!)

And oddest of all, Doc teamed up with The Fantastic Four's very own Thing in MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE.

A magazine-sized movie tie-in featured this iconographic image of Doc in all his manliness.

Doc donned rocket-powered skis for this magazine-sized adventure, but his tenure at Marvel was nearing it's end.

Years later, Doc & company showed up at DC, starring in an acclaimed four-part miniseries (recently collected into a trade paperback. Oddly enough, DC will be soon reprinting the Marvel stories in another trade collection).

A monthly series followed and ran for a while, but soon Doc was in comic book limbo once more.

Next he resurfaced in a short-lived series from an indie publisher called Millennium.

The homoerotic covers continued to follow Doc during this brief run.

So, that brings us right back to DC, where the new DOC SAVAGE comic debuted in April 2010. Doc also recently teamed up with Batman in a one-shot special and was featured in a miniseries called FIRST WAVE, which I covered in my tribute to Rima, the Jungle Girl. Come back tomorrow for my final Doc post.