Greg just passed along DC's DOC SAVAGE trade paperback collection of the comics which appeared in magazine format in the early '70s. The talent roster was pretty impressive, but the stories...well, hrm, uh, anyway...
Doc Savage was a popular pulp serial from the '30s, and can be regarded as the "first superhero." He is immensely strong from his 2-hour daily workout regimen since childhood, extremely intelligent, and billed as "The Man of Bronze" un-naturally tan.
But best of all, he's shirtless—all the time. Tight riding pants, tall boots, and a skimpy vest is his preferred get-up. Par for the course for the Castro in the '70s but out of place for the '30s. But still pretty sexy. Even when he travels to the extreme north of Canada, he's still shirtless—though he swaps out his skimpy leather vest for a skimpy fur vest. Yes, you read that accurately.
It's not just Doc that's pretty gay. His band of 6 helper men are pretty gay too. They really only develop two of them as characters for the comic, and they have a very old-married-couple or at least Bert and Ernie shtick. Of course, one of them is a fashion plate and carries a sword inside his cane. Ok!
And, from the get-go, his villains look gay too. Enter a band of South American Indians, dressed in some sort of tight snake-skin body suits...covering head to toe. No, I take that back, their entire midriffs are exposed so they can showcase their abs. I'm not joking, buy the book if you don't believe me.
Overall, an amusing read.
2 comments:
Wow! I had no idea. Love your version. :)
Ha! Me neither. I mean, I'd heard of Doc Savage before as a pulp property, but I didn't really know much. If you google image search for the pulp covers, he's usually in a torn up shirt.
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