Dynamite Is Wild About "Doc Savage"

While Sony Pictures Entertainment preps writer/director Shane Black's next feature, adapting 1930's pulp magazine hero "Doc Savage" for producer Neil Moritz and Columbia Pictures, Dynamite Entetainment and Conde Nast will publish a new "Doc Savage" comic book series, available December 2013, written by Chris Roberson and illustrated by Bilquis Evely, with covers by Alex Ross, John Cassaday and Stephen Segovia.

"In the course of my comics' career, I've been lucky enough to work on nearly every character and series that mattered the most to me growing up," writer Roberson said. 

"'Doc Savage' is one of the final characters left on my bucket list. Growing up in the 70's, it was impossible to miss the Doc Savage reprints in every bookstore and on every newsstand, with those striking covers. Doc quickly became and remained my absolute favorite of all of the pulp heroes, and the stories of Lester Dent were a huge influence on my own writings."

"...'Doc Savage' is proceeding on pace," said "Iron Man 3" director Black. "...as 'Iron Man' wound down I sort of reconnected with Sony who have been gracious to say, 'We’ll wait a year and sit on these rights until you’re finished with this other picture that we don’t control. So they were really cool about it, they were really nice. So yeah I’m back on it."

The character 'Clark Savage, Jr.' debuted March 1933 in the first issue of "Doc Savage Magazine" from publishers Street & Smith, created by publisher Henry W. Ralston and editor John L. Nanovic at Street and Smith Publications, with material contributed by the series' main writer, Lester Dent.

The character then spun-off into radio, film and comic books, with his adventures reprinted for modern-day audiences in a series of Bantam paperback books (1964) with painted covers by James Bama.

'Doc Savage' had no special powers, but was raised from birth by his father and other scientists to become one of the most perfect human beings in terms of strength, mental and physical agilities.

Savage set up base on the 86th floor of the Empire State Building, (inspiring Stan Lee's 'Baxter Building') fighting evil with the assistance of the 'fabulous five' (inspiring Stan Lee's "Fantastic Four"). 

His team included 'Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Blodgett Mayfair' aka 'Monk', an industrial chemist, 'Brigadier General Theodore Marley Brooks', aka 'Ham', an accomplished attorney, 'Colonel John Renwick', aka 'Renny', a construction engineer, 'Major Thomas J. Roberts', aka 'Long Tom', an electrical engineer and 'William Harper Littlejohn', aka 'Johnny', an archaeologist and geologist.

Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "Doc Savage"...