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Doc Savage Magazine #1: Review

Aug 1975
Doug Moench, John Buscema

Story Name:

The Doom on Thunder Isle!

Review & Comments

Rating:
3 stars

Doc Savage Magazine #1 Review by (February 15, 2010)
a) First all-new story from Marvel; b) Doc now sports a tight shirt with a long v-neck, jodhpurs and boots, with his skullcap looking more like hair, but not a crewcut, a more realistic outfit than in the color version; c) most elaborate version of Doc’s exercise regimen, with a newly added steel marble test; d) contains a rare comic book account of the WWI origin of the Monk-Ham feud; e) Doc knows modern art; f) Ziggurat is occasionally misspelled; g) first Marvel appearance of the Amberjack. Additional comments: a) Issue also includes “An Editorial in Bronze: a Personal View” by Marv Wolfman, a brief appreciation/introduction; b) cover is a portrait of Ron Ely as Doc Savage, and the logo is printed in bronze ink, for a nice touch; c) the inside front cover is “The Two Faces of Doc Savage,” a photo of Ron Ely in costume posing before a framed copy of James Bama’s poster.




 

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Doc Savage Magazine #1 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro
Late one night a New York skyscraper is destroyed by lightning, the fourth such incident in recent weeks. Later Doc Savage receives a visit from Angelica Tremaine, whose brother Winston, the architect of the destroyed buildings, gave her a coded message for Doc. Angelica’s suspicious boyfriend Tommy Bolt also arrives, just moments before a band of costumed villains wielding electric rayguns smashes through the window. Defeated by Doc and the aides, they choose suicide over capture. Decoding Tremaine’s cryptic message yields a name, “the Silver Ziggurat,” and the address of a fancy Long Island restaurant, the Velvet Room. Doc and Monk arrive at the restaurant too late to prevent Tremaine’s kidnapping but they find another cryptic message. Just then a witness is electrocuted to silence him. Doc pursues by autogyro and sees a huge zeppelin use a giant ray cannon to destroy the building he just left. Contacting his headquarters, Doc learns that villains have kidnapped Angelica and Tommy. Tremaine’s message from the restaurant directs Doc to yet another note inside a small statue with map coordinates for a Pacific Island and the original code yields yet another clue that the Silver Ziggurat may be architect Wiggens Tripp. Doc and company head to the island in the Amberjack, narrowly escaping destruction from the enemy’s electric cannon. On the island, they discover glowing animals, battle costumed thugs and rescue an ape-man from death. Doc enters the villain’s stronghold where Angelica is prisoner of the mad Silver Ziggurat, who is plotting to transform Winston Tremaine into an animal man. Doc manages to rescue Winston but Angelica remains a prisoner of the Silver Ziggurat, unmasked as Tommy Bolt whose plan of revenge against the Tremaines involves destroying Winston and inheriting his wealth by marrying his sister. Doc and his men are herded into an electrified pen and animal men are set upon them. The ape-man Doc rescued earlier—revealed to have been Wiggens Tripp—sacrifices his life to shut off the electric fence, allowing Doc’s team to escape and defeat the Silver Ziggurat’s men. Bolt escapes in his zeppelin and fires his cannon into his palace; the resulting fireball rises and ignites the gas in the zeppelin, destroying the remains of the madman’s empire.

The issue also includes a text article:
George Pal: the Man Who Shot Doc Savage
Writers: Chris Claremont and Jim Harmon.
An interview with George Pal, producer of the then forthcoming DOC SAVAGE movie. Part one, conducted by Claremont, surveys Pal’s early career with Puppetoons and science fiction films then moves on to his conception of the Doc Savage project and thoughts on a possible series. Part two, conducted by Harmon touches on a wider range of topics, including (again) Pal’s early career and other assorted topics such as Lester Dent, a Doc Savage radio program, the period flavor and music of the film.


John Buscema
Tony De Zuniga
Roger Kastel (Cover Penciler)


> Doc Savage Magazine: Book info and issue index

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