A staple of DOC SAVAGE stories is the "slow opening." Something
mysterious is happening to people. Sometimes they're killed;
sometimes they go to New York City, and are killed there. Other times
they get off a last-minute telegram of phone call. Quite often DOC
makes to appearance before Chapter 3, Sometimes it's as late as
Chapter 6.

I've started rereading one like that right now -- name slips my mind
at the moment, but it's the one with the Bantam cover with DOC looking
at 4 giant ferrets. And I think -- why do they always wait so long to
introduce DOC? Wouldn't it have made more sense to introduce him
sooner? A chapter 2 intro, ala THE DESTROYER? Show him doing
something heroic or fantastic right in the first chapter, and have
that chapter end with, "Little did DOC SAVAGE know that in far off
Congobongoland, and mysterious menace to world peace was already
emerging from the primordial swamp...."

Compare with THE SPIDER, with the fever-pitch already there by the
third paragraph. Even THE SHADOW ususally makes an appearance in the
first or second chapter

dave

In article <1190916064.663836.317280@y42g2000hsy.googlegroups.com>,
Dave bellsouth.net> wrote:

Much as I love the Doc Savage books, that always bothered me about some of
them, even as a kid. I much preferred the ones in which Doc showed up
almost right away.

"Dave" bellsouth.net> wrote in message
news:1190916064.663836.317280@y42g2000hsy.googlegroups.com...

On Sep 27, 3:37 pm, t...@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan ) wrote:

may have him only speaking a couple of dozen lines of dialogue. Half
of these will be along the lines of, "Get down!" and half of the rest
will occur in the final three pages, as he explains the mystery.

But some of my most vivid DOC memories are from stories where he is
right there from the start, doing brain surgery, or playing a musical
insturment.

New Project: look back at some classic DOCs, and see when he shows
up.

Dave

Thats what happens when you build a little remote hideaway resort cabin
in a far and frigid land.
It still takes time to go back and forth when you have to fly the old
fashioned way. Unlike that other mild and mannered fella.

tphile

Dave wrote:

One of my favorite Docs is "The King of Terror," which opens with
something like "On Thursday they killed Doc Savage."

Doc steps out of his high-speed elevator and is immediately
machine-gunned. He falls riddled with bullets.