SifuPhil
R.I.P. With Us In Spirit Only
- Location
- Pennsylvania, USA
I've always been pretty much an introvert, but especially so in my childhood. Although I had a dozen or so regular friends I always seemed to be happiest when I was on my own, and reading was one of the main ways I entered my fantasy land.
Among my favorite novels were the Doc Savage series by Lester Dent. Doc Savage, "The Man of Bronze", was this giant of a man with a deep bronze tan who was a physician, surgeon, scientist, inventor, explorer and savior of scantily-clad beautiful women the world over. Created in 1933 in the first issue of Doc Savage Magazine he went on to appear in 181 original novels, several movies and a ton of later novels by assorted authors including such luminaries as Philip Jose Farmer.
Doc was accompanied on his adventures by a team of remarkable gents, each of whom possessed a unique talent or ability:
As you can imagine this collection of nerds was Heaven for me, and I became such a fan-boy that by the age of 10 I had created a scale model of Doc's headquarters on the 86th floor of what was assumed to be the Empire State Building.
Looking back, the plots were terrible and the action predictable, but hey, what do you want from a kid? I was in my glory!
Among my favorite novels were the Doc Savage series by Lester Dent. Doc Savage, "The Man of Bronze", was this giant of a man with a deep bronze tan who was a physician, surgeon, scientist, inventor, explorer and savior of scantily-clad beautiful women the world over. Created in 1933 in the first issue of Doc Savage Magazine he went on to appear in 181 original novels, several movies and a ton of later novels by assorted authors including such luminaries as Philip Jose Farmer.
Doc was accompanied on his adventures by a team of remarkable gents, each of whom possessed a unique talent or ability:
- "Monk" was a chemist with a remarkable similarity to a large ape due to his large build and thick covering of hair on his body
- "Ham" is an elegantly-dressed attorney who is constantly feuding with Monk
- "Renny" was a construction engineer with a perpetual frown
- "Long Tom", an electrical engineer, appeared sickly but could fight with the best of them
- "Johnny" was an archeologist who loved to use big words even when smaller ones would have done the job
- Pat - Doc's female cousin, with a similar tan and golden hair. She always managed to tag along on the adventures and more than once saved Doc and the "boys"
As you can imagine this collection of nerds was Heaven for me, and I became such a fan-boy that by the age of 10 I had created a scale model of Doc's headquarters on the 86th floor of what was assumed to be the Empire State Building.
Looking back, the plots were terrible and the action predictable, but hey, what do you want from a kid? I was in my glory!