Doc Savage: Skull Island (alkuperäinen julkaisuvuosi 2013; vuoden 2013 painos)

They say “you can’t go home again,” and for the better part of the last 35 years I’ve kind of held that as an unassailable truth in relation to many of my childhood reading passions. Doc Savage books, which I was utterly obsessed with as a pre-teen, were pretty much at the top of that list. My subsequent issues were not with the character, or concept, simply the writing. And let me just say that Doc Savage was as important to me then as the Sherlock Holmes stories of Arthur Conan Doyle are to me now, and I’ve edited 3 professional anthologies of Sherlock Holmes stories with a 4th on the way, so that should tell you something. I had, to my mind, outgrown the perceived formulaic and generic style (or lack of it) of pulp fiction. My belief was likely reinforced by a casual effort, at some point early on in my 20s or 30s, to revisit THE MAN OF BRONZE, which I presumably found lacking. If it’s any consolation, I can’t read Asimov anymore either, but that’s a whole other kettle of fish and largely irrelevant. In any case, Doc Savage had been relegated to a dusty and cluttered locker of my childhood nostalgia. Fondly remembered, but better left alone. Then some surprising things happened. A John Carter film was finally made, so I picked up A Princess of Mars for a re-read, and found ERB to be less fusty than I had convinced myself. A new Tarzan film arrived in 2016, so I went back to ERB yet again. Titan was rereleasing all the Sax Rohmer Fu Manchu novels, so I decided to give them another shot, and again I was surprised to find myself enjoying the sort of stories I hadn’t read since the days before reaching adulthood. Yet, I could not convince myself to re-read a Doc Savage book. Maybe it was because I felt burned every time someone issued a weak comic book, or maybe I just didn’t want to risk losing that warm and fuzzy childhood affection, but somehow my interest in the character was revived this year. I still couldn’t bring myself to re-read any of the originals, but a few friends recommended I give one of Will Murray’s ‘Wild Adventures’ a shot. The seed had been planted, but it took an appeal to my film buff sensibilities to finally take the plunge. When I was informed that Murray had crafted a story that tied Doc Savage to King Kong, one of may favourite films, itself a sort of pastiche of Arthur Conan Doyle’s THE LOST WORLD, my resistance gave way…and I’m so very glad it did.
SKULL ISLAND begins hours after the film King Kong ends. Kong’s gigantic corpse lies at the foot of the Empire State Building, which, of course, houses the headquarters of Doc Savage and his crew, so it’s only natural that the authorities turn to Savage to remove it. Doc hurriedly returned from his Fortress of Solitude surprises his pals with the news that Kong is actually familiar to him, and so begins the flashback, that is the whole of the book, wherein Doc relates his earlier experience of the gigantic ape.

It all started with a telegram from his father, Clark Savage, Sr., while Doc was returning from France at the close of WWI, that drew him into a search for the recently spotted ship of his grandfather ‘Stormalong’ Savage, who had been missing for a number of years. Doc and Savage Sr., along with a tight crew of Mayans, set sail for the Indian Ocean and the last known site where the long lost Stormalong’s ship had recently been sighted. After an encounter with Dyak headhunters, and using cryptic clues uncovered on the found ship, Doc, his father and a loyal Mayan eventually make their way to Skull Island and their highly-anticipated encounter with Kong, natives, prehistoric beasts and another go-round with the aforementioned headhunters. All of which could have been pretty standard pulp fare, but Murray’s writing elevates the scenario. At some 385 pages of story there is more depth here than in any of the classic Robeson pulps. We are allowed to see Doc, who is very much a proto-Doc at this point, actually develop and grow as a character on his way to become the heroic figure we know and love. Watching the relatively cold relationship between Doc and his father thaw throughout the course of the book is a delight, especially once old Stormalong turns up and we have three generations of Savages to deal with. We also get a thoughtful bit of background to the culture of the islanders and Kong himself. Murray deftly manages to deliver a story that is true to the pulp tradition of Doc Savage, in terms of action and adventure, but it’s a much denser, layered and character driven approach that elevates the material beyond my memory of its roots. Not only does he play fair with Doc, but he adds texture to the character and background of Kong that should bring joy to fans of the classic 1933 film.

For me this was the best of both worlds and a perfect way to re-enter the world of Doc Savage, or at the very least the new ‘Wild Adventures’ of Doc Savage, as I’m still not sure I can revisit the original pulp stories. I am, however, very definitely looking forward to diving in to my next Will Murray Doc Savage adventure as this one was pure genius.
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This is one of the best books I have read in a long time. I really enjoyed it. I am not a big fan of King Kong (Godzilla is my guy) but when I heard that Will Murray wrote a book bringing together two titans, Doc Savage and King Kong, I had to read this book. The first thing that made me realize that I made a great decision was the book’s cover. The cover art by Joe DeVito is fantastic! As for the story, it matches the cover. This is what all adventure-thriller novels need to be. ( )