Will Murray (1) (1953–)

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 show more 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. show less

Doc Savage: Skull Island is an interesting addition to the Clark Savage Jr. mythos while using the backdrop of Kong’s stomping grounds. This is an early Doc adventure adding Murray’s ideas about the origins of some of Doc’s philosophies and technologies. Although many would cringe at the idea, especially the canon purist, I felt the story added depth to Doc and now consider it part of the Doc Savage story.
I recently read Kong vs. Tarzan by Will Murray which was a Kong story with show more Tarzan playing a supporting role. As I read DS: Skull Island, I thought it was a seamless sequel to Kong vs. Tarzan. To my surprise I found that DS: Skull Island was published 3 years earlier. So Murray is going Wold Newton on us but personally I like the concept.
King Kong, the original movie, left the audience with two big questions. Filmatically answering those questions would have bogged down the story but they hung out there. The first was how did Denham get Kong from Skull Island to New York? The second- How did New York dispose of the body of Kong? Again neither answer would make for an exciting aspect to the film so they were rightfully left out of the movie. In Kong vs. Tarzan, Murray answers the first questions in a logical, reasonable fashion that leads to the meeting of Kong and Tarzan. The second question is answered in DS: Skull Island leading Doc to tell about a previous adventure he had with his father that put them on Skull Island and an encounter with Kong.
It is a fast paced read, focusing on the relationships within the Savage family. Doc, having just returned from Europe and WWI, sets sail with his father to attempt to discover if Doc’s grandfather Stormalong Savage is still alive. Murray steps away in his works from the original author Lester Dent by adding in deepening characterization. He still hits the action tropes of a Doc Savage story but doubles the page length by adding a lot more interaction between characters.
I recommend the book to Doc and Kong fans neither one getting short shrift in the story. The Kong scenes play out better in this adventure than in Kong vs. Tarzan. This is Kong’s world and he is king. When transported to Africa, he is out of his element but dominating lesser creatures so the scenes play out with little tension. Here we have Doc out of his element, still learning himself while trying to prove himself to his father. Lots of tension both with the action and between characters. The purist Doc fan might be perturbed, the don’t contradict or add to what was in the original pulp but this die hard fan thoroughly enjoyed this romp, show less

Who Knows What History Lurks Behind the Shadows Laugh?... Will Murray Knows.

Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?.......The Shadow knows, is a phrase many people are familiar with either through memory of the radio shows or in recent times a myriad of pop culture references. They have a vague idea of who or what the character actually was. Most do not know the origins of the character nor the literary legacy of the character at the pen of Walter Gibson guided by his editors. To show more paraphrase Lester Dent- The Shadow was just a voice until he was handed over to Walter Gibson.
The Shadow as a nemesis to crime has had 4 incarnations in different media. First was the pulp hero, second the radio show, third movies and fourth in comic books. Each incarnation keeps similar elements but also unique to themselves. This is a character that has survived in our culture to present times with a recent revamping by James Patterson
The Dark Avenger chronicles the history of the Shadow, the first masked crime fighter of the Golden Age of pulp magazines. Starting with his transformation from being a “host” to a detective radio show into a pulp magazine hero that transformed the pulp magazine industry.The Shadow debuted in his own magazine published by Street & Smith for a run of 325 issues over the next two decades. The Shadow’s success heralded a new phase in the pulp magazines with new titles being created to jump on the super heroic action adventure bandwagon. Street & Smith itself would follow up with Doc Savage and The Avenger among others.
The appeal of Murray’s Dark Avenger to me is threefold. As a literary historian, I was interested in the history of the character and his evolution. Murray gives an overview of many of the novels without giving away details of the stories. Interwoven with this is a history of the magazine, the writers, the editors giving the reader an idea of who these men were and their impact on the stories and the direction the stories went. Also interwoven in this tale of The Shadow is the impact of the culture and history of the times on the stories and magazine itself.
The book should appeal to those interested in this fascinating character, those interested in the pulp magazine phenomenon that peaked in the 1920s and 1930s and those who are intrigued by the origins of pulp culture. It’s an easy read, not a dry recounting of history. More like a discussion of the events with insight given by those involved at the time.
Highly recommended for Shadow fans, Pulp fans and those who are curious about our world 90 years ago. show less

This should really be subtitled “The Strange Saga of The Shadow in pulp magazines” as that is where the majority of the book is focused. Each part covering a particular phase of The Shadow’s history in print.

While it was interesting to read about how editorial changes, and historical events (namely WW2) impacted the way that Shadow stories evolved, I would have liked to learn more about the radio show, movie serials, comics etc. which are only mentioned when they had some bearing on show more the pulp stories.

If you want to do a deep dive into the character’s pulp roots, and his creator Walter Gibson then this is a great resource.

But there’s more to The Shadow’s story than is told here. show less