Pulp of the Week - Doc Savage Aug, Sept, Oct 1936

Well - Life has interrupted this blog….

While I haven’t been posting, I still have been reading (slowly) more Doc Savage stories. Here are some mini reports…

The Midas Man - August 1936 - Bantam #46

This adventure is most notable for having a mind reading helmet that actually works.

There is a scene where a couple of crooks discuss what happened to a crook friend that got caught by Savage. “There’s a rumor that he don’t ever kill anybody,” explained the crook. “But he does something queer to ‘em. I know this guy that had a brother that this bronze guy got. My pal later met his own brother on the street. The poor guy didn’t even know him.” 

Also Doc gas bombs a building and later has the police check on it to be sure that no one is injured (he doesn’t mention that he was the one that gassed the building, however.

At one point Ham gets hit by a bullet. “Ham’s head swam. Awful lights jumped in his eyeballs.” He was ok due to his bulletproof vest, but I liked the detail.

James Bama provided an evocative cover - the helmet is wonderfully low tech.

Cold Death - September 1936 - Bantam #21

Writer Laurence Donovan brings back the Cold Light from Land of Always Night as a horrible weapon that destroys a whole city block in Manhattan.

 South Pole Terror - October 1936 - Bantam #77

Doc and crew chase down a world threatening weapon at the South Pole. A good story by Dent and the paperback has a Fred Pfeiffer cover that also graces The Stone Man.

next up - back to full reviews

Pulp of the Week - The Return of Foster Fade

The New Adventures of Foster Fade - Pro Se Press - Digital and Print

I picked up this volume of pulp tales featuring one of Lester Dent's lesser known characters for a few reasons. One, I like Dent, and two, it features a couple of stories by Adam Lance Garcia. Garcia is one of the best of the New Pulp writers out there and his main story in this anthology doesn't disappoint.

For those not familiar with Foster Fade, he was featured in a number of stories by Lester Dent prior to Dent's work on Doc Savage. Foster Fade is a sort of Sherlock Holmes with gadgets. The love of gadgets is the source of any similarity to Doc Savage. Otherwise, Fade is quite different. He's tall, lanky and a bit of a prankster. He has little time for figures of authority. And he knows just how good he is.

Part of me wonders if Adam Garcia has modeled his Fade a bit after the Benedict Cumberbatch Sherlock, but regardless, the character is fun and smart.

Foster Fade occupies a large space in Planet Tower, the skyscraper in Manhattan that houses The Planet, a very popular Manhattan daily newspaper. (Perhaps yet another debt that the Superman creators owe Dent.) Fade has an office, living quarters, and the laboratory where he creates his outlandish crime solving gadgets.

The Planet gives away this prime real estate to Fade in exchange for having exclusive access to the Spectacularist (great word, isn't it?) and his exploits. Also included in the deal is that writer Dinamenta Stevens has full access to Fade and is the official writer of his tales. The relationship and banter between Din Stevens and Foster Fade is the most fun part of these tales, and the stories are indeed fun. Pro Se Press should be proud of this volume.

The collection opens with Adam Garcia's mystery as Fade and Din track a cop killer that is sending Fade the murder weapons. Pro Se has put its best foot forward and Garcia's tale is the best in this collection. The other tales are good, but don't match the level of Garcia's prose. The second tale, by Derrick Ferguson is the other standout.

After reading this book of original tales, I will be seeking out the collection of original Lester Dent stories (available from Altus Press) as well.

I'll give The New Adventures of Foster Fade a 7 out of 10, but Garcia's first tale scores a 9, and finally, the cover by the Spectacular Mike Fyles scores a 10. Great work with dynamic characters. One of his best.

Pulp of the Week - Doc Savage 39

The  Seven Agate Devils - May 1936

This Doc adventure has a couple of firsts - Doc in Los Angeles for an extended period and a bald femme fatale. The story involves a series of killings where a carved agate statue is found next to the victim. This is especially peculiar because the statue's face matches the victims.


After racing around Los Angeles and a faux Malibu, Doc, Monk, and Ham go to a movie location far in the desert out by Palm Springs where the trail of the agate statues has led.

This odd and almost great adventure especially suffers from common ailment of a Doc Savage story running out of pages too fast. The authors (Lester Dent and Harold A. Davis) didn't leave enough room for an adequate conclusion.


The story has thrills and chases, Pacific cliffs and western canyon hideouts. It all rushes by too fast and misses many good opportunities. Hopefully Doc and company will return to Hollywood for a proper classic movie studio adventure. This is not that.

For this review I read the Bantam paperback published March 1973, likely purchased new a few years after that. The evocative paperback cover is by Fred Pfeiffer. I find myself liking the Pfeiffer covers more and more. The pulp cover is by Walter Baumhofer. I got the pulp image from mycomicshop.com. I'll give The Seven Agate Devils a 7 out of 10 - low due to the missed chances and the utterly unsatisfying conclusion. The scenes are exciting, but the story never gelled.

Pulp of the Week - Doc Savage 37

The Metal Master - March 1936

WARNING - EXTRA SPOILERIFIC!

Bring on the super-science! There are no charlatans here, this stuff is all real. This supersaga begins with a young woman escorting an old man to Doc Savage's 86th floor office. The woman, Nan Tester, thinks that Seevers is a bit nuts, but she'd like to meet Savage and see if his reputation is accurate. When they get to the office, they are attacked and Seevers is taken, but Doc gets the girl and hides her in a secret room in his laboratory. Doc pursues Seevers and when he finds him it is too late. He is partially protruding from a blob of metal that used to be a car.

A gang has gotten their mitts on a a piece of gear that causes metal to liquify while it is exposed to the beam. Not good if you are in a car, for instance. The leader of this gang is, of course, The Metal Master.

In one section, Nan Tester asks Doc about the fights between Monk and Ham. He explains, "Years ago, it became evident that the only thing that will stop Monk and Ham from quarreling is for one of the other to get killed."
Nan replies, "Oh! Then they've been like this on other occasions?"
"On practically all other occasions," Doc explained.

There is a lot of good in this Lester Dent book, and really only one fault. They bring back the monkey. Yep, Ham Brook's pet ape returns, just when its seems that we forgot about him. Oh, well, it was good while it lasted. The story explains that Chemistry was quarantined for many months in with customs…

After some globetrotting and gun play, the secrets of the Metal Master are revealed. Oh, and a decent twist plays out for a good bit before being revealed.

I'll give The Metal Master a 7.5 out of 10 due to a few sections where Dent was on autopilot and the monkey. Everything to do with the melting of metal is pretty great. The Pulp cover is by Walter Baumhofer and the Bantam Cover is by Fred Pfeifer.

Pulp of the Week - Doc Savage #34

The Fantastic Island - December 1935

Written by Ryerson Johnson and Lester Dent

What do I love about the Pulps? Stories like this one…

Take an island in the Galapagos, add escaped Russian royalty, Komodo Dragons, and an active volcano… what do you get?

Pure Pulp Goodness - that's what Johnson and Dent gave us in The Fantastic Island. The story begins with an expedition led by Johnny disappearing in the vicinity of the Galapagos Islands. Something happens to him and the Pat Savage, Monk, and Ham just happen to be on a yacht on vacation in Panama, so they head off to find Johnny…

There is an attempt to make a big deal out of a mysterious hole that appears periodically punching through people's skulls… This reveal was particularly uninspired. The best parts were The set up and the locale was quite evocative. There were good character bits when Johnny, Monk, and Ham were thrown into pits and forced to dig. Pat was taken to a castle on the mountainside where a Russian expat attempted to woo her. An ever-present active volcano added a nice ticking clock - I'll have to remember that one - and Pat Savage is always welcome.

Once again, Bantam's release order baffles me. The end of Fantastic Island (Bantam paperback #15) leads directly into the beginning of Murder Melody (Bantam #14.) All the Doc stories have a paragraph at the end and usually they were cut by Bantam. But not this one, so why not just publish them in the same order as originally published? If you read the Bantams in order, you couldn't help but notice.

Other things of note - Doc has a mechanical doppelganger  called "Robbie the Robot!" This is the first known instance of the name. There are some scenes in this one where Doc gets Savage like he did in the early days. There is a cool crab swarm attack. I loved this phrase as a huge candelabra is knocked around - "Candles showered down, their flames whipping like tiny comets."  There was a well written end of the 2nd act summary that launched us right into the third act.

On the whole this was a good, but not great story. I'll give it a 7 out of 10. The Bantam cover is by James Bama and the Pulp Cover is by Walter Baumhofer. The interior illustrations from the pulp are by Paul Orban. I have linked this art from Chris Kalb's site.

SPOILERS FOLLOW

Given all the crazy set up, I was disappointed that the horrible monsters ended up being 'merely' extra large iguanas. In the story (as in life), these beasts can be 10 feet long and weigh 150 pounds which is double the normal size. That's kimodo dragon size. I was hoping for triple size, massive, lost dinosaur stuff, but they went with a realistic choice - especially after the utterly fantastic elements in Murder Melody. I guess I'll see if this becomes a trend. This story was only missing Renny and Chemistry has yet to show up again. Phew.

Pulp of the Week - Doc Savage 30

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August 1935 - Spook Hole

Spook Hole begins in New York with a one-armed man and a seafaring scalawag having a brutal encounter on the docks of Manhattan.

Those docks are an important setting for this adventure. One unique feature of this saga is the number of potential villains that are introduced quite quickly in this adventure.

There is the one-armed man, 

The thug with baseball bat sized bundle of wires wrapped in heavy tape,

The femme fatale, Nancy Law,

The brutal Captain Wapp,

The thug in pursuit, Oliver Orman Braski,

The mysterious Hezemiah Law,

The denizens of the Spook Hole,

And the traitorous sailor, Sass.

There are a number of unusual features of this novel. Pat Savage makes a brief but memorable appearance. In one scene, Doc's unconcious trilling gives him away. There is also an interesting aside about how a few years earlier there was a boom in small airports. "... airports mushroomed up with great frequency around New York, not a few of them be located in spots so unhandily located that only the enthusiastic promoters dreamed they would ever be useful in a practical way. The result is that at present many weed-grown flying fields are eyesores in the suburbs."

There are the usual fights, shootouts, disguises, and in the end the deep mystery of the Spook Hole itself.

For this review I read my battered Bantam copy that I bought at a library book sale many decades ago. The book was published in Sept 1972. The paperback cover is an iconic one by Fred Pfeiffer. Visit the Pfeiffer Pfiles blog for more information about this great painter. The pulp cover is by Walter Baumhofer. The interior illustrations are by Paul Orban and once again come from Chris Kalb's great Doc site.

I'll give Spook Hole a 7 out of 10. There is far too much mucking around back and forth in New York and not nearly enough of interest once they get to the Spook Hole.

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Pulp of the Week - Doc Savage 28

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June, 1935 - The Roar Devil

The Roar Devil fits right in with this recent group of Doc Savage novels where an astounding device is being used by a criminal gang to steal vast amounts of cash. Here, the gimick is a machine that causes earthquakes and another that silences all sound. The descriptions of the soundless world are quite good and raise the book up a level.

There is another standard Doc Savage adventure fixture in this novel as well - the plucky girl. However, this particular girl, Retta Kenn, is a standout and such an enjoyable character that she raises the story up even more that The Roar Devil's outlandish (and as usual, unexplained) premise.

 Here, Retta Kenn meets Renny... 

            His long arms gathered her in. His big right hand clamped over her gun. She surprised him. He had fought me, more times than he could remember. Few of them had equalled this girl. She must have been an avid exponent of physical culture. She knew something of jujitsu, too. She kicked him and hit him with terrific force. They were both on the floor before Renny got the gun and that was something he would never brag about, because he considered his own strength by no means ordinary.

            "Holy Cow!" Renny puffed, and got to his feet. "Talk about your wildcats!"

            The girl was up like a shot and nearly demonstrated she could outrun him. He caught her fifty yards from the cabin. She knocked him down once, beautifully, something he would have sworn that no woman could do.

            "What'd you come up here looking for?" he demanded.

            "Nuts to you!" said the female fire-eater.

        

Retta Kenn proceeds to break out of the bonds he ties her in, kicks the hide off his shin, and "gave him a marvelous black eye."

Retta Kenn is, for my money, one of the great supporting characters in the series so far and one of the main reasons I liked this novel as much as I did.

I read my Bantam paperback, bought new, May 1977 with a great cover by Boris Vallejo. The Pulp cover is by Walter Baumhofer. I'll give The Roar Devil an 8 out of 10.

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Pulp of the Week - Honey in his Mouth

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Written by Lester Dent

Lester Dent is most famous for writing the bulk of the Doc Savage novels, starting with the first in March 1933 and continuing on to the last one published in the summer of 1949. He also had many other stories published in the pulps. But he had always wanted more and after Doc Savage Magazine ended its run he continued to write.  One of the those things was a novel written in 1956, but not published until long after his death.

Noted Doc Savage novelist, and official Lester Dent file searcher, Will Murray came upon the manuscript and Hard Case Crime published it in Oct 2009. Two years later I finally got around to reading it. I wish there were more lost Dent novels.

Among the things that Dent learned to do while writing a few million words of Doc Savage was to write action effortlessly, and to create a character in just a few words. In Honey in his Mouth, Dent creates Walter Harsh - not quite a grifter, but also not quite on the up-and-up. Harsh had figured out a scheme where he would take portrait photos of people and then get them to buy prints of the pictures, and there are always more pictures that the people might want and they cost more than they were expecting.

Walter also happens to have a girl - Vera Sue Crosby. She is a piece of work and is ready to leave Walter when he suddenly is approached by a group that wants to pay Walter $50,000 to make like he is the El Presidente of a small dictatorship. It seems that Walter is the dead ringer for the dictator.

With that set up, Dent sends Walter and Vera Sue on an scheme that spirals from simplicity into complete chaos. While the book is not Pulitzer material, it is a taut thriller and a heck of a lot of fun. Dent writes just enough good in Walter that we root for him as he tries to escape his circumstance, but just enough bad to keep this a crime novel.

I liked Honey in his Mouth enough to give it an 8 out of 10. The cover painting is an original for the book and is painted by Ron Lesser.

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Pulp of the Week - Doc Savage #27

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May, 1935 - The Secret in the Sky

This is good quality Doc Savage adventure from the mid 1930s where Doc and crew encounter another scientific marvel that has been co-opted for nefarious purposes. For some reason, using superscience in the pursuit of criminal thievery is what is on the mind of every criminal mastermind in the 1930s.

In this supersaga, the invention is a spherical flying craft that can hover, take off vertically, and whiz across the country in around 2 hours.

It is that last aspect that gets Doc's attention at the start of the book. An acquaintance of Docs' is publicly killed in San Francisco and two hours later his body is found in New York.

Doc, Monk, Habius, and Ham again share the bulk of the action, but at least this time Renny, Long Tom, and Johnny are present. The capable woman is present again in the form of Lanca Jaxon, although she is a reduced presence from the usual.

The flying spheres are quite mysterious and Doc never does get a good look at the innards of them before they are destroyed.

For this review, I read my quite battered Bantam paperback - Nov 1967 - 3rd printing. I'll give The Secret in the Sky a 7.5 out of 10. My main criticism of these stories is that the set-ups are great, but the resolutions are rushed. The Paul Orban interior art presented is from Chris Kalb's Doc Savage fan site, The 86th Floor. The pulp cover is by Walter Baumhofer and the Bantam paperback cover is by James Bama.

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Pulp of the Week - Doc Savage #26

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APRIL 1935 - THE SPOOK LEGION

Here is another science fiction Doc Savage novel, this one written by Lester Dent. In The Spook Legion, a criminal genius has perfected a technique for rendering people invisible and is using it to unleash a crime wave upon Manhattan.

Doc and Monk get in on the fun and are made invisible very early in the novel. The Spook Legion cleverly gets Doc pegged as the mastermind early on and it causes Doc, Monk, and Ham no end of trouble.

Dent has a bit of fun as Doc and Monk are cavorting about New York completely naked for much of the book. It leads to a few awkward moments.

Monk utters the title of the novel in a bit of dialog, which was nice and this story also reveals a secret entrance to Doc's 86th floor headquarters via a secret ladder on the 85th floor.

The gang successfully pulls off the crime wave and all New York is on the lookout for the invisible gang. They are going to pull up stakes and head to Chicago next, if Doc can't stop them.

Well, what do you think happened?

For this review I read my quite beat up Bantam paperback #16, published March, 1967. I guess I bought it used as Carey Champoux wrote his name on the inside of both the front and back covers.

I give The Spook Legion an 9 out of 10. This is one of "the good ones." Having the rest of the Fab Five absent allows Dent to give full support time to Monk and Ham. Even Habias (Monk's pig) has a good role in this one. The pulp cover by Walter Baumhofer is quite famous as it was used for the cover of Philip Jose Farmer's biography, "Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life." The Bantam cover is by James Bama. 

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New Pulp News - New Doc Savage Novels Announced

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Altus Press has announced the publication of the first new authorized Doc Savage novels in nearly 20 years. From their press announcement:

The Wild Adventures of Doc Savage is a continuation of the well-received Doc novels Murray wrote for Bantam Books back in the 1990s, along with the late Lester Dent. The posthumous collaborations will be published under time-honored byline, Kenneth Robeson.

“These new novels are kicked-up, over-the-top exploits of the Man of Bronze, pitting him against forces and foes never before encountered,” promises Murray. “This is not some comic book scripter’s concept of Doc Savage. It’s the real deal.”

Fully authorized by Condé Nast, trademark holder of Doc Savage and based upon unpublished outlines and manuscripts originally written by Lester Dent, the originating writer of the seminal Street & Smith superman, and licensed from the Heirs of Norma Dent, The Wild Adventures of Doc Savage begins with a searing story set in the summer of 1936, The Desert Demons!

Murray then took a bit of a swing at some of the Doc products released of late (I'm guessing this is aimed at the DC Comics' First Wave series) and proclaimed:

“Since I wrote my last Bantam Books Doc,” Murray commented, “a lot of writers have taken a swing at the bronze man, and struck out. It was painful to watch. So Lester Dent and I have come out of semi-retirement to show everyone how Doc Savage is done. With the recent release of Python Isle, the first of my original seven Doc novels to be released as audiobooks by Radioarchives.com, I’m proclaiming this the Summer of Doc Savage. Doc is back. For real this time.”

Murray also reunites with his other Doc Savage collaborator, award-winning artist and sculptor Joe DeVito, who will paint the covers from never-seen photographs of model Steve Holland, who posed for the best-selling James Bama covers as the living embodiment of the Man of Bronze. These vintage photos were donated to the project by Mr. Bama.

DeVito notes, “Working with Doc Savage again might best be described as revisiting old friends: both figuratively and literally. Collaborating with Will Murray, working from classic photos of the late Steve Holland provided by Jim Bama to illustrate the first super hero of them all… I guess I can also describe it as FUN!”

The Desert Demons will be released in July, followed by a second wild exploit, Horror In Gold, by late summer. Seven new novels are planned. Murray promises the familiar characters in their rightful time period, but with a definite edge to them.

The books will be released in trade paperback, signed hardcover, and ebooks for all readers. I think that the ebook format is perfect for New Pulp since pulp is meant to be read, not necessarily set on a shelf.

You can also visit Adventures in Bronze for much additional information.

This info is a bit old - 65 hour work weeks have cut into my blogging time. However - I will have Comic-Con reports coming up and Gen Con reports after that, so stay tuned!

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Pulp of the Week - Doc Savage #24

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February 1935 - Red Snow

The story starts in the Florida Everglades and it doesn't take long to for Doc and his men to get there. In this adventure we have Doc, Monk, and Ham. Doc is looking into mosquito eradication techniques, but is attacked the minute that his baggage arrives at the Miami hotel.

The attackers are wearing blackface, but it is obvious they are Caucasians in disguise when the greasepaint rubs off.

After the attackers are driven off, Doc's trunks and luggage are collected, but blood drips from a bullet hole in one of the trunks. The trunk is opened and there is a dead man inside. This revelation leads to a series of events that are punctuated by a terrifying Red Snow. Yes, the Red Snow is capitalized throughout the book.

The snow falls to the ground and turns everything in its path to dust. People are turned into statues, but if they are later touched, they crumble to a fine powder. Trees and cars are disintegrated and left to blow away in the gulf breeze.

The 'girl' in this book is Nona Space. It is her actions that cause Doc to admit that he can't read women very well. He has spend very little of his life with females and they remain a mystery to him.

At one point, Doc uses the nickname Andy Blodge for Monk. That was new to me. When clews (that's the spelling in these stories), lead Doc and his crew along the beach to an abandoned development on the outskirts of Miami, there are several references to the Great Hurricane. These refer to the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane that killed 2500 people in Florida and over 4000 total as it devastated Puerto Rico and other islands before hammering the state.

The chase to stop the Red Snow weapon leads across the Florida peninsula to the Everglades and finally, to another victory of the Man of Bronze over the forces of darkness and anarchy.

Chris Kalb's site again provided the interior art and these wonderful letters to the editor from the February, 1935 issue:

"MARY KAYE, Canada.
      Allow me to congratulate you on your success at publishing so very fine a magazine as the Doc Savage. The October issue was the first I had read, but, not like so many other magazines I had tried, my last. The stories are all that can be called for in stories, and my only regret is that it is issued but once a month.
      Kindly enroll me as a member of your club.
      Wishing the magazine, the club, and you, the publishers of the magazine, the best of luck."

"BYARD SOOY, JR., New Jersey.
      I am fourteen years old and a sophomore in high school, and have been reading Doc Savage for nearly a year. When we have to hand in book reports, I always report on the current issue of Doc Savage and the teacher herself got interested in the magazine because the report I gave was so interesting, now every month she gets the Doc Savage Magazine. The story that I liked the most was the "Sea Magician."

" FRANK COPELAND, Kentucky.
      I think the Code is great. It can't be beat. As I intend to teach physical culture and muscle building in a very short while, I intend to impress the Code upon all my pupils. My, what a world this would be if every one would comply strictly with this Code."

Red Snow is part of the early Doc Savage adventures and Lester Dent was on a roll, cranking out one good yarn after another. I'll give it an 8 out of 10.

 For this review I read my beat up Bantam paperback #38, purchased 35 years ago used for 45¢. The original pulp cover was painted by Walter Baumhofer and the haunting and beautiful paperback cover is by James Bama. The interior illustrations are by Paul Orban. This is one of the rare cases where the painting of the Baumhofer cover is available and it is beautiful.

Next Pulp... The Wave

Pulp of the Week - Doc Savage #22

 

DECEMBER 1934 - THE ANNIHILIST

I have been making an effort to keep these Doc Savage reviews mostly spoiler free, however, this particular story demands to have the details discussed, so if you have not read "The Annihilist" and are planning to ever do so - DON'T READ the part of this article AFTER THE JUMP -  go read this supersaga because it deals directly with issues at the core of Doc Savage, those of the mysterious place in upstate New York, Doc's 'college.'

This adventure has Doc, his cousin Pat, Monk, Ham and Renny appearing. Long Tom is in Chicago and Johnny is filling in for the Natural Science chair at a famous university - one that is unnamed.

One of the issues discussed is that it would be very bad for Doc to have the existence of the college revealed. What he is doing is illegal and possibly immoral, but Doc feels that it is worth it to put men back on the street, not cost the state money, their past beyond their memory, and with skills to make an honest living.

I don't think I read this book back in the day, but I purchased the Bantam #31, December 1968 first edition (cover price .50) for $2.50 at some point in my youth. The pulp cover is by Walter Baumhofer and the paperback is a brilliant piece by James Bama. I give "The Annihilist" a 9 out of 10 - mainly for the insight into Doc's college, but also for some great action sequences and story points.

Read Spoilers and more after the jump.

Tannhäuser Tuesday - ... It Pours

 

 

I really think Miah has outdone himself here. The graphics are by Miah and me, the rules are by Miah and me, but except for a few comments and bits of graphics, the character card is all Miah. I'm really happy with how Doc is shaping up. He will get more tokens as his comrades in arms shape up. That may be awhile. 

Doc started off as two HeroClix figures - head and torso from Doc Samson and the legs from the lowly Criminal. I cut them both clean at the base, filed down Doc Samson's hair and carved around his waist to narrow it. Then I primered Samson's bright red jacket and painted Doc's skin. 

Then I took some lead foil from a wine bottle and ripped it into tiny strips for Doc's ripped shirt. I glued these on and primered them and then painted them and the shirt dark brown. I also painted the pants.           

 Here is Doc Savage today. This is over 2 years from the start - I guess I need to finish! All he needs is some highlights and a matte finish. Then I can rebase him. There are figure painting services if you don't want to paint him yourself.

Next up is a certain College Professor I started on at the same time as Doc. In the meantime Reaper minis have released this adventurer figure named, Chronoscope 50122 P. B. Pugh, Pulp Hero... He would make a good Doc Savage. Pulp Figures makes a nice set of adventurers, too, but their figures are a bit small, and Doc is supposed to be approaching 7 feet tall...