Read in April 2013.
This book was excellent, but at the same time disappointing. Let's start with the disappointments first, and there are two: One, Will Murray seems to be hell-bent on dispelling the Wold Newton Universe. He makes numerous, seemingly gratuitous references to characters such as Tarzan, Sherlock Holmes, and Nick Carter just to say that these characters are fictional and, thus, cannot be part of a shared universe like the Wold Newton Universe, a universe I particularly enjoy. My problem is not that I really care that Murray wants to keep Doc Savage out of the WNU, but the blatant, obvious manner in which he does so seems childish. It could've been done with more subtlety so that it didn't seem like LL Cool J calling out Kool Moe Dee on an 80's rap album.
My only other complaint, which is very minor, is that Doc's aides played so little a role in this story. I understand that it takes place prior to the aides being the aides. I also understand that some people actually enjoy the focus being placed on Doc without the buffoonery of the aides. I just like to see Monk and Ham verbally fence; to see Renny pound things with his abnormally large fists; to hear Johnny use words I have to look up in an unabridged dictionary; and to see Long Tom fight people even though he looks like he couldn't fight his way out of a paper bag.
Those complaints aside, this book was still pretty awesome. Young Doc is clearly not the Doc we see in The Man of Bronze a decade later: he is more brash, more talkative, more impetuous, and more violence-prone than the Doc we are used to reading. He's also more than a dozen years younger. Nonetheless, he is clearly Doc Savage, with superhuman strength and stamina honed from years of training. We see Doc in his youth, like watching a home movie from a superstar's youth; we see bits and pieces of the man Doc will become.
We also learn of Doc's family. We see his father Clark Sr., long before he is killed in the Empire State Building. He is the austere, hard-ass father who one would expect to push his son to be a superman from birth. He sees Doc as weapon or tool in his battle to right the wrongs of the world. We also see him realize, over the course of the story, that Doc is his flesh and blood, not just a means to an end. Clark Sr. shows, by the end, that he actually loves his son, something that might not have existed in the early chapters.
There is also Doc's grandfather, Stormalong Savage. A giant of a man, and a giant of a person, apparently. He is very old, but has led a full life, even if that last several years have been on Skull Island. Murray uses him as a window into Doc's early life and family tree, as well as inspiration to young Doc to follow for years to come. I wish we could see more of Old Stormy.
Then there is Skull Island. What an island. It's both a pre-historic animal preserve, full of classic dinosaurs and evolved quasi-dinosaurs, and the home to at least two unknown human civilizations. How any humans survive on this island, unless their name is Savage, is beyond me. The island was a character unto itself.
Finally, we meet Kong. He is so much more than just an enormous ape. He is closer to human than one would think and he is, at the same time, godlike. He rules the island with a large, furry fist. The ancient creatures on the island know who is in charge. The humans on the island know he is in charge. Despite his great power, or maybe because of it, the humans seem to adore and worship Kong. Of course, the sea-faring headhunters who are hunting his head throughout the story don't worship him, but everyone else does. Kong is the "king" of Skull Island and he knows it, literally throwing his weight around whenever he needs to exert his power. Murray shows us the grandeur of Kong, but foreshadows his vulnerability too.
This was a wonderful romp showing the early years of Doc Savage with King Kong playing a gigantic supporting role. The Wold Newton Universe barbs aside, Murray nailed this one. Possibly his best Savage story yet.
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