Editing Doc Savage (section)

===Novels===
{{See also|List of Doc Savage novels}}
{{unreferenced section|date = July 2011}}
[[File:Manofbronzebama.jpg|thumb|[[James Bama]]'s covers featuring [[Steve Holland (actor)|Steve Holland]] as the Man of Bronze on many of the Bantam reprints defined the character to a generation of readers.]]
All of the original stories were reprinted in paperback form by [[Bantam Books]] in the 1960s through 1990s. Of the first 67 paperback covers, 62 were painted in extraordinary monochromatic tones and super-realistic detail by [[James Bama]], whose updated vision of Doc Savage with the exaggerated widow's peak captured, at least symbolically, the essence of the Doc Savage novels.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kelton|first=Elmer|title=The art of James Bama|year=1993|publisher=Bantam|location=New York|isbn=978-0-553-09305-6|pages=158|oclc=27264593}}</ref> The first 96 paperbacks reprinted one of the original novels per book. Actor and model [[Steve Holland (actor)|Steve Holland]], who had played ''[[Flash Gordon]]'' in a 1953 television series, was the model for Doc on all the covers. The next 15 paperbacks (consisting of stories 97 through 126 in the Bantam reissue series) were "doubles", reprinting two novels each (these were actually shorter novellas written during paper shortages of World War II). The last of the original novels were reprinted in a numbered series of 13 "omnibus" volumes of four to five stories each. It was one of the few pulp series to be completely reprinted in paperback form.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}}

''The Red Spider'' was a Doc Savage novel written by Dent in April 1948, about the [[Cold War]] with the Soviet Union. The story was killed in 1948 by new editor [[Daisy Bacon]], though previous editor William de Grouchy had commissioned it. It was forgotten until 1975, when Doc Savage scholar [[Will Murray (writer)|Will Murray]] found hints of its existence in the Street & Smith archives. After a two-year search, the carbon manuscript was located among Dent's papers. It finally saw print in July 1979 as Number 95 in Bantam's Doc Savage series.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}}

When the original pulp stories were exhausted, Bantam Books hired [[Philip José Farmer]] to pen the tale of how Doc and his men met in World War I. ''Escape from Loki'' was published in 1991. It was followed by seven traditional Doc Savage stories written by novelist Will Murray, working from unpublished Lester Dent outlines, beginning with ''Python Isle.'' Philip José Farmer had earlier written the book ''[[Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life]]'' in 1973, which described the characters and the stories on the entertaining premise that Doc actually existed and the novels chronicled his exploits in "fictionized" form.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}}

In 2011, [[Altus Press]] revived the series with another Murray-Dent posthumous collaboration, ''The Desert Demons.'' Nine new novels are planned for the new series ''The Wild Adventures of Doc Savage''. In 2011, ''Doc Savage: Horror in Gold'' was published. In 2012, [[Altus Press]] published ''Doc Savage: Death's Dark Domain'', ''Doc Savage: The Forgotten Realm'', ''Doc Savage: The Infernal Buddha'' and ''Doc Savage: The Desert Demons''. ''Doc Savage: Skull Island'', a crossover with [[King Kong]], was released in 2013.<ref>[https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=doc%20savage&sprefix=doc+s%2Caps&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Adoc%20savage Amazon.com]</ref> Murray teamed Doc up with another Street & Smith pulp-era hero, [[The Shadow]], in Doc Savage: ''The Sinister Shadow'' (2015) and Doc Savage: ''Empire of Doom'' (2016).<ref>[[Altus Press]]</ref>

Sanctum Books, in association with Nostalgia Ventures, began a new series of Doc reprints (starting November 2006), featuring two novels per book, in magazine-sized paperbacks. Several editions came with a choice of the original pulp cover or the covers from the Bantam paperbacks, and most include the original interior artwork, as well as new essays and reprints of other old material. In late 2008, Nostalgia Ventures ended their relationship, and Sanctum Books continues with the reprints on their own.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}}