The Man of Bronze Returns

Cited: Variety/Publishers Weekly

Columbia Pictures is bringing back the Bronze Age by reviving Doc Savage. Doc Savage is a pulp fiction hero popular in the 1930s and 40s. In pulp novels, movies and comic books he was known as the Man of Bronze and hero to man.

Shane Black is attached to direct the film from a screenplay he is penning with Anthony Bagarozzi and Chuck Mondry. Neal Moritz (”Fast and Furious”) will produce through his Sony-based Original Film banner.

One of the most popular characters in the pulps of the 1930s and ’40s, Doc Savage was also popularized on radio, film and TV. Trained since birth to be nearly superhuman in every way, Doc Savage uses his skills and powers to fight evil all over the world.

“Doc Savage is an icon, a character with limitless possibilities,” said Columbia co-president Matt Tolmach of the character, who is by turns a scientist, physician, adventurer, inventor, explorer and researcher. “We have had a great experience working with Neal to bring another classic character of the era, the Green Hornet, to a new generation of fans, and we think he and Shane make the ideal team to bring Doc Savage back to the bigscreen.”

Black, who was one of the highest-paid scribes of late ’80s and early ’90s when he penned such screenplays as “Lethal Weapon” and “The Long Kiss Goodnight,” segued to directing in recent years. He made his helming debut with the Robert Downey Jr. starrer “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” (2005).

He’s also known for his vast collection of antique detective books and pulp fiction. He’s known for his vast collection of antique detective books and pulp fiction so he definitely has a love of the material. I’m hoping his passion for the source equates to a quality film.

Bagarozzi and Mondry’s credits include “Cold Warrior” and “Tick-Tock,” which is in development at Columbia.

On March 3rd, DC Comics kicks off a new fictional universe built on a combination of two sturdy adventure concepts: classic pulp icons including Doc Savage and the Avenger and hardboiled superheroes from Batman to the Spirit. Or as writer Brian Azzarello put it, “The number one draw is ‘Let’s do a superhero book with no super powers…can we do it?’ It takes the concept that superheroes grew out of normal people in fantastic situations. This was before there were rockets from Krypton or radioactive spiders or the stuff that gave characters superhuman abilities.”

The idea takes off in First Wave, a six-issue series meant to establish the new pulpy milieu for DC to spin other superhero monthlies out of. Joining Azzarello (best known for his multi award-winning crime series 100 Bullets) will be artist Rags Morales (of novelist Brad Meltzer’s Identity Crisis comic), and the task set in front of the creators involved telling an origin tale of sorts for a modern world still taken with pulp fixtures like towering zeppelins, glitzy speakeasies and Gatling guns. “We’ve taken the world and changed it a lot,” Azzarello explained. “There still is uncharted territory in this world. Not everything is mapped out by satellites. Not every corner of the globe has been explored. That sense of mystery and high adventure that was the stock and trade of these stories is something I’m trying to bring back with a modern sensibility along with a kind of film noir perspective to things too.

That cross of old school style and modern story sense means rethinking several characters well known to comic readers including DC’s Dark Knight and Will Eisner’s masked crime fighter the Spirit. “We are establishing certain parameters for this world to operate under,” says Azzarello. “There’s a certain take to the Spirit. There’s a certain take to Doc. There’s this ‘new’ old version of Batman. We’re establishing the way these characters behave and also the way the world behaves around them. It’s fun to take a character like Batman and say, ‘How would this character have gone if there was no Superman and all the other super powered characters he got tangled up with?’ I’ve never bought into the idea that Batman would be in the Justice League of America. We’re creating a world where none of these super characters exist. Doc is the top of the food chain. He’s the pinnacle of humanity.”

The writer admitted that making Doc Savage engaging for a new audience was part of both the draw and the challenge of the series. The so-called “Man of Bronze” introduced in 1933 through pulp powerhouse Street & Smith was licensed by DC from current owner Conde Nast. And while DC introduced their version last November in a one-shot comic featuring Batman, the character still remains lesser known by readers while loved by many comic creators Azzarello explains. “The reason he’s so much more important amongst the creative community than he is amongst readers is because the creative community has taken bits and pieces of that character and reinvented them into other characters that readers are much more familiar with now. He had a Fortress of Solitude. He was a rich kid. It was all those superhero tropes that we’re accustomed to now.”

Azzarello recalls his own connection with the character as reading some of the pulps and comics when he was younger. “You read four or five of them, and you realize ‘Whoa! These are about the same thing every time.’ [But] I’m not interested in retelling any of them. You’ve got to bring something new to the table for this stuff to work. The same goes for the Spirit or the Avenger.”

The rest of the DC “pulp universe” established in First Wave will feature characters pulled from DC’s own history including motorcycle riding vixen the Black Canary and airborne military men the Blackhawks. Azzarello described his own goal of putting Batman front and center saying “Batman was something I wanted. I’ve got to give readers somebody that they kind of know for this market. And it’s exciting to do that because you think you know him, but I don’t think you’re going to recognize him beyond the costume. Our Bruce Wayne is young and has got a real chip on his shoulder, but he’s also really cocky. It’s different from the brooding Batman we’re used to seeing. “

The line of pulp heroes will be expanded by DC with monthly adventures of The Spirit and Doc Savage in April, even before First Wave wraps up. Azzarello was surprised he had been called to head the entire project and plans to enjoy the adventure nonetheless.

“I’m not the monthly comic guy, and I never really have been. I have a vision and I know what’s going to happen in the First Wave series. I know where they’ll be at the end and that I’ll leave them for other people to pick up.”

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My Take: I am a Doc Savage fan! I am ecstatic that they are going to make a new Doc Savage movie. The last one they made was so campy it was ridiculous. Doc Savage is amazing. Not only is he a medical doctor, he is a surgeon as well. His knowledge is uncanny. He can really roll with the punches. He wears a vest that has so many tools that, like lockpicks and car opening tools.

If I were member correctly, he charges men how to pick locks among other things. He has fought some of the strangest enemies and they don’t have powers either. He uses technology to fight his crimes as well as his intellect.

One time when I was searching the Internet I found a memorial website that was dedicated to Doc Savage. I’m sure you’ve seen sites like it before but most of them are wedding is in an and, baby or even birthday websites. But this one of Doc Savage had images, fan stories and details of his adventures.

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