Für die Welt ist er der geheimnisvolle Mann mit der Bronzehaut und den goldenen Augen. Für seine fünf Freunde ist er der geniale Denker und Planer, der unerschrocken durch tausend Gefahren geht. Einen Mann wie Doc Savage gab es noch nie. Er ist ein Universalgenie, ein begabter Arzt und Wissenschaftler, ein tollkühner Pilot, ein unschlagbarer Karate-Kämpfer. Für die Bedrängten ist er stets ein Helfer in der Not. Für seine Fans ist er einer der größten Helden aller Zeiten, unübertroffen in seinen aufregenden Abenteuern und phantastischen Taten.

Doc Savage has never been as popular in Germany as in the USA or even France. To my knowledge, publication began with the first two Bantam stories in 1966 and 1967. Both appeared in Utopia Zukunftsroman, a weekly magazine publishing foreign (mainly British and American) science fiction material, with the odd German author tossed in for a change. Translations were often garbled, with endings differing substantially from the originals; also, texts were frequently heavily abridged.

These magazines were the standard format for any sort of popular fiction from the 1930s to the late 1960s. They were sparsely illustrated, if at all, with few letters, but usually an editorial. Science fiction and anything fantastic was in the hands of two publishing houses (who were to merge in the 80s), and the same one who had published Utopia Zukunftsroman launched the classic German edition of Doc Savage late in 1972, which would run for 89 issues and seven years.

The number of pages varies, but only within certain limits, which leads me to suspect that texts were abridged, again, to fit the allotted number of pages.
For that reason I have included in the list the number of all pages of text, including 1/1-page ads (the first to appear im #24). I suppose that the overall number of pages was set (though it varied over the years), and texts were either abridged to make room for ads, or ads were put in to fill up the pages (less likely, in my opinion).
Individual prices begin at 2,80 DM in 1972 and end at 3,80 DM in 1979.
The Pabel paperbacks were magazines, strictly speaking. They did not have an ISBN number and could not be ordered from a bookshop – or bought in most of them, for that matter. It was off to the newsagent if you wanted your fix.

 

The table includes the German series number, the Bantam number, original title, translator, date of publication and the number of pages (minus the number of full-page ads). Information is as taken from the books; I have tried to point out when any information given in the books is incorrect.

 

Nr.	B#	German Title	US Title	Transl.	Pub. Date	Pages (text-ads)	Notes
1	1	Der Chef	The Man of Bronze	WG	Dec 72	154-0
2	2	Drei schwarze Schlüssel	The Thousand-Headed Man	FM	Feb 73	153-0
3	3	Der blaue Meteor	Meteor Menace	FM	Feb 73	153-0
4	4	Das Wrack im Eis	The Polar Treasure	FM	Mar 73	153-0
5	5	Im Zeichen des Werwolfs	Brand of the Werewolf	FM	Apr 73	153-0
6	14	Insel der Sklaven	The Phantastic Island (correct: The Fantastic island)	FM (deceased), ES	May 73	153-0	compare The Most Dangerous Game
7	22	Die Glocke des Grauens	The Czar of Fear	KH	Jun 73	154-0
8	16	Die unsichtbare Legion	The Spook Legion	GK	Jul 73	153-0	the only time where chapter numbers are in square brackets; cover is mirror image of original
9	20	Feuerzeichen am Himmerl	The Secret in the Sky	KH	Aug 73	153-0	Doc, Monk and Ham use the formal mode of addressing each other (Siezen instead of Duzen, for speakers of German); note that though this is the second published story translated by KH, it must have been translated before #8
10	27	Die Stadt im Meer	Mystery under the Sea	GK	Sep 73	153-0
11	10	Doc in der Falle	The Phantom City	KH	Oct 73	151-0	the Doc Savage logo is not superimposed on the actual cover painting; rather, the top part of the cover got chopped of, with a uniform black underneath the logo; cover is mirror image of original
12	8	Land des Schreckens	The Land of Terror	GK	Nov 73	153-0	lots of corpses in that one, Doc’s pretty tough here
13	26	Der silberne Tod	The Death in Silver	KH	Dec 73	155-0	cover is mirror image of original
14	6	Die verlorene Oase	The Lost Oasis	GK	Dec 73	153-0
15	18	Das Meer des Todes	The Sargasso Ogre	KH	Jan 74	155-0
16	23	Die Festung der Einsamkeit	The Fortress of Solitude	KH	Feb 74	137-0
17	17	Im Tal des roten Todes	The Red Skull	GK	Mar 74	137-0	cover is mirror image of original
18	11	Die Teufelsinsel	Fear Cay	KH	Apr 74	137-0	cover is mirror image of original
19	64	Die Todesstrahlen	The Motion Menace	GK	May 74	137-0	cover is mirror image of original
20	25	Tomahawk des Teufels	The Devil’s Playground	KH	Jun 74	137-0	cover is mirror image of original
21	24	Der grüne Adler	The Green Eagle	GK	Jul 74	137-0
22	7	Die Monsterbande	The Monsters	KH	Aug 74	137-0
23	33	Terror in der Navy	The Terror in the Navy	GK	Sep 74	139-0	cover is mirror image of original
24	31	Der Superkiller	The Annihilist	KH	Oct 74	137-1	the spine bears the title of #22, Die Monsterbande; cover is mirror image of original
25	34	Die unheimlichen Augen	Mad Eyes	KH	Nov 74	139-1
26	32	Der Inka in Grau	Dust of Death	GK	Dec 74	137-1
27	35	Der Mörder aus dem Jenseits	The Squeaking Goblin	GK	Jan 75	139-0
28	55	Das Gold der Mayas	The Golden Peril	KH	Jan 75	137-0
29	36	Die Auferstehung	Resurrection Day	GK	Feb 75	139-0
30	37	Hannah, die Hexe	Hex	KH	Mar 75	137-0	cover is mirror image of original
31	38	Roter Schnee	Red Snow	GK	Apr 75	137-1
32	15	Invasion aus der Tiefe	(Murder Melody)	—	May 75	137-1	wrong cover, the right one can be found German #52; this cover comes from the British edition of Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life (Thanks, Howard)
33	30	Die Blutfalken	The Flaming Falcons	KP	Jun 75	139-1	cover is mirror image of original
34	40	Der flammende Dolch	(The Dagger in the Sky)	—	Jul 75	137-0
35	59	Die gelbe Wolke	The Yellow Cloud	HK	Aug 75	139-2
36	44	Der Gespensterkönig	The Sea Magician	HK	Sep 75	139-1
37	77	Südpol-Terror	South Pole Terror	KH	Oct 75	137-0	correctly The South Pole Terror
38	75	Land der Angst	The Land of Fear	KH	Nov 75	137-0
39	19	Pazifikpiraten	(Pirate of the Pacific)	—	Dec 75	137-1
40	52	Der Todeszwerg	(The Vanisher)	—	Jan 76	137-1
41	9	Der schreckliche Mullah	The Mystic Mullah	KH	Jan 76	137-0	cover is mirror image of original
42	12	Die Wikinger von Qui	Quest of Qui	KH	Feb 76	137-0	cover is mirror image of original
43	48	Der gefiederte Krake	The Feathered Octopus	HK	Mar 76	139-1	mix-up with following issue: incorrectly stated to be Land of Always-Night; cover is mirror image of original
44	13	Das Höhlenreich	Land of Always-Night	HK	Apr 76	137-1	mix-up with preceding issue: incorrectly stated to be The Feathered Octopus
45	47	Die Macht des Shimba	Land of Long Ju-Ju	KH	May 76	139-0	cover is mirror image of original
46	28	Tod aus dem Vulkan	The Deadly Dwarf	KH	Jun 76	139-1
47	53	Der Dschungelgott	The Mental Wizard	HK	Jul 76	139-1	cover is mirror image of original
48	45	Die Armee der Leblosen	The Man Who Smiled No More	HK	Aug 76	139-1	correctly: The Men Who Smiled No More
49	39	Das Monster auf der Kuppel	World’s Fair Goblin	HK	Sep 76	139-0
50	51	Gefahr unter dem Eis	The Haunted Ocean	KH	Oct 76	139-1	cover is mirror image of original
51	67	Der gefleckte Hai	The Freckled Shark	KH	Nov 76	139-2	translator’s name given as Karl-Heinz, which just might be KP’s first name (K.H.Poppe), but probably is just KH misspelled
52	50	Der Mann vom Mond	Devil on the Moon	KH	Nov 76	139-0	one of my favourites; wrong cover (taken from Bantam #15/German #32), the right one can be found German #58
53	69	Tod im ewigen Schnee	The Mystery on the Snow	HK	Dec 76	139-0	cover is mirror image of original
54	66	Stausee des Todes	Mad Mesa	KH	Jan 77	139-2
55	71	Der Allwissende	Murder Mirage	HK	Feb 77	139-1
56	76	Der schwarze Tod	The Black Spot	HK	Mar 77	139-2
57	65	Die grünen Mumien	The Green Death	KH	Apr 77	139-1
58	49	Das Ungeheuer aus dem Meer	The Sea Angel	KH	May 77	139-1	cover is mirror image of Bantam #50 (German #52, which has the wrong cover) instead of the proper one
59	56	Der lachende Tod	The Giggling Ghosts	HK	Jun 77	139-0
60	83	Die Stadt unter dem Meer	The Red Terrors	HK	Jul 77	139-1
61	46	Die Gedankenmaschine	The Midas Man	KH	Aug 77	139-1
62	80	Das Unheimliche Königreich	The King Maker	KH	Sep 77	139-3
63	85	Der Boss des Schreckens	The Boss of Terror	HK	Oct 77	139-2
64	87	Der Maskenmann	The Spotted Men	HK	Nov 77	139-2
65	86	Angriff aus dem Dunkel	The Angry Ghost	KH	Nov 77	139-1
66	84	Die Todesspinne	The Mountain Monster	KH	Dec 77	139-0
67	57	Die Giftinsel	Poison Island	HK	Jan 78	155-1
68	81	Das geheimnisvolle Tal	The Stone Man	HK	Feb 78	155-1	it doesn’t have the same cover as Bantam #81, which is the wrong one anyway (it correctly appears on Bantam #77) – instead, it’s the figure of Doc Savage taken from Bantam #67 with the background (a bit of freckled spark) replaced by a uniform green
69	42	Die Höhlenmänner von Crescent City	The Gold Ogre	HK	Mar 78	155-1	cover is mirror image of original
70	61	Die Welt der Unterirdischen	The Living Fire Menace	HK	Apr 78	155-1	cover is mirror image of Bantam #41 (German #89, which has the cover that rightly belongs here)
71	88	Die Höhlen des Satans	The Roar Devil	HK	May 78	155-1
72	89	Die Zauberinsel	The Magic Island	—	Jun 78	155-1
73	90	Der fliegende Tod	The Flying Goblin	HK	Jul 78	155-0	every chapter begins on a new page
74	82	Der teuflische Plan	The Evil Gnome	HK	Aug 78	155-1	whereas the Bantam cover for this book repeats a detail of Bantam cover #38, here the whole cover is re-used (compare German #31) every chapter begins on a new page
75	21	Der Kalte Tod	Cold Death	HK	Sep 78	155-0
76	63	Angriff aus der Tiefe	The Submarine Mystery	HK	Oct 78	155-2
77	62	Der Schatz des Piraten	The Pirate’s Ghost	HK	Oct 78	155-0
78	70	Das Spuk-Loch	Spook Hole	HK	Nov 78	155-0	chapters aren’t numbered or marked in any way
79	29	In einer anderen Welt	The Other World	HK	Dec 78	155-2
80	78	Die rote Schlange	The Crimson Serpent	GH	Jan 79	155-1
81	79	Die Geißel des Dschingis Khan	The Devil Genghis	HK	Feb 79	155-2
82	60	Die indische Verschwörung	The Maji	HK	Mar 79	155-0
83	92	Das Höhlenmonster	The Awful Egg	HK	Apr 79	155-0
84	72	Der Metall-Meister	The Metal Master	HK	May 79	155-0	wrong cover, but resembling the correct one; INFORMATION WANTED – where does this cover come from?
85	73	Die Achat-Teufel	The Seven Agate Devils	HK	Jun 79	155-0
86	74	Das Bohrloch-Monster	The Derrick Devil	HK	Aug 79	155-1	cover is mirror image of original
87	91	Der purpurne Drache	The Purple Dragon	HK	Oct 79	155-2	cover is mirror image of original
88	93	Der Todes-Tunnel	Tunnel Terror	HK	Nov 79	155-4	cover rightly belongs to German #57 and is re-used here instead of the proper one
89	41	Der teuflische Tod	Merchants of Disaster	HK	Jan 80	155-0	cover is mirror image of Bantam #61 (German #70, which has the cover that rightly belongs here)