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Published by: Dynamite Comics
Released on: June 11, 2014
Doc finds himself under siege from the very folks he's been trying to help in this issue!
[SPOILER-Y REVIEW FOLLOWS]
Doc Savage, the legendary Man of Bronze, is facing a mainstream media-pushed scandal as this story opens. Dr. Thomas Novac alleges that the Doc's been using his Serenity Convalescent Center in New York to “brainwash†criminals interred there. Novac believes the Doc is stripping these people of their rights, namely their right to choose good versus bad.
The Doc has also recently released a global smartphone, called appropriately enough “The Bronze.†Sold at a low cost worldwide and even donated to those that couldn't possibly afford it, nearly 75% of the world's inhabitants are using it. So the good Doc is under an increased level of visibility and accountability.
However, despite Novac's intentions, he's soon finding himself on the wrong end of the criminals he's “rehabilitated†as part of his effort to fix what he feels Doc stole from these people. Novac took a number of sensitive files when he left Serenity and, now, these recently re-released criminals have all the data they need to attack Doc where they feel he's weakest. They beat any and all other info out of Novac directly.
As it turns out, The Bronze phones have built-in emergency communication protocols and response notifications, like, a “crowd-sourced emergency response service†as Doc describes it. The criminals, eager to show the world what their hatred of Doc Savage truly means, are able to then hack into this global network and use it to emit a frequency that causes everybody to start fighting each other.
Meanwhile, Doc is appearing before the Supreme Court over the allegations from Novac, being questioned about the nature of policing morality and what free will/choice really means. Later, as Doc and his team thwart a subterranean bank robber, the surrounding crowd is accusatory of his methods now. As they're already in a bit of a frenzy over this, it doesn't take much to push them over the edge when their phones all begin to transmit the deadly noise that sets them all upon each other.
Doc, of course, has the benefit of practicing resistance to high-frequency radio waves, having faced something similar with his team back in WWII. He's able to get his now-fighting team back to his HQ which is also naturally shielded from these attacks, allowing everyone there to turn to the task at hand: Stopping this global outbreak of violent insanity and those behind it.
Chris Roberson's story is pure Doc Savage goodness, where the politics of a mingling super-man are muddied in favor of liberal hand-wringing and the face of pure malevolent evil in the world. I don't know if that's intentional - examining Doc's practices would seem to point to him being more than slightly autocratic - but it at least is consistent with the classic Doc Savage canon. Likewise, the artwork, from Bilquis Evely calls to mind the serialized Sunday comic strip style and serves the overall “homage†feel excellently. Throw in a spectacular cover from Alex Ross and you've got a fun, winning combo.
