Bob Larkin: The First Doc Savage Painting

I remember seeing this green Doc Savage painting somewhere on the internet. I was thinking it was a newer Doc painting that was destined for the Doc doubles but never made it because of the switch to omnibuses, like the All-White Elf and The Running Skeletons. Imagine my surprise when Bob said that was his “try-out” painting for Bantam Art Direction Len Leone in 1969 or 1970! When presenting the artwork to Len, Leone said “good job but you’re not ready yet.” Maybe that was because Mr. Bama was still doing the covers! When asked what happened to the painting, Bob said that “it just disappeared.” Back in the day, the used and unused artwork would be stacked in the basement at Bantam, and quite often people would help themselves to it.

This painting deserves to be on a Doc Savage novel.