Just in time for the Golden Anniversary of George Pal’s film, Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze, the convention for the “Fans of Bronze” returns. Doc Con 2025 will take place August 7 – 10 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry in Mars, Pennsylvania as part of PulpFest 2025.
The convention centered around Doc Savage — the pulp character created by Lester Dent for the Street & Smith line of pulp magazines in 1933 — Doc Con was founded in 1998 by Rob Smalley who thought of it as “a chance for fans to get together to celebrate the heroes of the pulp era.”
Thanks to the efforts of several longtime Doc Savage fans, Doc Con will be returning in 2025 as part of PulpFest. Inspired by the success of Farmercon and ERBFest — which have drawn fans of Philip José Farmer and Edgar Rice Burroughs to the annual PulpFest — these devoted “Fans of Bronze” are hoping the revived Doc Con will enjoy similar success at PulpFest.
On Thursday evening, August 7, Doc Con 2025 will open with a “Bronze Bash” in the Ember & Vine lounge at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry, an after-hours social event.
Doc Con 2025 will continue on Friday evening, August 8, with “Doc Savage and the Bantam Revival: A Conversation with Will Murray,” featuring filmmaker Ron Hill. It is scheduled for 10:15 pm on the Doc Con stage in the PulpFest programming room.
Ron and Will plan to discuss the ebbs and flows of the Doc Savage paperback line that began with the publication of Lester Dent’s first Doc Savage novel, The Man of Bronze. First published in the March 1933 issue of Street & Smith’s Doc Savage Magazine, the story was reprinted in 1964 by Bantam Books.
Later the same evening, Doc Con will host a showing of George Pal’s Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze, starring the late Ron Ely.
On Saturday afternoon, August 9, Doc Con 2025 will offer a grand finale, starting with a presentation by Michael Stradford on Doc Savage model, Steve Holland, followed by a panel presentation featuring storyboards and other production material from George Pal’s film, and concluding with a showing of the fan cut of Pal’s film.
Ever since he could hold a crayon, Ron Hill has been creating images. He began with penciled copies of Charlie Brown and Pogo, then moved on to detailed paintings of heroic subjects like Doc Savage and Star Wars. Professionally, Ron has been providing caricature entertainment for private and corporate events, gift caricature commissions, and illustration services for over four decades. In 2024, Ron released We Are Doc Savage: A Documentary on Fandom, a feature-length documentary, 2 years in production, that explores the history of Doc Savage fandom. It’s now available on DVD.
Author and essayist Will Murray has written extensively about Lester Dent’s Doc Savage, as well as countless other pulp and pop culture topics. He was the only contributor to appear in all seven issues of The Savage Society of Bronze.
The literary agent for the Lester Dent properties, Will has written over twenty adventures of Doc Savage, a solo adventure featuring Pat Savage, four novels about the Popular Publications hero, The Spider, as well as new adventures of King Kong, Sherlock Holmes, and Tarzan. His non-fiction books include Master of Mystery: The Rise of The Shadow, Wordslingers: An Epitaph for the Western, and Writings in Bronze. His most recent book is The Wild Adventures of Cthulhu, Volume 3. To learn more about Will and his work, please visit his website at adventuresinbronze.com.
The general public is welcome to attend our evening programming events free of charge. To learn more about our programming, please click the 2025 Schedule button at the top of this page.
For those who also want to enjoy our dealers’ room, you can join PulpFest by clicking the register button at the top of this page. And don’t forget to book a room. The DoubleTree is essentially sold out, but you can click here for nearby hotels. If you’re looking for a roommate, write to Jack Cullers at his email address below.
Remember, in addition to your membership in PulpFest 2025, you’ll also be a member of Doc Con XXI, ERBFest 2025, and Farmercon XX. That’s four conventions for one price! You can’t beat that deal.
If you’re interested in selling at PulpFest, our dealers’ room is full. However, we are adding a limited number of tables in the pre-function hallway outside of the dealers’ room. These tables will cost $125 each and will be guarded by security overnight. If you are interested, please write to Jack Cullers at jack@pulpfest.com to sign up for a spot. Any attendees who are interested in providing security services, please write to Jack Cullers at his email address above.
To enjoy more Doc Savage, visit the PulpFest YouTube Channel and catch the many films featuring The Man of Bronze, put together by Craig McDonald.
And please don’t forget to subscribe!
Doc Savage #68 — Quest of the Spider was first released by Bantam Books in May 1972. The cover art was by Fred Pfeiffer, who took over the Bantam Doc Savage covers after James Bama left the series. Pfeiffer painted 13 covers for the series, from #68 through #81. Originally published by Street & Smith in 1933 in the third issue of Doc Savage Magazine, Lester Dent’s “Quest of the Spider” got Jennifer DiGiacomo hooked on The Man of Bronze.
Our lead image was adapted by William Lampkin from James Bama’s cover art for the Bantam Book edition of Doc Savage #1, The Man of Bronze, 1964.
The Doc Savage banner is a modern take on the bumper sticker issued for the George Pal movie from 1975, adapted by Bill Lampkin for the Doc Con Facebook page. Be sure to follow it for the latest news on Doc Con 2025 by clicking here! It’s the best way to stay tuned for the convention’s superamalgamated return in 2025!
Bill Lampkin also adapted our final image from a clip excerpted from the 1975 film Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze.
