For more than fifty years, PulpFest has celebrated mystery, adventure, science fiction, and much more. In the pulp magazines of the early twentieth century — which gave PulpFest its name — the hardboiled detective, science fiction, and sword and sorcery genres developed and flourished. They gave us Buck Rogers, Conan the Barbarian, Cthulhu, Doc Savage, Hopalong Cassidy, John Carter of Mars, Sam Spade, The Shadow, Solomon Kane, Tarzan, Zorro, and many other pop culture icons.
But PulpFest isn’t just about pulps. It’s also home to three other conventions, including Doc Con, a convention centered around Doc Savage — the pulp character created by Lester Dent for the Street & Smith line of pulp magazines in 1933. The convention 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.”
Taking place at the Ramada Inn in Scottsdale, Arizona, during the fall of 1998-99, the first two Doc Cons were smallish affairs, attracting just a few of the many “Fans of Bronze.” Later conventions — also staged in Arizona — saw the convention grow substantially. Eventually, 90 fans were drawn to Glendale, Arizona, for Doc Con 2015. The last Doc Con was held two years later — until now.
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.
Doc Con XXI will be centered around George Pal’s film, Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze, celebrating its Golden Anniversary in 2025.
Inspired by the popularity of Bantam Books’ reprints of the Great Pulp Hero, George Pal hoped to make a killing with the Doc Savage film franchise. “After the first one is successful, we’ll make another one, and then we’ll sell the series to television. By that time, every network will fight for it. At least, that’s my conviction.”
Unfortunately, “hampered by budget woes, weak acting, a sluggish script, and some painfully forced attempts at camp,” Pal wound up with a film that “demonstrates none of the charm or thrills of classics like The War of the Worlds (1953) or The Time Machine (1960).”
To get things going, on Wednesday evening, August 6, we’ll have an informal meet-and-greet in the hotel lounge for early arrivals to PulpFest and Doc Con. It will start at 9 pm.
On August 7, Doc Con 2025 will be pulling out all the stops on the 86th floor. It’ll be a “Bronze Bash” in the Ember & Vine lounge in the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry, an after-hours social event.
The convention will continue on Friday evening, August 8, with “Doc Savage and the Bantam Revival: A Conversation with Will Murray,” featuring filmmaker Ron Hill and the fan-favorite author. It will be followed by a showing of George Pal’s Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze.
The grand finale of Doc Con 2025 will be on Saturday afternoon, August 9. It starts with a presentation on actor and model Steve Holland by author Michael Stradford, followed by a panel presentation featuring storyboards and other production material from Pal’s movie, presented by Chris Kalb. Chris is notable from the early days of Doc Savage internet fandom through his iconic “86th Floor” website. The afternoon concludes with a showing of the fan cut of the film.
To learn more about Doc Con and Doc Savage, stop by the convention’s tables in our dealers’ room. They’ll be manned by Ron Hill, the producer and director of We Are Doc Savage: A Documentary on Fandom, a feature-length documentary that explores the history of Doc Savage fandom, Scott Cranford, who created the first Doc Savage website in 1994 after fruitlessly searching the web for information on Doc Savage, and stalwart aides Nate Greenberg and Anthony Cardno.
Click the 2025 Schedule button to learn more about our Doc-centric events or take a gander at the mini-schedule below.
Wednesday, August 6, 2025
Hotel Lounge
9:00 pm – ?? — Meet-n-Greet at Ember & Vine
Thursday, August 7, 2025
Dealers’ Room
9:00 am – 4:45 pm — Dealers’ Room Open for Early-Bird Shopping
Hotel Lounge
11:05 pm – ?? am — Doc Con — Bronze Bash — Socialize at Ember & Vine
Friday, August 8, 2025
Dealers’ Room
9:00 am – 4:45 pm — Dealers’ Room Open to All PulpFest Members
Evening Programming
10:15 pm – 11:00 pm — Doc Con — Doc Savage and the Bantam Revival: A Conversation with Will Murray (with Ron Hill)
11:05 pm – 12:40 am — Doc Con Film Showing — Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze (1975)
Saturday, August 9, 2025
Dealers’ Room
9:00 am – 4:45 pm — Dealers’ Room Open to All PulpFest Members
Afternoon Programming
12:30 pm – 1:25 pm — Doc Con — Steve Holland: The Torn Shirt Sessions (Michael Stradford)
1:30 pm – 2:25 pm — Doc Con — Fifty Years of George Pal’s The Man of Bronze (Ron Hill and Chris Kalb)
2:30 pm – 4:15 pm — Doc Con Film Showing — Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze — The Fan Cut
Sunday, August 10, 2025
Hotel Lounge
9:30 am – ?? — Breakfast
The general public is welcome to attend our programming events free of charge. For those who want to enjoy our dealers’ room, you can join PulpFest by clicking the register button at the top of this page. 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 from outside the area, don’t forget to book a room. The deadline to get the convention rate at the DoubleTree was Tuesday, July 15. You may be able to find a comparable hotel room by clicking here. If you’re looking for a roommate, write to Jack Cullers at his email address above.
If your shirt is almost as worn as Doc’s and you have nothing else to wear to Doc Con XXI and PulpFest 2025, click the link in our top menu and order a PulpFest t-shirt. They’re available in a variety of sizes in black or royal blue with the PulpFest logo across the chest.
Order your shirts by July 31 to receive them in time for this year’s conventions. They’ll also be available at the show.
Our lead image was adapted by William Lampkin from Walter Baumhofer’s cover for the April 1935 issue of Doc Savage Magazine, illustrating Lester Dent’s “The Spook Legion.”
Our middle image is Roger Kastel’s poster for George Pal’s Doc Savage — The Man of Bronze. Released in 1975 by Warner Bros., it starred Ron Ely in the title role. Directed by Michael Anderson, it was meant to be the first of several Doc Savage motion pictures.
Our final 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. Bama’s original art for the cover also serves as our featured image.
Kenneth Grant is a writer and popular culture enthusiast who began writing for our website in 2022. He particularly enjoys the hero pulps and has written about pulp villains, Ron Hill’s new documentary We Are Doc Savage, Talking Pulp with Craig McDonald, and more.
