One of the most important figures in the Talos stories is Patricia…who of course is based on Pat Savage, as well as Phil Farmer’s incarnation of Pat, Trish Wilde. My favorite Doc Savage adventures were always the ones with Pat…and she appeared in 39 novels over the span of the pulp run.
When the time came to craft my own version of Pat, I played with various nicknames using Patricia as the origin, and found myself greatly attracted to Rickie, which seemed to capture her natural warmth and impudence very well. So Rickie Talos she became, and she is far more than a decoration in these stories, she is an integral part of them.
In the immense collection Doc, there is an addendum devoted to her, which I’ll reproduce in full here, along with some marvelous commission art by David Cuccia, Diego Bernard, and Steve Rude. The artwork from the 1970’s Marvel adaptation of Death in Silver is by Ross Andru.
Doc Talos 
Beside reading the Talos saga i’m currently reading every Doc Savage novel in order. With the earlier stories you can tell That Lea Aster Monk’s secretary was set up to fill in the role of lady auxiliary. In the Red Skull she displays physical fighting skills on par with Pat Savage. A part of me is fascinated with the unused potential for that character that was replaced by Pat Savage. How different would sagas be without Pat i wonder.
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Lea Astor was a great character. As you will read in the Talos books, my version of Monk, Andy (Kong) Kingman, eventually marries his secretary Maddy, who is based on Lea. But I have always loved Pat. And I enjoyed her incarnation in the Farmer stories, Trish Wilde, equally as much. When writing the Talos books I could not imagine them without Patricia (Rickie Talos) in them, She plays a huge role, sometimes as the narrator (she narrated just one of the original pulp adventures, “I Died Yesterday”, which you will encounter quite a bit later as you are reading them in order, and it was near the end of the pulp run)…and it was great. Just a teaser for the future, Iason and I are working on a Talos adaptation of the classic “Brand of the Werewolf” as our next big project, and Rickie features very prominently in it!
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