Featuring: Dr. Strange
Release: January 10, 1964
Cover: April 1964
12 cents
Story conjured up by: Stan Lee
Illustrated by the Strange Sorcery of: Steve Ditko
Lettered at midnight by: Art Simek
8 pages
This issue is most notable for finally giving a name to Dr. Strange’s house servant. His name is Wong.
We had seen him twice before but without being named. Here he is in #110 and #116.
Here he is in the Dr. Strange film played by Benedict Wong. Is it coincidental that Wong is played by a Wong? A glimpse at Wikipedia tells me that over 7% of people in China have the surname Wong or a variant. So it’s not an astronomical coincidence.
The story involves burglars who pick the wrong house to rob. They end up prisoners of Aggamon in the Purple Dimension, and Dr. Strange has to rescue them. Despite some misgivings, Dr. Strange reminds himself of his vow to aid all humans, even these two, and offers himself as a prisoner in their stead.
In a trick similar to what Thor used against Zarrko, Dr. Strange stuck to the fine print of his vow. He offered to become Aggamon’s prisoner, not to remain a prisoner.
I really appreciate the battle at the end. I’ve read many a comic and seen many a movie where two characters fire magical blasts at each other, and it usually just seems like the winner is whoever the writer wants to win. This story really goes into detail on a battle that’s just two characters standing basically still firing a continuous stream of magical energy at the other.
The battle continues for hours and you can see the physical toll it is taking on both combatants. Dr. Strange wins, but the comic explains why. Aggamon is more powerful and would have won if they’d continued to the end. But it was basically a game of chicken. Aggamon lacked courage and conviction. Fearing for his life, he backed down first. Dr. Strange was ready to go until his last breath.
I’m reminded of the film Gattaca. The genetically superior brother didn’t understand how his brother beat him in their “how far out into the ocean can you swim” game, when he was scientifically proven to have superior endurance and athletic ability. His brother finally explained that he won by never saving anything for the swim back.
Invocations:
- By the beards of the Vishanti! (More of an exclamation than an invocation)
- By the power of Mormammu (Dormammu in some reprints)
- Hoggoth, protect me!
- To my aid, Dormammu and the mighty Vishanti!
One confusing thing about the invocations is Mormammu vs. Dormammu. In this comic, he refers to both. The Marvel Masterworks I am reading changes all instances of “Mormammu” to “Dormmamu”, so I am sometimes uncertain which was used originally.
I have two other reprints of this story, which disagree with each other. Giant-Size Defenders #2 kept the first reference as Mormammu. Marvel Collectors’ Item Classics #9 changed the first reference Dormammu. The second reference is definitely to Dormammu. In order, the below pictures are from the original comic, Marvel Collectors’ Item Classics #9 (1967), and Giant-Size Defenders #2 (1974).
Rating: ★★★½, 62/100
Significance: ★★★☆☆
Except for the first page and the panels specifically labeled at the bottom, the scans are taken from a reprint in Giant-Size Defenders #2 (1974).
I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: Dr. Strange vol. 1. You can also find the story in Dr. Strange Epic Collection vol. 1: Master of the Mystic Arts. Or on Kindle.
Characters:
- Dr. Strange
- Wong
- Aggamon
Story notes:
- No subtitle. Opening narration does mention “black magic”; Dr. Strange still self-describes as “Master of Black Magic”.
- Dr. Strange exhausted, up late trying to learn secrets of a “sinister gem”.
- Burglars pick the wrong house to rob.
- Since he didn’t call the cops, the burglars decide to try again.
- Wong named.
- “Aggamon the All-powerful” rules the Purple Dimension.
- Dr. Strange takes the burglars’ place as Aggamon’s prisoner.
- Jeweled demolisher beam vs magic amulet; battle lasts hours.
- Dr. Strange’s curse is that Aggamon must free his slaves to regain strength.
- The burglars turn themselves in and seek to reform. Dr. Strange is pleased to have set them on the right path.
#166 story in reading order
Next: Amazing Spider-Man #11
Previous: Strange Tales #119
Even all these decades later this Ditko dimension is still remembered fondly for how it made me actually worry for the then-new-to-me Dr. Strange. But it was retroactively robbed of much of its impact when I a fee years later read Strange’s 1st encounter with Loki. Instead of the Norse god’s casual handling of the banishment making me impressed by Loki’s power it just made the once awesome dimension seem weak and the good doctor as well by extension. At the very least they could’ve actually showed Loki in the dimension brushing aside its various threats.
That’s a good point, and something I find not uncommon in fiction, particularly in Marvel superhero comics. The writer has a point to make that one character is powerful, but they do it at the expense of making another character (or in this case a whole dimension) seem weaker than before.
The Lord of the Rings if a favorite novel and movie of mine. And the writers of the adaptation faced this problem. In the book, Faramir is so noble that he’s not particularly tempted by the Ring. The screenwriters feared that in making Faramir seem strong, they would make the Ring seem weak. So they wrote a bit about him succumbing to the Ring’s power, because they wanted to show how strong the Ring was. But instead they just lessened the character of Faramir. It’s a tough balance. The secret to that balance lies in the details. As you suggest, Loki overcoming the Purple Dimension could have been a good moment, if they spent more than a panel on it.