Featuring: Dr. Strange
Release: December 10, 1964
Cover: March 1965
12 cents
Written by the nabob of the netherworld: Stan Lee
Illustrated by the sultan of the supernatural: Steve Ditko
Lettered by the overlord of the occult: Artie Simek
10 pages
| Previous | #412 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| Avengers #20 | Reading order | Strange Tales #131, Story B |
| Strange Tales #130 | Strange Tales | Strange Tales #131 |
There is more to this than meets the eye!
Man. Remember when Ben and Johnny met the Beatles? Seems like a lifetime ago.
I have a grammatically annoying habit in these posts to confuse time with my tenses. Sometimes I speak as though the present is 2022, and sometimes I speak as though the present is 1964. I’m going to double down on that confusing habit.
Strange Tales #130 was released December 1964, and we read the first story, in which Ben and Johnny meet the Beatles, back in May 2021. It’s now November 2022, a good 18 months later we are finally finishing the comic. Wow.
In our last post, we read Avengers #20, from July 1965, a good 7 months after the release of Strange Tales #130. We’re going back in time 7 months and 18 months.
18 months ago, I wrote the following:
Dr. Strange finally gets the cover almost to himself… but we won’t be reading his story. As we’ve discussed, the plan is to take a break from Dr. Strange, but keep reading the Human Torch/Thing stories. The Dr. Strange stories have mostly been happy to be single short episodes that fit in 10 pages. The only exception has been the 2-part battle against Dormammu. But even that epic was only 20 pages, the length of a normal Fantastic Four or Spider-Man story. Not one to make incremental change, Ditko decided he needs 170 pages and 17 months to tell the next story.
We’ve been waiting a long time for this story. Over the months, I’ve occasionally reminded you of it, asked for patience, and hinted at just how much I love it. Let’s see if it was worth the wait.
We’ve already read the first stories from Strange Tales #130-136, finishing up the Human Torch/Thing stories and beginning the Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD stories, including the first two parts of the “Hydra Saga”.
We’ll now catch up on the Dr. Strange stories of 130-136, and then read the entirety of Strange Tales #137-141, which will finish off the Hydra Saga and bring us to a climactic moment and decent enough pausing point for the Eternity Saga. (By “decent enough pausing point”, I mean the issue will end with a bomb about to explode in Dr. Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum. But decent enough.) We’ll then need to spend a bit of time catching up with the rest of the Marvel Universe before coming back to finish off the Eternity Saga, which runs through issue 146.
I think of this 17-part saga as the “Eternity Saga” or the “Dormammu/Mordo War”, or some mixing and matching of those words. There’s no real official name. A quick browsing of the internet suggests “Eternity Saga” is the most common name, and that’s anyway my preferred name, so we’ll call it that.
This spins out of Dr. Strange’s 2-part battle with Dormammu in issues 126-127. If you look to the Best We’ve Read, you’ll see both parts of that saga are presently in our top ten, though that list is about to get shaken up. Much of this 17-part saga will find its way to that page presently, so check out the bottom couple rows of entries while you can. They’ll be getting pushed off.
Prior to that Dormammu arc, we’d heard a lot of invocations with strange words in them. Vishanti. Agamotto. Hoggoth. Dormammu. It wasn’t that clear what these words referred to. They almost seemed like magic words like Abracadabra. With issue 126, we understood that Dormammu is a demonic sorcerer who rules the Dark Dimension. And that when Dr. Strange or Baron Mordo would invoke his name, they were literally calling upon him to lend them power. That Dr. Strange’s power might come from an evil demon seems a bit of hypocrisy.
In an adventure in the Dark Dimension, Dr. Strange met a pretty girl and faced off with Dormammu, whose power dwarfed his own. He won the day only because of Dormammu’s strange sense of honor. While evil, Dormammu does defend his own realm from the Mindless Ones, and Dr. Strange aided Dormammu against the Mindless Ones. Dormammu then felt obligated to not kill Dr. Strange. Honor and all that. Because his sense of honor is really strange, he has now sworn revenge on Dr. Strange for being in debt. Dr. Strange did Dormammu a favor, and now Dormammu must destroy him. Honor and all that. And while Dormammu swore not to attack Dr. Strange, he didn’t promise not to lend his power to Dr. Strange’s greatest enemy Baron Mordo so that Mordo could kill the good Doctor.
OK, maybe some mild spoilers above. I see the opening of the story does obscure just who it is Mordo is talking to. But it will be revealed by page 5 and this is a 170 page saga.
Given how long this saga is, you’d expect a bit of prelude. But we get basically one panel of Strange and the Ancient One doing their thing, the calm before the storm. By panel 3, the attack begins.
By page 3, the Ancient One has fallen, Mordo controls his temple, and Dr. Strange is on the run.
Anyways, by page 5, the true foe stands revealed. A reveal I’d pretty well telegraphed above. Dormammu had expected the entire saga to be over by page 5, confident he had given Mordo enough power to destroy Dr. Strange, and disappointed that Strange escaped.
Now the chase begins. Dr. Strange manages to get the injured Ancient One to safety, and then tries to draw Mordo after himself instead.
We start to learn more about the world of intrigue Strange inhabits. Mordo has allies all around the world hunting for Strange. The Ancient One has allies as well, ready to help Strange on this global chase.
There is a not-yet-named Tibetan hermit who takes the Ancient One under his care.
And Sen-Yu, who helps Dr. Strange, who we get to know some.
Like many, including Dr. Strange himself, Sen-Yu owes a debt to the Ancient One. Not able to master the mystic arts and become a disciple, Sen-Yu serves in other ways, handling the Ancient One’s finances, and in this case supplying Dr. Strange with some support. They hint that this hermit and Sen-Yu are not unique, and the Ancient One’s world is bigger than we’ve yet seen.
Dr. Strange gets into civilian clothes, using fake passports. All rather mundane by his standards. This is really an espionage story, foreshadowing this title becoming one half an espionage book a few issues later. And while Kirby is well suited to the gadgets and big action sequences of a spy thriller, Ditko is well suited to noirish lurking in the shadows. We’re starting to see hints of why this saga is so excellent.
The action started on the second page hasn’t let up by the final panel. Dr. Strange is desperate, on the run, with Mordo and his allies close behind.
We see Mordo in three different outfits this issue, his house clothes, his jumpsuit, and finally his full garments. The last is more elegant and detailed than previous outfits.
The GCD notes the resemblance to actor Torin Thatcher from a mix of The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and Jack the Giant Slayer.
The Best Stories
We mentioned the “Best We’ve Read” page earlier. Since these posts are organized around issues or stories within issues, the page is so organized. I’m not recording the best story arcs there. At present, the top 3 entries are all origin stories, and all standalone stories. Outside of those origin stories, I knew coming in what I thought were the 4 best Marvel stories of this era, and basically all time. We’ve just begun one of them.
Because this story is so long, the other 3 will come out before it finishes. They all happen in close proximity. We’re coming up on the best 6 months in Marvel’s history.
Every 4 years, Brian Cronin takes a poll on the Top 100 Comic Book Storylines. The Eternity Saga placed #51 last time. It was my personal #6 vote.
The Thor/Hulk slugfest from Journey Into Mystery #112 is quite good, but it’s getting booted out of our top 100 list thanks to this Dr. Strange story.
Invocations:
- “May the All-seeing Eye of Agamotto watch over you” — Tibetan hermit
- “By all the Hoary Hosts of hoggoth…”
- “…calling upon the Seven Rings of Raggadorr…”
- “In the name of the Eternal Vishanti…”
Rating: ★★★★★, 91/100
Significance: ★★★★☆
I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: Dr. Strange vol. 1.
Characters:
- Dormammu
- Baron Mordo
- Ancient One/Master
- Dr. Strange
- Mordo’s Servants
- Tibetan Hermit
- Sen-Yu
Story notes:
- Dormammu grants Mordo power without limit to destroy Dr. Strange.
- Mountainous retreat of Ancient One in Tibet.
- Mordo and two servants invade Ancient One’s temple. Mordo’s servants are unnamed. At least one we will see again.
- Even Dr. Strange’s amulet fails before Mordo’s power; its ionic screen gets cracked.
- Dr. Strange uses amulet to blind his foes while he and the Ancient One escape through a secret passage.
- Dormammu dispatches invisible spirits from the Netherworld to find Dr. Strange.
- Dr. Strange takes Ancient One to a dedicated Tibetan hermit, who is unnamed.
- Strange can sense the spirit following him.
- Mordo sends imperious command to all practitioners of Black Magic to find Dr. Strange.
- Sen-Yu lives in Hong Kong and guards the Ancient One’s wealth.
- Sen-Yu once saved by the Ancient One. Had not the ability to become a disciple, but serves in other ways.
- Dr. Strange hides cloak in suit lining.
- Sen-Yu provides Strange with a fake passport, money, and a disguise.
- Another sorceror finds Dr. Strange.
- Dr. Strange fools pursuers with an illusion of multiple copies of himself.
- Dr. Strange calls upon 7 Rings of Raggadorr to make his foe unable to speak.
- Dr. Strange calls upon the Vishanti to temporarily paralyze his 4-5 foes.
- Ends with Dr. Strange on the run and Mordo confident it will be over soon.
| Previous | #412 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| Avengers #20 | Reading order | Strange Tales #131, Story B |
| Strange Tales #130 | Strange Tales | Strange Tales #131 |
