Featuring: Dr. Strange
Release: December 12, 1965
Cover: March 1966
12 cents
Extravagantly edited and written by… Stan Lee!
Painstakingly plotted and drawn by… Steve Ditko!
Lovingly lettered and bordered by… Artie Simek!
10 pages
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|---|---|---|
| Strange Tales #142 | Reading order | Strange Tales #143 |
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I was born to battle the forces of evil– and though death be my reward, I would have it no other way!
Ditko’s time on this title draws short, and Lee is starting to hand off more and more of his scripting duties. So this is the final Dr. Strange story to be written by the team of Lee and Ditko. (I use the word “team” a bit loosely, as Ditko is by this point utterly refusing to even speak to Stan Lee.)
Dr. Strange’s adventures had been characterized by stories that fit entirely within 10 pages. Then his first battle with Dormammu lasted two issues and 20 pages, the size of a normal Spider-Man or Fantastic Four comic.
Then Strange Tales #130 ended with a cliffhanger. Dormammu and Mordo had teamed up; they’d seriously injured the Ancient One, and Dr. Strange was on the run. Without a break, Dr. Strange struggled against this duo of foes for a full 12 issues. Then finally it seemed as though Mordo and Dormammu were defeated, and Dr. Strange could rest.
But not quite! The woman from the Dark Dimension who befriended Strange remains a prisoner. Dormammu was humbled by Strange but remains a threat. And Mordo’s servants remain at large, and in fact have planted a bomb in Dr. Strange’s sanctum, and the last issue ended with the bomb about to go off.
We then paused and checked in with the many other Marvel titles. That was 8 months ago our time. Thank you for your patience in learning what’s up with that bomb. We won’t quite see the resolution of all the threads at present, but at least we’ll resolve this bomb question.
It’s actually a clever resolution. This cleverness is important as sometimes it seems Dr. Strange could maybe magic his way out of anything, so it’s good when we understand how. The villains left an ordinary bomb, because he would have sensed a mystical trap. And they erased traces of their presence, so he would not detect they had been there.
But… he sensed no trace of evil presences! And knew Mordo had been there recently, thus realizing someone had used a spell to eliminate traces of evil presences! See, clever. Anyways, this puts him on guard, and he finds the bomb. It was a close one, though.
And while he evades the bomb, he’s caught in the shockwave and captured by the baddies.
Mordo’s servants don’t know what’s happened in the Dark Dimension. They just know they can’t contact Mordo. They are unaware Dormammu had him banished for being a pathetic loser.
The trench-coated servant assumes command and studies the amulet, while assigning “Mordo’s helper” to study the Cloak. Stan seems to almost go out of his way to not name these characters. We’ve seen Mordo’s helper going back a dozen issues, and still no name. We just met the other one last issue, but we don’t know their name either.
See also the “female” that the Ancient One is searching for.
Ready for the big reveal? Uh, spoilers.
That servant in the trenchcoat we met last issue is a… wait for it… woman! We’ve seen similar reveals before. Remember when Comrade X turned out to be a woman? Or Agent H of Hydra? All shocking twists.
This will be handy in differentiating the unnamed characters at least. I can refer to Mordo’s female servant and his male one and there will be no more confusion.
Dr. Strange has to make his escape by using his spirit to act as the eyes for his body. It’s pretty cool.
Invocations:
- Praised be the Eternal Vishanti!
- By the Seven Rings of Raggadorr, there shall be a reckoning!
- By the Hoary Hand of Hoggoth — Stan Lee
- By the Mystic Moons of Munnopor, by the Demons of Night and Day, by the Flames of the Flawless Faltine — Demon
- By the Shades of the Shadowy Demons — Mordo’s stooge
This is exciting. I think we got a new one. They mostly recycle these invocations. Not counting the generic ones like “shadowy demons”. I think this is the first reference to the “Flames of the Flawless Faltine”. That’s a legit one. The Demon invokes this Faltine character.
As an aside, I find myself quite bothered that the words are “invoke” with a k and “invocation” with a c. It keeps making me think I’m spelling one or the other wrong. Maybe I’ll just start referring to them as “invokations” and see if it takes off.
Rating: ★★★½, 63/100
Significance: ★★★☆☆
A score of 63 places this near the bottom of the 100 Best We’ve Read list. It leaves no room for the climactic chapter of the Inhumans saga from Fantastic Four #47, which I’d given a mere 62.
Am I confident this story is better than that one? No. Am I confident that I personally prefer this story to that one? Also no. It depends if I trust my rating system to be accurate to the number. And I don’t. The comic I gave a 62 yesterday may get a 63 today. The comic I gave a 63 today may get a 62 tomorrow. Who knows. But for better or worse I make my choices.
Characters:
- Dr. Strange
- Mordo’s male servant
- Mordo’s female servant
- Demon
- Ancient One
Story notes:
- Dr. Strange deploys mystic eye of enchanted amulet, which detects bomb. Uses Cloak of Levitation to take it far above and the city and release it.
- Dr. Strange imprisoned; head encased so he cannot summon ectoplasmic self; hands encased so he can’t cast a spell; cloak and amulet taken.
- Demon will probe Strange’s mind.
- Dr. Strange retains the power of telepathy.
- Ancient One searches for the still unnamed female friend of Dr. Strange’s, letting his spirit search the Dark Dimensions; thus Strange cannot contact him.
- Strange’s mind so much more powerful than Demon that he takes over Demon’s mind when Demon seeks to probe his.
- Female servant’s powers would exceed Mordo’s if she can fathom the amulet.
- She notes Dr. Strange is free and puts Demon in a trance.
- Male servant experiments with cloak.
- Spirit directs Strange’s body and acts as eyes.
- Strange is still enshackled and without weapons, but has escaped.
| Previous | #479 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| Strange Tales #142 | Reading order | Strange Tales #143 |
| Strange Tales #142 | Strange Tales | Strange Tales #143 |
At this point, Dr Strange becomes much more exciting to read AND much more difficult to write. We learn that he DOESN’T just magic stuff. He lives with Always Being Prepared, using his knowledge, skills, and his opponents’ flaws.