Strange Tales #153, Story B

Featuring: Dr. Strange
Release: November 10, 1966
Cover: February 1966
12 cents
Stupefying story by: Spellbinding Stan Lee!
Inconceivable illustration by: Mystical Marie Severin!
Legendary lettering by: Sardonic Sammy Rosen!
10 pages

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I must endure their blows… regardless of the pain… By the Omnipotent Oshtur, I shall not fail… I shall not fall!

After Ditko left, Bill Everett became the regular artist on Dr. Strange for the next half dozen issues. And I was unimpressed. But I do really like Bill Everett. Last post, I rattled off Sub-Mariner, Venus, and Daredevil. All great works by him.

We get a new artist. Marie Severin. We haven’t seen her work yet. We saw her coloring when we read an old tangentially related EC comic. We saw an issue of Nick Fury illustrated by John Severin. Some possible connection, there. Siblings, perhaps.

But she’s actually been with Marvel for the entirety of our reading, just one of those unsung heroes behind the scenes, working on the production of the comics, sometimes as a colorist, perhaps lending a hand to some bits of art here or there.

She’d worked primarily as a colorist in the 1950s, for EC, and then for Marvel. Because colorists aren’t credited, it takes historical research to clearly identify what coloring work she did. But she’s likely colored a number of Marvel comics we’ve already read. Here’s perhaps her first coloring work for EC Comics from 1950.

Again, she’s done a lot behind the scenes, so she has done occasional single illustrations before. Here’s her illustration for a text story in Marvel’s Wyatt Earp #1 from 1955.

But as far as I can tell, this is the first full comic story she’s responsible for the artwork on.

Perhaps worth noting, Marie is a female, which differentiates her from every writer and artist we’ve come across in our Marvel reading so far. She worked through the ’50s and ’60s in a very male-dominated industry.

She worked in the industry until retiring in the early 2000s. Marie Severin passed away in 2018 at the age of 89.

I’m excited to see what she brings to Dr. Strange.

In the early days of the Marvel Universe, Kirby and Ditko were by necessity creating a number of concepts. New characters and villains for their heroes to encounter. We’re settling into the next generation of writers and artists taking over, and they don’t have the same necessity. The prior 6 years have given them a whole universe of characters and ideas to draw from.

And so this issue Dr. Strange can fight the Mindless Ones again.

In general, it’s going to impress me less when old villains are reused than when new ones are created. But I’m not against reusing the old villains, as long as what you’re doing with them is new.

And this is new enough. When last he encountered the Mindless Ones, it was Dormammu who did most of the work to contain them. So this is Dr. Strange’s first time really standing alone against a horde of Mindless Ones. I think it’s a worthwhile enough story to tell. But I will become increasingly suspicious of future battles against the Mindless Ones, and whether they are adding anything to the larger narrative.

Dr. Strange takes advantage of the weakness of the Mindless Ones, which is that they are, well, mindless. They just attack, but aren’t necessarily seeking to attack him in particular. So he directs their energies against each other.

Umar sees this, and so takes control of the Mindless Ones, blocking that stratagem.

And already this is much better than the last issue, where Dr. Strange was dispelling threats easily with his invocations. Dr. Strange had a strategy the reader can understand, and the villain had a counter-strategy.

This is the way to write Dr. Strange battles.

Dr. Strange then disguises himself as a Mindless One with a spell. Umar, controlling the Mindless Ones from afar, can’t tell which one is Dr. Strange. Again, clever counter-stratagems are determining the outcome of the battle.

Dr. Strange wins for the moment, and rescues Clea, or so he thinks. Just as Dr. Strange could disguise himself as a Mindless One, so could Umar disguise a Mindless One as Clea.

The search continues.

This was a much better comic than the last six. Still not quite Ditko-worthy, but headed in the right direction.

Clea’s first role was risking herself to aid Dr. Strange in the Dark Dimension. That’s a better purpose for her than the damsel in distress role she finds herself in now.

So this still has room to improve, but is much improved. I’m slightly more optimistic about where this comic is heading.

Strange Mails.

Invocations:

• By Hoggoth’s Hoary Hosts
• By the Omnipotent Oshtur
• Blessed be the Vishanti!
• Simmering Shades of the Seraphim
• By the Seven Rings of Raggadorr
• Venerated Vishanti, I do supplicate thee! Everlasting Vishanti, let fair Clea be free!
• By the Dark Deeds of Dormammu–Umar
• By the power of darkness, in the name of Satannish , I release the brainless multitude; let my mind control now vanish! — Umar

Rating: ★★½, 49/100
Significance: ★★★☆☆

Characters:

• Dr. Strange
• Umar
• Clea
• Ancient One

Story notes:

• Dr. Strange must battle Mindless Ones to free Clea.
• Clea trapped within the Pillar of Peril.
• Dr. Strange turns the Mindless Ones on each other.
• Umar takes control of the Mindless Ones, taking away their weakness.
• Dr. Strange recognizes Umar is controlling the Mindless Ones, so he makes a glare to blind her; and then disguises himself as a Mindless One.
• Umar removes her control over the Mindless Ones, since Dr. Strange’s hypnotic spell of diguise can’t work on ones with no minds.
• Dr. Strange thought he had rescued Clea, but really Umar had disguised a Mindless One as Clea.

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