Featuring: Dr. Strange Release: January 12, 1965 Cover: April 1965 12 cents Written in a stygian swampland by: Stan Lee Drawn in a dismal dungeon by: Steve Ditko Lettered in a conjuror’s castle by: Artie Simek 10 pages
…it is almost like the calm before a terrible storm!
We read the first half of this issue in June 2021 and wrote the following.
I must emphasize that the Dr. Strange story is one of the single greatest Marvel stories of all time, yet the Bouncing Ball of Doom is what gets spotlighted on the cover.
The first page almost serves as a cover, as is common for Ditko stories. The story really begins on the next page, which picks up exactly where the previous issue went off. I’ve seen arguments online that how well this reads if you just chop off the splash page chapter breaks means this should just be read as a 153 page graphic novel, perhaps the first graphic novel ever.
We saw this same servant of Mordo’s last issue. Ditko is good about using distinctive faces and taking care to repeat characters. Lee is often unconcerned about naming these repeat characters. This random dude will eventually get a name, and then weirdly get chosen as the lead villain in the first Dr. Strange film.
I appreciate how Ditko illustrates the espionage thriller, where Dr. Strange is furtively trying to escape detection.
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
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.
Featuring: Dr. Strange Release: March 10, 1964 Cover: June 1964 12 cents Written by: Stan Lee, King of Suspense Drawn by: Steve Ditko, Master of the Macabre Lettered by: Art Simek, Prince of the Lettering Pen 9 pages
I’ll include the cover with this post, as this is the first time the Dr. Strange story is given a significant piece of cover real estate.
I confess to a little bit of Mordo-fatigue. A full half of the Dr. Strange stories have pitted him against Mordo. As I start the story, I do a bit of a “Mordo again” sigh/eye-roll. But it’s actually a pretty good comic, as they tend to be.
Featuring: Dr. Strange Release: November 12, 1963 Cover: February 1964 12 cents Written by: Stan Lee Illustrated by: Steve Ditko Lettered by: S. Rosen 8 pages
All the original Dr. Strange stories, except for the origin story, bore the subtitle “Master of Black Magic”. He was Dr. Strange, Master of Black Magic. It’s gone now. In this comic, he’s just Dr. Strange. That tagline will never return. However, the narrator remembers it, possibly for the last time.
We get some nice clear exterior shots of Dr. Strange’s house. Before Mordo sends it to another dimension. Note the distinctive window.
I quite like this shot of Dr. Strange, shrouded in shadow, walking down the street with an aura of mystery about.
Featuring: Dr. Strange Release: September 10, 1963 Cover: December 1963 12 cents Written by: Stan Lee Drawn by: Steve Ditko 8 pages
We learn the origin of Dr. Strange, one of the greatest superhero origins ever. Probably the second-greatest. It will thus be only the second Marvel Age story I give the (presumably) coveted 5-star rating.
A brilliant surgeon cared only for wealth and fame. When an accident damaged his hands, his desperate quest to be able to operate again led him to seek out a mystic healer. There he learned of the nature of black magic and the threat to the world posed by Mordo. He spent years studying under the Ancient One to become a master of black magic.
Featuring: Dr. Strange Release: May 9, 1963 Cover: August 1963 12 cents Story: Stan Lee Art: Steve Ditko 5 pages
I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: Dr. Strange vol. 1.
Another Dr. Strange story. Again a mere 5 pages. Again no hint on the cover that this tale is within. The cover focuses entirely on Human Torch and the Asbestos Man. The issue also contains a short text story, a sci/fi tale about a computer taking over the world, and this at the end.
The final panel this time lets us know Dr. Strange will not be returning next issue, but rather in “a future issue”. That’s likely Marvel hedging their bets, waiting to see sales numbers or look at letters and fan response before committing to more Dr. Strange stories.
That’s not what irony means.
Dr. Strange doesn’t show up until page 3. When we get a better shot of that cool window we discussed last issue. Well, not the same window, as that was on a door. But the same pattern.
That said, this issue is setting up for future tales: Dr. Strange now has an archnemesis. As Loki is to Thor, Mordo will be to Dr. Strange. Because the fan response will be strong and the character will return. Might even get his own movies one day.
