Tag: crimson bands of cyttorak

Featuring: Dr. Strange
Release: June 9, 1964
Cover: September 1964
12 cents
Written inside a haunted house by: Stan Lee
Illustrated inside a gypsy’s tent by: Steve Ditko
Inked inside a hidden cave by: Geo. Bell
Lettered inside… because it was raining outside by: S. Rosen
9 pages

Dr. Strange gets more than his usual amount of cover real estate. Some 15% of the page devoted to his story. Enough to actually depict the story within. The second time that’s happened. Strange’s day will come.

For the second of three issues, we have to put up with George Roussos finishing Ditko’s art. There’s a payoff that makes it all worth it, though. When Ditko resumes the full art duties in two issues, he’ll give us 20 of the best comics ever made.

The first page asks, “Can you guess the identity of the Lady from Nowhere??” This puts me in a bind I’ve been in before. The issue reveals her identity on the final page. I’m not a fan of spoilers and don’t want to spoil things for you. That said, this comic is over 55 years old, so it’s not like you haven’t had ample time to read it.

Even if I don’t spoil the ending in my write-up, I do like to give a listing of all the characters in this issue afterward, which would reveal who the Lady is. Tell you what. I’ll give you some hints and see if you can guess before we reach the character listing below. This is her second Marvel Age appearance, after the Iron Man story in Tales of Suspense #44. (Clicking the link will probably give away the answer.)

We’d actually already met her in one of our PRELUDE posts, when we read Venus #1. It’s not absolutely clear how or if these three versions of the character are related.