dr. strange – Coke & Comics

Strange Tales #146, Story B

The End– At Last!

Featuring: Dr. Strange
Release: April 12, 1966
Cover: July 1966
12 cents
Edited by the enchanter– Stan Lee
Penciled + inked by the prestidigitator– Steve Ditko
Scripted by the sorcerer– Dennis O’Neil
Lettered by the letterer– Artie Simek
10 pages

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Strange Tales #146	Reading order	Amazing Spider-Man #38
Strange Tales #146	Strange Tales	Strange Tales #147

Human eyes have never witnessed such a struggle!

We recently described Fantastic Four #50 as the most disappointing cover yet. This may top it. Again, just compare the cover of the issue to the first page of the issue and see the contrast.

This is sad because it’s Ditko’s last Dr. Strange story, and because Dr. Strange has been snubbed from the covers of Strange Tales for the entire run. Even more insulting because the spotlight was instead given to the inferior Human Torch stories. The one time Dr. Strange was finally given the cover spotlight, Kirby, not Ditko, was assigned to draw it.

So here we are, Ditko’s final issue of one of the greatest superhero runs in history and finally we seemingly get our very first Ditko Dr. Strange cover. Except it’s a lie.

That is a Ditko Dr. Strange but it’s been badly cut and pasted from interior art. Resized, flipped around, generally mangled. The Eternity image is also cut and paste from the interior.

I don’t believe Ditko actually made this cover, though it’s generally credited to him. I think someone else made the cover, assembling bits of interior art by Ditko.

I hate it.

The issue is good. This first page is closer to what the cover should look like.

I’d given a lot of hype to this extended saga, which I’m calling “The Eternity Saga”. And I think the first 12 issues are unimpeachable. From #130-141, the action flows crisply to a climax, ending with the final defeat of Mordo and Dr. Strange and Dormammu in something of a stalemate after Strange’s humbling of Dormammu. The story then completely lost momentum as Dr. Strange dealt with Mordo’s underlings and searched for the woman who had helped him, facing some unrelated threats along the way. The last 4 issues have been solid comics, but don’t help make the case that we have a great 17-part saga. We have a great 12-part saga, then 4 more issues, then this conclusion.

Let’s see how Ditko brings this home. And this will be bringing it home. With this story, Ditko bids goodbye to Marvel for the foreseeable future and to the character of Dr. Strange forever.

Stan seems utterly indifferent to the importance of the moment. In addition to the sloppy cover, Stan has junior writer Dennis O’Neil onboard for his second Dr. Strange story and one of his earliest comics, period. It doesn’t matter too much who the writer is, as Ditko does most of the writing anyway. O’Neil will stay on the title a few more issues, but soon enough move to DC, where he will go on to great things.

Strange Tales #145, Story B

To Catch a Magician!

Featuring: Dr. Strange
Release: March 10, 1966
Cover: June 1966
12 cents
Eerily edited by: Stan Lee
Spookily scripted by: Dennis O’Neil
Demonically drawn by: Steve Ditko
Laconically lettered by: Artie Simek
10 pages

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Strange Tales #145	Reading order	Tales of Suspense #77
Strange Tales #145	Strange Tales	Strange Tales #146

Am I a child, to be frightened by a mere illusion– a shadow of shadows?

Lee seems to have stepped away as the regular writer for the end of Ditko’s run. Just as well as Ditko has been doing most of the writing and refusing to even speak to Lee for a little while anyway.

Roy Thomas stepped in the last two issues, and now we have Dennis O’Neil. While for artists, Stan has been seeking veterans from the ’40s and ’50s, for writers, he has been giving new talent a try. Thomas is new to comics, and O’Neil was hired at his suggestion. This is O’Neil’s first comic work. He’ll go on to do some good things, and will perhaps be eventually better known for his work with the Distinguished Competition.

That Lee is handing off scripting duties to new and untested writers gives a hint as to how important these Dr. Strange stories are to him.

We meet a villain named Mr. Rasputin. He uses magical and scientific means to do espionage. His ancestor had been a famous Russian advisor.

Of course he runs afoul of Dr. Strange.

Strange Tales #144, Story B

Where Man Hath Never Trod!

Featuring: Dr. Strange
Release: February 10, 1966
Cover: May 1966
12 cents
Edited with percipacity by: Stan Lee
Written with precocity by: Roy Thomas
Plotted and illustrated with profundity by: Steve Ditko
Lettered with the windows closed by: Artie Simek
10 pages

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Strange Tales #144	Reading order	Strange Tales #145
Strange Tales #144	Strange Tales	Strange Tales #145

How dare you make a request of the great Tazza! In the name of Satannish the Supreme, you shall join the other unmoving forms in my hallowed halls…

We are in what I see as the spinning-the-wheels phase. We had an extremely tense and fast-paced adventure that took us from issues 130-141. Then it slowed down. Mordo was defeated. Dormammu was humbled. Loose plot threads included servants of Mordo’s to deal with, and this woman who had helped Strange, who was now a prisoner of Dormammu. We’ve spent the last couple issues dealing with Mordo’s servants and now we’ll go look for this unnamed woman.

Dormammu was beaten with yet another vow to not move against Strange. But there’s a loophole if you read the fine print. Dormammu agreed not to attack Strange on Earth. But if the good Doctor travels to another dimension…

Strange Tales #143, Story B

With None Beside Me!

Featuring: Dr. Strange
Release: January 11, 1966
Cover: April 1966
12 cents
Edited and rehashed by: Stan Lee
Written and rewritten by: Roy Thomas
Plotted and drawn by: Steve Ditko
Lettered and blotted by: Artie Simek
10 pages

Previous	#481	Next
Strange Tales #143	Reading order	Tales of Suspense #75, Story B
Strange Tales #143	Strange Tales	Strange Tales #144

And just like that, Stan Lee is not writing this series any more. He’s been the credited writer since the beginning, and isn’t quite done as the regular writer. But he’s off for the next half dozen issues or so. Last issue was his final collaboration with Ditko on the character of Dr. Strange. Maybe for the best as they no longer get along by this point.

Roy Thomas is Marvel’s young writer that Lee will increasingly be leaning on to take the burden of scripting some of these titles. He’s now the regular scripter on Sgt. Fury, but is only on Dr. Strange for the next two issues.

Either way, this is really Ditko’s comic. Whoever is scripting is just there for finishing touches.

We’re kind of maybe still in the middle of the Eternity Saga. Mordo defeated. Dormammu humbled. That woman missing. The Ancient One off searching for her. Mordo’s minions causing trouble. Dr. Strange with his hands and face bound, and his amulet and cloak stolen.

In this issue, Strange defeats the disciples and recovers his amulet and cloak.

Notably, we still don’t get the name for either disciple. The man will eventually be named Kaecilius, and he’ll be the main villain in the first Dr. Strange film, played by Mads Mikkelsen.

The woman will be known as Adria. It will be 16 years before either shows up again.

Strange Tales #142, Story B

Those Who Would Destroy Me!

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
Strange Tales #142	Strange Tales	Strange Tales #143

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.

POSTLUDE: Marvels #2

Monsters

Featuring: Marvels
Release: December 14, 1993
Cover: February 1994
$5.95
Writer: Kurt Busiek
Artist: Alex Ross
Letterers: Starkings w/ John Gaushell
Editor: Marcus McLaurin
Assitant editor: Spencer Lamm
Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco
Cover design & logo: Joe Kaufman
Interior design: Comicraft
45 pages

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Weird Science #20	PRELUDE
Tales of Suspense #72	Reading order	Sgt. Fury #22
Marvels #1	Marvels	Marvels #3

The real story was the people who’d been scared too long. Who’d been wound tight by talk of mutant menaces and hidden conspiracies and shadows under the bed.

I’ve mentioned before I want to frame our reading around the Marvels miniseries from the 1990s. That hasn’t really been obvious yet. We read Marvels #0, which retold a few pages from Marvel Comics #1. And we read Marvels #1, which paralleled 1940s Marvel comics. But our reading is concentrated in the 1960s. Finally, we get to Marvels #2, which parallels the 1960s Marvel stories, ranging from Avengers #6 (May 1964), the 191st entry in our reading, through Tales of Suspense #69 (June 1965), the 404th entry in our reading. Quite the range. We are reading it after completing the Iron Man story from Tales of Suspense #72, because we’d first needed to tie up some continuity ends.

We’ve hinted before at the theme of this comic, and I’d like to just discuss it up front. The two centerpiece stories are the wedding of Reed and Sue in Fantastic Four Annual 3, and the attack on the X-Men by the Sentinels in X-Men #14. The writer Kurt Busiek had noted in his own Marvel Universe research what we also found in our reading here, that these events must occur on nearly consecutive days. That’s not obvious from any comic, but does follow from a close reading of the many interconnected comics. And the two stories make for quite the juxtaposition.

The contrast between these two arcs becomes the central tension of this issue. The Fantastic Four wedding is the celebrity event of the century. The press covered it, crowds of fans gathered, famous people like Tony Stark and Millie the Model attended. The Fantastic Four are super-powered heroes and beloved by the public.

The X-Men are also super-powered heroes. But where the Fantastic Four gained their powers from cosmic radiation, the powers of the X-Men are innate, based on an accident of birth, perhaps from radiation their parents had been exposed to. The “Children of the Atom”. And that difference is big enough that the same public who cheered on the wedding of the FF members would listen with interest and nods of approval as Bolivar Trask went on the airwaves to declare mutants a menace and announce he’d created robot-hunting Sentinels to hunt and kill the X-Men.

We read the Heroes & Legends retelling of the wedding, which focused on this very tension in the form of a child, who was a huge fan of the Fantastic Four, but afraid of the X-Men. He learned better by issue’s end.

Here, the arc will play out within Phil Sheldon, the photojournalist who specialises in shots of the people he’s dubbed the Marvels. A person who idolizes heroes like the Fantastic Four and Avengers, but fears mutants like the X-Men.

It’s entirely irrational, just like all forms of bigotry.

That’s enough belaboring of themes. Let’s dive into the story. As we do, we’ll try to draw the parallels between what’s happening on the page and our reading.

I’ll note that the title is called “Monsters”, which brings to my mind Thing and Hulk. The latter doesn’t appear, and the former is a minor player at best.

It’s 20 years after the events of Marvels #1. Phil Sheldon is now an established freelance photojournalist happily married with two kids. We see hm doing freelance work for Barney Bushkin at the Daily Globe. The shadows on the page somewhat obscure Phil’s eyepatch, a lifelong injury sustained last issue by getting too close to a superhero battle.

We remember meeting Barney in Amazing Spider-Man #27. He’s nicer than Jonah, but asked too many questions for Peter’s tastes.

Strange Tales #141, Story B

Let There Be Victory!

Featuring: Dr. Strange
Release: November 11, 1965
Cover: February 1966
12 cents
Dialogue and captions: Stan Lee
Plot and artwork: Steve Ditko
Lettering and more lettering: Artie Simek
10 pages

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Strange Tales #141	Reading order	Avengers #21
Strange Tales #141	Strange Tales	Strange Tales #142

…I must destroy him! And destroy him I shall!! For I am truly– the Dread Dormammu!!

Chapter 12. Dr. Strange had defeated and humiliated Mordo, so Dormammu challenged Strange directly to a duel of honor for the fate of Earth. They fought using “pincers of power”. Dr. Strange was on the edge of victory when the treacherous Mordo intervened and struck a cowardly blow, leaving Dr. Strange defeated.

And so we continue the Eternity Saga.

Notice the plotting credit for Ditko. He’s plotted every Dr. Strange story.

Generally these stories have really been 9 pages, with the opening splash page serving as a sort of cover for the issue, since the actual issue covers always go to Nick Fury. However, this time Ditko seems to need all 10 pages, so a lot of plot is covered on the opening splash page.

Dormammu banishes Mordo for daring to presume he needed help. That’s the end of that partnership and Mordo’s last bow for this story.

Then Dormammu gallingly still tries to claim his prize despite clearly cheating.

Strange Tales #140, Story B

The Pincers of Power!

Featuring: Dr. Strange
Release: October 12, 1965
Cover: January 1966
12 cents
Script: Stan Lee
Art: Steve Ditko
Lettering: S. Rosen
10 pages

Previous	#426	Next
Strange Tales #140	Reading order	Strange Tales #141
Strange Tales #140	Strange Tales	Strange Tales #141

Only for those without faith can there be no hope! The faith of the righteous will never waver!

How does our hero fight a being of unimaginable, godlike power? That’s a hard question for a writer. And the answers don’t always satisfy me. The last time, Dormammu’s sense of honor prevented him from continuing the battle. While this can often be a cop-out, it worked well because Dr. Strange really had suddenly switched to side with Dormammu against the Mindless Ones. He truly won the day through his sense of heroism and righteousness. I liked it.

I like the answer that Stan and Jack have come up with so far when they introduced beings like the Watcher and the Stranger. When the Watcher captured the FF, what can they do? Nothing. Just go along with it. What can the X-Men do against the Stranger? Nothing. Let him do as he wills. Fortunately, what these beings willed was agreeable to our heroes. Not so with Dormammu.

Another answer is for the godlike being to agree to a duel of honor, where he doesn’t use his powers. That’s the answer they go with here. I find it unsatisfying.

Fortunately, this will not be the final battle with Dormammu. And we’ll soon see other heroes face a similar godlike power. In these battles, we’ll see other answers to the question.

That said, once I accept that Dormammu has agreed to this no-powers duel, I find a pretty cool duel. These pincers they use as weapons make for awesome visuals, befitting this series.

Also, in an interesting twist, Dr. Strange still loses the duel.

Strange Tales #139, Story B

Beware…! Dormammu is Watching!

Featuring: Dr. Strange
Release: September 9, 1965
Cover: December 1965
12 cents
Script by sterling Stan Lee
Art by stalwart Steve Ditko
Lettering by stoical Artie Simek
10 pages

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Strange Tales #139	Reading order	Strange Tales #140
Strange Tales #139	Strange Tales	Strange Tales #140

Where they employ power, you must employ wisdom– the wisdom of the just, the righteous, the fearless!

Dormammu is plainly the “big bad” of this series. Mordo is the lieutenant. It’s time for the big confrontation with Mordo.

I really appreciate what Ditko is doing with Strange’s fists on that opening page. He does the best things with fingers.

Mordo is supplied by near limitless power. But he lacks the wits and will of Dr. Stephen Strange.

And so the final battle begins.

Strange Tales #138, Story B

If Eternity Should Fail!

Featuring: Dr. Strange
Release: August 10, 1965
Cover: November 1965
12 cents
Written and edited by incredible: Stan Lee
Plotted and illustrated by invincible: Steve Ditko
Lettered and bordered by indelible: Sam Rosen
10 pages

Previous	#422	Next
Strange Tales #138	Reading order	Strange Tales #139
Strange Tales #138	Strange Tales	Strange Tales #139

I am Eternity!

This is part 9 of a 17-part saga. We’re halfway there. This midpoint issue is also the turning point issue. Dr. Strange has spent most of the saga on the run, and then on the run while also searching for Eternity.

The reason this saga is one of my favorite Marvel stories largely comes down to this being one of my favorite Marvel comics. And that mostly comes down to two great pages. Let’s give them some attention.

Start with page 2.