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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 #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 #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 #125, Story B

Mordo Must Not Catch Me!

Featuring: Dr. Strange
Release: July 9, 1964
Cover: October 1964
12 cents
How proud we are that Stan Lee wrote this sensational thriller!
How fortunate we are that Steve Ditko drew these magical masterpieces!
How triumphant we are that Geo. Bell inked these priceless panels!
How ecstatic we are that Artie Simek lettered these deathless phrases!
10 pages

This is the actual first page for the comic, found online. The Masterworks version colors the characters white, as though both in their astral form. Marvel Collectors’ Item Classics #16, where most of the scans below come from, colors all the astral forms a weird bluish color, and the front page from that issue follows suit.

The Masterworks also colors Mordo’s disciples white. They are garbed in green in the original and light blue in the scan below.

This is the last of the “filler” issues of the Dr. Strange stories. One more issue until Ditko returns to full art duties and the series kicks into high gear. As these go, this issue’s actually pretty good. Despite the story where Dr. Strange and Mordo battle for the 77th time.

The most egregious coloring error in my reprint is the coloring of Dr. Strange’s cloak. It is quite possibly an intentional error, aimed at consistent marketing to match Dr. Strange’s cloak at the time of the reprint. But, quite obviously, Dr. Strange’s cloak should be blue, as it is in any other reprint of this story.

Strange Tales #120, Story B

The House of Shadows!

Featuring: Dr. Strange
Release: February 11, 1964
Cover: May 1964
12 cents
Written at midnight by: Stan Lee
Drawn by candlelight by: Steve Ditko
Lettered at twilight by: S. Rosen
9 pages

Dr. Strange gets a blurb on the issue’s cover, but no picture.

Dr. Strange has a new tagline. No longer the “Master of Black Magic”, he is now “Master of the Mystic Arts”. This one will stick around for quite some time until Dr. Strange earns a higher title. The stories themselves will still occasionally mention his mastery of black magic for a little while longer.

Ultimately, this seems a simple story. Dr. Strange and a haunted house. There is a twist that the house itself is an interdimensional being acting the part of the ghost. But that’s the type of twist we are used to from many comics of this era. There is some societal commentary about television and the news and audiences to be found. The fact that a news program is dedicating time to what seems to be a publicity stunt about a haunted house tells us something about the world. The fact that audiences don’t believe the reporter when he claims to be in danger speaks to something as well.