Featuring: Dr. Strange
Release: October 12, 1965
Cover: January 1966
12 cents
Script: Stan Lee
Art: Steve Ditko
Lettering: S. Rosen
10 pages
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| 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.
Continue reading “Strange Tales #140, Story B”