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
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| Strange Tales #130, Story B | Reading order | Strange Tales #132, Story B |
| Strange Tales #131 | Strange Tales | Strange Tales #132 |
…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.
Continue reading “Strange Tales #131, Story B”