twelve moons of munnopor – Coke & Comics

Strange Tales #129, Story B

Tiboro! The Tyrant of the Sixth Dimension!

Featuring: Dr. Strange
Release: November 10, 1964
Cover: February 1965
12 cents
Edited by: Stan Lee, and his magic typewriter.
Script by: Don Rico, and his mystic fountain pen.
Illustrated by: Steve Ditko, and his miraculous lead pencil.
Lettered by: Sam Rosen, and his melancholy penpoint.
10 pages

Previous	#300!	Next
Strange Tales #129	Reading order	Fantastic Four #35
Strange Tales #129	Strange Tales	Strange Tales #130

Welcome to the 300th Marvel Age story! We’re almost 1% finished!

I think the periods that end each credit above are the first periods we have ever seen. Stan Lee holds to a pretty strict exclamation point-only policy. But then, Stan Lee didn’t write this.

For the second time this month, and the second time in our entire Marvel Age reading, Stan Lee claims no story credit for the issue. His name still comes first, but he takes credit for editing. The only other time we’ve seen this is with Tales to Astonish #64, published just a week earlier, and scripted by Leon Lazarus.

Rumor is that publisher Martin Goodman was concerned of the power Lee held by being the sole writer on these increasingly successful titles, and instructed Lee to diversify the writing staff. However, neither Rico nor Lazarus became regular writers. So if that was Goodman’s intent, he was not successful.

We’ve met Don Rico twice before, though he used the alias of N. Korok, when he worked on Tales of Suspense #52–53 and helped introduce Black Widow. The first time we saw him work with Stan, Stan credited himself with “story” and Rico with “plot”. I don’t know the difference either.

This is Rico’s final scripting assignment for Marvel, a company he’s worked for off and on for 25 years at this point. It’s pretty close to his last comics work. He’d basically already left comics behind for prose writing at this point. A couple miscellaneous pieces in the 70s, including the art for a short Captain America story.

Don Rico passed away in 1985 at the age of 72.

Strange Tales #128, Story B

The Demon’s Disciple!

Featuring: Dr. Strange
Release: October 8, 1864
Cover: January 1965
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee– unchallenged master of the dramatic word!
Drawn by: Steve Ditko– unquestioned innovator of the occult illustration!
Lettered by: Artie Simek– unabashed purveyor of the captivating caption!
10 pages

Previous	#286	Next
Strange Tales #128	Reading order	Tales of Suspense #61
Strange Tales #128	Strange Tales	Strange Tales #129

Dr. Strange gets more cover real estate than usual.

Recall that after last issue’s epic battle with Dormammu, Dr. Strange was rewarded with a more powerful amulet and a new cape. The narrator here notes the amulet and new powers of levitation. This seems to imply the cape itself bestows the power of levitation. Dr. Strange confirms this at the end of the story.

A man comes to Dr. Strange seeking help. He had become the disciple of a magician known as the Demon and wishes to leave the Demon’s service. The Demon summons him back before Dr. Strange can help.

Strange Tales #126, Story B

The Domain of the Dread Dormammu!

Featuring: Dr. Strange
Release: August 11, 1964
Cover: November 1964
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee Prince of Prestidigitators!
Illustrated by: Steve Ditko Lord of Legerdemain!
Lettered by: Art Simek Nabob of Necromancy!
10 pages

Previous	#261	Next
Strange Tales #126	Reading order	Strange Tales #127
Strange Tales #126	Strange Tales	Strange Tales #127

The last few issues of Dr. Strange have essentially been filler. Forgettable stories, with Ditko not even supplying his own finishes on the art. I begged your indulgence, promising they had something good in the works. They did. This is it.

Lee and Ditko’s work on Dr. Strange is recognized as one of the best runs of comic books ever. For the next 20 issues, we’ll see why.

Generally speaking, Ditko does the heavy lifting on this series. But, assuming all the narration is attributable to Stan, he does his share here with some evocative prose.

There is a world half-hidden between the real and the imaginary!

A world in which the impossible is believable, and the incredible is commonplace…

Dr. Strange enters the Realm of Darkness, ruled by the Dread Dormammu. Dormmamu is a powerful sorcerer the Ancient One himself had once fought and been unable to defeat. Now, Dormammu plans to expand his domain and conquer Earth. Only Dr. Strange can stop him.

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.