I'll be reading through the Stan Lee/Steve Ditko Dr. Strange stories as originally published in Strange Tales #110-146. So, let's begin:
Strange Tales #110 - "Dr. Strange Master of Black Magic!"
Cover Date: July 1963
Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Steve Ditko
We are introduced to a "new" type of superhero, Dr. Strange, Master of Black Magic. His look is similar to what many of us expect with a handful of differences--for instance, he's wearing gauntlets of some sort, and there's no Cloak of Levitation.
Our story opens with a man who cannot sleep as nightmares overtake him every time he tries. He's heard of Dr. Strange through whispers and rumors, and plans to see him. There's some really nice utilizaion of shading along with a limited color palette that sets the mood of the story nicely.
The next day, the man visits a place in Greenwich village. The door is answered by what appears to be a bald Asian gentleman, but no name is given. The man tells him he's there to see Dr. Strange despite the fact that the Dr. doesn't know him, but the Asian man says that Dr. Strange knows all. He bids the man to enter.
The man meets with Dr. Strange. He tells Strange that he has the same dream over and over again every night, and it's driving him crazy. Dr. Strange askss him to tell him more, and the man describes the dream: a figure bound in chains stares at him. Dr. Strange says that tonight he will come visit and find out what's happening. The man asks him how, and strange responds that he will do so by entering his dream.
Later that day, Strange says it's time for him to visit the Master. To do so, he sends forth his astral form, and we watch it travel across the world. Eventually, it reaches a cave somewhere in Asia where Strange visits his master, an aged man. He tells Strange that he senses danger and he must be cautious, as his days are numbered and one day Strange will take his place in the battle against the forces of evil. Strange tells him that he will be careful, and the master tells him to go as he's tired, but to rely upon his amulet if danger should threaten.
That evening, Strange goes to visit the man. He tells the man to sleep, and the man does so. Once he does, Strange projects his astral form into the man's dream. Inside the dream, he finds the figure bound in chains. As the figure torments the man, Strange asks it why. The figure replies that the man knows why. The figure explains that he is the symbol of every evil he has done, and that is why he is in chains. He tells Strange to ask a man who he refers to as Mr. Crang if he doesn't believe him.
At this point, a dark figure riding a horse shows up. He seems to know Dr. Strange, and he tells him that he has entered the dimension of dreams for the last time. Strange identifies the figure as Nightmare, his ancient foe. Nightmare tells him that he knows the rules of sorcery--anyone entering a hostile dimension must be ready to pay for it with his life.
Back on Earth, the sleeping man awakes. He understands now that the root of his problem is Mr. Crang, and that Dr. Strange has heard everything. He gets a gun from his dresser and approaches Strange's body, planning on killing him.
Nightmare gloats as he and Strange watch this scene play out. Strange beseeches his master for help. The master hears his pleas and concentrates. Back in the man's apartment, Dr. Strange's amulet glows until it opens up into an eye, which shoots out a ray that hypnotizes the man. In the confusion, Strange escapes from Nightmare and manages to return to his body. Nightmare tells him that he'll get him next time.
Back in the man's apartment, Strange takes the man's gun and commands him to speak the truth. The man reveals that his dreams were caused by the many men he'd ruined in business. Apparently, Crang was the last one that he'd robbed, leaving no evidence for Crang to prosecute him. He says he'll confess now.
My rating: 7/10
It's obvious here that there are a lot of details that Lee and Ditko were working through for this character, and there's a lot we'll see over this reading project. This particular story reads very much like a Golden Age backup comic--I found it amusing that they chose to name one of the antagonist's victim but not the antagonist himself--so the drama isn't exactly at a fever pitch.
That being said, the star of this comic--and the others in this project--is clearly Steve Ditko. His creativity shows through here, especially with his depictions of the dream world. At the same time, you can also feel that there's much more on the horizon.
Tags:
The Marvel/DC crossover that led to the Amalgam Universe was supposed to have a few panels of Darkseid and Thanos fighting. Possibly they were left out because they would have just been a staring contest, ending with Thanos falling over.
They're still avoiding Strange doing much more than relying on that amulet. It's becoming a crutch for the character.
Strange Tales #118 - "The Possessed!"
This story feels like a step backward into the monster stories that were replaced by the Dr. Strange feature.
Seems they managed to fit quite a bit of story into eight pages, but not anything we'd care to remember.
I know the consensus is that Mordo was overused early on, but he really was the only proper enemy for Dr Strange - Nightmare always needed some convoluted plot devise to get Strange into the nightmare realm and so into conflict.
I was reading these stories in black and white Marvel anthology reprints in England in the mid-to-late-Sixties, and don't think I even took notice of the Dr Strange strip until the Mordo/Dormammu, chase-around-the-world, storyline.
To my mind, that was when Ditko and Lee actually treated this as the potential lead story in "Strange Tales", rather than a perpetual, eight-ish-page back-up.
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While he does end up getting the title (although not for long) he only gets the lead in #164, #166, and #168. Were they alternating strips at the end because they weren't sure who was getting the book? Seems once they knew they would have moved Strange to the lead for the last couple of issues.
In the anthology titles Marvel started reversing the lead feature and the cover feature (to match) in alternating months. It wasn't just in Strange Tales. I never heard the reason for this. Maybe they were anticipating their change of distributor and being able to give everybody their own titles.
Ron M. said:
While he does end up getting the title (although not for long) he only gets the lead in #164, #166, and #168. Were they alternating strips at the end because they weren't sure who was getting the book? Seems once they knew they would have moved Strange to the lead for the last couple of issues.
In the period just before the split-books ended the features were the same length, 11 pages. Before that the books were split 12/10 for a while.
Captain America only gets the lead spot in Tales of Suspense#98.
Hulk got Tales to Astonish in #99 and #101.
So they all started that at different times.
Interesting how they both almost pass out in the battle. We don't normally see a fight go that far. After he surrenders Doc admits the villain would have won if he'd just held out a little longer.
The bad guy's name, Aggamon, is very close to Agamotto. I'd guess the name (or at least part of it) stuck in Stan's head without him remembering where he'd seen it before. Neither Aggamon nor the guys in the last issue must have been popular, since we don't see them again.
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