Master of the Mystic Arts: Doctor Strange Appreciation 2019

[Tulku]

Nice. While it always prompts eye rolling when a series is relaunched with the same writer, I'm just glad that Waid is continuing to write Strange. His current run has been one of my favorites ever with the character and I did not want his time with Stephen to be over.

Agreed as to Waid continuing as writer. I have enjoyed his time on the book and am willing to see what he does with this concept. It is a new twist to have the character be (actively) both surgeon and sorcerer.

I am, of course, depressed that the write-up raises the bleeping "magic has a cost" line. I've railed on this before, but ALL powers have a price. If the Torch uses up too much energy, he is depleted. Iron Man's armor can run low on power. Every superhero pays a price for their powers--but they don't go on continually whining about it. Yes, magic has a price. If he does too much, Doc gets exhausted. When I was researching my previous comment, I looked at Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #1, and it has Doc actually collapsing exhausted in a chair after beating back an ancient evil. That's a price. As frequently pointed out, while Aaron keeps taking bows as if he originated the idea, the concept that magic takes something out of the practitioner has long been established. Aaron didn't introduce anything new other than a stupid catch-phrase: "magic has a cost." Yeah. So does everything else, jackass.

Strange's magic depends on his ability to concentrate (a point touched on in the current series last issue, #18)(Waid really is very good). I have often thought that Strange, as powerful as he is, could be rendered very weak by...Hawkeye, shooting a sonic arrow so as to disrupt Strange's concentration. But, of course, "archery has its price." In this case, the price of arrows--eventually you run out.

I really wish Waid would drop and/or bury the "magic has a price" line. But maybe he is not allowed to because the Great God Aaron (upon whom all must fawn) introduced it.

[comicscollector]

Looks cool.
I am happy that Mark Waid is writing the new Doctor Strange comic book because the curent ongoing by him have been quite good story wise.And the art by Jesus Saiz have been outsdanting.
Kev Walker being the illustrator should be cool,he have a art style that i am looking forward to see in the Doctor Strange stories.
The Covers being illustrated by Phil Noto it´s worth mentioning as well.
And the stories featuring Doctor Strange actually being a Doctor again makes this new comic book something i will be reading from the first issue.

[Rrobin]

Very happy that Waid is returning, and the new status quo is unique enough for Strange. Waid seems to have a clear end goal in mind for his time on the series, and I’m really hoping the next writer would keep this rather harmless change.

#19 was clearly the set up issue for the change, and maybe #20 will reintroduce Kanna as a supporting character? I certainly hope so

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Strange Tales #124 Sep 1964
"The Lady From Nowhere!"
Sensing sorcery, Doctor Strange finds a woman wandering the streets under a spell;

After guiding her to his house, he consults his mentor;

Strange travels into the past, though he's warned that if the candle, employed in the spell, expires, he will be trapped there forever;
In Ancient Egypt, he battles a wizard, Zota.

Script by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko (co-plot), pencils by Steve Ditko, inks by George Roussos (as Geo. Bell)

[Tulku]

Strange Tales #124 Sep 1964
"The Lady From Nowhere!"
Sensing sorcery, Doctor Strange finds a woman wandering the streets under a spell;

After guiding her to his house, he consults his mentor;

Strange travels into the past, though he's warned that if the candle, employed in the spell, expires, he will be trapped there forever;
In Ancient Egypt, he battles a wizard, Zota.

Script by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko (co-plot), pencils by Steve Ditko, inks by George Roussos (as Geo. Bell)

"It is a girl!" Dang, you can't slip anything past Doc, can you?

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Doctor Strange #182 Sep 1969
"And Juggernaut Makes Three!"
Still trapped by his own Eye of Agamotto, Dr. Strange bears witness as Nightmare is about to combine Earth with both its past, and its future.
However he is interrupted by the arrival of the Juggernaut, who has come seeking a passageway back to Earth.
Convinced that Doctor Strange is the one who can take him back,

he fights Nightmare, in hopes of stealing his captive.

Dr. Strange uses this distraction to wriggle himself free of his captivity, and summon up an illusory image of himself.
When Nightmare and Juggernaut notice the freed sorcerer, they work together to subdue him once more,

but send their mystic bolts at the illusion, which they pass through and free Eternity.
The two villains continue their alliance, this time trying to overpower Eternity.
However, Eternity banishes both Nightmare and Juggernaut to another realm
and restores the natural order, before returning Dr. Strange back to Earth.
There, Wong hands him a telegram, which was addressed to Stephen Strange
prior to the fight in Nightmare's realm, but now reads Stephen Sanders.
Strange reveals that Eternity has given him a new alias as a reward for helping to free him.

Script by Roy Thomas, pencils by Gene Colan, inks by Tom Palmer

[Tulku]

There, Wong hands him a telegram, which was addressed to Stephen Strange
prior to the fight in Nightmare's realm, but now reads Stephen Sanders.
Strange reveals that Eternity has given him a new alias as a reward for helping to free him.

Now that triggers a wave of nostalgia in me. My very first Doctor Strange comic was DS #35 (June 1979), written by the great Roger Stern. It was a sequel to an Avengers story, which is what led me to buy it. The Doc story ended up introducing "The Man Who Knew Stephen Sanders"--and we learned more about him in the next issue. And I was hooked. I have been a Doc fan ever since. I still love the Dweller In Darkness storyline.

[matt levin]

Dweller in Darkness...yes: one of my favorite storylines, too.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Strange Tales #125 Oct 1964
"Mordo Must Not Catch Me!"
Three followers of Mordo attack Strange in his sanctum;
After dispatching them, he uses his amulet to contact his mentor,

but to no avail!; Mordo appears saying he's captured The Ancient One;

In their ectoplasmic forms, a running battle begins that takes them halfway around the world,

until Strange locates his mentor in a half-hidden jungle somewhere in Tibet.

Script by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko (co-plot), pencils by Steve Ditko, inks by George Roussos (as Geo. Bell)

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Doctor Strange #4 Oct 1974
"...Where Bound'ries... Decay"
Crossing through the portal at the center of the Orb of Agamotto, Dr. Strange finds himself in the land of the dead.
Here he is brought to the portal to Death by Famine and other beings that wish a true death.

However only Dr. Strange is able to pass through into Death's personal realm.

Fighting Death, Strange has the disadvantage until he spies the shape of Eternity in the realm.
Flying into it and merging with it, Strange uses the amalgamated power and defeats Death.

Afterwards, the spirit of the Ancient One arrives to inform Strange
that this was the first of a series of trials to undergo as a Sorcerer Supreme

and now Strange can no longer age and can only die by means of violence.
He is also gifted with the mystic Ankh of Enduring Life.

Script by Steve Englehart (co-plot, script) and Frank Brunner (co-plot),
pencils by Frank Brunner, inks by Dick Giordano and Bob Wiacek [as Crusty Bunkers]

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Strange Tales #126 Nov 1964
First appearance of Dormammu and Clea in "The Domain of the Dread Dormammu!"
The Ancient One informs Doctor Strange that the Dread Dormammu has
threatened to cross over from his Dark Dimension into that of Earth's.
The Ancient One dispatches Strange to the Dark Dimension, to send a message to Dormammu personally.

Arriving in the Dark Dimension, Doctor Strange battles many warriors and creatures sent by Dormammu to bar his passage.


A beautiful white-haired girl shows Strange the way to Dormammu's lair, and Strange warns Dormammu
that before attacking Earth's dimension or threatening the Ancient One, he must first battle Doctor Strange.

Script by Stan Lee. Art by Steve Ditko https://13thdimension.com/13-covers-...celebration-4/

[Doombot]

Who would you say are the greatest sorcerers in the Marvel Universe? Strange, Vodoo, Doom, all well known, but who else?

[Tulku]

Who would you say are the greatest sorcerers in the Marvel Universe? Strange, Vodoo, Doom, all well known, but who else?

Whoa! In the entire Universe?!?!?! That allows for all three parts of the Vishanti, Dormammu, Umar, Enitharmon the Weaver... it might be best to limit the question to greatest sorcerers on Earth!

[Doombot]

Well maybe THIS universe lol. We obviously don't know about great sorcerers on say, Badoon, so I guess I could ask about known sorcerers.

[Reviresco]

Merry Christmas, fellow Doctor Strange fans!

I hope you had one of these Christmas ornaments on your tree this year.