Stephen Strange: Doctor Strange Appreciation 2021

[Oberon]

I liked the runes, too. Doesn't matter that it was accurate to real world magical traditions. It just needed to make Marvel magic sense within the context of that story.

That is what I got it out of too. This balances with Wanda being tutored by Agatha, waaaay back in Avengers whatever (early '70s).
There's always going to be variances in magic/system in comics or other sci fi/fantasy. But one thing seems true: access (craft, powered-objects, etc) is important, but available energy is the most important.

[Oberon]

That is fantastic.
I was mostly a reader of Strange in the '70s and '80s, occasional as his series were. The classic one. Strange Tales. Victoria Bentley (who got a bum fate in my opinion).

So I'm not aware of this major addition to his canon. Over many years I began reading less, and I most likely just didn't notice these series or stories.
But I always knew his character pretty much as stated. This adds so much texture and sadness to his story.
And you didn't/hardly mention his surgeon/playboy fate, which is the most of what I knew.

Thanks for putting that out there.

[Daedra]

I think that one of the most important insights into Stephen Strange's personality appears in Sorcerer Supreme #45. IMO, it's the key to understanding why Strange is so aloof, and why he pushes people away emotionally, even those closest to him like Clea or Wong. Strange tells himself that his duty requires him to remain alone and emotionally distant from everyone. While it's true that people near him can become targets of malign forces, Strange was fundamentally an emotionally traumatized and scarred person long before he became Sorcerer Supreme. He witnessed his younger sister's death by drowning when he was 19. He still blames himself for not saving her. Then when he was a medical intern, his mother died. Once again, Strange was not able to save someone that he loved. His mother's last words to him was for him to take care of his younger brother Victor. Instead, traumatized by loss and guilt, Strange buried himself in his work and pursued a life of empty, emotionally distant pleasures. When his brother Victor left him a voicemail begging him to come home because their father was dying, Strange couldn't face seeing another loved one die. He couldn't even bring himself to call his brother back for two days, but by then it was too late. His brother flew to New York to confront him about it and then stormed out of Strange's apartment. Victor was so furious that he wasn't watching what he was doing and he walked right into the path of a car that struck and killed him. Strange still carries all this guilt and loss locked up inside of himself. He feels like he is responsible for their deaths, so it's no wonder that he won't allow himself to ever fully open up to someone else emotionally. Combine all of this trauma and guilt with the fact that he knows that dark magical beings target him and the people around him, and it's no wonder why he treated Clea the way that he did, overly protective on the one hand, while pushing her away emotionally on the other hand. It's no wonder why he can't maintain a relationship with anyone else, either. This man has issues. I'd read once that Scott Derrickson had planned to include a flashback scene about the death of Strange's sister Donna as a way to explain why Strange turned himself into such a standoffish jerk, but the scene was cut. That's a pity, IMO. Maybe Marvel will find a way to include this backstory into the MCU version of Strange because it explains so much about him. Maybe it would help to remind the Marvel comics and film writers that Strange isn't just 'Tony Stark lite'.

somehow I'm unable to see the images that you post Clea, all I see is a grey prohibition sign

[Hypestyle]

I hope that chaos magic is clarified in the next Dr. Strange film. It was disappointed in the "Avengers Disassembled" story by Bendis where "there is no such thing" was declared by Strange..

[Clea]

somehow I'm unable to see the images that you post Clea, all I see is a grey prohibition sign

Weird! What about this one?

[Daedra]

Weird! What about this one?

Yep this one I can see

[DigiCom]

I hope that chaos magic is clarified in the next Dr. Strange film. It was disappointed in the "Avengers Disassembled" story by Bendis where "there is no such thing" was declared by Strange..

That's already been retconned, by Dan Slott of all people (in Mighty Avengers #23

[Eto]

Okay so now that I've read the Oath up until Waid's run (including Surgeon Supreme)

It's time to go back in time, waay back in time.
Strange Tales #110 here we go.

[Clea]

Okay so now that I've read the Oath up until Waid's run (including Surgeon Supreme)

It's time to go back in time, waay back in time.
Strange Tales #110 here we go.

Excellent! Do you plan to read the entire run of all of Strange's books from the start?

[MaximoffTrash]

That's already been retconned, by Dan Slott of all people (in Mighty Avengers #23

Yeah, and then Bendis randomly associate Shou-Lou, Phoenix Force and Chaos Magic together for no fucking reason.
Bendis is just a lore butcher.

[MaximoffTrash]

I hope that chaos magic is clarified in the next Dr. Strange film. It was disappointed in the "Avengers Disassembled" story by Bendis where "there is no such thing" was declared by Strange..

It's more like Bendis was using Stephen as an authority figure to retcon stuff, this kind of stuff happen a lot.

[gurkle]

Bendis had Strange refer to Wanda's powers as "this chaos magic of hers" in an issue of New Avengers, like two years after Avengers Disassembled. I don't think he really cared about the issue much.

In the context of Avengers Disassembled, having Strange say "there is no such thing as chaos magic" was just supposed to be a revelation that Wanda's conversation with Agatha Harkness in Busiek's run -- where Agatha told Wanda that her powers were chaos magic -- never actually took place, because Agatha was dead all along, and Wanda was just reanimating her or imagining her. This... did not really come across in the story.

Basically Bendis read the earlier story hastily, or Tom Brevoort explained it to him hastily, and the result was confused. It's all kind of moot though.

[Clea]

Speaking of Wanda, here's a page from Master of the Mystic Arts #60, 1974 Strange seeks to obtain the Darkhold from Wanda. She tells Strange that just coming in contact with the Darkhold caused her to become possessed by Chthon. She warns him that it would be dangerous even for Strange himself to come in contact with it. I wonder if Marvel is going to incorporate the 'Wanda gets possessed by Chthon via the Darkhold' storyline in the next film.

[GenericUsername]

Speaking of Wanda, here's a page from Master of the Mystic Arts #60, 1974 Strange seeks to obtain the Darkhold from Wanda. She tells Strange that just coming in contact with the Darkhold caused her to become possessed by Chthon. She warns him that it would be dangerous even for Strange himself to come in contact with it. I wonder if Marvel is going to incorporate the 'Wanda gets possessed by Chthon via the Darkhold' storyline in the next film.

Could be, but I'm not sure if this Darkhold works the same. Since it seems like Agatha read from it but was not possessed by him. And I also have wondered if reading tomes in this universe in astral form protects the reader.

[Lee Stone]

Heh.

Now I can't see Clea's images.