The Doctor Strange Readathon

[Abe]

What a gorgeous Clea, Juan678 ! Now I'm ashamed of what I'm gonna post.

It's still about the Marvel Collectors' Item Classics.

There are of course other very early Marvel stories in each issue : so the content is always worthy. They are also 64 pages sized. And very cheap ! (Each one coast me only 6 euros. I pay 1 euro for 1 dollar for the new issues, but I've got a subscription in my LCS and without it would be 1,20 euros for 1 dollar. Make the count : each page of classic story, printed in the 60's in good old four-colour style, is cheaper than a brand new ANAD one. I guess that the real "collectors" are not interested in buying re-printings. It could explain that strange phenomenon even if I still don't understand totally their reasons...)

Of course the 64 pages include also many weird old advertisings, it's not all stories. But it's not that bad IMHO. For example, we can learn that little boys AND little girls both enjoyed playing with THE SAME Sub-Marine in 1967. It's the Cold War of course and even if the text uses the word "pirate", it's the POLARIS NUCLEAR SUB !



A portal to another dimensions indeed !

I've got a question about one commercial specifically by the way. It's more related to Dr Strange and I'm sure that the people here can answer.

Do this advertising - scanned it in FF #72 (March 1967 - same year !!!)- appears also in one of the 1967 issues of Doctor Strange ?



Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention ! Isn't that "cool", "dudes" ?

It would be so logical... or illogical - I don't know which word is the best in this strange era - to see it also in a Dr Strange book... The sales of the FF certainly explain the choice of the publication, the readers had grown up too - and Kirby was totally psychedelic at that time. But the influence of Ditko's works on Doctor Strange probably helped to make the link between two areas of the 60's pop-culture, mixing the publics. The Sanctum Sanctorum of the Sorcerer Supreme is set in Greenwich Village after all.

I hope that it's not derailing the thread too much btw. Forgive me for posting that Reviresco ! But it's also about the cultural context. And as you see I'm preparing myself to follow the Readathon : 3 more stories that I can read. I hope you don't mind. And that you understand .

[Darthkostis]

Clea art by Ed Tadeo

Damn, that's a beautiful Clea. But it's evident that she needs a new costume, and fast. Don't get me wrong, sexy costumes have a place in comics (Herc's half naked or totally naked most of the time), but this one looks like, well....you get the idea. Not that I'm complaining...

PS: That should probably go in the Appreciation thread as well.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

A Doctor Strange Omnibus is on the way. The first volume will be all Lee/Ditko and the subsequent volumes will continue from there.

http://www.collectededitions.com/mar...ht_111215.html

That is awesome!

[Abe]

Two new Ditko's stories to be prepared for the Readathon.

"Witchcraft In The Wax Museum !" from Strange Tales 121 - but in Marvel Collectors' Classic Item 12, with what seems to be a few pages of Ditko's Hulk too... (cover in the Doom appreciation thread if anyone interested)

And the absolute highlight of my childhood : "The Pincers of Power !"... in Strange Tales 140 - not a reprinting this time !

Kinda related too in a way : Shade the Changing Man 7 & 8... Steve Ditko using once again his old tricks to picture unthinkable dimensions, but for DC and in 1978. I will probably scan some pages when it could be pertinent...

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

I'm most familiar with Sorcerer Supreme, having read the full series 3-4 times now. That was "my" Doc, as it was the book I read growing up.

That said, I've jumped around through the various eras and read a little bit of everything. My second favorite run is probably Stern's early 80's material.

I envy you

[Abe]

Two more Ditko's stories, this time in Marvel's Greatest Comics (the name of the Marvel Collector's Item Classics changes when the magic number 23 is reached).

"Face-to-Face at Last With Baron Mordo!". From Strange Tales 132 (May 1965) - in Marvel's Greatest Comics 23 (October 1969).
"When Meet The Mystic Minds!". From Strange Tales 137 (October 1965) - in Marvel's Greatest Comics 26 (April 1970).

And that's cool, dudes !

[Abe]

I wanted to add these two panels, which made me laugh, cause I'm just silly. I didn't notice it immediately, because of the page break and fighting, but in the first one, the Master is saying 'A' repeatedly. I was like, WTF? And of course, the second panel, the Master manges to get Strange's attention with another letter, 'AM'!

It's like he's playing hangman. ;p

A.. A.. A.. A.. A..

....AM... AMM...

...I... AM.... IN LOVE WITH THESE PANELS !!!

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

It's a really nice and pertinent rating system, indeed ! I love it ! (But that activity reminds me the work too much with his dilemmas... How much for this student's work ?.. How will he take this rating?.. Do my ranking need to have a meaning for this very moment, or according to the next and previous ones in the long term?... And what criteria for the scale ?... In France it's from 0 to 20 btw... And I HATE doing that...)

For this issue, because it's the first, that the story is told in only 5 pages - but the character and world building are extraordinary, like in the "Tales" of the Atlas Era -, because the art is incredible, already surrealist yet in some details - the gloves ! - but stylized in a very Ditkoesque classic AND innovative way, and totally designed to serve the story-telling also, my ranking would be very very very high ! A maximum is possible - but then a different scale could be used for the next issues.

Ditko literally opens the reader's Eye in these few pages. He also opens a full new range of possibilities for his art too. Not to forget the very importance he had in the idea of the series. If what I've read elsewhere is true - and please, you erudite wizards of this thread, correct me if I'm mistaking - he's the one who has to be credited for the character more than Stan.

I'm sure this is well known here and I know it's easy to find elsewhere, but what follows could be useful for a thread promising to be "A Companion To The Doctor Strange Omnibus", so I quote here (from wikipedia) the 2008 Ditko's letter :

"On my own, I brought in to Lee a five-page, penciled story with a page/panel script of my idea of a new, different kind of character for variety in Marvel Comics. My character wound up being named Dr. Strange because he would appear in Strange Tales."

And the Stan Lee's letter to Jerry Bails of January 9, 1963

"Well, we have a new character in the works for Strange Tales (just a 5-page filler named Dr. Strange) Steve Ditko is gonna draw him. It has sort of a black magic theme. The first story is nothing great, but perhaps we can make something of him-- 'twas Steve's idea and I figgered we'd give it a chance, although again, we had to rush the first one too much. Little sidelight: Originally decided to call him Mr. Strange, but thought the "Mr." bit too similar to Mr. Fantastic -- now, however, I remember we had a villain called Dr. Strange just recently in one of our mags, hope it won't be too confusing!"

The full reproduction can be seen in this page of a site that seems to me absolutely wonderful :

http://themarvelageofcomics.tumblr.c...o-super-fan-dr

I hope I'm not an ugly pirate if I add the images too here...





Now I will need to read that letter in its entirety - it seems to be really interesting.

I'm also realizing that this letter is from January 1963, at a time where the character created in Amazing Fantasy #15 (dated of Aug. 1962) has the issue of his first own series surely already done and possibly published yet : Amazing Spider Man #1 is dated of March 1963 - the same date than the final issue of The Incredible Hulk #6, March 1963 which Ditko drew too.

Looking through the future, Ditko's run on ASM will end in the issue #38 dated of July 1966, same date than the last issue of his run on Dr Strange. But it's interesting to notice that it's also the conclusion of the story featuring Eternity - appearing in the issue of November 1965 : a time when Ditko was already working to Charlton, on his first cosmic character created in 1960. I mean Captain Atom - and need to quote the name of another doctor here, Doctor Manhattan of course : the first issue of his new run on this character is dated of December 1965.

Ditko was full of "questions" at the time. Look at the cover of ASM #31 (Dec 1965) :



(The one of ASM #30 (Nov 1965) is worth checking too, did he feel also like in "The claws of the Cat" ?)

Sorry for so many dates, but these facts (publishing dates are not that much reliable, and I hope also that I was accurate reporting them...) gave me an interesting context to fully appreciate the Ditko's work on the incredible character of the Sorcerer Supreme, at the light of his other creations, with or without Stan. Of course the words of Stan are incredible as always - he's such an extraordinary author !

I can't wait for the next review !

(I've also just understood why the French Marvel comics books of my childhood were all called "Strange" - with a French accent please ! - they collected several series and the first one was called "Strange" (1970, Xmen, Iron Man, Daredevil, Silver Surfer), it was simply because of Strange Tales...)

THANK YOU Abe for this absolutely wonderful post. I COULDN'T STOP READING THE LETTERS!

[Reviresco]

I haven't forgotten this project. I'm just behind and busy with the holidays.

A.. A.. A.. A.. A..



....AM... AMM...





...I... AM.... IN LOVE WITH THESE PANELS !!!

Good thing Strange is quick on the word games!

I'm glad to see someone else shares my sense of humor.

[Eisenhorn]

Nice to see some people get into Doctor Strange. It's the one comic book I never really collected -- but have read pretty much everything and can read them again anytime -- because my dad is a huge Doctor Strange fan and he has everything, including all the original Strange Tales issues so I read those growing up. My personal favorite runs are the Stern/Paul Smith runs, the Gillis/Warner/Shoemaker et al. run (Urthona, Doc becomes an Elder God after waxing Shuma Gorath, etc.) and all the Engelhart/Frank Brunner stuff (Brunner's the definitive Doc artist for me -- he is one of the forgotten masters of comic book art -- everyone remembers Neal Adams very fondly but Brunner's best work was just as good as Adams' best work).

The best single story was the Doc Strange-Doc Doom graphic novel, Triumph & Torment, where they tried to free Doom's mother from Mephisto. The art was stellar (a younger Mike Mignola -- this, to me, felt like the inspiration for what would become Hellboy -- before that, Marvel seemed to try to fit him into the "Marvel House" style) and the story hit all the right beats -- even reading it today, it doesn't feel dated. I also have fond memories of the Death of Dracula storyline (the best bit was that Dracula was terrified of Thor).

As I got older, I really started to love Ditko's art -- it was very sophisticated and no one's really replicated his style all that well until Marcos Martin (who did the Oath with BKV).

[Reviresco]

Nice to see some people get into Doctor Strange. It's the one comic book I never really collected -- but have read pretty much everything and can read them again anytime -- because my dad is a huge Doctor Strange fan and he has everything, including all the original Strange Tales issues so I read those growing up. My personal favorite runs are the Stern/Paul Smith runs, the Gillis/Warner/Shoemaker et al. run (Urthona, Doc becomes an Elder God after waxing Shuma Gorath, etc.) and all the Engelhart/Frank Brunner stuff (Brunner's the definitive Doc artist for me -- he is one of the forgotten masters of comic book art -- everyone remembers Neal Adams very fondly but Brunner's best work was just as good as Adams' best work).

The best single story was the Doc Strange-Doc Doom graphic novel, Triumph & Torment, where they tried to free Doom's mother from Mephisto. The art was stellar (a younger Mike Mignola -- this, to me, felt like the inspiration for what would become Hellboy -- before that, Marvel seemed to try to fit him into the "Marvel House" style) and the story hit all the right beats -- even reading it today, it doesn't feel dated. I also have fond memories of the Death of Dracula storyline (the best bit was that Dracula was terrified of Thor).

As I got older, I really started to love Ditko's art -- it was very sophisticated and no one's really replicated his style all that well until Marcos Martin (who did the Oath with BKV).

Those are indeed some great runs! Feel free to chime in or review your favorites. I loved Marvel's ToD, too!

I'm not sure we'll get to The Oath, but I'm definitely hoping to get to Triumph and Torment -- one of my favs. And we'll be to the Englehart Brunner fairly quickly, I think ... unless I get banned again. ;p

[Reviresco]

Two more Ditko's stories, this time in Marvel's Greatest Comics (the name of the Marvel Collector's Item Classics changes when the magic number 23 is reached).

"Face-to-Face at Last With Baron Mordo!". From Strange Tales 132 (May 1965) - in Marvel's Greatest Comics 23 (October 1969).
"When Meet The Mystic Minds!". From Strange Tales 137 (October 1965) - in Marvel's Greatest Comics 26 (April 1970).

And that's cool, dudes !

More great finds! I read a lot of FF in Marvel's Greatest Comics.

Now I need to hurry up and get there!

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Too much blah blah means of course that a beautiful image is needed for the pleasure of the eyes of the reader. So :



I know I've already posted it elsewhere, but I think that nobody will complain !

(It's Reviresco during his preparation for his next posts, btw...)

Absolutely right about that! Thanks for the image Abe!

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

I posted this in the appreciation thread a long time ago, but another resource for Doc info and a companion for reading the Doc stories is this site: http://www.luckymojo.com/vishanti.html

The Lesser Book of the Vishanti compiled by catherine yronwode

Cat was a frequent contributor to the Doc letters pages in the 70s (maybe starting in the late 60s) and to other books (she also appeared quite frequently in the Master of Kung Fu letters columns) and went on to a career in comics as an editor for several indy companies, most prominently at Eclipse , in the 80s.

She is also quite knowledgeable in occult lore which informs her work on Doc's mystical world.

-M

Thanks a lot for making me aware of Catherine Yronwode. I LOVE the following;

"Although the Lesser Book of the Vishanti remained only partially published, it was pretty well known and respected in fandom by that time, and i was immensely gratified when one after another, various Marvel scripters and editors who worked on the Dr. Strange series asked for copies of the portions that were available."

Even more gratifying was the fact that the fictive speculations i had made about the personae of the Vishanti were eventually used to create "canonical" stories that became part of the Marvel Universe. Specifically, my fannish suggestion that the Vishanti were actually Agamotto, Hoggoth, and Oshtur, first published in 1979, was eventually made part of the official Marvel mythos in the 1980s, by the scripter Peter Gillis.

Catherine Yronwode is, to me, an unsung HERO!!!
This lady is to be credited for whatever Marvel Studios uses for the Dr. Strange movie that she contributed! To me, Catherine Yronwode is also to be invited as an honorary guest for the premiere of the Dr. Strange movie in the USA come November 4 2016!

[Reviresco]

Oh God. I'm so behind on things. I haven't forgotten this thread! I'll try to get back on it this week.