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Essential Doctor Strange #1
Essential Doctor Strange, Vol. 1
Stephen Strange is Doctor Strange. But he is no doctor, and least not the kind that would initially come to mind. He is the Master of the Mystic Arts, a sorcerer supreme, a white knight who wields black magic against blacker villains still. Strange is mankind's only hope against the dark otherworldly forces that conspire to destroy the conscious world - forces such as Baron Mordo, the Dread Dormammu, Nightmare, Aggamon, The House of Shadows, Loki, the Mindless Ones and more. Collected here in glorious black and white is the run of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko's amazing run of Strange Tales #110, 111, & 114-168 - Strange's first and greatest adventures.
608 pages, Paperback
First published May 10, 1968
16 people are currently reading
536 people want to read
About the author
Stan Lee
7,574 books2,323 followersStan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber) was an American writer, editor, creator of comic book superheroes, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics.
With several artist co-creators, most notably Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, he co-created Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Thor as a superhero, the X-Men, Iron Man, the Hulk, Daredevil, the Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Scarlet Witch, The Inhumans, and many other characters, introducing complex, naturalistic characters and a thoroughly shared universe into superhero comic books. He subsequently led the expansion of Marvel Comics from a small division of a publishing house to a large multimedia corporation.
With several artist co-creators, most notably Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, he co-created Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Thor as a superhero, the X-Men, Iron Man, the Hulk, Daredevil, the Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Scarlet Witch, The Inhumans, and many other characters, introducing complex, naturalistic characters and a thoroughly shared universe into superhero comic books. He subsequently led the expansion of Marvel Comics from a small division of a publishing house to a large multimedia corporation.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
June 14, 2022
This isn't the sort of volume you should read in one sitting. Yes, Stan Lee's creativity and imagination are legendary, but his gifts are more as a creator/plotter than a writer. Decades later, the stories feel slow, verbose, and repetitive. Still, these are the tales that established Strange and on that basis are worth reading, at least some of the key issues. Prepare, however, to be underwhelmed.
December 28, 2014
I am going to commit the comic book equivalent of sacrilege and admit that I find Stan Lee almost unreadable. No one needs to be reminded of all the characters Lee co-created and the massive impact they have had on popular culture. Having acknowledged that, I need to point out that Lee wrote some of the clunkiest dialogue in comics.
Here is an example from Doctor Strange's enemy the Dread Dormammu. "When last we fought, I pledged my word to attack Dr. Strange no more!! But I am not so doing! It is Mordo who attacks him -- Mordo, using the power of Dormammu! The power that I give him! Then, once Strange is destroyed, there will be none remaining who can stop my conquest of Earth, the home of the human race!"
In Stan Lee's defense, this was written to be read in a serialized format and any given issue might be some reader's first introduction to the ongoing story. There must be a less intrusive way to catch new readers up than having characters shout their names and motivations at the reader. I suspect even an audience of eight year old boys would know that Earth is the home of the human race, as opposed to Humanland or something.
The art of Steve Ditko is a bit of an acquired taste, but it is amazing in its detail, particularly in the detail he puts into the faces of even minor characters. His extra-dimensional backgrounds are as abstract as anything by Dali or Escher. He sticks to rigidly square page layouts with the formality of a haiku poet, and like a poet he reveals that formal structure can be creatively liberating.
I am deducting one star for Lee's dialogue and another star for his formulaic repetitive plots. That leaves 3 stars for Ditko's art, and for that of his successor on the book Marie Severin and Dan Adkins.
Here is an example from Doctor Strange's enemy the Dread Dormammu. "When last we fought, I pledged my word to attack Dr. Strange no more!! But I am not so doing! It is Mordo who attacks him -- Mordo, using the power of Dormammu! The power that I give him! Then, once Strange is destroyed, there will be none remaining who can stop my conquest of Earth, the home of the human race!"
In Stan Lee's defense, this was written to be read in a serialized format and any given issue might be some reader's first introduction to the ongoing story. There must be a less intrusive way to catch new readers up than having characters shout their names and motivations at the reader. I suspect even an audience of eight year old boys would know that Earth is the home of the human race, as opposed to Humanland or something.
The art of Steve Ditko is a bit of an acquired taste, but it is amazing in its detail, particularly in the detail he puts into the faces of even minor characters. His extra-dimensional backgrounds are as abstract as anything by Dali or Escher. He sticks to rigidly square page layouts with the formality of a haiku poet, and like a poet he reveals that formal structure can be creatively liberating.
I am deducting one star for Lee's dialogue and another star for his formulaic repetitive plots. That leaves 3 stars for Ditko's art, and for that of his successor on the book Marie Severin and Dan Adkins.
February 19, 2024
The artwork is wonderful and the stories (while corny at times) have a certain charm. It’s cool to read Dr. Strange from his beginning and see the character take form (as well as the villains).
Only major drawback: it’s in black and white. The colors add a lot of what I enjoy about comics (especially Dr. Strange). Don’t know why they published in B&W besides to save a few bucks.
Only major drawback: it’s in black and white. The colors add a lot of what I enjoy about comics (especially Dr. Strange). Don’t know why they published in B&W besides to save a few bucks.
June 22, 2020
One of this year’s big Hollywood films had humble beginnings. Doctor Strange, portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch in the soon to be released movie, first appeared in Strange Tales # 110, July 1963. ‘Strange Tales’ was a comic book anthology of short Science Fiction and fantasy stories and the character was almost certainly named to fit in with the title of the mag. Stan Lee is not renowned for giving creator credit to other people but he admitted in a letter at the time that the character was mostly Steve Ditko’s idea. Ditko is the artist for just over half of this volume and it’s among his best work.
The first five-page story ‘Doctor Strange, Master Of Black Magic’ has a man consulting our hero at his sanctum in Greenwich Village, New York because his dreams are haunted by a dark figure in chains staring at him. That night, Doctor Strange enters his dreams and, while in the Dimension of Dream, is attacked by Nightmare, an ‘ancient foe’. He gets in trouble but is saved by his magic amulet and his mentor, the Ancient One, setting something of a pattern. The ‘Black Magic’ part of the title was soon dropped because it wouldn’t sit well with religious America and Doc became a ‘Master Of The Mystic Arts’.
In Strange Tales # 111, Doc fights Baron Mordo, a disciple of the Ancient One gone bad. Mordo is a pretty low-grade villain but keeps coming back in these early years. He and Mordo duke it out in spirit image form which became ethereal for a few issues before finally settling in as ectoplasmic form in future issues. As a child, I spent some time trying to separate my ectoplasmic form from my physical body but never succeeded. I think it comes with age. After a two-issue gap, the Doctor returns again in Strange Tales # 114. Mordo is the villain again but this story introduces Victoria Bentley, an English lady with dormant mystical talent who will appear in many future issues.
Finally, in Strange Tales # 115, we learn the origin of Doctor Strange. He was a brilliant but arrogant surgeon who cared not a jot for his fellow man. A traffic accident damaged the nerves in his hands and his career was finished. He became a bum but, having heard whispers of the Ancient One in far off Tibet, a man of power who might cure him, goes to Tibet. How a bum gets from America to Tibet is not examined but, on arrival, he is allowed to stay and then recruited as a disciple when he alerts the Ancient One to Mordo’s evil plotting. A good eight-page story and the name of the Dread Dormammu is invoked for the first time in a spell. There’s a lot more of him later.
Possibly, because of the tight page counts, Ditko uses a nine-panel grid for many of the early yarns. I love Ditko’s work in small panels. As the page count expanded to ten, he went more for six or seven panels per page, still first-rate art. Ditko generally inked himself in those days and turned in a very complete product. When Strange enters other dimensions, he managed to create unique landscapes of floating islands and odd shapes connected by thin ribbons of road.
I won’t do an issue-by-issue guide but I did note, as I went along, the first use of those terms that were to build up a solid background for the strip. I once saw an interview with Stan Lee in which he explained that for drama he just made up a load of weird names, usually alliterative because it sounded good. In Strange Tales # 116, we first hear of the Book of the Vishanti, the All-Seeing Agamotto and the Hosts of Hoggoth, soon to become ‘Hoary Hosts’. In Strange Tales # 124, the Seven Rings of Raggadorr come up and in # 125, Oshtur gets his first mention and Mordo is imprisoned in the Crimson Circle of Cyttorak, which later became bands. In issue #126, someone mentions the Shades of the Seraphim. I never knew angels wore sunglasses. Strange Tales # 144 is the first invocation of the Shield of the Seraphim and of the Curse of Watoomb, who also has a wand. These are all fantasy creations and, apart from the aforementioned Seraphim, the strip avoids Christian theology such as demons, Heaven, Hell, God-like and the plague. This was to change over time.
Like Kirby, Ditko said in future years that he plotted all his stories and sent in the pages and had no contact with Lee. Well, whoever did it, the strip really took off after Strange Tales # 126, ‘The Domain Of The Dread Dormammu!’ This led off a long cycle of stories which introduced Clea, the Doctor’s future love interest, and ultimately led to a great battle between Dormammu and the cosmic entity known as Eternity. On that high note, in Strange Tales # 146, Ditko left Marvel to pursue his own eccentric interests. He was never to produce such great work again as this on ‘Doctor Strange’ and that on ‘Amazing Spider-Man’. There’s much controversy about Lee’s work as a writer but there’s no doubt that, as an editor, he really got the best from his pool of talent.
It might have been satisfying for ‘stalwart’ Steve Ditko if his characters had slumped mightily in sales and success following his departure. Unfortunately, ‘Spider-Man’ went from strength to strength with John Romita at the helm and ‘Doctor Strange’ carried on with some very strong stories. There was a bit of bumpy period at first with Dennis O’Neil scripting and Golden Age favourite Bill Everett on the art but it wasn’t terrible and included ’The Origin Of The Ancient One’ in Strange Tales # 148. Then when Stan Lee teamed up with Marie Severin, they launched into another grand epic featuring Umar the Unspeakable (Dormammu’s sister) and leading onto Zom and the Living Tribunal. This was all terrific stuff and I remember, as a kid, waiting with bated breath for the next exciting instalment.
Marie Severin has never claimed to be a plotter, so it must have been Stan. For the scripts, he wrote melodramatic dialogue that gets a bit wearisome read continuously instead of in monthly instalments. He also developed a new line in mysticism with talk of a thought that is not a thought but more than a thought or a bridge that is not a bridge but is more than a bridge or a world that is not really a world and so forth.
Finally, Doctor Strange’s endless chasing from world to world and from strange being to stranger being to save the Earth goes on a bit too long. Stan drops it and it’s wrapped up by Raymond Marais, Jim Lawrence and Dennis O’Neil with some interesting art by Dan Adkins, an accomplished illustrator. The last few stories introduce Nebulos, Lord of the Planets Perilous, an evil legless dude and Yandroth, a bad super-scientist. The overall story arc that started with Umar ends on the last page of Strange Tales # 168, which concludes this volume. There’s an announcement that the next issue features Doctor Strange in his own book so maybe they dragged it out until that could happen. Marvel got a new distribution deal at the end of the 60s and characters formerly confined to anthology mags, Iron Man, Captain America, the Sub-Mariner and the Hulk, advanced to twenty-page stories in their own magazines. In general, this was a good thing.
Despite the stories being interesting and entertaining, ‘Doctor Strange’ never became a major title. Instead, it has been frequently cancelled over the years. At the same time, as can be seen in further volumes of ‘The Essential Doctor Strange’, it has attracted some of Marvel’s best writers and artists: Roy Thomas and Steve Englehart have made notable contributions to his history. On the pencil, Gene Colan and Frank Brunner both turned in great work and there are those fabulous early stories by Ditko. Perhaps the character himself sits ill with the rest of the Marvel Universe, though he has been blended in at times, even leading a team of super-heroes, The Defenders. Unfortunately, it’s often the case in the world of comics that quality doesn’t equal sales. At least, Doctor Strange has made it to the silver screen and I’m presuming and hoping that Benedict Cumberbatch wouldn’t get involved with complete tripe, so the movie might be pretty good. We’ll see.
As to price (Geoff always asks), this cost me £11.99 back in 2009 but is certainly available for a lot more now. Hopefully, it’s also available for less.
Eamonn Murphy
This review first appeared at https://www.sfcrowsnest.info/
The first five-page story ‘Doctor Strange, Master Of Black Magic’ has a man consulting our hero at his sanctum in Greenwich Village, New York because his dreams are haunted by a dark figure in chains staring at him. That night, Doctor Strange enters his dreams and, while in the Dimension of Dream, is attacked by Nightmare, an ‘ancient foe’. He gets in trouble but is saved by his magic amulet and his mentor, the Ancient One, setting something of a pattern. The ‘Black Magic’ part of the title was soon dropped because it wouldn’t sit well with religious America and Doc became a ‘Master Of The Mystic Arts’.
In Strange Tales # 111, Doc fights Baron Mordo, a disciple of the Ancient One gone bad. Mordo is a pretty low-grade villain but keeps coming back in these early years. He and Mordo duke it out in spirit image form which became ethereal for a few issues before finally settling in as ectoplasmic form in future issues. As a child, I spent some time trying to separate my ectoplasmic form from my physical body but never succeeded. I think it comes with age. After a two-issue gap, the Doctor returns again in Strange Tales # 114. Mordo is the villain again but this story introduces Victoria Bentley, an English lady with dormant mystical talent who will appear in many future issues.
Finally, in Strange Tales # 115, we learn the origin of Doctor Strange. He was a brilliant but arrogant surgeon who cared not a jot for his fellow man. A traffic accident damaged the nerves in his hands and his career was finished. He became a bum but, having heard whispers of the Ancient One in far off Tibet, a man of power who might cure him, goes to Tibet. How a bum gets from America to Tibet is not examined but, on arrival, he is allowed to stay and then recruited as a disciple when he alerts the Ancient One to Mordo’s evil plotting. A good eight-page story and the name of the Dread Dormammu is invoked for the first time in a spell. There’s a lot more of him later.
Possibly, because of the tight page counts, Ditko uses a nine-panel grid for many of the early yarns. I love Ditko’s work in small panels. As the page count expanded to ten, he went more for six or seven panels per page, still first-rate art. Ditko generally inked himself in those days and turned in a very complete product. When Strange enters other dimensions, he managed to create unique landscapes of floating islands and odd shapes connected by thin ribbons of road.
I won’t do an issue-by-issue guide but I did note, as I went along, the first use of those terms that were to build up a solid background for the strip. I once saw an interview with Stan Lee in which he explained that for drama he just made up a load of weird names, usually alliterative because it sounded good. In Strange Tales # 116, we first hear of the Book of the Vishanti, the All-Seeing Agamotto and the Hosts of Hoggoth, soon to become ‘Hoary Hosts’. In Strange Tales # 124, the Seven Rings of Raggadorr come up and in # 125, Oshtur gets his first mention and Mordo is imprisoned in the Crimson Circle of Cyttorak, which later became bands. In issue #126, someone mentions the Shades of the Seraphim. I never knew angels wore sunglasses. Strange Tales # 144 is the first invocation of the Shield of the Seraphim and of the Curse of Watoomb, who also has a wand. These are all fantasy creations and, apart from the aforementioned Seraphim, the strip avoids Christian theology such as demons, Heaven, Hell, God-like and the plague. This was to change over time.
Like Kirby, Ditko said in future years that he plotted all his stories and sent in the pages and had no contact with Lee. Well, whoever did it, the strip really took off after Strange Tales # 126, ‘The Domain Of The Dread Dormammu!’ This led off a long cycle of stories which introduced Clea, the Doctor’s future love interest, and ultimately led to a great battle between Dormammu and the cosmic entity known as Eternity. On that high note, in Strange Tales # 146, Ditko left Marvel to pursue his own eccentric interests. He was never to produce such great work again as this on ‘Doctor Strange’ and that on ‘Amazing Spider-Man’. There’s much controversy about Lee’s work as a writer but there’s no doubt that, as an editor, he really got the best from his pool of talent.
It might have been satisfying for ‘stalwart’ Steve Ditko if his characters had slumped mightily in sales and success following his departure. Unfortunately, ‘Spider-Man’ went from strength to strength with John Romita at the helm and ‘Doctor Strange’ carried on with some very strong stories. There was a bit of bumpy period at first with Dennis O’Neil scripting and Golden Age favourite Bill Everett on the art but it wasn’t terrible and included ’The Origin Of The Ancient One’ in Strange Tales # 148. Then when Stan Lee teamed up with Marie Severin, they launched into another grand epic featuring Umar the Unspeakable (Dormammu’s sister) and leading onto Zom and the Living Tribunal. This was all terrific stuff and I remember, as a kid, waiting with bated breath for the next exciting instalment.
Marie Severin has never claimed to be a plotter, so it must have been Stan. For the scripts, he wrote melodramatic dialogue that gets a bit wearisome read continuously instead of in monthly instalments. He also developed a new line in mysticism with talk of a thought that is not a thought but more than a thought or a bridge that is not a bridge but is more than a bridge or a world that is not really a world and so forth.
Finally, Doctor Strange’s endless chasing from world to world and from strange being to stranger being to save the Earth goes on a bit too long. Stan drops it and it’s wrapped up by Raymond Marais, Jim Lawrence and Dennis O’Neil with some interesting art by Dan Adkins, an accomplished illustrator. The last few stories introduce Nebulos, Lord of the Planets Perilous, an evil legless dude and Yandroth, a bad super-scientist. The overall story arc that started with Umar ends on the last page of Strange Tales # 168, which concludes this volume. There’s an announcement that the next issue features Doctor Strange in his own book so maybe they dragged it out until that could happen. Marvel got a new distribution deal at the end of the 60s and characters formerly confined to anthology mags, Iron Man, Captain America, the Sub-Mariner and the Hulk, advanced to twenty-page stories in their own magazines. In general, this was a good thing.
Despite the stories being interesting and entertaining, ‘Doctor Strange’ never became a major title. Instead, it has been frequently cancelled over the years. At the same time, as can be seen in further volumes of ‘The Essential Doctor Strange’, it has attracted some of Marvel’s best writers and artists: Roy Thomas and Steve Englehart have made notable contributions to his history. On the pencil, Gene Colan and Frank Brunner both turned in great work and there are those fabulous early stories by Ditko. Perhaps the character himself sits ill with the rest of the Marvel Universe, though he has been blended in at times, even leading a team of super-heroes, The Defenders. Unfortunately, it’s often the case in the world of comics that quality doesn’t equal sales. At least, Doctor Strange has made it to the silver screen and I’m presuming and hoping that Benedict Cumberbatch wouldn’t get involved with complete tripe, so the movie might be pretty good. We’ll see.
As to price (Geoff always asks), this cost me £11.99 back in 2009 but is certainly available for a lot more now. Hopefully, it’s also available for less.
Eamonn Murphy
This review first appeared at https://www.sfcrowsnest.info/
October 14, 2023
Lee and Ditko’s run in Dr Strange is amazing, he’s running full steam stylistically and the stories themselves are tight and entertaining. A whole cosmic mythology is born in 8 page increments, issue after issue, and the artwork just keeps getting better. Ditko pumps out pages that will stick in my head for a long time. I’m glad he got to create a conclusion for his run, because right afterwards things start going downhill. Severin and Adkins aren’t bad, I enjoy their art, but they can’t really match Ditko’s inventions of style and form. It also becomes clear that Ditko was acting as a rudder, this series starts flailing wildly in the wrong directions. Dormammu has a sister who’s basically Dormammu 2, there’s a generic mad scientist villain, Dr Strange is short on cash? This stuff is fluff, getting in the way of a genuinely cool character. But that original run, god damn is that amazing.
April 24, 2016
This b/w volume collects Strange Tales # 110–111 and 114–168, and includes the full original Stan Lee and Steve Ditko run (plus a lot more), introducing not only Marvel's very own Master of the Mystic Arts, his teacher the Ancient One and faithful servant Wong, but also a host of enemies that have been important to the character ever since; including the Nightmare, Baron Mordo and Dread Dormammu; not to mention entities such as Eternity and the Living Tribunal which has become essential in Marvel's cosmology.
These early adventures are a fun read, and in particular the Ditko drawn issues (up until # 146) are absolutely stunning visually speaking.
Warmly recommended for anyone interested in classic Marvel, comics history, Ditko, or simply some well-told tales involving a Master of the Mystic Arts.
These early adventures are a fun read, and in particular the Ditko drawn issues (up until # 146) are absolutely stunning visually speaking.
Warmly recommended for anyone interested in classic Marvel, comics history, Ditko, or simply some well-told tales involving a Master of the Mystic Arts.
November 6, 2008
Dr. Strange was what i would call spectacular, especially for the mid 60s, until Stan Lee stopped writing it. The twelve-issue arc featuring the team-up of Baron Mordo and Dormammu was a particular stand out. As soon as Roy Thomas and Dennis O'Neil got their hands on it, it went straight to shit and even the return of Stan Lee didn't help. However, Denny O'Neil's second shot at Dr. Strange was much more pleasant and the volume ends on a high note.
April 20, 2023
I love how crazy these comics get, but they're honestly not that good. They're way, way too wordy, with most of the words being completely superfluous. Some of the art is really good. Some of it is kinda blah. The monster designs and villain concepts are great. Like a lot of comics of the era, I'd love to see elements of these redone by better writers.
December 12, 2010
Kinda disappointed, for some reason I thought the story should be as compelling as something written recently like Kick Ass. Visually though, it was amazing, especially the Ditko issues.
August 14, 2019
For a fan of horror comics, I am considered a bit of an outsider. I have no problem with ghost stories and tales of the macabre- or monsters. But when you get into witchcraft, demons and spells, I tend to shy away. That's one reason that you don't see a lot of Doctor Strange or Hellblazer on this blog.
So why am I reading Doctor Strange now? The answer is easy with just 2 words:
Benedict Cumberbatch!
I love this actor. I adore him in Sherlock. I thought he was perfect in The Hobbit trilogy as the dragon Smaug. Heck, I could watch him read the phone book.
The British actor's portrayal of the Sorcerer Supreme has made Doctor Strange one of my top 3 favorite Marvel movies of all-time. And it's piqued my interest in reading up on the earliest exploits of Stephen Strange.
It also greatly helps that the majority of the stories written and illustrated in this book are by some of my all-time favs as well- Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Together, they wove an intricate foundation of magic and wonder into the Marvel universe. and I loved every panel of it!
From legendary villains such as Dormammu and Baron Mordo to lesser known baddies such as random street thugs, if someone was misusing the mystic arts, Doctor Strange was there to restore order.
As with all good things, both Stan Lee and Ditko would eventually depart the series. But a bunch of legends in their own right took over the mantle as creators with varying degrees of success. Roy Thomas was a Stan the Man clone; whereas Denny O'Neil showed little glimpses of the that eerie supernatural touch that he'd later bring to DC in the pages of Batman. I was a bit disappointed with former EC crew member Marie Severin's artwork. It was too static. But I loved the art deco touch of the 1930s brought about with the pen strokes of Bill Everett (The Sub-Mariner). It's literally unsung brilliance in the annals of great Doctor Strange talent.
Like a lot of comics from this era, I am now hooked. I really want to get my hands on volume 2 as it has issues 3-14 of the very expensive Marvel Premiere run of Strange stories that I need to complete that collection. As a penny-pinching collector, I count reprints as part of a run because for me, it's more important to be able to read and enjoy the entire story as opposed to owning issues. And this volume collects some of the most amazingly entertaining supernatural tales ever told!
So why am I reading Doctor Strange now? The answer is easy with just 2 words:
Benedict Cumberbatch!
I love this actor. I adore him in Sherlock. I thought he was perfect in The Hobbit trilogy as the dragon Smaug. Heck, I could watch him read the phone book.
The British actor's portrayal of the Sorcerer Supreme has made Doctor Strange one of my top 3 favorite Marvel movies of all-time. And it's piqued my interest in reading up on the earliest exploits of Stephen Strange.
It also greatly helps that the majority of the stories written and illustrated in this book are by some of my all-time favs as well- Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Together, they wove an intricate foundation of magic and wonder into the Marvel universe. and I loved every panel of it!
From legendary villains such as Dormammu and Baron Mordo to lesser known baddies such as random street thugs, if someone was misusing the mystic arts, Doctor Strange was there to restore order.
As with all good things, both Stan Lee and Ditko would eventually depart the series. But a bunch of legends in their own right took over the mantle as creators with varying degrees of success. Roy Thomas was a Stan the Man clone; whereas Denny O'Neil showed little glimpses of the that eerie supernatural touch that he'd later bring to DC in the pages of Batman. I was a bit disappointed with former EC crew member Marie Severin's artwork. It was too static. But I loved the art deco touch of the 1930s brought about with the pen strokes of Bill Everett (The Sub-Mariner). It's literally unsung brilliance in the annals of great Doctor Strange talent.
Like a lot of comics from this era, I am now hooked. I really want to get my hands on volume 2 as it has issues 3-14 of the very expensive Marvel Premiere run of Strange stories that I need to complete that collection. As a penny-pinching collector, I count reprints as part of a run because for me, it's more important to be able to read and enjoy the entire story as opposed to owning issues. And this volume collects some of the most amazingly entertaining supernatural tales ever told!
February 18, 2021
Well this took a while to finish! I think once you are dealing with an omnibus like this you are automatically dealing with the weight of the collection and it almost becomes a different exercise in reviewing the thing- the form is different here to the individual issues- and at times this collection creaks with the difference of a monthly serial and a tome.
Dr. Strange definitely works as a showpiece for art and ideas, and seeing Steve Ditko and Marie Severin, amongst others just balling out and daring Stan Lee keep up (either as writer or editor) is fun to be a part of.
What is hard to deal with is the stories constantly being the most Earth Shattering End of Existence every week! These are generally 10 page episodes, and at times they are confined 10 pagers, but they quickly bucked this to become on going epics. The best one is the triple battle with Strange taking on Baron Mordo, assisted by Dormammu, who then is tangled up with another ‘over-being’, Eternity! This one goes for 10-15 issues and the scope and pacing is like a big crossover of modern days. It is also great how the story expands as it goes on. However this then dovetails into immediately more devastating threats to Strange and the Ancient One and it is just hard to keep working out if this is a bigger threat than the earlier one and how many edges of infinity there are. I guess infinite!
This is where Stan’s writing falls down for me. He is so bombastic and everything is so sudden death. But Mordo gets exiled and brought back at least three times in this book- can’t someone just stay lost!? Or tone it down and maybe Strange is not omnipotently dealing with massive threats every week, but a bit more ground down by the process and failing a bit. It would be interesting to sit with Strange a bit in the doubt- 10 pages, 2 set up, 4 doubt and 4 ultimate triumph ad nauseam doesn’t quite fit the emotional palette of a Master of the Dark Arts!
Dr. Strange definitely works as a showpiece for art and ideas, and seeing Steve Ditko and Marie Severin, amongst others just balling out and daring Stan Lee keep up (either as writer or editor) is fun to be a part of.
What is hard to deal with is the stories constantly being the most Earth Shattering End of Existence every week! These are generally 10 page episodes, and at times they are confined 10 pagers, but they quickly bucked this to become on going epics. The best one is the triple battle with Strange taking on Baron Mordo, assisted by Dormammu, who then is tangled up with another ‘over-being’, Eternity! This one goes for 10-15 issues and the scope and pacing is like a big crossover of modern days. It is also great how the story expands as it goes on. However this then dovetails into immediately more devastating threats to Strange and the Ancient One and it is just hard to keep working out if this is a bigger threat than the earlier one and how many edges of infinity there are. I guess infinite!
This is where Stan’s writing falls down for me. He is so bombastic and everything is so sudden death. But Mordo gets exiled and brought back at least three times in this book- can’t someone just stay lost!? Or tone it down and maybe Strange is not omnipotently dealing with massive threats every week, but a bit more ground down by the process and failing a bit. It would be interesting to sit with Strange a bit in the doubt- 10 pages, 2 set up, 4 doubt and 4 ultimate triumph ad nauseam doesn’t quite fit the emotional palette of a Master of the Dark Arts!
July 4, 2017
This Steve Ditko run of Doctor Strange is my favourite superhero comic ever and one of my favourite comics overall. It isn't well written but the way it was visualized was incredible and I think one of comics' truly ground-breaking contributions to speculative fiction and fantastical art. You should very lightly skim the text and just enjoy Ditko's psychedelic adventures. He would return to this type of visuals every now and then, most notably the stories in Creepy Presents Steve Ditko and Shade The Changing Man.
Bill Everett, Marie Severin and Dan Adkins art fills the end of the book and they have their moments but they're underwhelming after Ditko. Gene Colan is great in the later volumes though.
Buy these black and white Essential collections while you still can, they are probably the best thing Marvel done in the past few decades. Avoid the Masterworks and Omnibus versions like the plague, they have really ugly reproduction and unfortunately this seems to be the state Marvel wants their best work to be in for the foreseeable future. All the sadder when you consider all that other Ditko, Kirby, Everett, Colan, Heath and Maneely art that really deserves better reproduced reprints.
Some think this work is best seen in the original colour but I think the black and white looks superior. You can create all the colour you like in your head. I treasure this version.
Bill Everett, Marie Severin and Dan Adkins art fills the end of the book and they have their moments but they're underwhelming after Ditko. Gene Colan is great in the later volumes though.
Buy these black and white Essential collections while you still can, they are probably the best thing Marvel done in the past few decades. Avoid the Masterworks and Omnibus versions like the plague, they have really ugly reproduction and unfortunately this seems to be the state Marvel wants their best work to be in for the foreseeable future. All the sadder when you consider all that other Ditko, Kirby, Everett, Colan, Heath and Maneely art that really deserves better reproduced reprints.
Some think this work is best seen in the original colour but I think the black and white looks superior. You can create all the colour you like in your head. I treasure this version.
March 19, 2018
You can trace the development of both Marvel comic book art and the increasingly sophisticated story lines through the Doctor Strange feature, here in its run from mid 1963 to about mid 1968, a period in which it was half of the Strange Tales magazine sharing space with “The Human Torch” and later with “Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.” Starting with Steve Ditko’s somewhat crude but unique early style, the art for Doc Strange was always impressive, something that doesn’t come across quite as well here as in a black and white format as it did in the original comics in full color. Even so the evolution in Ditko’s style is impressive and the string of artists from the Marvel stable who continued the strip after he left were very good in their own right.
May 26, 2017
The earliest Doctor Strange stories are a highly-concentrated mass of creativity and cosmic ideas, not a lot of which make much sense. If you go along with the ride, and forgive the clunky dialogue, you'll enjoy some spectacular artwork. Ditko stars, of course, with his combination of off-kilter realism and oddly-mundane weirdness (much more unsettling than any mere cosmic grandeur). Following that are the graceful lines of Bill Everett; Marie Severin's clean storytelling (which doesn't quite work with this material); and Dan Adkins' more solid take, more in line with the later Marvel depiction of sprawling cosmic stuff, and none the worse for that.
August 28, 2023
This is a big fat black and white "phonebook" anthology of early Dr Strange tales. The main take-away is that the the whole experience is pretty underwhelming without saturated 1960s comic book colouring that brings a wooshy pop-art psychedelia to the proceedings.
On the plus side, there is a lot of Lore established here. The down side, though, is that plodding through it in black and white is a chore, and the plotting mostly isn't really all that. ("Oh no I am in the Perilous Dimension, noted for its perils! I must exert myself as never before, as I do every month, and rely on the magical powers of my powerful magic amulet, whose powerful magical powers never fail me!")
On the plus side, there is a lot of Lore established here. The down side, though, is that plodding through it in black and white is a chore, and the plotting mostly isn't really all that. ("Oh no I am in the Perilous Dimension, noted for its perils! I must exert myself as never before, as I do every month, and rely on the magical powers of my powerful magic amulet, whose powerful magical powers never fail me!")
June 3, 2017
"June 3, 2017 –
50.0% "1:10:57"
June 3, 2017 –
50.0% "Great work, I like mostly Doctor Strange..."
June 2, 2017 –
20.0% "42:45
...
A new Hero!"
June 2, 2017 – page 0
0.0% "608 Pages a comic book!?
...
WOW!"
June 2, 2017 – Started Reading"
- If you are searching for a good story which shows the failure could be transformed into success, try this story here. Let's put it like Doctor Strange becomes more than a doctor, do you dare, To seek beyond what I have gave you as a "Review"?
50.0% "1:10:57"
June 3, 2017 –
50.0% "Great work, I like mostly Doctor Strange..."
June 2, 2017 –
20.0% "42:45
...
A new Hero!"
June 2, 2017 – page 0
0.0% "608 Pages a comic book!?
...
WOW!"
June 2, 2017 – Started Reading"
- If you are searching for a good story which shows the failure could be transformed into success, try this story here. Let's put it like Doctor Strange becomes more than a doctor, do you dare, To seek beyond what I have gave you as a "Review"?
July 1, 2024
While I enjoyed this to a degree, and I love Stan Lee, comics from this era tend to rely on the same formulas ad nauseam, and it gets to be a tedious read. If I had a dollar for every time Strange said "the hoary hosts of Hoggoth", I could buy the first issue of Strange Tales.
December 15, 2020
It's really cool to dove into older comics like this as a modern reader. So many aspects of the storytelling are still used to this day while most of them have been discontinued.
January 25, 2017
Another great Ditko-Lee collaboration! Like Spider-Man [though not as good] it stands out as unique.
March 12, 2012
This is one of the better Marvel Essential volumes. In it, you've got one of Marvel's admittedly second-tier characters, or at least that's the way he's been used for most of his existence. Dr. Strange had a moderate level of popularity, but really never made it outside the comic book, with the exception of a TV movie back when super-heroes were TV fodder in the late seventies.
This book really puts you right into the action with this character, who is battling mystical beings almost from issue #1 (well, #110 to be exact). It reprints all of Doctor Strange's run as the co-star of Strange Tales, which he shared with both the Human Torch and Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD. There are about fifty issues of continuity here, with the good Doctor battling his arch-enemies Baron Mordo and the Dread Dormammu for a good portion of it. The stories are handled in such a way that the repetitive foes don't wear on you.
The series was handled by some of the best artists in the business, having been co-created by Steve Ditko, the man responsible for Spider-Man. Bill Everett, the creator of the Sub-Mariner, also handles some of the art chores, with a style that looks like it grew out from Ditko's. Dan Adkins and Marie Severin provide the rest of the artwork. Stan Lee does most of the scripting, though I was surprised to see that Dennis O'Neil, better known for his DC Comics' work on Batman did a run of stories under Roy Thomas' editorship.
The series lacks a little because of the black-and-white reprinting, but luckily all of these artists have great styles that shine under any interpretation. This is definitely an excellent read and I would recommend it to any Marvel fan or any comics fan in general as a good and inexpensive addition to a growing collection of classic comics.
This book really puts you right into the action with this character, who is battling mystical beings almost from issue #1 (well, #110 to be exact). It reprints all of Doctor Strange's run as the co-star of Strange Tales, which he shared with both the Human Torch and Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD. There are about fifty issues of continuity here, with the good Doctor battling his arch-enemies Baron Mordo and the Dread Dormammu for a good portion of it. The stories are handled in such a way that the repetitive foes don't wear on you.
The series was handled by some of the best artists in the business, having been co-created by Steve Ditko, the man responsible for Spider-Man. Bill Everett, the creator of the Sub-Mariner, also handles some of the art chores, with a style that looks like it grew out from Ditko's. Dan Adkins and Marie Severin provide the rest of the artwork. Stan Lee does most of the scripting, though I was surprised to see that Dennis O'Neil, better known for his DC Comics' work on Batman did a run of stories under Roy Thomas' editorship.
The series lacks a little because of the black-and-white reprinting, but luckily all of these artists have great styles that shine under any interpretation. This is definitely an excellent read and I would recommend it to any Marvel fan or any comics fan in general as a good and inexpensive addition to a growing collection of classic comics.
April 17, 2013
Bei den haarigen Hoden von Halsaggoth!
Er ist wirklich seltsam, der Doctor Strange. Heraus aus dem Körper, ein bisschen rumgeflogen und wieder hinein in den Körper; das ist so das Schema, nach dem diese Geschichten gestrickt sind. Ein kruder Mischmasch aus babylonischen, tibetischen und südostasiatischen Mythen, gewürzt mit ein bisschen Lovecraft und einem guten Schuss LSD, lassen diese Marvel-Version des älteren DC-Charakters Dr Fate meist sehr willkürlich wirken.
Steve Ditko macht aber selbst aus so bunten Suppenzutaten noch eine hervorragend schmeckende Bouillabaisse; seine wilden Visionen von alptraumhaften oder abstrakten Landschaften in ätherischen Welten lassen den Kunstfreund mit der Zunge schnalzen - wobei ich glaube, dass gerade diese abstrakten Bilder in reinem Schwarzweiß nicht so spektakulär rüberkommen, wie wenn sie in der matschigen, körnigen und grellen Originalkolorierung damals abgedruckt worden wären.
Trotzdem: Für mich sind diese Essentials ein wertvoller Blick in die Vergangenheit und gerade wegen ihrer so unprätentiösen, fast kindlichen Unbedarftheit (ganz im Gegensatz zum heutigen Ultraernst in Comics) sehr lesenswert und unterhaltsam.
Er ist wirklich seltsam, der Doctor Strange. Heraus aus dem Körper, ein bisschen rumgeflogen und wieder hinein in den Körper; das ist so das Schema, nach dem diese Geschichten gestrickt sind. Ein kruder Mischmasch aus babylonischen, tibetischen und südostasiatischen Mythen, gewürzt mit ein bisschen Lovecraft und einem guten Schuss LSD, lassen diese Marvel-Version des älteren DC-Charakters Dr Fate meist sehr willkürlich wirken.
Steve Ditko macht aber selbst aus so bunten Suppenzutaten noch eine hervorragend schmeckende Bouillabaisse; seine wilden Visionen von alptraumhaften oder abstrakten Landschaften in ätherischen Welten lassen den Kunstfreund mit der Zunge schnalzen - wobei ich glaube, dass gerade diese abstrakten Bilder in reinem Schwarzweiß nicht so spektakulär rüberkommen, wie wenn sie in der matschigen, körnigen und grellen Originalkolorierung damals abgedruckt worden wären.
Trotzdem: Für mich sind diese Essentials ein wertvoller Blick in die Vergangenheit und gerade wegen ihrer so unprätentiösen, fast kindlichen Unbedarftheit (ganz im Gegensatz zum heutigen Ultraernst in Comics) sehr lesenswert und unterhaltsam.
June 19, 2009
Oh wow.
When people think about Ditko, and especially about Ditko and Lee, Spider-Man is the first thing that comes to mind, which is quite understandable. However, having read their work on both that series and Dr. Strange, I would have to say that the latter is the better of the two series.
The stories that span this series are truly epic in scale; while many Marvel comics of the same era still wrapped up their storylines in one, maybe two issues, the ones here go on for a dozen issues at a time, and deal with truly huge plots, featuring classic Marvel concepts like Eternity, Dormammu, and the Living Tribunal.
The art is crisp, while at the same time being Freaky in a way that only 60s art could be, the storylines are hugely epic - if you're a fan of Marvel's cosmic material, this volume's a must-read.
When people think about Ditko, and especially about Ditko and Lee, Spider-Man is the first thing that comes to mind, which is quite understandable. However, having read their work on both that series and Dr. Strange, I would have to say that the latter is the better of the two series.
The stories that span this series are truly epic in scale; while many Marvel comics of the same era still wrapped up their storylines in one, maybe two issues, the ones here go on for a dozen issues at a time, and deal with truly huge plots, featuring classic Marvel concepts like Eternity, Dormammu, and the Living Tribunal.
The art is crisp, while at the same time being Freaky in a way that only 60s art could be, the storylines are hugely epic - if you're a fan of Marvel's cosmic material, this volume's a must-read.
February 23, 2009
At the risk of blasphemy, it's in Doctor Strange, not Spider-Man, where we see the full range of artist Steve Ditko's talents. The other-worldliness of Doctor Strange is still jaw-dropping nearly 50 years after the original issues. Unfortunately the stories themselves have not aged well. Plus the last 26 issues of Strange Tales collected in this volume were not drawn by Ditko, but by a revolving door of other artists lacking his imagination and vision. Still a good volume for anyone interested in Marvel's Silver Age, especially Silver Age art.
November 2, 2007
If you enjoy surrealism in comics, you could do a lot worse than the Essential Doctor Strange Vol. 1. The Marvel Essentials are phone book sized black and white collections of classic Marvel works. For those of us over thirty who remember reading the Marvel comics as kids, these books are indeed essentials. With some of Steve Ditko’s finest artwork and Stan Lee’s far out writing, The Essential Doctor Strange Vol. 1 was a enjoyable trip through the fantastic.
April 1, 2016
As fantastic as Ditko's art is--truly, fantastic--I struggled through this volume over the course of more than a year because I couldn't stand actually reading more than a single issue at a time. Formulaic plots are one thing, and in all fairness these are stories of a different era, but (Stan, I'm sorry, I still love you!) the dialogue is basically unreadable. If I didn't like Dr. Strange himself so much I wouldn't have even tried.
September 19, 2015
While it was interesting to see where the character of Dr Strange originated, and to see how he gradually took over "Strange Tales", on both the cover and inside the issues, I found the few all-purpose spells and the constant reliance on "reverting to one's ectoplasmatic form!" to solve encountered problems tedious. The final story arc was excellent, though, in both the scope of the story, and the artwork. You just need to slog through a lot of repetitive BS to get to that point...
May 11, 2007
From Stan Lee and Steve Ditko's first few issues with Dr. Strange to his later run in Strange Tales it never misses a beat. While some issues are better than others, possibily due to the fill in writers, the original Stan Lee plots are amazing. Prior to reading this I had no real knowledge of Dr. Strange besides his guest appearances, now I am going to find all I can on Dr. Strange!
May 22, 2016
Doctor Strange is one of the most interesting characters of all times.
Fighting with creatures beyond time and space, in differect dimentions, he always succeeds to win a little more time of peace on earth and keeping humanity safe from creatures we could never imagine even in our worse nightmares.
Fighting with creatures beyond time and space, in differect dimentions, he always succeeds to win a little more time of peace on earth and keeping humanity safe from creatures we could never imagine even in our worse nightmares.
November 7, 2013
Now this, to me, was a good use of Ditko's art. I never was crazy about his minimalist way of depicting regular teenagers in Spider-man. But give him some floating eyeballs, alternative dimensions with fuzzy exploding suns in the background, and I'm in.
August 11, 2007
A guilty pleasure.
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