I had a friend who insisted that Heavy Metal magazine from the 80’s was drawn in such a way that you had to be stoned to really enjoy it. The images would come alive. Well, I could hand somebody this thing for a trip that doesn’t even require psychedelics. This hefty tome is over 450 pages of mind-bending spectacle. You are not cheated on the $45 price tag.
I was more-or-less familiar with Dr. Strange in the 80’s. He was hard to collect being a bi-monthly title. Those kind of comics tended to be hard to find on your weekly visits to the old spinner rack in convenience stores. It was worth the search for the artwork and great supernatural superhero story, as the good doctor fought Dracula! Dr. Strange has fallen into lesser hands since then, but had a great MCU movie (and then a terrible one).
I’d heard and maybe seen a little of the original 60’s Dr. Strange by Stan Lee and illustrated by Steve Ditko. The illustrations were well-known for being wild. This volume expands on that greatly. The advanced philosophical and metaphysical concepts were probably there from the start and only become more prominent here. You will be exposed to concepts well outside your standard superhero comic in this.
Here was the biggest shocker of the book. There’s Dr. Strange and the cosmic entity, Eternity. No, that’s Dr. Strange in the full-face mask. I had no idea this era ever existed in the Doctor’s history. How and why he donned a mask to protect his secret identity (?) is outside the bounds of this book. I’m guessing it wasn’t part of his original presentation, which I’m not familiar with. It’s not a bad look, but it’s incomprehensible with the character.
The opening issues are written by Roy Thomas and illustrated by Gene Colan. There’s some very good artwork (and some pedestrian stuff) to follow, but this part was my favorite to look at. Here we have Clea, Strange’s girlfriend, and a cameo by famous writer, Tom Wolfe, for a trip to Times Square for New Years. (I don’t know the backstory on this cameo, but I’m sure it’s interesting.)
The first storyline is about Strange’s old foe, Nightmare, somehow holding Eternity hostage and now having access to his power. Strange has to enter Nightmare’s Dream dimension to confront him. If you doubt Nightmare the power to subdue Eternity, you are correct. He didn’t need Strange rescuing him, but does him a favor anyway by giving the Doctor a “new secret identity?” Seriously, I never knew Dr. Strange had a secret identity.
A three-part Lovecraft-inspired horror story follows. He teams up with Namor and then the Hulk to defeat the supernatural threat. These team ups did prefigured the Defenders, which was established afterward. The book only reprints a Dr. Strange solo story from the first issue. The Doctor returns home to the Sanctum Sanctorum and finds . . . himself. He ends up in a fight with his masked alter ego, before defeating him and revealing him as Baron Mordo. Thankfully, the Doctor ditches the mask after this episode seeing how it even fooled his loyal man-servant, Wong. (You’re not the only one. I’m laughing while I write this.)
Barry Windsor-Smith draws the next story, as Doctor Strange fights himself again. It’s another attack by Nightmare.
A long storyline begins adapting a couple of Robert E. Howard Lovecraftian tales. Here we have cults, isolated coastal towns, haunted castles, and summoned demons. It’s all the familiar trappings of these kind of tales. Above, we are shown the Vishanti, whom Dr. Strange often calls upon for help.
Finally, Strange goes through a dimensional doorway to confront a minion of an elder god, where he ends up trapped on an alien world, alone. By the way, I hope you like breathless monologues by your protagonists. Since the Doctor mostly fights alone, you get a steady stream of narration from him on the action in most of these stories in the book. This page might be the most egregious one. Still, you mostly don’t question the voluminous text balloons while reading them.
The adaption part of the story ends, as Dr. Strange has to rescue his mentor, the Ancient One, from the elder god. In a twist, Strange has to kill him to prevent the enemy from manifesting. Don’t be sad. He’s still around. “I have become one with the universe. I am . . . . everything,” he tells Strange from beyond the Veil. The Ancient One has done this to officially anoint Dr. Strange as Sorcerer Supreme. This is a very metaphysical conversation, not at all like a comic book.
Steve Englehart and Frank Brunner take over as writer and artist and do so very impressively. In the next storyline, Strange attempts to track down Baron Mordo to make peace with him. Mordo has been studying the Book of Cagliostro attempting to become more powerful. This leads to going backward in time to confront the author of the book, Sise-Neg. As you can read above, this guy isn’t screwing around.
Further and further back in time they all go. Sise-Neg’s desire to recreate the universe turns into the revelation that everything already is at it should be. He becomes Genesis itself. This is sort of blasphemous, but it’s so artistically done. This is way more philosophical than your average comic book. Hold on, you’re going to get plenty more.
Dr. Strange finally regains having his own series and is promptly murdered in the first issue. (Marvel didn’t seem fully committed to the character.) An assassin, Silver Dagger, stabs Strange with a mystical dagger and abducts Clea. (Maybe having a secret identity wasn’t such a bad idea.) His mission is to destroy magic-users, but he decides he’ll try to redeem her. (Can’t fault his priorities. Clea is one ripe tomato.) To save himself, Strange retreats into the Orb of Agamotto.
Inside, he discovers a bizarre universe. Strange has an introductory chat with the Caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland. He then meets doppelgangers of his Defenders teammates. Valkyrie lends him her horse, Aragorn, as he flees death.
Finally, Strange realizes he is combatting a foe he can’t escape from and can’t defeat. He surrenders. This has been a test from the Ancient One. Now, Doctor Strange no longer fears death. His spirit returns to the real world. Strange finds Clea and possesses her. They are able to escape and rejoin Strange’s spirit to his body. Silver Dagger confronts them, but they are able to turn the Eye of Agamotto on him. Dagger has a moment of revelation before being sent to the metaphysical universe to talk to the Caterpillar.
Dude. I’m trippin’ balls. This book was amazing. I’ve been so disappointed lately, but this gave me something I didn’t expect in a superhero comic: a lesson in philosophy. Granted, it’s superficial pop metaphysics, but it’s a bit deeper than a fortune cookie. This was a great purchase. You’ll get used to Strange’s relentless self-narration and will enjoy this.
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