Customer Reviews

Essential Doctor Strange, Vol. 1 (Marvel Essentials) (v. 1)

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Cultists who oppose Harry Potter books and Dungeons and Dragons games claim that those books somehow contain instruction in real occult magic. 'Fraid not. If you want to learn real black magic spells that actually work, you should start here.

The high Marvel Silver Age prose style, rich in polysyllabic adjective and epithet, seems odd and dated anymore in the mouths of mere superheroes. But it still seems natural coming from the likes of Dr. Strange, the Ancient One, and Dormammu. In fact, you can't imagine mystic, hyperintelligent characters speaking any other way.

The perennial problem with occult themes in comic books is that they seem to be full of arbitrary, drop-in plot devices that lack the campy, contrafactual charm of "scientific" explanations. But Dr. Strange does it right. The repeated use of murky characters and symbols like the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak, the Omnipotent Oshtur, the eternal Vishanti and the all-seeing Eye of Agamotto gives the magic presented here internal consistency and the appearance of a system.

Steve Ditko's art, of course, defined the look of Dr. Strange; it is vaguely psychedelic, much more impressionistic than the art of Jack Kirby, and well suited to drawing the weird dimensional landscapes seen here. This material is presented as just the inked line art, without colour. The art itself is strong enough to stand up to the loss of the original colours, which were made by primitive printing processes in the original books in any case.

Other classic artists who contribute here include the much cleaner and more conventionally Marvellish Bill Everett, and the dark stylings of Marie Severin.

Most of the important characters from the Dr. Strange mythos, including the Ancient One, Baron Mordo, the dread Dormammu, Umar the Unspeakable, and Clea are included here.

This book covers the entire run of Dr. Strange in -Strange Tales-, which he shared with Nick Fury, Agent of Shield. Many of the covers that are printed here refer to the other stories, but you also get some fine Steranko cover art as a lagniappe here. True believers, assemble. This is great stuff.

Chances are, you already realize that there are sacrifices involved with reading Essential editions. Lack of color and the absence of letter columns and bullpen editorials are the kinds of things you're no doubt willing to trade for an inexpensive reprint volume. However, having read this entire run in its original form, I can tell you that something far bigger has been lost in this particular translation to the trade paperback format. In most cases with Marvel Essentials, it makes no difference where the original stories came from. However, when it comes to the early Doctor Strange stories, you absolutely cannot ignore their original context.

When Doctor Strange first began as a backup feature in Strange Tales, the title was utterly direction-less. The Human Torch, which had recently become the magazine's primary feature, had little to do with either the magazine's title or Doctor Strange. They were two seemingly unrelated features thrown together into one arbitrary magazine, and reading the two, back to back each month, was jarring. They had entirely unrelated moods, themes, concepts, and characterizations. Looking at Doctor Strange's first twenty four appearances, all paired with The Human Torch, the original context of the magazine seems entirely irrelevant and unimportant for this reprint edition.

However, a fundamental shift occurred with Strange Tales #135. Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. replaced the Human Torch as the magazine's primary feature. At first glance, this ongoing feature seemed just as jarring and unrelated to Doctor Strange as its predecessor, but there was a subtle genius at play with the pairing of these two features. To begin with, both features explored the opposite ends of the spectrum of "Strange Tales." Doctor Strange dealt with strange tales of the dark occult while S.H.I.E.L.D. dealt with the strange tales of bright science fiction adventure. The living embodiment of Eternity regulating the use of magic in the cosmos and a super secret department of psychics listening in on the world for signs of danger -- both concepts landed firmly in the realms of the "strange," but in entirely different ways, and both were mere samples of the strangeness contained within the worlds of Nick Fury and Stephen Strange.

More importantly, though, the two titles truly worked with and supported one another. Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. was a bright feature about unmitigated success. It was never a question of whether Fury and the crew would win the day, but more an issue of the level of excitement and flare they would bring to the fight. Fury always came out on top, aided with his indomitable will, his teammates' unwavering loyalty, and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s unlimited imagination and resources.

Doctor Strange, in contrast, was a dark feature about persistent loss and humility. Strange was a mere mortal dabbling with cosmic entities he could barely comprehend while his aged and deteriorating mentor was often too weak to be anything more than a liability. At best, the good doctor could only hope to stave off an inter-dimensional warlord for a short time or trade one cosmic threat for another. There were few true victories, instead leaving our hero to struggle for the luck and will to endure, keeping the Earth safe for another day.

This was dark, bold material for comics of the late 1960s, and as fresh and dramatically rich as it was, it was difficult to stomach on its own, just as S.H.I.E.L.D.'s bright and shiny victories began to feel flat and simplistic when read by themselves. However, when read together, the two features balanced each other out immensely, offering relief from one another and also enhancing each other in contrast. Doctor Strange felt darker and more powerful in contrast to the simplicity of S.H.I.E.L.D., which felt more wondrous and generously optimistic in contrast to the downbeat humility of Doctor Strange. I don't believe this was an accident either. Stan Lee was writing and co-plotting both features at the time, and even had the first major story arc for both features run concurrently, both culminating in issue #141. Clearly, he was attempting to create a relationship between the two features on some level, and I think that relationship was a source of great strength for both features. To read the Doctor Strange issues alone, without the contrast that the S.H.I.E.L.D. installments offered, weakens the impact of the title and even goes so far as to make it feel tedious after a while.

So, when it comes to the middle early Doctor Strange stories contained in this volume, context plays an incredibly important role. Without that, you're losing more than you may have bargained for. I'll go on record as saying that I think the loss of color is particularly tragic for the stunningly complex landscapes Ditko paints in this volume as well. This is not a bad place to go for the first twenty or so Doctor Strange stories, which I consider largely dull and unimpressive anyway (with the exception of Dormammu's entrance), but the later Tales of Suspense stories, beginning amidst the amazing eleven-part Mordo/Dormammu epic, really need to be seen in their original context, and those vintage issues are still available CHEAP on ebay and at local comic conventions. If you're up for it, track down vintage copies of Strange Tales #135 to #168. It's well worth the $5 to $10 you'll pay per issue. Sadly, those early Lee/Kirby Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. stories have not been reprinted, so this is the only place to go for that original context.

This massive edition of Essentials is the first that collects the adventures of Doctor Strange, the Master of the Mystic Arts. These collect the good Doctors Earliest Adventures from the days of Strange tales including his very first appearance in Strange Tales 110, and including a full run from #114 to 168 spanning the hey day of the 1960's.

In these pages wer first learn of Strange's Origin, meet the Ancient One and Clea, and also Docs greatest villians including Dormammu, Satannish, Baron Mordo, and others. Doc's 1960's adventures really played well in the 1960's. Steve Ditkos unique style fit the psychadelic era to perfection with his rendering of the strange and fantastic realms that Doctor Strange would visit along with some of the most terrifying entities in the Marvel universe.

Doctor Strange has always been among the most underrated of Marvel Characters. He always had pretty good writers and artists doing his stories. Artists like Ditko, Brunner, Gene Colan, and Paul Smith who captured the feel of the mesmerizing world of Doctor Strange.

Of course his world was always so vibrant that it suffers a bit from the Essential B&W format but I stll heartily recommend the book for any Doc fan.

I have been a big fan of the Fantastic Four for many, many years. I found some of the early stories really enjoyable, with Dr Doom being of course being my favorite evil character. Spider-man, The X-Men, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Ironman and others were interesting, with Spider-Man probably being my second favorite comic series next to The Fantastic Four. I thought nothing could compare to the surreal storylines involving Reed Richards and his family, with adventures in outer space or trips into the past, etc. UNTIL I READ THESE STORIES.

I had always avoided reading Dr. Strange in the past for some reason. I remember enjoying the early Defenders series but that was just because I was really into The Hulk and Submariner at the time. Anyway, this has been a real treat! I find the stories highly imaginative and although brief, very compelling. Dr. Strange is the most overlooked Superhero in my opinion, although I've noticed there are some websites devoted to the "Master of Sorcery and Black Magic." Now I know why there are some devoted fans. Stephen Strange has good intentions that rival Super-man and the villains are as exciting as anything I've ever encountered in fiction, all written in a wonderfully spooky manner. I recommend this book to any fan of early Marvel comics. If you've enjoyed The Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, The X-Men, etc. then this is too good for you to miss!

Volume One of the Essential Doctor Strange includes the first 57 installments of the strange doctor, reprinted from Strange Tales. Many of the stories were complete in one issue, but there are also multi-parters, usually more fun because the longer tales allow more plot development.
The good news: the surreal extra-dimensional backgrounds; the colorful villains (to name a few: Baron Mordo, the Dread Dormammu, and my favorite, Nightmare, ruler of the dream dimension); the absence of the hyper-muscularity and fist-fights of other Marvel franchises; the fast-moving freedom of the narratives (magic is not bound by space and time); and even the self-parodying, slighty campy, stilted dialogue and obsessive alliteration.
The bad news is the black and white reproduction, presumably to save money. Such an exotic premise deserves color, and it would easier to parse some of the wilder panels if the original color was still there to provide structure.
The other bad news, with the copy that I received at least, was that the binding kind of disintegrated; by the time I got to the end I was reading the book as separate, unbound pages. And I treated the book with the greatest of care.
All in all, these strange tales are still a lot of fun, both as a trip down memory lane and as stories in their own right. It was one of the more original, more off-beat premises Marvel came up with, and it still holds up (other than the binding.)

Plenty has been said about the good Doctor, and I only have a bit to add myself. He's a fun part of the Marvel 60's scene and his books are worth reading just for that reason alone. There was a freshness and sense of inovation to Marvel's yarns from that era that you just can't find anywhere else. These books are a little like taking a vacation to a different time.
But Dr. Strange is also an interesting character. Some of my friends have compared him to the Green Arrow, saying that he solves his problems with a convenient spell rather than a wacky trick arrow. Sometimes that's true, and for much the same reason. Strange's early stories were not very long and sometimes a quick resolution was necessary. bu that's for the individual story,sometimes. If you read them together, even over time, you get a better picture of the stories. They are almost operatic in scale, definitley every issue is part of an unfolding epic. It was uncommon back then for story arcs to stretch out over many issues, bu that's what Stan Lee and Steve Ditko did with Dr. Strange. He is locked in deadly battle with arch-nemisis Baron Mordo(often the catspaw of the Dread Dormammu)for quite a few issues. He battles Dormammu's more lethal sister, Umar as the Earth trembles,and loses the love of his life, the fair Clea. Strange watches as power mad Dormammu later defies Eternity, the Embodiment of All Existence. Stepehn Strange even finds himself desperately spell-casting against the Living Tribunal. The stories all have a sweeping scope to them, and in some ways Dr. Strange seems like a more mystical version of the Silver Surfer. Philosophical, deep, brooding characters, one is wed to science and one to sorcery. But there are small moments too. We see Strange care for the ailing Ancient One, long for the lovely Clea , rejoice in simply walking down a New York street after absent from our dimesion for too long and barbecuing pork chops(for Doc),Soy Kabobs(Wong) and kitty hearts(Dormmamu) on the roof of the Sanctum Sanctorum, in their bathrobes.(Just kidding on the last one. But seriously, what kind of flavor do you think the Flames of the Faltine would bring to chicken and ribs?)
He was also more than just a simple spell slinger. Strange was forced to fight many a vastly more powerful foe in defending our Earth and he defeated them with skill and resourcefulness, or in other words, by thinking out of the box. You're not going to defeat The Living Tribunal by playinig HIS game, let alone Dormammu. Or as Eternity once told Strange "Power is not always the answer. Events have transpired to which wisdom is the key." This and Strange's unflagging spirit were a good lesson for kids. And his training with the Ancient One including Martial Arts training, something many people forget. It helped to tune up the ol' Mind-Spirit-Body connection. He surprises opponents with a swift kick in the butt more than once.
This book covers all Dr. Stephen Strange's early adventures. The writing is florid and melodramatic, Stan Lee at full force. Ditko's art is fantastic and some peple feel that it is best enjoyed in black and white. While I can certainly appreciate the work of a genius like Ditko in B&W, I feel that the art looks best colored. The color just adds extra texture to the bizarre, alien and mystic landscapes. Ditko drew it for color and that's probably the best way to see it. But these Masterworks can be expensive and eager readers like myself want to dig in and see what the doc was cooking as soon as possible. So check this book out and if you like it later you can upgrade to Full Color.

Since the early sixties, artists and writers attempt to dulicate the style and class of Steve Ditko's version. In this inexpensive volume, you can experience the entire run of Dr. Strange through Steve Ditko's vision. Dan Akins and Bill (Sub-Mariner creator)Everett; attmept to fill the gap left with mixed results. If you love the sixties era of Marvel, this book is a must buy.

Steve's cartoon style was distinct. No one could duplicate it. Many illustrators used a realistic illustration style. It didn't work in the universe Ditko established.

Since Ditko's departure; the title went by the wayside of many of the horror magazines. Dr. Strange would make a good TV series or movie; if the producers removed the blue tights from the character. If you look at Charmed or Buffy on the airwaves, Dr. Strange could be just as contemporary and entertaining.

a different tack on an excellent TPB like this volume: those of us back in the late 60s who actually read these stories when they originally came out, those of us, who had to actually wait an entire month to read the next installment, can attest to just how exciting the enormously long continuous story plot was, where Dormammu was using Mordo as a tool to hunt down Dr. Strange. With everything stacked against him, Strange somehow managed to elude these forces again and again, and barely, until finally, he has a face to face showdown and throwdown with Dormammu himself.

For the people reading these now, where you can just go from one story to the next without the interminable wait, it is still great to read, but again, when we had to count down the days for not only this series but all of the many wonderful silver age Marvel series each month, it was downright torture!

So these TPBs are something to really be appreciated..

Essential Doctor Strange, Volume 1 (Marvel Essentials) is a wonderful comic book. Doctor Strange is a master of the mystic arts and encounters many mythical adventures. The stories featuring Dr. Strange offer stories with lots of adventure, excitement and entertainment. The illustrations are wonderful. I fully recommend Doctor Strange!

Inside these covers includes all the Dr. Strange material before it became its own magazine. Stan Lee is at his best defining the bravery and stamina of Steven Strange as one with absolute moral conviction and bravery. Strange is often outmatched and outwitted but always comes through at the end using smarts rather than muscle power. Since he explores magic and wizardry you see spells instead of endless fistfights. That makes this unique material indeed. Steve Ditko is amazing as both penciller and inker casting the mood of the series as dark and imaginative. This is indeed Steve's masterpiece. It is unfortunate that Steve left Marvel so early in his career. Sadly comic artists even today to not get the recognition they deserve. No comic works without the artists. This book is not only about Dr. Strange it is also the preserved works of one of the most unusual and amazing artists of the 1960's. If you like Steve Ditko's work, Essential Spiderman 1 & 2 capture the 38 issues that Steve Ditko drew the Amazing Spiderman. Check them out!