Strange Tales #116:"Return to the Nightmare World"

Nightmare returns to menace Doctor Strange once more in Strange Tales #116. Doc was still being described as the 'Master of Black Magic' in these stories and this was the second story after his 'panel time' increased from five pages to eight in the book.

One quick note before we begin. I've mentioned before that I am not that big of a fan of Joe Quesada's Marvel. Over the last several years I've watched characters I've loved since the mid-70's get written completely out of character just to fit a writer or editor's whim. And I dislike the new "Screw you, fans!" attitude Quesada's Marvel has towards anyone who dares to criticize this direction or who doesn't somehow get the genius behind any of it. But that dates back to Quesada's early days under former publisher Bill Jemas. I post a lot at Brad Douglas's Spider-Man Crawl Space message boards (I am even an honorary moderator there) and I have often pointed out how Marvel went from the welcome, embracing sense of family that Stan Lee created (the Marry Marvel Marching Society and Stan's Soapbox days) to the "Just shut the @#*% up and give me your money!" days of Quesada's Marvel.

Why do I bring this up? Because reading Doc's Strange Tales #116 story reminds us of what's been lost between Marvel and its readers. Look at this blurb from Stan in this story to Marvel's fans:


Note the part about how the readers are the real editors of Marvel's mags. This is an acknowledgment from the company to the readers that their opinion counts. You won't find this attitude from Quesada's Marvel today. It's been replaced by an "up yours if you don't like it because this is how WE want it - just keep buying it" mindset. Under Quesada's Marvel both the fans and the characters head to the back of the bus to make room for the more important writers & editors.

That being said - on with the review.

Here we find Nightmare hatching an insidious plot to trap people in their sleep within his corner of the Dream Dimension so he can learn how to defeat humanity. Back on Earth (or Midgard for my Asgardian readers) this leads to a rash of victims falling into a coma-like sleep, prompting the authorities to contact Doctor Strange as a "last resort."

I really like the authorities, both from law enforcement and the medical world, coming to consult with Doctor Strange. I sometimes mention here how I enjoy the Sherlock Holmes aspect the character develops and having authorities consult him on a case is very reminiscent of Inspector Gregson or Inspector Lestrade heading to 221B Baker Street to ask for the Master Detective's discreet help with something. It should also be noted here that the doctor who asks for Strange's help mentions that Strange is world famous and that "leading scientists" respect his reputation.

Doc's Lesser Eye of Agamotto quickly reveals that magic is afoot and he consults the Book of the Vishanti 'on panel' for the first time. He finds an incantation that will lead him through the planes (later referred to as the Everdimensions in the Marvel Universe) to the source of this new menace. This is interesting in that it's showing the difference between what the Lesser Eye can do and what this incantation from the Book allows; whereas the Lesser Eye could be used to track down a source of evil on Earth or in Doc's vicinity, referring to the Book of the Vishanti allows him to track this power through different dimensions. In fact, once Doc arrives in Nightmare's realm the Lesser Eye shows him the true path towards the evil, allowing Doc to avoid Nightmare's traps.

When Doc manages to locate the sleeping souls that Nightmare has trapped Nightmare attacks Strange with a monster he calls a Spinybeast, which quickly corners Doc on a cliff overlooking an even more hideous and tentacled threat right out of the pages of an H.P. Lovecraft story.


Displaying the quick thinking that made him 'Master of Black Magic,' Doc uses the Lesser Eye on Nightmare, causing the villain to inadvertently destroy his own Spinybeast. Nightmare rides out cursing Doc while the sorcerer and the victims escape out of Nightmare's realm.

Overall? Not a bad story but it feels like one that was created before the last two, possibly in the two months that Doc didn't appear in Strange Tales (#112 & #113). What really makes me think that is that Steve Ditko's art reflects the earlier Asian looking Strange. Some elements of the story don't hold up. While reading from the Book of the Vishanti Strange considers how dangerous the incantations are if they're misread or misspoken, even in the slightest - then reads something that sounds a lot like everything he's called on so far in the story (Dormammu, Hoggoth, etc) so any sort of danger or tension deflates. While a good story this one feels a bit pedestrian compared to the earlier Mordo battles and the origin story that took place in the preceding issue.

The Doctor Strange 2007 animated movie may have borrowed an element from this story. Whereas this tale had adults trapped in a coma-like sleep by Nightmare the cartoon had kids trapped in a similar state but by Dormammu and Mordo.

Saturday Art - 10/10/09

This weekend I've been going through a lot of my old old old Marvel stuff from back when raptors walked the Earth. Last night I was re-reading a lot of Marvel's horror stuff that I hadn't read in years. Most of it early 70's books like Tomb of Dracula and Fear. But today I started going through a lot of my old Marvel Fanfare issues for the first time in ages and I had forgotten about all the neat pin-ups they used to run in that title. And I found a handful that were Strange related. Here's the first one - it's Mike Mignola's pin-up for Nightmare from Marvel Fanfare #34 (1986). I figured that'd be a good one to start with since we just got done looking at Strange Tales #110, which was Nightmare's first appearance.

Click to enlarge!



Have a great weekend folks!

Strange Tales #110:"Dr. Strange - Master of Black Magic"

Strange Tales #110 (July 1963) is Doctor Strange's first appearance in the Marvel Universe. The five-page back story by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko gives us a hasty introduction into what Strange can do and gives us a small flavor of the types of stories readers would enjoy from '63 to today.

This Lee & Ditko story also has a very classic twist to its suspense, which was a staple in comics around this time. In fact when you read most of EC's horror and suspense comics from the 1950's that's pretty much the standard formula: someone bad does something grisly to someone good and then has the tables turned on them - usually worse than they what they did to begin with. Strange's Strange Tales adventures are similar; though not grisly or gory they do have a lot of tables being turned on the aggressor. That's been a classic staple in genre comics for many moons.


An unnamed man who cannot sleep due to terrible nightmares decides to seek out Dr. Strange because "he dabbles in black magic." This leads us to two important early factoids about Doc in the Marvel Universe:

• 1.) When he starts out he's still a student of the Ancient One and will not become the Sorcerer Supreme for a good while.


• 2.) The recurring use of 'Black Magic' as a description of what Doc does sticks with Doc for awhile in Strange Tales but eventually fades away to 'Mystic Arts.' In Doc's early stories it's gradually established that what he does isn't black magic itself per se but rather he knows how to combat black arts and how to take that power and turn it back or subvert it to other uses. But having him be 'Master of Black Magic' early on might give people the wrong impression of what he does. Thus the eventual change.

A humorous note here: the narration references the "cold, grey eyes" of Dr. Strange and how they "pierce the mist in the room like a knife." But through most of Ditko's Dr. Strange art he almost always looks like he's got his eyes closed. I always got the impression that they were toying with the idea of Doctor Strange being Asian and was perhaps being portrayed as some might have done back in the early 1960's. That or maybe Doc was a distant relative of Jughead from Archie Comics. It's odd how someone who will at one point be calling upon the powers of the 'All-Seeing Agamotto' barely cracks his eyelids open in his earliest stories.

Strange's servant and student Wong also makes his first appearance here, opening the door of Doctor Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum (in Greenwich Village) for the man seeking out Doc's help. Another item of interest here is that the front door's glass window at the Sanctum Sanctorum is the first time we see the protective symbol of the Vishanti. Most Marvel fans instantly recognize this as the large upper level window pattern in Dr. Strange's study.

Doc decides that the way to help the unnamed, nightmare-plagued man is to enter his dreams. Before he does so we see him fire up some *cough* "ancient incense" and go into a trance before his "metaphysical spirit" leaves his body and departs across the globe to discuss matters with his mentor, the Ancient One. This form of astral projection and rapid travel is a mainstay power for Strange. He does this throughout his adventures in the Marvel Universe from here on out. In these early stories Lee & Ditko kind of play loose with the ways this - and other - forms of magic work. But we can overlook that. They were establishing something and trying to get a feel for what worked and what didn't. That or constant deadlines had them making mistakes here and there. Probably a little of Column A and a little of Column B.

We see the Ancient One and his mountain keep for the first time here. The narration describes the Ancient One's home as "somewhere in the remote vastness of Asia." Later on when Lee & Ditko finally get around to Doc's origin story we're told this is India. What later becomes the generally accepted location is Tibet. The Ancient One also explains to Strange that he knows his days are "numbered." A reader might mistake this to mean the Ancient One's going to kick the bucket soon, but Strange's master actually survives for a good long time in the Marvel Universe before he 'ascends.' The Ancient One's brief appearance here is just exposition to show that Strange is still learning and that he's not the top dog of Marvel magic yet; this is further cemented at the conclusion of the story.

Doc has his client (I guess that's a word for it) fall asleep at his Sanctum Sanctorum so he can enter the man's dreams and confront whatever it is that torments him. Doc first meets a spectral apparition (describing itself as a 'symbol' of evil done by the client) that is representative of his client's guilt in relation to a 'Mr. Crang.' Strange is then ambushed by a denizen of the Dream Dimension by a spooky being called Nightmare. Doc exclaims that Nightmare is his "ancient foe" to give the reader a sense that these two have been at one another for awhile already.

So while Doc and Nightmare stand there posturing in classic hero vs villain style Strange's client wakes up from his dream, realizing that Doc now knows about 'Mr. Crang.' With Strange trapped in the Dream Dimension in 'metaphysical spirit' form facing off against Nightmare his client whips out a gun and decides he needs to plug Doc's defenseless body to make sure Doc can't rat him out for it. Nightmare taunts Strange as the they watch Doc about to be drilled by the man he had been trying to help. So Doc calls out for the one person who can help him at that point - his master and teacher, the Ancient One, who hears Doc's cry for help "across the limitless void of time and space." This sort of cosmic awareness and attunement quickly becomes a staple of magic and cosmic forces in the Marvel Universe.

From thousands miles away in 'Asia' (i.e. Tibet) the Ancient One remotes the golden amulet around Doc's solid yet defenseless neck. This is the first use of the first Eye of Agamotto, though it's not named as such here. Later we will discover that this amulet is what's referred to as "the Lesser Eye of Agomotto." The light from the Lesser Eye freezes the unnamed client in his tracks via (as Strange describes later) hypnotism. At the same moment Nightmare becomes distracted by the Ancient One saving Strange's body and that one moment allows Strange's spirit to escape the Dream Dimension and live on to thwart Nightmare again one day.


BEHOLD!
The first use of the Lesser Eye of Agamotto amulet in a Dr. Strange comic story!

With Doc now safe and back in his own body he is able to snatch his client's gun away and release him from the Eye's hypnotic spell. He convinces the man he'll never be able to escape his dreams (i.e. his own sense of guilt) until he comes clean and confesses his crimes. This is the same sort of thing that the Shadow used to do in his old radio shows but the villain would usually go nuts or die before they could ever confess anything to the cops.

So what's the final verdict on this issue? Well it feels a bit rushed. But that's because it's a five-page story that didn't allow for much more substance regarding the Ancient One, Nightmare or the Dream Dimension. This was basically Stan and Steve throwing something against a wall to see if it would stick as they tried to find new stories readers could latch onto. Doc's a character based on a really fun concept to begin with so he showed potential despite the rushed feel of the story. The fact that Doc escaped because Nightmare became 'distracted' is iffy. When people look for villainous heavies they usually expect someone who gives the hero a run for their money - not someone who could effectively be countered by the Three Stooges or, say, a ball of yarn. But Nightmare becomes a more valid threat later on, as you will see.

Lee & Ditko wouldn't get an idea of what sort of reception Doc's debut would be given by Marvel readers in time to figure out if they should keep doing Strange's stories or not, so we'll get Doc in one more Strange Tales story after this before a two issue hiatus in #112 and #113. Doc made his way back to Strange Tales, permanently, in issue #114 - which also introduced another recurring supporting character for Doc.

Next time we'll look at Strange Tales #111, which showcases Doc's first comics fight against one of his bigtime foes - Baron Mordo!

EDIT: I should've talked about the art in this issue. My comic biases land more on the side of story than art for the most part and I didn't think to talk about the art here. In my first post on this blog I talked about how my favorite comic hero was Spider-Man. You might naturally assume I love Ditko's Strange Tales Doctor Strange art. And you'd be right - I do love Ditko's work here. But I actually prefer Ditko's work on Strange Tales as opposed to his work on Spider-Man. I've never been able to get much into Ditko's Spider-Man art and felt his style was way more suited for the types of surreal stories he was doing for Strange in Strange Tales. Please don't take that the wrong way and think I'm disparaging Ditko's Spider-Man work. I'm not and I think it was quality stuff.

Strange's Strange Tales: An Introduction

Seeking to latch onto the popularity of EC Comics' horror titles such as Tales from the Crypt, Atlas Comics (the precursor to Marvel Comics) launched 1951's Strange Tales. The book stuck to a horror and suspense format until the mid 1950's, when the Comics Code Authority was set in place following the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency's investigations into comic books. Books without being approved by the new Comics Code Authority could often not find distribution, and with the code banning material such as the undead and werewolves, as well as words such as "crime" or "horror" from book titles, the comics industry shifted more towards science fiction. Strange Tales was no exception, and it changed to sci-fi in 1954. Other Atlas Comics of the time dealt with two very popular comics subjects in the 50's - Romance and Westerns.


Strange Tales #1 from 1951
Steering the sci-fi stories for Strange Tales were Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Don Heck and Joe Sinnott, to name a few. These pre-superhero days of Strange Tales focused on aliens and colossal monsters from Kirby or more freaky fare by Ditko. Then in 1961 Atlas Comics became Marvel Comics and a shift began towards superhero offerings. Spurred on by DC Comics' success with superheroes in what would later be known as 'the Silver Age of Comics,' especially by new hot properties like the Justice League of America (which debuted in 1960 in The Brave and the Bold #28), Marvel sought to capture some of that magic. In November, 1961 Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's The Fantastic Four became an overnight sensation. The Marvel Universe as we know it today was officially born. Other heroes would soon follow, including Marvel's most popular character Spider-Man, who was first introduced in the final issue of Amazing Fantasy in August of 1962 and would soon star in his own title, The Amazing Spider-Man.

Looking to boost sales on Strange Tales, Stan Lee had the Fantastic Four's Human Torch become the central character for the book in 1961 (with issue #101). Another Fantastic Four star, the "Ever Lovin' Blue-Eyed" Thing, would start to share panel time with the Torch in 1964. But the book's breakout new star debuted with Strange Tales #110 in the summer of 1963 - Doctor Strange.


Strange Tales #110 from 1963
Hot to find a popular new hero Lee looked to a radio show he enjoyed in the past called Chandu the Magician, which ran from 1932 to 1950. The show's central character, Chandu, could project himself outside his body and could perform illusions and do other tricks. Chandu's enemy was the powerful and evil Roxor, who was hell-bent on conquering the world. And the woman who captured his heart was Nadji, a princess from the far off land of Egypt.

For your listening pleasure, here's an episode of the Chandu the Magician radio show...



In the same year the show debuted Hollywood turned out it's own version of Chandu.


(From left to right - Bela Lugosi as Roxor, Irene Ware as Nadji and Edmund Lowe as Chandu in 1932's Chandu the Magician.)

Looking at that the film's publicity still it's not hard at all to see where Baron Mordo, Clea and Dr. Strange (complete with a thin mustache) started out. In an odd note, Bela Lugosi plays the villain Roxor in the 1932 Chandu film and then plays Chandu himself in the 1934 sequel The Return of Chandu and another 1935 sequel Chandu on the Magic Island.



Using Chandu as inspiration for a new character Lee discussed ideas with Steve Ditko, who in turn set about designing the characters. The end result was Doctor Strange's adventure in the Marvel Universe - a five-page debut in Strange Tales #110 called simply "Doctor Strange - Master of Black Magic!" The story also contained the first appearances of a recurring enemy of the sorcerer's, Nightmare, as well as Strange's faithful student and servant, Wong, and Strange's mentor - the venerable Ancient One. Baron Mordo appeared for the first time in the following issue.


Doctor Strange's 1963 Marvel Universe debut in Strange Tales #110
Doctor Strange proved to be a popular character for Marvel fans, especially fans in college who enjoyed Ditko's surreal visuals. Following a two-issue hiatus Doctor Strange became a mainstay in Strange Tales as the back-up story behind whatever the Human Torch was doing. Marvel's two-hero "split book" format later became the standard for Tales of Suspense in 1964 with Iron Man and Captain America and Tales to Astonish with Giant-Man & Wasp and the Hulk in the same year. Journey into Mystery, which started out in 1952 and dealt with the same horror, suspense and sci-fi stories that Strange Tales did, changed to feature Thor and would eventually change its title to The Mighty Thor.

Always hungry for new hero blood, Lee had the Human Torch exit Strange Tales and Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. were introduced into the book with issue #135 by Lee and Kirby. Fury had previously debuted in Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos in 1963. Strange Tales would stick with Dr. Strange and Nick Fury for another thirty-four issues before splitting the two characters off into their own solo series in May, 1968 - Nick Fury, Agent of Shield and Doctor Strange, which kept the Strange Tales numbering and started with #169.

Over five years later Strange Tales would pick up again with #169, introducing Len Wein & Gene Colan's Brother Voodoo into the Marvel Universe and later Adam Warlock through #181 in the summer of 1975. Following several reprints of previous Doctor Strange stories, Strange Tales ended its initial run with issue #188.

The title was relaunched with a second volume in 1987, this time featuring Doctor Strange and Cloak & Dagger. This volume lasted nineteen issues and ended with Doctor Strange and Cloak & Dagger moving on to their own books. Other volumes (with few issues) continue to be published, as well as some one-shot and collected editions. The latest incarnation, 2009's Volume 5, unfortunately finds the once great Strange Tales reduced to a humor book.