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 It's been replaced by an "up yours if you don't like it because this is how WE want it - just keep buying it" mindset.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.

Strange Tales #114:"The Return of the Omnipotent Baron Mordo"

When last we left Strange Tales Doctor had just stopped his arch-foe, the insidious Baron Mordo, from killing the Ancient One. And that's the last of Doc that readers saw for two months. After two very popular appearances in #110 and #111, Doc sat out Strange Tales #112 and #113. Why the gap? I am not sure. They probably had already done the backup stories that were published in those two issues and didn't want them going to waste. Either way readers knew that Doc would be back after the final panel of his appearance in #111 where he invited readers to follow his further adventures. There's a blurb from Stan Lee on this story where he says they wanted to wait and gauge the reaction to Strange. Though that last panel in #111 tells me they'd already gotten the hint that readers liked Stephen Strange.

At this point Strange is still being titled as 'The Master of Black Magic' in his five-page stories. And another curious event begins to take place here as well - Doc starts opening his eyes! By the second page he's finally opened his peepers. He looks a little tired but there it is. Shockingly, this trend would continue. Steve Ditko did finally change the way he drew Doc later on in the series, making him more suave and less Ming-the-Merciless.

Doc's summoned out to England to help someone he apparently knows yet hasn't spoken to in ages - Sir Clive Bentley. But of course it's all an elaborate trap set-up by Mordo who posed as Bentley to make the call, even changing his appearance to Lord Bentley's while he made the call. He makes the trip around the world and exits a cab in a very odd panel; the cabbie asks him if he wants Doc to wait for him to which Doc replies that he doesn't and that he only needed the directions to the castle. That's true, of course, but at the same time if Doc didn't want a taxi ride couldn't he find some way out of it? Was the taxi driver just that damn good at selling Doc a ride? Was there something far more sinister at work? Who knows! Anyway this panel stood out like a sore thumb and had me scratching my head.

When Doc enters the dark, lonely estate he immediately deduces that though he cannot see or hear danger he is nonetheless sure it's real there in the castle. Doc's displaying that awesome 'cosmic awareness' we talked about way back in my review for Strange Tales #110. Later on in Doc's travels other characters will exhibit this as well - usually mystic or cosmic types like Adam Warlock or the Silver Surfer. And it starts to heighten as its used in comics, allowing characters to dramatically sense that some form of impending doom or another is hurtling through the void. You know how it goes. One minute you're having coffee with Moondragon, the next her head's thrown back, she's floating in the air, her eyes go white and she's screaming about something not being right with Eternity and that the Living Tribunal's about to judge everyone. That's what this sort of cosmic awareness jazz turns into later - but right now at this early age it's more like Doc's spider-sense and it's here more for flavor than anything else.

But his awareness is right! Doc finds himself caught in Mordo's deadly scented candle trap and is paralyzed. Mordo exits the shadows to gloat and to proclaim that when the candles die out, so will Strange. He also pauses to talk about world conquest (that old chestnut!) and then exits the room to leave Strange to his candle doom. The Ancient One perceives Strange's situation and tries to intervene from Tibet but Strange asks him not to because he wants to beat Mordo on his own. Now this I like a lot. Doc's drawing a mystical line in the sand and deciding it's time for him to sink or swim. This is almost like deciding if he's not good enough to beat Mordo's freaking candle trap then he might as well die and prove that there is such a thing as magical natural selection.

Though paralyzed Doc manages to reach up to his Lesser Eye of Agamotto and activate it. He uses the eye to send his thoughts out across the countryside to find someone who can come and put the candles out. He finds a gal apparently getting ready to sit down to eat dinner and hypnotizes her with mental commands to drop everything and come save him. He later finds out that she is none other than Victoria Bentley, the daughter of Sir Clive Bentley, and that Clive died a decade ago. Victoria's going to play a larger part down the line in Doc's tales so definitely remember her for now. What's even more interesting is that she's cute and basically makes a sci-fi pass at Doctor Strange - you know, the man who just mind controlled her to do his bidding. Doc's response is awesome; he basically tells her not to talk that way cause he's going to make her forget she ever met him once they leave the castle. Some guys would just say "But we live in different countries!" or "I'm just not ready for a long distance thing right now" or something! But no - Doc's willing to just make chicks forget him! But he's got a point. Maybe his cosmic awareness is telling them the chickie he's destined to be with is comin' 'round the editorial mountain before too long...

We come to the end where this tale falls right apart. Mordo springs into the scene once more and tries to mentally command Strange to kill Victoria Bentley, who he surmises must have some magical aptitude to have heard Strange's distress call via the Lesser Eye of Agamotto. But then at the last minute a second Doc appears off to the side and merges with the one before Mordo. The explanation? That this whole time the Dr. Strange we've been following... the one who took a taxi, the one who was trapped by the scented candles of doom, the one who has been fully colored throughout the story and not translucent, has apparently been Doc's projected mental image and this whole time Doc was actually zooming to England on a jet. And now his physical body has caught up with his ethereal one and he's keen to turn the tables on Mordo. Man that's a stretch. For one, it's vague as to whether or not it was Doc's astral form this whole time or an illusion. If it was an illusion he was creating on the other side of the planet I could see why it would at least look normal and not translucent. But it's far fetched to think Doc managed to create an illusion like that while at the same time being able to board a plane to London. And if it was his astral form then it's already been established that Doc's physical body can't move while he's out of it. What did he do, have himself Fed Ex'd? Bah!

"The Return of the Omnipotent Baron Mordo" was a disappointment. But Stan & Steve more than make up for that with the next issue, Strange Tales #115, where we finally get Doc's origin. And what a doozie it is!

That's all for this review. Over at Marvel Monsters I've posted the first part of a two-part look at the history of Marvel's monster and horror comics. The first part deals with a brief history of horror comics, what happened with EC, why there weren't any horror comics for a long while and then why there was an almost sudden demand for 'em.

Tomorrow here on Strange Scribe will examine how magic and voodoo work in the Marvel Universe and also see how different Marvel voodoo is compared to the "real" deal.

Strange Tales #111:"Face-to-Face with the Magic of Baron Mordo"

Today we tackle Strange Tales #111 which featuring Doctor Strange's second appearance in the still forming Marvel Universe and also introducing readers to one of his most dangerous and vile enemies - Baron Karl Amadeus Mordo. At this point Doc's still being referred to as the 'Master of Black Magic' in this five-page story from August of 1963 called 'Face-to-Face with the Magic of Baron Mordo.'


The story opens with Mordo plotting in front of a fireplace in his "heavily-guarded, hidden castle in the heart of Europe." Later on in the Doctor Strange comics we'll learn that Mordo's Transylvanian. Since we've established how alike Mordo and Bela Lugosi's character Roxor from Chandu the Magician are it's not too surprising to find out that Mordo hails from the same country as another Lugosi villain - Dracula. Mordo's up to no damn good - as is the norm for Mordo - and he desires to topple Doctor Strange's mentor, the Ancient One, to acquire his magical secrets. This, Mordo surmises, will allow him to finally take down his nemesis Doctor Strange. On one hand it's rather odd that Mordo feels the only way to tackle the student is to slay the teacher. Normally this sort of scenario involves killing the mentor and then the rising star student. But we quickly learn that while the Ancient One is more powerful than Strange he is also more vulnerable.

Taking a page out of Doc's own book, so to speak, Mordo astrally projects himself out of his body after firing up some *cough* "ancient incense." He hurls his ethereal form through the across the world to the Ancient One's temple in Tibet. In my previous review for Strange Tales #110 I mentioned how the Ancient One's home is said to be in Asia and that it would later be established as Tibet despite Doc's origin story in Strange Tales #115 saying the Ancient One's temple was in India. In this particular story writer Stan Lee has it down as Tibet.

Mordo uses his powers of mind control while in astral form on the Ancient One's servant and forces him to create a poison potion and slip it into the Ancient One's food. It must be soup since he's preparing something in a cup (damn, I am getting hungry now!) and since the Ancient One apparently doesn't believe in paying the money for a good, professional Taster the way a king or queen would he succumbs to the potion. With the poison in his system he'll continue to weaken until dead. Mordo gloats over him, as all good Marvel villains do, and tells him he will let the Ancient One die if he does not tell reveal his knowledge and secrets of black magic. Of course the Ancient One refuses.

Meanwhile, back in the states, Strange wraps up a black magic 'experiment' and decides to contact the Ancient One to share the results. Here again we see Strange's place as the student and not the master further cemented, almost like he's got to turn in homework. However he gets no response when he tries to contact the Ancient One via the Lesser Eye of Agamotto and figures he'd better hot foot it astral-style to Tibet and see what's what. Upon arrival he finds that Mordo is threatening his Master and Strange and Mordo begin to astrally beat the Hell out of each other. Mordo rambles off some typical but strong random world conqueror exposition here while Strange makes a desperate attempt to use the Lesser Eye to strengthen the Ancient One - leaving the Doc vulnerable. While Doc and Mordo continue to struggle, the Ancient One tries to come to his senses in time to help his student.

Left with not much else than his astral form and his wits to combat Mordo with, Strange tricks the Baron into leading him to Mordo's body. His ploy works and Mordo's astral form enters his corporeal form once more, allowing Strange to use the Lesser Eye to freeze Mordo and eliminate his plan. This time it's Strange's turn to gloat as he tells Mordo the details of why his trick worked. Clearly the Doc has a long way to go still before he's ready to be the Sorcerer Supreme. Never show all your cards, Doc! Just win, leave and brag about how stupid is to the Ancient One over a cold one back in Tibet.

So what's the bottom line here? Again, it's just five pages so it's not like Stan could do War and Peace with it. The story introduces Mordo well enough and sets up the rivalry between him and Strange and the Ancient One. The story does its job and Ditko throws in almost a dozen images of the protective symbol of the Vishanti via Doc's Sanctum Sanctorum and the Ancient One's Old Tibetan Home. The last page has a panel of Doc inviting the readers to keep following him in Strange Tales, meaning by now Marvel knew it had struck magic gold. And in two months Doc would return to Strange Tales for years on a permanent basis.

On Tuesday we'll examine the history of the current Sorcerer Houngan Supreme of the Marvel Universe, Brother Doctor Voodoo!

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.