Recently in Doctor Strange Category

Doctor Strange hasn't been lucky in terms of sales, but when it comes to artistic talent, he magically attracts the best: Steve Ditko, Gene Colan, Barry Smith, Frank Brunner, Michael Golden, etc.  In the 1980s, after he had set the comics world on fire with the X-Men, Paul Smith drew a handful of issues starring the mystic master.

Doctor Strange #56 was Paul Smith's second issue.  The cover really stands out in my memory, because it's beautiful, elegant, and efficiently designed.  The "shot" is taken from an angle below so that you can see the stars and planets in the background.  Doc doesn't need to fight anyone, to sling any spells or fight Dormammu to be cool.  He's just ultra-cool enough with his look, costume, Eye of Agamotto, etc.  The cover was drawn in 1982.

Tom Horvitz has the original cover over on ComicArtFans.  Would love to have a good scan of the original.

Here is the original splash page to that issue, inked by Terry Austin, who had worked on the series since Marshall Rogers took over a couple of years before.  Austin was the perfect inker for Smith.

This 1980s period was a particularly good one for Doctor Strange--I heard Brian Bendis talking about the Smith run on Word Balloon a while ago.  Check out Essential Doctor Strange Volume 4 TPB (v. 4), which contains the above issue, as well as the Roger Stern / Marshall Rogers storyline where Clea ultimately breaks Doc's heart.  It also includes the Michael Golden story in issue #55 that inspired many artists to work on Doctor Strange.  Nuff Said!

This black and white illustration of Doc by Marcos Martin recently appeared in the The Mystic Hands of Doctor Strange.  Never has the Orb of Agamotto illuminated so brightly!  I think Martin's use of the light source is really clever.

The Mystic Hands of Doctor Strange is a retro-cool special, designed to appeal to older fans who remember Marvel's magazine line (see Enter the Deadly Hands of Kung Fu for an example).  Three solid stories, certainly better material than the recent Strange series.  Nuff Said!

The Comic Reader featured a couple of good Doctor Strange covers during the 1970s…

This one by Frank Brunner in 1974 appeared during the period Marvel re-launched Doc in his own comic.  Brunner and Steve Englehart took Doctor Strange and Clea to new heights of cosmic consciousness.

Here’s one by Kerry Gammill in 1978.  Gammill penciled once issue of Doctor Strange, issue #46, in 1981.  In this pic, Doc is once again entering new doorways of Ditko consciousness!  Nuff Said!

In 1972, the Defenders appeared in Marvel Feature #1, with this dynamic cover by Neal Adams.

It’s a great cover.  Each hero has a dynamic pose.  And you are not sure if these guys are here to save the world or destroy it!

In a recent Doctor Strange Barry Smith article, I came across a Marvel Milestones reprint that also had this version of Neal Adams’ cover, sans logo and with new coloring.

The colorist went for more muted tones here, rather than the bright colors on the original.  Doc’s left hand is obscured by the glow of the spell he is casting.  This cover was probably used on an Essentials reprint.  It’s an interesting experiment—but I can’t help think the original version is still superior.

The Defenders are one of my favorite super-hero teams of all time.  I can’t understand why modern Marvel can’t get the formula of Doc Strange + Hulk (smash) + Sub-Mariner to work.  Nuff Said!

Every once in a while, I wake up in the morning and a classic comic book pops in my head.  Most often on Saturdays, it’s a Doctor Strange story.  Today my mind travelled back to 1972, Marvel Premiere #3: Barry Smith and Stan Lee on the good Doctor Strange.

As you can tell by the terrific splash page, Smith plotted the full story with Stan providing the words and captions.  What we like to call Marvel Style!  Except I always think that classic Marvel style was when Stan at least gave a page of notes or at least a conversation with the artist.  You have to admire how well it worked at the time.  It was only possible due to the fact that Kirby, Romita, Buscema, Colan, Smith, etc., were all great storytellers.  I can’t possibly imagine any of Marvel’s current creators working this way.

Barry Smith knocked himself out on the artwork for this story.  Look at this panel where Doc is walking through the streets of New York City, as the rain starts to fall.  He’s brooding on this and that.  Who could capture this feeling, or draw those raindrops, as well as Smith could?

This is the other panel that always stuck in my mind—the one where Doc smashes open his window and discovers that the world outside has changed.  He’s trapped in his astral form while his body remains in a coma.  It’s unreal, like a dream.  Gee, which classic villain could cause this situation?  Nightmare, of course.

This comic has been reprinted a few times.  The scans you see here were taken from a Marvel Milestones reprint.  Nuff said!

After years of reading about Isotope Comics in San Francisco and reading various interviews with the owner, James Sime, I finally indulged myself in a trip to his unique store.  James was sitting at the counter when I arrived, as friendly and enthusiastic about comics as I am.  It’s a good quality for an owner to have.  I had a brief feeling of Déjà Vu after meeting James, who is well known from CBR, Flickr, Twitter, and various podcast interviews.  Never before had I met a store owner who is well known on the Internet!

Within seconds of my arrival we started talking about Doctor Strange—after I spotted his costume hanging in the balcony.  We both agreed that the current Strange series is somewhat lacking.  In fact, James’ theory is that anything with the title “Strange” isn’t all that good.  There was the JMS series a few years ago where Marvel attempted to reboot the good doctor.  And if you remember the 1990s era comics where Doc split into two entities—one called Strange—this theory seems spot on!  We both agreed that Brian K Vaughan’s The Oath series was one of Doc’s finest tales.

Isotope’s interior design is equally friendly.  There are no long white boxes that you have to step over as you walk around.  It does not look like a refuge for seedy characters.  It is a store where you feel comfortable looking around at cool things  The store is brightly lit, there are comfortable seats where you can read stuff, and they have interesting graphic novels on display everywhere.  They have new comics as well as mini-comics.  There is also a selection of original art on display.

Isotope is famous for having unique events where creators come to do signings.  James can really think out of the box and tries to make these events special—by offering limited edition pint glasses for Darwyn Cooke or scotch tastings for Warren Ellis.  James started getting these creators to create a drawing on toilet seat covers; I’m sure it started off as a lark, but now Isotope’s upper wall is covered with dozens of them.  And James has so many, he can’t display the entire collection at once.  There’s a Warren Ellis piece featuring Spider Jerusalem right next to one by Darick Robertson, and Mark Millar drawing his rendition of Superman.

This toilet seat drawn by Darwyn Cooke makes me supremely envious.  It’s just perfect and captures everything great about Cooke’s style.  I showed this picture to my wife Teresa (who is not a comics fan) and she instantly recognized Catwoman.  That’s a testament to Cooke’s ability to draw the character in an iconic form.  Teresa wondered why no one has made a business out of selling toilet seat covers with images?  There probably is one, but not with comic characters.  I’d certainly buy this one if DC made this a licensed product.  But I wouldn’t use a backhoe to steal it.

I only spent an hour at Isotope before I had to return to work.  I bought a few great collections, Northlanders (vol 1 & 2, awesome stuff) and Criminal (2 volumes).  If you work in the financial district as I do, it’s really a convenient trip.  You can get on any outbound Muni at Embarcadero, travel to the Van Ness stop, walk up to Fell, make a left and walk 2-3 blocks to the store at 326 Fell Street. 

When I was in my 20s, I always had a fantasy vision of what my ideal comics store would be like.   I always imagined a place where collections were readily available, top-notch creators would come and socialize with fans.  And perhaps share a drink or two on special occasions.  James Sime is my idol—he not only dreamed about such a place, he made it into a reality!  Nuff said!

Links:  Isotope Comics, James Sime on Twitter

Once upon a time in 2006, Stan Lee met Doctor Strange, and Alan Davis was there to capture it in his artwork.  His stunning splash page is shown above.  I know I keep saying this when I display a page of artwork I really like--but this is so good it could work as a poster!

Here's the image as it was displayed in the actual comic with full color.  No offense to the colorists, but I really think this looks better in the original black and white.  Nuff said!

While thinking about the great Special Editions of the 1980s, I came across these pinups from Doctor Strange Classics #1, from 1983.

John Jay Muth (Moonshadow) contributed this wild (almost pre raphaelite) painting of Doc trying to save some poor woman.  If that's the Wand of Watoomb, I've never seen it look so impressive!

Kevin Nowlan's piece shows Stephen Strange in a quiet, contemplative mood as the ghost of Clea lurks in his memory.  Clea left Doc in issue #53, circa 1982.  You can imagine Doc/Clea fans (would Lost-style fans have called it Clok?) felt a little less cheery seeing this.  Thanks for scratching at open wounds, Kevin Nowlan!

Carl Potts also delivered this terrific Ditko inspired drawing of Doc with the Orb of Agamotto.  Nuff said.