Strange Tales #110: Dr. Strange, Master of Black Magic!

 This is the first part of an ongoing series where I will be reviewing Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s Doctor Strange, covering his appearances in Strange Tales #110-111 and #114-146. 

Doctor Strange is part of a long lineage of magician characters, stretching back to Chandu, a radio series starting in 1931 that was adapted to film the following year (and featuring Bela Lugosi as the villain). Stan Lee cites Chandu as the main influence for Strange in his intro "It All Started With Chandu" (2005), though the initial idea for the Master of the Mystic Arts came from Ditko, and not Lee. In his 2014 essay "A Whole New Dimension", Dean Mulaney, a publisher who specializes in preserving newspaper comic strips, suggests Ditko was influenced by Mr Mystic, a Will Eisner creation that ran alongside The Spirit and Lady Luck, debuting in 1940.

Edmund Lowe as the eponymous character of Chandu the Magician (1932)

There were many characters of this type, generally Americans who studied magic in the East, attributing mysticism and black magic to people of colour and foreigness. They often went on globe-trotting adventures, doubling as stage magicians and crime fighters. There was Zatara, whose astral projection was drawn as a see-through silhouette, similar to how Strange’s white astral form is portrayed. Mandrake the Magician, first appearing in 1934, introduced the trope of the magician having an ethnic sidekick, the African prince Lothar. Zatara had the East-Indian bodyguard Tong, while Dr. Strange has the (as yet unnamed) Wong as his servant. These characters are often portrayed with slicked-back, dark hair and thin, split pencil-mustaches, combining dapper suits and top hats with capes and turbans to meld western fashion and eastern mysticism.

  

Zatara and Tong on the cover of Action Comics #14 

Harry Blackstone, a real stage magician who had his own comic series, in Super-Magician Comics #2

Mandrake and Lothar flying

 

Zatara (left, Action Comics #8) and Dr Strange (right) astral projecting

The first appearance of Wong

Originally, the character was to be named Mr Strange, but Lee worried that the name would be too similar to Mr Fantastic, so it was changed to Dr Strange (not to be confused with Dr. Carlo Strange, an Iron Man villain who showed up a few months earlier in Tales of Suspense #41) (Marvel Age of Comics). The story itself is a pretty low-key 5 pager, which in many ways feels like an earlier Strange Tales short that Dr, Strange wanders into, with its billowing smoke, noir-esque shading and cool colour palette of blues, pinks, and purples. At its core, its a crime story about an unnamed man haunted by guilt. The man says that he’s “heard a name--- spoken in whispers--- Dr. Strange”, and seeks out the Master of Black Magic for help. Strange goes into the man’s dream to find the root of the problem, and discovers that the man is being tormented in his dreamscape by the demonic presence of Nightmare, Strange’s “ancient foe”, because of his crimes. The man tries to kill Strange while he is astrally projecting himself into the dream realm, and Strange has to call on the Ancient One (simply referred to as “Master” here) to activate the eye amulet and save him. Then, the man confesses, which Strange says is the “only way you can ever sleep again”. 

Dr. Carlo Strange in Tales of Suspense #41

The panels are laid out in a pretty strict 9-panel grid, which are occasionally sliced vertically into thinner panels to build momentum and convey a sense of montage. Even though Lee claims it was a pretty rushed affair, Ditko’s pencils and inks are incredible. His faces and expressions always look a bit off and grotesque, which suits the eerie atmosphere of the book perfectly. The surrealism of the dream realm is something I don’t think any other Marvel artist at the time (or perhaps any other comic artist working, period) could have pulled off. Sure, Kirby can draw interdimensional monsters, gods, and cosmic wars better than anyone, but the slightly Lovecraftian phantasmagoria that makes Strange so special is something only Ditko was capable of. There’s so many incredible images in these 5 pages, and not a single panel feels wasted. We wouldn’t get an origin story until a couple issues later, and Strange’s solitary, aloof persona only deepens the mystique around him, drawing the reader in further. Like Ditko, he is not a man who chases the spotlight, but those in the know can see how important he truly is. 

Ditko shows Strange's astral form returning to his body

Alex Ross painting of this scene

Excerpt from a letter Stan Lee wrote to comic scholar Jerry Bails, discussing the first Dr Strange story

Action Comics #6: Superman's Phony Manager

 This is part of an ongoing series where I review Golden Age Superman, weekly, issue by issue, starting from the very beginning. 

Superman’s Phony Manager delves into Siegel and Shuster’s anxieties surrounding capitalism and consumer culture, particularly as a metatext for their own relationship with DC. In this story, a man claiming to be Superman's manager begins selling branded merchandise and using a fake Superman to back up his claim. The superhero is by nature anonymous, unable to work within legal structures like copyright to control the reproduction of their own image. Superheroes as intellectual property are owned not by their creators, but by the publisher. Royalties and creative control for long-running characters like these has been a hotly contested issue, which Siegel and Shuster would take DC to court over several times after the war particularly surrounding the film and television adaptations of their work, and their rejected Superboy pitch which DC eventually used without credit. The rise of alternate publishing houses like Image in the 1990s were heavily driven by artists’ desire to have greater control over their characters. More recently, the estates of several 1960s Marvel artists sued for the rights to the Avengers characters, now billion-dollar properties based off their work. 

 

Superman in comics? That'll never catch on...

Since when was Jimmy Olsen a blonde?

    The excessive merchandising portrayed here is all stuff that would come to pass later on, even predicting the radio serial that would begin airing in 1940. The story is deeply cynical about the whole thing, presenting the entire process as a copy of a copy- the manager hires an actor who doesn’t even have the same hair colour as Superman, and is willing to kill to protect his brand. Lois immediately sees through the scheme, but otherwise the general public seem to take it at face value, with the market being flooded by tacky, soulless objects with Superman’s name stamped on them, and Superman himself gets nothing from this. It’s a premise that would be taken even further in Brian Michael Bendis’ Ultimate Spider-Man, where an unauthorized, in-universe Spider-Man movie is made with footage of Spider-Man himself, and later the Kingpin purchases the merchandising rights, such that one of Spider-Man’s villains is directly profiting off of his efforts. Yet here it feels more raw, to have all seen this coming without having already lived through so many superhero merchandising crazes. At the end of this story, the manager profiteering off of Superman's work is the one who has his comeuppance. It's a nice fantasy. Marvel, DC, WB, Disney… they all need artists for their business to succeed, and yet they treat them as disposable, food for the gaping maw of branded content. Our artists deserve better. 

Ultimate Spider-Man #109, by Brian Michael Bendis & Mark Bagley

Action Comics #5: Superman and the Dam

 Nearly a year ago now, leading up to the release of Superman: The Golden Age Omnibus volume 7, I started reviewing Siegel and Shuster’s early issues of Action Comics. I haven’t gotten around to buying that omnibus and the project only got two issues deep, but I am starting it up again, posting weekly.

Superman and the Dam continues Siegel and Shuster’s efforts to expand the title’s storytelling possibilities, with another less polemical story that centers on Superman’s physical capabilities. Here, he deals with a natural disaster, as a flood pushes the Valleyho Dam to its breaking point. It’s a clever formula that would often be repeated, and the climax of the 1978 Superman film bears a couple of similarities to this issue, with Superman up against the forces of the Earth itself. Many other golden age stories would go on to use this template as well, thinking up creative ways for Superman to use his ever-growing array of powers to help shield populations from geographic destruction. It also has a very visual opening, showing the disaster itself and news travelling across telephone lines rather than opening primarily with dialogue in a newsroom.

Such an effective 4 panel intro

It’s interesting that these first few issues show so little of Metropolis itself. The first issue does a lot to establish the setting, but #2 is in a war zone, #3 is out of town, #4 is pretty vague about where exactly it takes place, and here once ago Clark follows a story that takes him away from home. The Daily Star serves as a jumping off point for Clark to hear about a story and go off on an adventure, rather than focusing the book on the city itself. Thankfully, Lois gets a bit more to do here, working against casual sexism by sending Clark on another wild goose chase and trying to follow the story herself. Of course, ultimately Superman has to save her from the flood, but they have a fun interaction, and this introduces the trope of the female lead being in a love triangle with the hero and the hero’s secret identity, which would be shamelessly copied in countless comics for years to come. 

One thing this story has a bit of issue with is communicating the scale of the danger. Superman is saving people in the abstract, but Lois is the only real embodiment of that. There’s not much in the way of other civilians shown, even though the dam collapse could kill thousands, and we see after Superman fixes the train track that Lois is not the only one on the train. We understand that Superman’s actions are saving people, but we don’t see it in concrete terms. The recurring image of Superman running faster than a locomotive does pop up again though, which is fun. Minor quibbles aside, it’s an effective story than broadens the book’s scope far more effectively than the previous issues’ attempt. 

Action Comics #1

Action Comics #4

Action Comics #5

Action Comics #4: Superman Plays Football

Nearly a year ago now, leading up to the release of Superman: The Golden Age Omnibus volume 7, I started reviewing Siegel and Shuster’s early issues of Action Comics. I haven’t gotten around to buying that omnibus and the project only got two issues deep, but I am starting it up again, posting weekly.

Superman Plays Football is about as strange a turn from the polemical socialist action of the first three issues as the title would suggest. Clearly, the title was still finding its feet, trying to branch out into different kinds of narratives and seeing what works. A lot of these early stories are great, but this one never quite gelled for me. 

There’s still an aspect of corruption here, as the opposing football team hires thugs to take out star players, but it’s pretty cartoonish and not particularly interesting. Superman’s approach to solving this is also pretty baffling in general. He disguises himself as substitute player Tommy Burke, drugging him and kidnapping him in order to take his place and foil the scheme by winning the football game. In the end, Burke is fine with it because it makes him famous, and it sidesteps what could've been an interesting ethical dilemma.

Siegel and Shuster's Superman is rash, violent, and chaotic, but everything he does is presented, unambiguously, as morally correct. He is an Ubermensch in both body and soul. This is another story without Lois as well, which is really starting to stick out, especially since when she does show up she’s one of the strongest female characters in this era of comics. Tommy’s girlfriend is the female lead, and she’s a shallow nothing of a character. Superman just running through tackles makes for good physical comedy, and all the odd creative choices keep it from being boring, but there’s really not a lot here. The book definitely needed to try new things to keep itself fresh month to month, but this one just doesn’t work.

Action Comics #3: The Blakely Mine Disaster

 Nearly a year ago now, leading up to the release of Superman: The Golden Age Omnibus volume 7, I started reviewing Siegel and Shuster’s early issues of Action Comics. I haven’t gotten around to buying that omnibus and the project only got two issues deep, but I will try to start it up again, posting weekly. 

Although not the stories were not officially titled yet at this point, I will be using the retroactive names from the Golden Age reprint series. This one is titled The Blakely Mine Disaster, and like the first two issues uses Superman as a power fantasy to solve class issues. Here, Siegel and Shuster focus on exploitation of labour, as rich industrialist of the week Thornton Blakely disregards safety protocols in his coal mine, as the miners work long hours for low pay. 

In many ways this feels like the most pure version of the type of story Siegel and Shuster wanted to tell. There’s capitalist exploitation, class struggle, Superman scaring the rich into treating the working class equitably, and a strong visual contrast between the world of tophats and cocktails parties to hardhats and pickaxes. The absences aren’t immediately obvious: Lois doesn’t show up, the Superman costume only gets one panel, with the rest of the issue having Clark either undercover as a miner or working as a reporter, and very little mention of the whole secret identity thing beyond Supie not using his powers while others are looking. As with #2, Superman doesn’t get the cover here, either, though it would later become obvious that he was the main driving force of the book.

Miner Stanislaw Kober is injured in a cave-in. With Superman’s help, he is able to get out alive (despite a broken elevator which impeded the other rescue attempt), but crippled for life. Kober reveals that the owner is aware of the unsafe conditions, but refused to make the necessary repairs, and the workers feel trapped, needing to feed their family and pay their bills. Clark interviews Blakely, who denies any safety issues with his mine and refuses to give Kober a pension. To stir Blakely to action, Clark disguises himself as a miner and crashes the mine owners’ lavish party at his estate. Blakely decides to move the party into the mine as way to liven things up for the bored socialites, and Clark engineers another cave-in so that Blakely can experience firsthand just how faulty his safeguards are. After all this, Blakely vows to make his mine “the safest in the country” and to ensure his workers are “the best treated”. 

Like with the previous issue, it all wraps up very neatly and quickly, as required by the 13 page format. Still, it’s very effective in showing the divide between the labour of the working class and the detached opulence of the wealthy, wanting to cosplay as the poor for a cheap thrill until they realize that living in poverty is actually quite dangerous and unpleasant. Solidarity to the workers of the world, and long live unions.