This is 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.
Strange Tales #114 chronicles another faceoff with Baron Mordo, as the evil sorcerer impersonates one of Strange’s acquaintances and lures him to a castle in England. The locale fits in well with the old-world mysticism of the book. Strange arrives at a "dark, foggy London street" where Jack the Ripper wouldn't look out of place. It’s also the first appearance of the blue cape, which is eventually supplanted by the red one in issue #127. Usually, Ditko inks over his own pencils, but here, he is inked by an uncredited George Roussos, who doesn’t have quite the same level of precise linework that Ditko had (Caputo). It leads to strange himself looking a bit off, especially with the simplified inks on his face, and the hair is all over the place. Despite that, the overall narrative is more interesting than #113, the colours are more vibrant, and the setting continues the book’s general aesthetic of old world mysticism and long forgotten lore. Strange refuses The Master’s help here, continuing to grow and become self sufficient over the course of the first three stories.
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| Strange with Rousso's inks (left) vs Strange with Ditko's inks (right, #110) |
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| they gave him a pompadour 💀 |
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| Strange takes matters into his own hands |
Strange skipped out on Strange Tales #112 and 113, as Marvel “waited to receive your letters, to see if you would want him continued”. Evidently it was popular enough to continue on, as Strange never missed another issue, with the series being renamed Doctor Strange in issue #169. The story may not have been quite ready for #114 at the time, and since Ditko was likely busy with a little book called The Amazing Spider-Man (among other things), the last-minute finish from Roussos would make sense (Caputo). In the next issue, the stories would expand to 8 pages, giving them more room to breathe and experiment, and this issue is a fitting end to the opening trilogy. Next, we finally get to dive into Dr. Strange’s origin, with Strange Tales #115.
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| the astral fight is summed up in one panel this time |
Sources
Dr Strange: The Early Stories by Nick Caputo (2016)
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