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.
The Origin of Dr Strange is the first Dr Strange story to raise the page count, jumping from 5 to 8. This allows Ditko to open with a full splash page, rather than having to do two thirds and then cram 3 panels under it in order to maximize his 5 pages. It’s a nice pinup of Dr. Strange, with an abstract cobweb-y background that recalls the final panel of #110, and a strange figure in the shadows with Strange’s cloak billowing behind him, as he looks aloof as ever. Though I focus a lot on Ditko in this series, this story has a ton of Lee’s hallmark dramatic beats. Lee plays up how odd it is that Strange didn't start with an origin, because that's how he liked to tell stories, but it's not as if there was no precedent. While rarer on the Marvel side, big DC heroes in the golden age, most notably batman and Green Arrow, sometimes did not open with an origin either.
In Dr. Strange: The Early Stories (Circa 1963-64), Nick Caputo notes that “the hero with an affliction was a Stan Lee trope (Tony Stark's weak heart; Matt Murdock's blindness; Don Blake's lame leg; Professor Xavier confined to a wheelchair, etc…)” (2016). As a surgeon, Strange is a proud, talented man who wants to be left alone, using his skills for financial gain and refusing to display altruism. In other words, he is an objectivist, like Ditko. Spider-Man underwent a similar process, as his uncle is killed due to Peter’s selfishness in Amazing Fantasy #15. Lee writes Ditko’s characters as objectivists who need to experience violent, traumatic, life altering misfortune to learn the value of helping others. It’s not hard to see why there was so much friction between the two men: they had fundamentally different worldviews in almost every way. Eventually, the pair would stop speaking entirely, until Ditko ultimately left Marvel in 1966 (but not before creating some of the greatest superhero comics of the decade, perhaps of all time).
Strange's self-interest 
Strange's punishment
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| Spider-Man's self-interest (Amazing Fantasy #15) |
Spider-Man's punishment (Amazing Fantasy #15)
Before this issue, Strange was quite a mysterious character. We knew he studied under the ancient one to become a magician, alongside Baron Mordo, but not the hows or whys, or who has was beforehand. His backstory is hardly to the level of insensitivity as Lee and Kirby’s earlier crack at a mystic character, Doctor Droom (inked by Ditko), who literally turned into an Asian caricature after learning magic from a Tibetan monk in Amazing Adventures #1, but it’s still steeped in the mysticism of the Orient and othering Asian people. In many ways Strange feels like a much more successful second attempt at creating a character of this type from Lee & Ditko (Caputo), while still inheriting the colonial baggage inherent to the genre.
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| Dr Droom's transformation (Amazing Adventures #1) |
Here, we see Strange with a bit of a different look than the first few issues, and learn that he was an American surgeon whose hands were broken in a car crash. Unwilling to work under one of his former collegues, Strange becomes a drifter, until he hears rumors of “the Ancient One”, who some say can heal any affliction. The non-linearity of it is pretty neat too, partially told in flashback as Strange recounts his story to the Anicent One, as flipping between respected surgeon Strange in his crisp suits and drifter Strange with his scraggly beard and worn-down clothes creates a strong visual contrast between the two periods of his life. Upon meeting the Ancient One, Strange is understandably skeptical, but eventually tries to intervene to tell the Ancient One about Mordo’s evil plans. He realises the dangers of sorcery in the wrong hands, and finds a purpose greater than himself. Again, Lee’s hand is obvious here.
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In terms of art, this might be Ditko’s best work yet in the series. While the first story has great atmosphere with its unique blend of noir and surrealism, this one manages to be dynamic and compelling while sticking mostly to closeups and dialogue. Every panel is so expressive, full of emotion and drama conveyed almost entirely through faces. It’s a minor miracle that it works at all. Mordo’s introduction makes great use of framing, first cloaking him in shadow and then positioning him closer to the “camera” so that he makes Strange look tiny. He is suitably imposing, as Strange is powerless to fight him at this stage. It’s also the first mention of Dormammu, who would go on to become a recurring villain. Ultimately, the stuff with Mordo is there a a catalyst for Strange’s character development rather than to explore that character any further, which is probably for the best when we just got two relatively similar adventures about Strange fighting him. Still, having Strange as a novice does give it a different dynamic than the previous two, and this story hits all the important thematic and plot beats you need for an effective origin story. Not too shabby for 8 pages.
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