Two months ago we covered Marvel Premiere #9, the inaugural issue of writer Steve Englehart and artist Frank Brunner’s celebrated run on Doctor Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts. This time, we’ll be taking a look at that creative team’s second outing, one which may be considered almost as significant as the first, for at least three reasons.
The first is that this issue concluded the extended saga that had kicked off over a year earlier in Marvel Premiere #3, which had featured the first new full-length solo adventure of Dr. Strange since the cancellation of his title back in 1969. The second is that after a couple of efforts from undeniably talented inkers whose styles nevertheless weren’t entirely harmonious with his own, Frank Brunner finally found the perfect embellisher(s) for his pencils on the series here, in the amorphous assortment of artists identified on MP #10’s opening splash page as “the Singing Sons of the Crusty Bunkers”:
As we’ve discussed in previous posts, the Crusty Bunkers were a loose group of artists working out of the Continuity Associates studio run by Neal Adams and Dick Giordano. In regards to our present comic, the Grand Comics Database asserts that Adams as well as Brunner himself definitely worked on the inks for this story, and speculates that Ralph Reese and Alan Weiss, among others, probably contributed as well. (Marvel Premiere #10’s cover, on the other hand, was both pencilled and inked completely by Brunner.)
The third reason why “Finally, Shuma-Gorath!” should be considered important? Well, that one will need to wait until we’ve actually finished going through the story… so, best to get on with it, eh?
Dr. Strange understands now why the Ancient One chose not to aid him in his later travails. He prepares to attack his foe, but before he can, Shuma-Gorath proceeds to show him extremely vivid visions of the dark entity’s own ultimate victory: Strange himself will be buried alive, and then forgotten, while the worship of Shuma himself will quickly supplant all other religion. “Before man walked the Earth, I ruled — but I did tire, and I did sleep!” the fearsome entity intones, in words which evoke the Lovecraftian tropes that have been part of this storyline since issue #4. “Now I have returned, and so shall all the old customs! Earth shall be but the initial step in my conquest of the cosmos!”
As he traverses the Ancient One’s mental landscape, Dr. Strange invokes the psychic double of himself he previously saw while still out in deep space. He’s gratified to see that this figure is no longer crucified, which he takes for a sign that, before slipping into his current comatose state, his dying mentor believed that Doc had a hope of defeating Shuma-Gorath after all. Our hero proceeds to merge with his doppelgänger, hoping that it might provide him with some insight; but immediately afterwards, he senses the approach of a coming storm, and knows that it must signal the arrival of…
As Strange struggles to catch his breath, he’s confronted by the figure of one of his oldest foes, the dread Dormammu. He realizes that this must be another memory, plucked by Shuma-Gorath from the Ancient One’s mind just to give him trouble; of course, that doesn’t mean that “Dormammu” isn’t a real menace in their present environment…
Having delivered his plug for scripter Steve Englehart’s upcoming “Avengers-Defenders War” epic, the faux-Lord of the Dark Dimension takes his leave…
In the preceding two pages, Englehart and Brunner do a terrific job of calling back to earlier events in the Shuma-Gorath saga, in a way that might make you think that they’re simply bringing to fruition the ideas that had been introduced by their storytelling predecessors in Marvel Premiere #3-8, — an assortment of plotters and scripters that included (at minimum) Barry Windsor-Smith, Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, Archie Goodwin, and Gardner Fox. Which, of course, they are — but almost certainly not in a way that any of those previous storytellers would have anticipated (and which, with the exception of Marvel editor-in-chief Thomas, they may not have even been aware of).
As I noted in my Marvel Premiere #9 post back in April, while my fifteen-year-old self found plenty to enjoy in Englehart and Brunner’s take on Doctor Strange from the get-go, I was originally somewhat dismayed by what appeared to be the jettisoning of the H.P. Lovecraft-via-Robert E. Howard inspiration for the cosmic evil of Shuma-Gorath, in favor of what first appeared to be a “Dark Ancient One” conception. I had thus been partially reassured by Shuma’s oration several pages back about having ruled the Earth before the rise of humankind — and I was thoroughly satisfied by the revelation of his true form being just the kind of inhuman, tentacled monstrosity that Lovecraft might have mentally pictured as one of his Great Old Ones.
Oh, and in case you need a scorecard, the four unnamed characters at the bottom of the preceding page are, left to right, Baron Mordo, Wong, Clea… and Victoria Bentley, a young British magician who hadn’t made an appearance in a Marvel comic since Doctor Strange #178 (Mar., 1969), and who thus hasn’t shown up on this blog before, save for a brief mention in our post about Avengers #61 (Feb., 1969).
Along with co-plotting, pencilling, and (probably) partially inking this story, Frank Brunner also colored it — and while the coloring is excellent throughout, it’s absolutely spectacular in this full-page splash panel. The color-held background image of the Ancient One’s screaming face is particularly striking — and very reminiscent of a classic “Deadman” cover (for Strange Adventures #208 [Jan., 1968]) by Brunner’s fellow Crusty Bunker, Neal Adams.
Dr. Strange seems pretty certain here that both the Ancient One and Shuma-Gorath are gone for good… though as we’ll see on the very next page, the truth is a little more complicated than that, at least as far as our hero’s mentor is concerned.
Shuma-Gorath vs. Viewtiful Joe in a screenshot from the video game Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds (2011).
As for Shuma-Gorath — well, as any experienced comic book reader would likely have guessed even back in 1973, his exit would be a good bit less than final as well. Indeed, he’d turn up again as early as Marvel Premiere #14, just four issues from now — though since that appearance would actually be set chronologically earlier than his apparent demise in #10, it wouldn’t technically count as a resurrection. (Naturally, more details will be forthcoming in our post on that issue, coming in December.) For a full-fledged return of Shuma-Gorath to the present day Marvel Universe, readers would have to wait until Strange Tales (1987 series) #13 (Apr., 1988); since then, however, he’s never stayed away for very long, his popularity evidently buttressed by his being included in a series of Marvel video games from Capcom. (That popularity seems to have been a prominent driver in the character’s inclusion as a minor character in the 2022 film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, though he was there renamed “Gigantor” after a similar-looking one-eyed, tentacled monster from Sub-Mariner #13 (May, 1969) due to Marvel Studios’ apparent desire to avoid having to negotiate the rights to the name “Shuma-Gorath” with the current rights holders for the Robert E. Howard’s Conan and Kull franchises, Heroic Signatures … which is actually kind of amusing, given that the only thing that’s Howardian about ol’ Shuma is his name.)
Concepts such as the dissolution of the self and the oneness of everything are common intellectual currency in the West today, but they were considerably less so in 1973 — or at least they were if you happened to be a fifteen-year-old Southern Baptist living in Jackson, Mississippi. As such a person, when I first read this story I found these ideas wholly fresh — and also fascinating, in how they suggested decidedly different ways to think about spiritual experience, and even the nature of reality itself, than were easily encompassed by the evangelical Christian dogma that shaped my worldview at that time.
The Ancient One’s line beginning “‘He has hidden part of himself from the outside…'” is presented as a quotation; however, if Englehart actually had an external source for this text, I haven’t been able to track it down.
And so we come to the end of Steve Englehart and Frank Brunner’s second Doctor Strange story — and the third reason why it’s as much of a milestone as their first should now be evident. In the closing panels of “Finally, Shuma-Gorath!”, the new creative team have made a major change in their hero’s status quo, as Dr. Stephen Strange graduates from being a “mere” Master of the Mystic Arts to assume the role of Earth’s Sorcerer Supreme.
I don’t believe it would be an exaggeration to say that the question of just what it means to be Sorcerer Supreme (or, on occasion what it means to have been Sorcerer Supreme, but then to have that status no longer) has been a primary theme — perhaps the primary theme — of the Doctor Strange series ever since. And it all began here, half a century ago this month of June, 2023.
Wow. This was actually the first comic featuring Dr. Strange as a solo star I ever got. I was already familiar with him from the few issues I’d previously gotten of the Defenders, but even though Englehart wrote both those Defenders stories and this, this was like no other comic I’d ever read before. Simply magnificent in artwork, writing, inks & coloring. One of my all-time favorite issues. I’d just turned 11 shortly before getting it off the racks, and I was rather awestruck by M.P. #10. Didn’t really bother me at all that I was coming in at the tail end of what seemed to be an incredible epic — it’d actually be well over 30 years before I amassed the full backlog of Dr. Strange stories that had come before, including those prior issues of Marvel Premiere, and realized that this particular epic hadn’t started out all that great but with this issue ended on a spectacular bang.
And Englehart and Brunner, as co-producers, were really upping the ante on the magic/spiritualist aspects of the Dr. Strange mythos, even as they played homage to a classic Ditko era tale with Strange once again magically traveling within the Ancient One’s mind, but this time having the horrific duty of having to kill his revered teacher. But then, having done so, and even knowing he had no moral choice but to commit the deed in order to save the world, still felt tremendous shame and revulsion at what he had done. Until, of course, it turned out the Ancient One wasn’t quite so dead after all but had transcended ordinary life to become one with all reality. Curiously, within the next year, over in Captain Marvel, Thanos would achieve the same trick through other means, although it wouldn’t work out all that well for him.
Alas, for no particularly good reason, much as I loved this issue, I wouldn’t start to regularly collect Dr. Strange for about another two years. It certainly wasn’t a conscious decision, but more a matter of my getting my regular old favorites that took up most of my meager spending money and having to leave others that I would have liked on the racks. Eventually, my older, somewhat wealthier self plugged in those holes in my collection as well, to enjoy the remainder of Brunner’s tenure with the Master of the Mystic Arts, as well as those of later magical chroniclers.
Anyhow, this was my entry into a side of the Marvel universe I hadn’t encountered before but found well-worth further exploring once I finally got more of Doc’s solo adventures.
I read this and every previous Premiere starring Strange but I can admit being underwhelmed before Englehart. Looking back, they were more like the non-Ditko, non-Kirby shorts in Marvel’s pre-F4 history than anything actually good. Brunner and Englehart immediately ignited a true love for Stephen Strange that endures through even the worst takes that have followed. Just about everything in the end of the Shuma-Gorath blew my mind and even opened it up a little.
Englehart was truly skilled at taking disparate creators’ works and seeing a through line no one else could. Remember how he and Staton did the same thing for the origin of the Predator later in Green Lantern? That one also made it seem like there had been a plan all along but spanning years that time.
And Gigantor? They seriously renamed Shuma-Gorath that?
As a big fan of Steve Engelharts’ comics work, I have to admit I have been less impressed by his Dr. Strange work than his work on Cap, the Avengers, Batman, the JLA and Green Lantern.
It seems Englehart is very proud of his work on Dr. Strange, As a reader, I found it less persuasive than his take on Cap as a decent and idealistic man dealing with changes in his country he found unacceptable or any of his other incisive renderings of established characters.
Englehart has written about the increased insights he had on the charadter working on this feature, as opposed to writing about him in The Defenders. I think he had some kind of spiritual awakening in his own life that he was trying to capture in the Doctor Strange book (and, to some dgree in Master of Kung Fu) that I just did not grasp, then or now.
It is not that it was bad work, only that it was work I did not relate to.
I wasn’t a Dr. Strange reader at the time so I only skimmed this on the stand. Having the whole Shuma-Gorath cycle (and what came after), it is truly impressive work. And yes, it does seem that it All Makes Sense … except I never understood how possessing the Ancient One could benefit Shuma — surely at his level of power, even the Ancient One’s magic is relatively trivial?
The weirdest prequel Shuma-Gorath got was when he turned up in a multi-part Conan story and we learn Crom once fought and imprisoned him.
I enjoyed Stephen’s reaction to Dormammu, realizing that entity would never admit Shuma-Gorath was his superior, ergo he was a phony.
One point that annoyed me about later writers dealing with Stephen’s Sorcerer Supreme status is that it’s a title bestowed on him for his power and his wisdom in using it — not the source of his power. Even given the Ancient One transferred magic to Stephen, it’s not like Abin Sur passing on the power ring.
Alan, your column continues to fascinate. This was an excellent review. Having the 50 year perspective is really interesting since some stories hold up well, and others…not as much. In this case I find that this issue of Marvel Premiere holds up better than I remember. Of course at the time I had no idea that one of the “Crusty Bunkers” was Neal Adams. All I knew was that the art looked great and Frank Brunner had clearly arrived as a great artist who was fulfilling the potential seen in earlier issues. It is too bad he was only on Dr. Strange for another year or so. And Steve Englehart’s work was so strong with only his second issue! It was quite amazing. I admit that I was planning on dropping this book after MP 8, because honestly I was getting bored, but when I heard Steve and Frank were taking it over, I gave it another chance and I’m glad that I did. It’s interesting that Englehart’s work on Dr. Strange, the Defenders and Captain America was strong and confident from the beginning of his tenures, but that he later admitted in interviews that he was less than happy with his first year of Avengers (at least before the Avengers-Defenders clash). I found that surprising since I was generally fine with his whole Avengers run, but I also admit I did not remember the Lion God. It definitely was a pleasure to see the artwork from MP 10 again; this was really was a special book. Thanks Alan.
Powerful comic. I own it as well as the reprint – only two years later – in the oversized Marvel Treasury Edition. Frank Brunner left the subsequent Dr. Strange series early on because he could not keep the same level of quality in a monthly book, and the editors would not make it a bi-monthly – hence his move over to Howard the Duck, beginning in Giant Size Man-Thing #4, then the subsequent series, before moving onto other comics, then a long tenure in animated cartoons.
I had written my usual wordy comment to this post yesterday when I first read it, then my computer glitched and ate it like a day-old donut. I couldn’t re-type it then, but will attempt to recreate it now.
I was not a big Doctor Strange fan in the early days. I found Ditko’s work, which I’d quite liked on Spider-man, to be odd and off-putting on Strange. I’ve gotten over that in the years since and come to appreciate the comic, but back in the day, I didn’t read it. I was a fan of the Doctor over in The Defenders and that’s the road that led me back to his solo adventures at what turned out to be the beginning of the excellent Englehart/Brunner run of the book fifty years ago.
Frank Brunner’s work is excellent here. I had no idea what a “Crusty Bunker” was in those days, but I definitely noticed how much Brunner’s work looked like Neal Adams and I liked that a great deal. I doubt I noticed it fifty years ago, but in reading this now, I also noticed that large splash page of the Ancient One in agony and how much it resembled the picture of Deadman on the cover of Strange Adventures #208. In fact, I was congratulating myself for noticing it, just as I scrolled down and realized Alan had already pointed it out. Oh well.
As for the writing, I was amazed at how quickly, over a small run of different books, that Englehart began to come into his own. The writing here is crisp and witty, the plot is tight and without the holes most other comics try to pass off as a feature and not a bug, and I was most affected by the way Strange got what he’d always wanted, to be Sorcerer Supreme, but his ascension was marred by the guilt he felt over killing his mentor, even though he knew it was what the old guy wanted. Powerful stuff, especially for a fifty-year old funny book.
Hey, I remember Brunner on this book, and I remember his work on Howard the Duck. Did he have any long runs on any other series worth checking out? I really was a fan back in the day, but I don’t remember him being the most prolific artist in the bullpen. Somebody tell me if I missed out on something.
Thanks for the rundown, Alan. I look forward to re-visiting this series with you all.
“Did he have any long runs on any other series worth checking out?”
8 issues of “Warp” from First Comics, 1982-83. (Which, I have to confess, I’d forgotten all about before checking Mike’s Amazing World’s story credits page for Brunner: http://www.mikesamazingworld.com/mikes/features/creator.php?creatorid=1277 )
I remember WARP. It was based on an off-broadway musical that Adams worked on. I have an issue or two of that lying around somewhere…Thanks, Alan!
Warp was amazing when I first read it, quite unlike anything else. Less entertaining when I reread it, like a lot of “wow, what an amazing idea” stories. Perhaps it’s time for a third read …
Simply blown away…no amount of superlatives begins to express my amazement as I beheld this issue in those long ago days. Seeing it again now is just as gratifying also. As everyone has mentioned the art is just amazing, stupendous (add chosen adjective here.) But to me the way Englehart ties up all the various plot threads woven by, as you mentioned, a host of other writers into one spectacular ending is just astounding. I read somewhere once that Shuma Gorath was initially going to be a lost city under Manhattan. Not sure who’s conception that was. Smith? Lee? Fox? Thomas? Who knows but I’m grateful Englehart came up with this as the summation. What’s even more amazing to me is using all these clever concepts and distilled philosophy in a
20 cent comic book. Yet then he tops it in the issues to come! One of the best runs ever by a Comic Book writer in my humble opinion. I can’t wait to see your take on the upcoming tales of the Sorcerer Supreme.
On that bit of foreshadowing the author pulls off, with the various magicians around the world? I am glad you pointed out that person was Victoria Bentley because, with the red arch jutting out behind her in the panel I’d have figured her for Wanda the Scarlet Witch.
Add me to the list of people who were knocked out by the artwork and story in this issue. Truth be told, although I read comics regularly through 1979, I really began to largely lose interest in 1972 when monster books, martial arts books and sword and sorcery books began to take over. However, there were some very bright spots and most of them for me involved Steve Englehart as writer. I really appreciated the art work even more this time around. One of my favorite comic books of art, certainly in this era.
This time around though, knowing what Englehart would do nearly two years later in the Avengers, I couldn’t help thinking of the Cotati when the Ancient One showed up in a tree.
I agree with you that, both artistically and in the quality of the writing, this issue serves as an extremely strong conclusion to what was, as you observed, a very long, rambling eight issue storyline beset by numerous creative changes throughout its run.
I feel that the ending by Brunner & Englehart is very clever & imaginative, and it avoids an issue that sometimes crops up in works adapted from or inspired by Lovecraft, i.e. how do you have your hero credibly defeat a villain that you’ve built up to be this horrific, mind-shattering, cosmic menace without it coming across as a cop-out? There’s even a section devoted to this on the TV Tropes website:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu
The overall spiritual, esoteric tone of this issue, and the reveal that Strange must kill his mentor the Ancient One in order to prevent Shuma-Gorath from materializing on Earth, really does feel like an effective solution to stopping a seemingly all-powerful foe. And it works well in that the Ancient One, as Shuma-Gorath’s opposite number, is primarily selfless, uninterested in the acquisition of power, and as such someone who would be all too willing to sacrifice himself to save the dimension of his birth. And I like the reveal that this enables the Ancient One to elevate to a higher plane & become one with existence.
So, yes, definitely a high point in the history of Doctor Strange.
One of my favourite comics from the era, a spectacularly good comic….with both story and art ( and cover!!) expertly executed. It is amazing how Englehart brought to a conclusion a very disjointed set of stories and made sense to them. And well done Roy Thomas for bringing Englehart and Brunner together…however briefly. Here they equalled the best of Ditko on the character.