In the summer of 1973, Marvel Comics decided to bring out an extra issue or two of a couple of their titles that normally came out only every two months. I’m sure the thinking was that by doing so, they could capitalize on the fact of their mostly youthful audience having more time (and maybe more money) to spend on comic books while out of school, and you can’t really blame them. But while the increase in frequency made all the sense in the world for a book like Defenders — which was then in the middle of a 
multi-issue, back-and-forth crossover with the always-monthly Avengers — it made somewhat less sense for the “Doctor Strange” solo vehicle, Marvel Premiere… if only because the publisher evidently got the idea for the “extra” issue too late to prepare a new story for it.
That would seem to be the simplest explanation for how, in the month of July, we got Marvel Premiere #11 — which, beneath a new cover by Frank Brunner, reprinted a couple of eight-page classics by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko that had originally appeared way back in Strange Tales #115 (Dec., 1963) and #117 (Feb., 1964), with the only new interior content being a three-page framing sequence by Brunner and writer Steve Englehart. Hey, d’you think maybe Marvel was just trying to pry every dime they could out of faithful fans like your humble blogger?
That’s certainly possible, and perhaps even likely. On the other hand, those two old “Dr. Strange” stories were choice ones — the first being the character’s origin story, the second being an early (though not the earliest) appearance of Baron Mordo — one of Strange’s oldest and most tenacious of foes, though not one who’d been around much lately (though that was about to change). And considering the momentous events that had just occurred — the death of the Ancient One, and his disciple Stephen Strange’s subsequent succession to his role as Sorcerer Supreme — it made a certain kind of sense to revisit the feature’s early days, when our hero had first come to know both the Ancient One and his other, “black sheep” disciple — the aforementioned Baron Mordo.
Another factor that helped me be accepting of the unexpected reprint material– and probably the one that was most to the point, as far as my sixteen-year-old self was concerned — was that I hadn’t yet read either of these stories, and had no way to know when I would be able to do so (Dr. Strange’s origin yarn would in fact be reprinted again about a year later, in the trade paperback Origins of Marvel Comics, but of course I had no way to know that in July, 1973). So, at the end of the day, I wasn’t inclined to complain overmuch.
That said, I was nevertheless pleased when the next issue arrived just one month later, with a brand-new, full-length story…
“Portal to the Past!” continued the run by Englehart and Brunner that had begun with Marvel Premiere #9, though with one significant modification — the presence of Mike Friedrich as co-scripter. Why was another hand needed? In his 2010 introduction to Marvel Masterworks — Doctor Strange, Vol. 5, Englehart offered this explanation:
I was in the process of moving to California at the time and had to get my old friend Mike Friedrich to finish the dialoguing. A few months earlier, I had spent some time in and around Las Vegas with my friend Alan Weiss, and from that came, primarily, Coyote (1981-1986, first from Eclipse Comics, then from Marvel’s Epic imprint), but also the opening sequence of this story.
The letters page of Doctor Strange #1 (Jun., 1974) gave a slightly different account, indicating that it was the Marvel editorial office that pulled in Friedrich to script the latter half of the story (which, like the rest of their run, was co-plotted by Englehart with Brunner). Either way, it was a deadline-driven decision, and one that wouldn’t be repeated.
Before we (finally) move on from this opening page, we should note that this entire issue was inked (as had also been the last) by the Crusty Bunkers — a pseudonym for a loose assortment of artists who were associated in one way or another with Neal Adams and Dick Giordano’s Continuity Studios, and whose number at this time (and for this job) included Brunner himself.
As they had in Marvel Premiere #10, our storytellers here represent the extended. wide-ranging storyline that had run from Marvel Premiere #3 through that later issue in such a way that a reader might imagine the arc had been carefully worked out from beginning to end in advance, though that assessment would be far from the actual truth.
Instantaneous travel is great and all; still, Wong has to tell Dr. Strange that he and Clea had rented the vehicle they were using, and so are responsible for returning it. Realizing that his recent intense contemplation of cosmic truths may have made him a bit inattentive in regards to everyday affairs, Strange promptly casts a spell that picks the abandoned Jeep up in the desert and plops it back down on the premises of the Mexico City car rental business whence it came. Problem solved, easy-peasy.
“Recalling the days gone by when you, too, enjoyed mystical powers…” In truth, Marvel’s storytellers had been inconsistent in how they’d handled Clea’s powers ever since she’d emigrated to our dimension back in Doctor Strange #173 (Oct., 1968); while there’d been some mention early on of her abilities diminishing the longer she stayed on Earth, they’d never gone away completely. Basically, she seemed to be precisely as weak or as powerful as a writer needed her to be for any given story. In some ways, then, the notion that she would need to start all over again at square one as Stephen’s disciple came out of left field, and could be seen as doing the character a disservice; on the other hand, it at least established a new status quo for the character that Englehart could (and, as best my memory serves, largely did) manage in a consistent fashion going forward.
See? I told you that those Baron Mordo-featuring reprints would turn out to be timely.
Dr. Strange levitates straight across the Atlantic Ocean, and “into the heart of Europe” — we’re not told how long that trip takes, but it’s over in just two panels, and Doc seems not the least worse for wear at the end of it. Does the Cloak have super-speed as well as anti-gravity properties? Or did Doc put the garment on autopilot and grab a power nap somewhere over the Atlantic? I don’t suppose we’ll ever know.
In any event, Doc eventually comes in for a landing in the Central European region he knows to be Mordo’s “ancestral home” — Transylvania, where else? — and after casting a spell to change his outfit to something less conspicuous, he sets off on a stroll through the “tiny hamlet” mentioned in the Ancient One’s accounts of the Baron’s background. “Although I don’t know exactly where his castle lies,” he muses, “it should not be difficult to find.” Yeah, full-fledged castles do tend to stick out in minuscule villages (though, as we’ll soon see, it might have been possible for someone to miss it if they never bothered to look up)…
Stavros’ reference to Dracula is interesting, since it implies that Count Famous is as “real” to him as is Baron Mordo — though there’s obviously still some wiggle room afforded by the reference’s coming in the middle of a remark about the local villagers’ superstitious nature. Within a month, however, another Steve Englehart-written comic would confirm without leaving any room for doubt that the titular star of Tomb of Dracula and Dracula Lives was every bit as much a denizen of the mainstream Marvel Universe as was Dr. Strange himself.
Meanwhile, our storytellers give us the typically stereotyped portrayal of Roma people — “Gypsies live only for pleasure!“, etc. — that was, unfortunately, pretty much par for the course in this era, not just in comic books but in popular culture as a whole.
Between this issue and Captain Marvel #29, August, 1973 was a pretty trippy month for Marvel Comics… just sayin’.
For the record, Mike Friedrich takes over as scripter for the remainder of our story with the very next page:
Lilia proceeds to explain to the stupefied Sorcerer Supreme that she and her people generally pay little attention to the authority of governments, which come and go. “But then came Baron Mordo — a locally residing magician of no small reputation!”
The story’s earlier reference to Dracula seems even more significant with the introduction of the Book of Cagliostro as a plot element. A real-life occultist of the 18th century, Cagliostro had recently been mentioned in several stories in Marvel’s black-and-white Dracula Lives title; in those, he’d been identified as an old enemy of the Lord of Vampires, but had yet to appear on-panel.
Strange reflexively parries the Living Gargoyle’s first sorcerous assault, but with no specific guidance forthcoming from the still-dazed Lilia, the creature’s next whammy hits him hard. Recovering, the Roma witch realizes that the present plan isn’t working…
And so wraps up the first chapter in what will come to be called (by me, at least) the “Sise-Neg Trilogy”. For all the ominous grandiosity of our hero’s dialogue on this final page, there’s little here to suggest that this storyline might ultimately amount to considerably more than the usual world-saving magical melodrama to which we Dr. Strange fans of 1973 had become accustomed. Little did we suspect that before it was all over with, Englehart and Brunner would give us the headiest adventure Marvel’s Master of the Mystic Arts had ever experienced — and would thereby raise expectations of what this strip could achieve, in the right hands, for all time to come. Of course, since Marvel Premiere dropped back to its accustomed bi-monthly schedule immediately after the release of issue #12, that meant it would be October before we got our next taste of what was to come… but it would prove to be well worth the wait.
I remember this as a relatively minor issue of the Englehart run. Not bad, just not as epic as the rest.
The Sise-Neg Trilogy is, as a whole, probably my favorite arc of the whole run. But I have to admit that’s mainly on the basis of its final chapter.
I missed the entire epic when it was new but collected the issues in later years. Nice prelude to the epic itself. I can’t recall if Lee or Thomas or maybe another scribe had previously referenced Transylvania as Mordo’s homeland. Some of us in the Marvel Masterworks Forum had discussed the depiction of European locales in Marvel Comics of the ’60s & ’70s, wherein they all seem to be in a time warp from centuries past, and in regard to Transylvania, with no regard for that region’s location within the then Communist nation of Romania (named after the Romans whose empire the lands that now make up Romania had once been part of, rather than the Roma people whose ancestors had migrated from India centuries before). Yep, Englehart & Brunner engage in using some standard stereotypes of the era, but that was par for the course in comics and other popular entertainment of the era, including having everyone speak English. All stuff I wouldn’t have even thought of as odd 50 years ago, but do to my present, more experienced self.
Sometimes, part of the fun in going over these stories of a half-century ago is contemplating the changes in our pop culture as well as in ourselves over that time. A world so familiar yet so different from our present.
Thanks for hosting this aspect of the journey’s reflections, Alan, and the prologue to Stephen Strange’s mind-tripping travels that would lead to the very beginning of the universe, at least as Englehart & Brunner & company would have it!
Yeah, Lee & Co. simply ignored the Eastern Bloc existed when they needed an old-school movie-style portrayal of vaguely Eastern European/Balkan villagers.
I don’t recall the Lee/Ditko era specifying Mordo’s origins.
While Avengers VS JLA established DC’s Earth is larger, Marvel’s Earth is also larger than ours to accommodate Latveria and other MU only locales. I eventually became aware of the real life situation with Transylvania and just figured it wasn’t part of Romania in the comics.
Even as a kid, I disliked someone becoming The Whatever Of The Universe or Cosmos. You never leave Earth, you charlatan! Strange is Marvel’s biggest offender but the one that bugs me most is Shadow Lass. Champion of Talok, my aunt fanny. You left Talok and never went back! I always wanted a story where the entities that empowered her took back the power from her for dereliction of duty.
This issue also is the genesis of Fraction’s very, very wrongheaded characterization of Strange as some sort of sleazy sexual predator because he was sleeping with his disciple. he missed the fact somehow he chose a woman who was already his girlfriend as his disciple. Par for the course for the man. When CBR used to do those Q+As with X-Men creators, he got mad when he called Psylocke an example of diversity in the X-Men and I pointed out she was an upper-class White woman essentially wearing an Asian skin suit.
I stopped collecting comics regularly prior to Psylocke showing up in X-Men and I don’t have any issues featuring her although I have the Captain Britain collection written by Moore that prominently features Ms. Braddock. I am curious, though, why the heck did Claremont transform her to appear Asian rather than simply creating a character who was actually meant to be Asian all along??? It just sounds entirely bonkers and it’s not like they weren’t routinely introducing new characters into the series.
Claremont and Lee have said the change was originally supposed to be for one arc but her near nakedness and Lee’s talent is what caused them to stick with it.
There’s also the New Mutants character Tom Corsi, a white security guard miraculously turned into a Native American
Both changes seem rather ridiculous.
Another myth is that Stephen in the origin looking like he’s been on a three-day bender — which given how hard losing his hands hit him is certainly possible — shows he’s an alcoholic. Which as others have observed may reflect that going on a drunken binge isn’t as unremarkable as it used to be.
As drawn by Ditko, Strange looked like he had sunken into the skids and was living on the streets. But to be able to afford to make the trip to Tibet or Nepal or wherever, he had to have some substantial assets remaining in his name. Of course, characters in comics often have the means to travel all over the globe and purchase equipment to make all manner of gadgets even if they’re depicted as financially down on their luck. Generally, with Peter Parker he just happened to get an assignment from J. Jonah Jameson to some far-off locale he had a desperate desire to get to for whatever other reason.
With Dr. Strange, I think we can presume he hadn’t really gone through his all his previous substantial earnings but had become neglectful of maintaining a well-groomed appearance. If he’d become a genuine drunkard, he wouldn’t have been able to get anywhere near the Ancient One’s remote Himalayan quarters.
When Roy Thomas retold his origin late in the 1960s, he specifically mentions that Strange had blown through his cash but sold off his possessions to get a plane ticket to Tibet.
The inference I drew was that Strange had signed on as a Merchant Mariner to get to India or Pakistan (say, an AB Seaman or a Cook).
By 1963 that was less likely. However, during and prior to WWII, almost anyone could sign on a ship.
Jack Kerouac served as a WWII Merchant Mariner, as did Wally Wood. James Garner and later-COL (R) David Hackworth when they were too young to join the US Army (where all three later served). Peter Falk, who was blind in one eye from childhood cancer, also served. Harlan Ellison’s 1950s non-fiction works about joining NYC street gangs to report on them often talked about those kids wanting to get their AB Seaman papers.
The Director, Oliver Stone, if I have the story correct, first visited Vietnam as a recent Ivy League drop-out, who worked his way over on a freighter as an AB Sailor, jumped ship and then worked for a not-for-profit and then returned as an Infantry Rifleman in 25th Infantry Division.
What I thought from Lee & Ditko’s story was that Strange worked his way over and then jumped ship and then worked and begged his way up country to the abode of The Ancient One. Implausable and romantic in 1963, but based on what Oliver Stone actually did in 1965, not impossible.
Certainly possible, especially if we take it that Stephen Strange’s trip may have taken place much earlier than 1963
As Marvel: Lost Generation points out, Stephen in 1963 is already the nemesis of nightmare and even the thoroughly mundane businessman in his first story has heard Dr. Strange’s name “in whispers.” It’s safe to assume his origin goes back a lot further. I think Marvel eventually settled on him suffering his accident in the 1930s.
So…Stephen Strange is the new Sorcerer Supreme, right? The most powerful magic user on the plane/in this dimension/in the cosmos…whatever. And the VERY FIRST time he goes out into the world to run an errand, he gets his mind ensorceled by a Roma witch? Seriously? Obviously, they don’t make Sorcerer Supreme’s like they used to. Having your mind over-taken so easily is such a sign of weakness in Strange that I simply can’t believe Englehart ever thought it was a good idea. As Fraser said, this a “minor” story, and I will add that it’s also one that presents Strange in a bad light in a story that has few if any long-term consequences (I have no memory of how the Book of Cagliostro figures in future issues, so depending on that, it may have no consequences at all). Not a good showing for the Doc on his first day in charge.
Artistically, the Crusty Bunkers were usually a reliable and welcome addition as inkers, but that’s not true here. While most of the Bunker’s work I remember has that Dick Giordano/Neal Adams patina to it, this book was obviously inked by several people, given the wildly varying quality of the art over the course of the story, and obviously those people were not Giordano or anyone on par with his talent. We all know how a penciller’s work is affected by the skill of the inker and Brunner’s pencils are done no favors here. Very disappointing work.
Interestingly, I just rediscovered my copies of issues #2-5 of the Doctor Strange book by Englehart and Brunner that came out roughly a year after these stories (the Silver Dagger storyline, except for a reprint in #3) and the inkwork by the Bunkers there is gorgeous, really allowing Brunner’s pencils to shine. Fortunately, this was the rule and not the exception to Brunner’s work on Doctor Strange, b/c the art was the thing that really made the Englehart/Brunner run on the title stand out for me the most. Thanks, Alan!
I agree on the absurdity. I kept expecting Strange to show he was only faking being under the spell. IIRC the book does play a small role in Sise-Neg’s quest for absolute magical power but not a huge one
Me too, Fraser. I kept thinking that, at any moment, Strange would pop up and reveal he was never under the girl’s power at all and that would be that. I did think it was an interesting “lesson” in that the witch learned (too late) that if only she had asked for Strange’s willing cooperation to get the book back, not only would Strange have been more useful to her, but she probably would have survived the experience. The “Living Gargoyle” certainly was no threat as Stephen took him out almost as an afterthought.
I have to say that Strange falling under Lilia’s spell didn’t bother me nearly as much as it did you guys. His mind’s on Mordo, and he doesn’t know she’s a witch. Plus, he’s probably a little jet-lagged (cloak-lagged?) after that transatlantic-and-then-some flight. Even a Sorcerer Supreme can have an off day (and let’s not forget, he’s brand new in the role). Just my two cents.
“Magic User”? “Plane”? You wouldn’t happen to be a D&D player, would you Don?
Actually, I’m not. I’ve only played D&D once in my entire life (loved the movie though). However, I would not be surprised if I picked up the lingo over the years through attrition, if nothing else.
Boy, for a character who never really rose to A-lister status saleswise, Doctor Strange has had his origin story reprinted a lot. It helps that it fits perfectly Spider-Man’s origin in Amazing Fantasy to fill out a standard issue. It also helps that it’s one of the best Lee/Ditko collaborations.
Despite my unadultrated love of the Englehart/Brunner and Englehart/Colan Doctor Strange, I didn’t and don’t like the massive power upgrade that Doc got with the Sorceror Supreme title. It is handledin consistently and often results in subsequent writers depowering him, then building him back up again. Probably that’s why I haven’t bought Doctor Strange regularly since the early 1990s.
Still, aside from the Ditko run, this Sise-Neg story is my favorite. The progression from low stakes to the cosmic really worked for me.
My biggest problem was later writers assuming that if he lost the Sorcerer Supreme title — it’s a staple like “let’s depower Superman” or “let’s have the Amazons disappear so Wonder Woman’s alone” — he’d be a lightweight, rendering powerful supernatural forces outside his weight class. Yeah, let’s just forget he beat Dormammu and Shuma-Gorath without that level of power.
Also I think the title reflects his mastery and the increased power he received from the Ancient One (and his later passage through death) — the position does not in itself bestow power on him.
Engelhart has said that he did not know much about Magic when he started using Dr, Strange in The Defenders (he sort of treated his powers as being like GL or Starman (flight and power blasts).
When he got Dr. Strange;s own book to write, Englehart started reading the kinds of things that were readily available (e.g., Callos Casandra and i would guess some pop Eastern stuff like th I Ching).
Now, none of the Marvel or DC writers of the period had been former Catholic or Orthodox Christian Seminarians or had studied for the Rabbinate. (Fox was a practicing Catholic but was trained as an Attorney at St. John’s. Friedrich was a practicing Catholic at this time but later became a Methodist Deaon.)
I don’t believe any had formally studied anthropology. No one had studied folk magic formally. (Len Wein had done a little on his own while creating Br. Voodoo.)
So a tretise on folk magic, this ain’t,
I always found the idea of a “Socerer Supreme” absurd. I could not see Kabbalists or some of the more exoteric people in the Roman Curia or whithin the varipous Autoceplalous Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches taking Dr, Strange’s semi Hindu and Buddhist power-bases seriously.
Later on, we see this with Silver Dagger, a Former Catholic Cardinal, who comes very close to killing Steven Strange and Strange having to use Kabbalistic magic to survive Dracula. The Roma Witch may be an early version of this kind of thing. She does not have his raw power, but her power is primal, rooted in nature and of a different order than his: not subtle and intellectual power.
I never thought of Sorcerer Supreme as a rank in a magical hierarchy, more a measure of his power. But the assumption in the Lee/Ditko years and a while after was (by implication, not formally stated) that it’s some kind of universal magic system all practitioners use.
Given Silver Dagger’s motivation was partly that he was rejected for a cardinal’s hat due to his fanatical desire for new witch hunts, I always thought it would be fun for him and Mordo to go out drinking (“That’s right, I was passed over as the Ancient One’s successor just like you were in the church! Why didn’t they appreciate us?”).
I may be influenced by George R.R. Martin and Jim Butcher here (both of whom may be influenced by Lee/Ditko) but I always assumed that there are different types of Magic (Blood Magic; Fire Magic; Geo Magic, etc.)
What Strange and Mordo manipulate are sort of logical forces like Order and Chaos, in an Eastern Religious context. You can do a lot with them and it is subtle. What the witch deals in is nature magic (possibly, in a code approved book, they are hinting at it being Sex Magic): powerful and primal and not something Strange is that familiar with, since it is outside his “Tradition.”.
In Robert E, Howard’s Hour of the Dragon, the antagonist (the Archeron Xaltotun) was overcome and killed by a “feathered Shaman” (probably a Pict) at the Fall of Archelon).
So, sometimes, a less seasoned opponent can defat a Master as amateurs occasionally defeat Grand Masters at Chess because they are not logically predictable.
No, the “feathered shaman” stole Xaltotun’s talisman, the Heart of Ahriman and wielded it against him. That’s closer to taking out Superman by wielding kryptonite.
That is an excellent point, I misremembered the story.
On the other hand, could a Stygian Wizard, wielding the Heart of Ahriman have necessarily beaten Xaltotun with it, given his years of using it and intimate knowledge of its capabilities and limitations? Think of (what was it) Bill Baggett attempting to control Hal Jordan’s Power Ring.
Would someone who has an entirely different magical frame of reference (Jhebbal Sag, not that the cult was common even among Picts, perhaps, a nature god, implicit to the Earth and its living creatures) have an advantage against someone whose magic is drawn from macro-cosmic malign beings like Set? Or at least, the different frame of reference might be an advantage . . . .
“Professionals’ are predictable, but the world is full of amateurs.”—Murphy’s Laws of Combat
I’m not sure that’s a matter of amateur vs.. professional as, say, “karate black belt vs. capoeira master” though it’s still interesting speculation. For what it’s worth Strange did defeat Brother Voodoo’s Damballah once (clarifying that he wasn’t the real voudou loa but merely a demon imposter).
In a lot of cases it’s going to come down to relative skill in their field — given Strange’s experience and his flair for strategic thinking, I suspect he’ll win in most cases.
That is a great question.
The Pict using the Heart of Ahriman could be analogous to a capoeira master or he might be more analogous to a guy who has survived 30 years of street fights in a Favala, who is widely feared and respected
So, it could be either formal mystery of another school or a completely OTHER way of gaining knowledge and mastery. (Or even of how you concieve those things.)
Because Strange had the damage to his hands, it is easy to think that Strange”s dexterity makes him the Surgeon he was. However, it might also be his diagnostic gifts and his skills at seeing novel relationships and how to solve problem along with his ability to impliment a solution few could execute.
Don Blake was a “GP” (basicly, what we know today as a PCP, a dianostic-oriented generalist). I always thought Lee/Kirby made him a sort of “Jim Killdare.” Strange, as a brilliant Surgeon had a sort of “Ben Casey” vibe. (With, perhaps, a side of Bob Mitchum in Not As a Stranger,)
Don Blake appeared to be a GP in most Silver Age stories but there are several Lee/Kirby tales where he’s a surgeon, indeed one of the world’s great surgeons. Which some later writers seem to have accepted, like when he’s operating on the Vision after the Human Bombs attack.
GPs/PCPs do some surgery; they are doctors. But,, generally it is either less specialized or emergent.
It was more common in the 1960s and ’70s and Lee and Kirby might have been using things like Dr. Killdare as a reference, where Dr. K (an Internal Medicine Senior Resident) performed such surgeries as the plot needed him to.
Going back to the 1950s, some TV Show Runners (Ben Casey and Medic creator, James Moser, is the best remembered) placed a lot of stock in realism. A lot didn’t or really created convoluted plots as to why Dr. Welby didn’t refer that patient out to a specialist(the AMA watched that particular show closely and endorsed it, so the convoluted plots didn’t violate Medical Ethics but would give most practicing physicians [and their lawyers!] PTSD).
The NYS Education Law does not yet provide guidance on surgical interventions on Synthazoids (and didn’t in 1973). So Blake was not in the wrong in performing the surgery on The Vision, especially as he got a consult from an expert in robotics and the treatment was emergent in nature.
Thanks for the details on medical law. With Lee and Kirby it’s definitely that they weren’t worrying about medical realism — I doubt anyone reading it was at the time unless it was a med student.
Of course that’s hardly unusual. One letter writer to Superman Family made the same point about Lois Lane: the nursing jobs she does as a volunteer nurse cover multiple different specialties and there’s no way she’s learned all of them.
Commander Benson has discussed how Marvel’s Captain Savage couldn’t have gone from a sub commander to a surface-boat captain who leads commando-type strike force attacks (https://captaincomics.ning.com/profiles/blogs/from-the-archives-deck-log-entry-27-the-skipper-runs-aground).
Excellent!
The thing about CAPT Savage is that Submariners (yeah, that is the real word) often wind up working with Special Ops guys and did in WWII. Additionally, a Naval Officer can command ground forces, often Marines as a “Commodore,” usually an O-6.
What is unrealistic is CAPT Savage leading the Raiders himself, instead of being the “Big Boss” for the Sub, the Raiders and any Attachments and Detachments needed to do the mission (such as Navy Underwater Demo Team people [forerunners of SEALS] and, maybe, Navy and Marine Naval Gunfire Spotters).
As usual , Alan, an insightful and informative post. Thank you.
I notice that in every instance shown here, the name “Cagliostro” appears to be lettered in another hand than John Costanza’s, suggesting that it was a late editorial change. I wonder what from?
I have to say, Colin, I hadn’t noticed that lettering-style discrepancy at all until you mentioned it. Now, of course, I can’t un-see it. 😀
I suppose it’s possible that Cagliostro was originally supposed to be someone else, but it seems unlikely, given how important his role is (or at least seems to be) in the next issue. My best guess is that JC made a minor spelling error and that someone in the Bullpen, knowing it was a historical reference, though it was worth the trouble to fix in production.
Since Gardner Fox had used (or referenced) Cagliostro a few times over the years, see, e.g., Hawkman # 10 (1965), I wonder if Fox left him the concept and Englehart had come up with something?
Fox apparently had filing cabinents of clipped stories on odd science and historical facts and events that he used in his prose and comics.. Someone like Englehart, who probably grew up reading Fox’s stories might have thought it was a neat farewell,
I can’t help but think Wong would be pissed-off. How many times did he bring Strange tea and call him, “Master,” and learn the martial arts and believe he might be chosen to learn the mystic arts, only to learn his “master” chose his, relatively recent, girlfriend over him. He must be fuming. Perhaps Mordo has need of a dogsbody who might be rewarded for loyal service. Or maybe he should just fashion a pair of mystic gauntlets and be, Wong the Merciful.
The second half of the story feels like Mike Friedrich cheated on his wife and the gypsy witch is the life and death of the affair. No evidence. Not suggesting. Not big on symbolism, but still, it hits hard even to someone who doesn’t want to see it.
I didn’t buy these books at the time, but, “Sise-Neg?” Really? Genesis spelled backwards seems beneath Steve Englehart, but I guess not. An homage to Gardener Fox? I suppose it means the end. I wouldn’t even have thought of it when I was eleven. But, that doesn’t make it a good writing idea.
I have several issues of Dr. Strange of this era and I liked the work, but never liked the character. I preferred less mystical superheroes. But, I remember thinking the artwork is very good, and that holds true for me today.
Wong was never Stephen’s apprentice, he was Stephen’s Alfred. So no reason to be PO’d about Clea.
The Sise-Neg name pays off down the road, though if Strange in this era wasn’t your bag, I doubt you’d like it.
Nothing says Wong couldn’t become Stephen’s apprentice. And he seems the same age, whereas Alfred’s aged out of the game, reduced to making vroom vroom sounds while sitting in the Batmobile drinking sherry. And servants can dream. (Ahem) I mean, staff can dream. I don’t think “servant” is an insult, as many people do today. That’s what they do. But, it does make me wince to see someone refer to their employer as “master.” I try, for the nostalgia, but I can’t watch “I Dream of Jeannie” because of that. The “master” bit, as in this title is one of the unfortunate products of its time.
I’ll look out for Sise-Neg paying off through reading Alan’s future posts. I like some things that generally aren’t my bag.
Nothing says Wong couldn’t become Stephen’s apprentice, other than he’s never shown any sign of wanting it.
Wong wouldn’t have raised eyebrows back in the Silver Age when Chinese and Japanese housekeepers and valets turned up a lot on TV (Burke’s Law, Courtship of Eddie’s Father, etc.). I agree a Chinese manservant calling a white guy “master” hasn’t aged well.
Hello, Alan,
Fortunes of war of kept me from commenting for a few months, but I’ve been reading and enjoying your assessments of these comics from late 1973.
The main takeaway for me was the scene in the desert with the lizard. So beautifully scripted. It strikes me that, between this issue and the DETECTIVE #439 story, Englehart was one of those writers who made it seem OK for male characters to cry – something that resonated with my 14-year-old self, when I was young and sensitive. (Now I’m old and cranky.)
I agree with you about the Sise-Neg story being a high water mark for this series, although Silver Dagger wasn’t chopped liver.
Sincerely,
Bill Nutt
I really enjoyed reading this 50 years ago, and, in spite of the many flaws pointed out, still enjoy it today as an introduction, or a light hors d’oeuvre, to the main body of the sise-neg storyline. I still find it implausible ( in a comic book?) though that the esteemed Dr S should not know where Mordo’s Castle is. Much of what happens in a comic is contrived either to meet the deemed action element or to pad out the story; however the use here, as indeed is the use of the Gypsy Queen, is to show what a thoroughly wicked person the Baron is. Still, for someone was has fought Mordo many times, and spent much time with him as apprentices to the Ancient One , plus the sorcerous resources at his disposal ( and even Clea was able to locate the good Doctor in the Mexican desert, right?), for Dr S not to know where exactly the Baron’s abode is, can be deemed definitely odd ( if not strange, pun intended)!
Artwise the inks provide a misty layer that I thought went well with the feature. Not at the level later provided by Giordano, but still effective in my opinion. The inks are not so different to the previous issue, credited there entirely to Mr Brunner, so my assumption is that he has a strong hand in most of the pages (the last page looking finished…my guess…. by a young Dan Green).
Finally, I hear ( and have seen, although only on the tv screen) that Transylvania is really quite a beautiful part of the world, and indeed so much so, one that I would seek to visit once retirement hits in ( if I could pull myself away from my beloved comic collection!). Maybe I need to borrow that cloak of levitation to wisk me away, but avoiding aggressive villagers, gypsies and floating castles!
ps Alan, where you mention Dracula becoming part of the Marvel Universe are you referring to the Count’s cameo appearance in the next month’s Avengers 118 by any chance?
pps I forgot to mention I liked Brunner and Englehart choosing Clea as the new appentice. Englehart even then must have had long-term plans for Clea, sadly never realised.