As regular readers will hopefully recall from our Doctor Strange #4 post of two months ago, the final pages of that issue saw the Sorcerer Supreme defeat Death only after surrendering to it (yeah, it was kind of complicated), thus setting the stage for Doc to return from the Lewis Carroll-inspired realm of unreality to which he’d been exiled ever since issue #1 — and thence to bring the beatdown to his enemy Silver Dagger, who’d been holding our hero’s lover, Clea, a prisoner through that whole time.
This long-anticipated development is quite clearly heralded on the present issue’s cover by artist Frank Brunner… although when we turn past that cover to the story’s opening splash, we find that Brunner and his co-plotter, scripter Steve Englehart (along with inker Dick Giordano), are going to make us wait for Doc’s actual return for at least a couple of pages…
Through the three previous chapters of this storyline, we’ve learned next to nothing about Silver Dagger, other than that he’s a religious fanatic of the Christian persuasion who’s nevertheless comfortable with, as well as skilled in, supposedly “black” magic. Clearly, we’re about to find out more about who he is and how he came to be… and his comparing himself to Cotton Mather and the Inquisitors doesn’t exactly bode well. (Really, dude, you should have just stopped with Jesus Christ…)
The newly-crowned Pope we see in the next-to-last panel above is a reasonable likeness of Paul VI, whose papacy began in 1963 and would continue another four years beyond our story’s publication date. The figure we see in the panel before that, however, doesn’t look much at all like the photos I’ve seen of Paul’s real-life historical predecessor, John XXIII — which leads me to wonder if Brunner actually drew him to be another high-ranking church official, and Englehart took him for the old Pope by mistake. Not that it matters all that much in the long run, I suppose.
Like all good fictional representations of the real-world Vatican Library, the Marvel Universe’s version comes complete with a copy of the Necronomicon, the forbidden grimoire invented by horror writer H.P. Lovecraft for his 1924 short story “The Hound”, and thereafter referenced in a number of later stories by Lovecraft and his peers prior to being ultimately absorbed into the larger popular culture of the 20th century.
Ah, finally, Dr. Strange is back! Everything should start looking up immediately, I’m sure…
…OK, maybe not immediately…
Having made the incorrect presumption that Clea’s responsible for animating the mannequin, Silver Dagger contemptuously dismembers it before departing to take a bathroom break…
Clea runs all the way home to the Sanctum Sanctorum; there, after using Dr. Strange’s borrowed magical strength to pass through the building’s mystical defenses, she encounters a surprised but relieved Wong. Meanwhile, she’s pursued by Silver Dagger, who’s momentarily slowed down when he’s accosted by a panhandler — though only momentarily, as the determined magician blasts the unfortunate man to death without a moment’s pause…
One of the many things that helps Steve Englehart’s run on Doctor Strange stand out so strongly from those of other writers, even half a century later, is how the Sorcerer Supreme’s struggles in his stories (including, but not limited to, those co-plotted with Frank Brunner) often function on more than one level. For most writers, it would be sufficient to portray our hero’s journey back from unreality as his overcoming a series of literal (one can’t really use the word “physical” in this context) obstacles; in Englehart’s hands, it’s both that and an odyssey of spiritual reintegration, as before he can be fully restored to himself, Stephen Strange must first share himself fully with his beloved, Clea.
Returning to our story, Silver Dagger arrives at the Sanctum and, utilizing the powers of the Eye of Agamotto, easily gains entry. Instantly aware of his enemy’s arrival, Strange sends the non-powered Wong away to safety, while requesting that Clea remain. “As if I would leave you now —“, she replies.
And that’s that for the “Silver Dagger Saga” — although not for the villain himself, naturally. Despite the confident assurance proffered in the story’s last panel that he’ll be stuck inside the Orb of Agamotto “for all eternity“, SD would be back on the scene as early as 1978, when he’d return to bedevil not only Dr. Strange and Clea, but also Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel, in the 76th issue of Marvel Team-Up. (Though there’s an argument to be made that he’d shown up again even before that — in a 1975 issue of Gold Key’s licensed Dark Shadows comic, of all things.)
Along with concluding the most recent multi-issue storyline by the Englehart-Brunner team, Doctor Strange #5 also represented the end of the duo’s collaboration on the series. An announcement at the top of the issue’s letters page brought readers the unwelcome news:
In later years, Frank Brunner has occasionally elaborated on his decision to leave Doctor Strange; for example, in a 1999 interview for Comic Book Artist #6, he said:
Dr. Strange was going to go monthly, and — I’ll tell you the truth, I was out of storylines at that point. I mean, I felt I had done everything I could do, we’d taken him from just a magician to sorcerer supreme and he took the place of The Ancient One, and I didn’t have another idea! At that time, I was looking at a “Man-Thing” comic and this duck comes walking out with a cigar, and I said, “That’s what I want to do!” Something funny!
Brunner’s memory might have failed him just a little bit here, as Doctor Strange was not, in fact, about to go monthly; rather, the book would continue to be released on a bi-monthly schedule through issue #13, which didn’t reach spinner racks until January, 1976. On the other hand, it’s quite possible that there was at least talk in Marvel’s offices about increasing the title’s frequency during the time Brunner was still working on it; according to what Marvel’s then-editor-in-chief Roy Thomas told the artist many years later while interviewing him for Alter Ego #29 (Oct., 2003), “your and Steve’s run together on the book was one of the few times Dr. Strange ever sold competitively with the other Marvel titles, percentage-wise.” So perhaps there was an expectation that an increase in publishing frequency could happen at any time; in any event, there’s no reason to doubt Brunner’s other assertion, i.e., that he’d essentially run out of ideas for what he’d like to do on Doctor Strange (presumably, he had little interest in simply drawing up any solo ideas of Englehart’s).
The prospective Englehart-Brunner “Fu Manchu in the 1930s” project referenced on DS #5’s letters page doesn’t come in for a mention in any later interviews with the artist that I’ve read; perhaps that’s because it never seems to have moved much (if at all) past the conceptual stage (which, given the source material’s racist overtones, was probably just as well, in your humble blogger’s opinion). As things worked out, the next new comic-book story to feature Frank Brunner’s artwork (I’m excluding his contribution to the black-and-white Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction #1, which was a reprint; more details to follow in a future post) would in fact be the initial solo outing of that “duck… with a cigar” Brunner had taken a shine to upon his introduction by writer Steve Gerber and artist Val Mayerik in the “Man-Thing” feature, back in 1973. And, indeed, Brunner seems to have begun work on the first “Howard the Duck” strip very soon after giving up the Doctor Strange assignment; the same month that saw the publication of DS #6 (for which Brunner drew a cover, incidentally), November, 1974 also saw the release of Giant-Size Man-Thing #3 — which, while it didn’t include Howard’s first solo adventure, the 9-page “Frog Death!” by Gerber and Brunner, did feature an letters-page note from the author explaining why the strip wasn’t in that issue, as had been previously announced: “Howard the Duck is still in California, on the sun-splashed drawing board of Frank Brunner.” Gerber went on to promise that Howard would appear in Giant-Size Man-Thing #4, “even if I have to draw it myself!”; fortunately for posterity, the “Frog Death!” we readers eventually saw in February, 1975 would feature Gerber only as writer; the story’s pencils, inks, and colors would all be by Brunner, and they’d be worth the wait… though that’s a topic best left for further discussion in a future post.
As for Doctor Strange, I believe there’s a decent argument to be made that the quality of the series took a small but perceptible hit with Frank Brunner’s departure. Setting aside the question of whether one prefers Brunner’s artwork to Gene Colan (or vice versa), Brunner had been more than a simple illustrator of Englehart’s stories; by all accounts, both creators could equally claim to be the series’ “idea men”. As excellent an artist as Colan was, he doesn’t seem to have had the same interest in contributing to the writing side of the storytelling as Brunner; and even if he had, he doesn’t appear to have been on the same trippy wavelength that the two younger creators had tuned into together. There was simply no way that the Englehart-Colan Doctor Strange was going to be the same kind of reading experience the Englehart-Brunner version had been, no matter how adept and imaginative Colan could get with the visuals (and as we already knew from the older artist’s late-’60s run on the feature, that was plenty).
So, maybe Doctor Strange wouldn’t be quite as excellent post-Brunner as it had been while he was involved; that didn’t mean it couldn’t still be a very good comic book, or even, on occasion, a great one. At least, that’s my opinion; I look forward to seeing what all of you think, in the months to come.
I agree that the Englehart- Brunner version of Doc is probably it’s apogee of excellence. While the storylines that followed, Dormammu’s return, Eternity’s return were absolutely magnificent they never reached the same melding of art and mysticism that Brunner embodied. I like to use a surfing analogy to describe these rare periods of transcendent achievements in the Comics. You read/ surf along and there’s a lot of mundane but pretty cool waves/ stories. But occasionally the elements are just right and you find yourself riding/ reading the big one. It’s incredible, it’s a gigantic rush, you’re riding this burst of excitement and engagement but then it’s over and you’re back to the more mundane but still enjoyable waves/ comics. That’s Englehart/ Brunner’s Dr. Strange.
I especially love the arrogance and hubris displayed by Doc in this issue. “I am a Sorcerer Supreme, a man of knowledge, while you are only a man of learning.” “Such a belief may take you far ..but not as far as I have gone!” “Only if his skills equal mine and I’m afraid they do not.” When you think about it, its not surprising Doc has a pretty healthy ego. I mean Spiderman or Iron Man probably thinks they’re pretty special but they’ve gotta know there are plenty of other super dudes around with just as much talent and or power. Whereas Dr. Strange is the Sorcerer Supreme. The apex of his field, indeed unquestioned in his supremacy over all comers, Mordo, etc. Hence, the rather large self esteem.
I have to mention Silver Dagger’s excusing himself cause “nature calls.” I can’t remember ever seeing this in any other comics or indeed in the movies either! To me it’s a much better plot device than what’s usually used. Like in practically every James Bond movie where the head baddie leaves because he has important matters to get to just as Bond’s about to bite the bullet. How about “and now Mr. Bond I’ll leave you to be chopped in two by the giant swinging ax because….nature calls”
It’s rather hilarious but too true that the big part of life which impacts everyone who has ever lived for any extended period beyond the womb is mostly ignored in our popular culture because, well, it’s both embarrassing and distasteful for the vast majority of us. Sure, Peter Parker can get a cold every so often or even hurt his arm, but I’m pretty sure no one is going to write a story wherein he has to deal with the dread ordeal of …. diarrhea! Especially not when fighting with Dr. Octopus or some other super-baddie. “Ok, Doc Ock, uh, I’d really love to keep tussling with you, but I – I really need to go … like right now!” “Oh, stop whining, you … sniff, sniff. Ewww, that smell!?! Yes, get out of here! Go! Gag! Yecch! You’re making my tentacles curl”
Returning from a call of nature occurs in Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #84. The Agent of 1000 Faces has captured Dum Dum Dugan and Man-Mountain McCoy in a pub.
Suddenly, the bartender enters the scene, the reason for his absence being a need to use the facilities.
Finishing his business leads to the finish of his life..
I don’t think it’s arrogance and definitely not hubris. For one thing, his assessment is accurate. He’s more the expert confronted with an egocentric amateur — Gary Kasparov or Serena Williams facing someone who just knows he’s good enough to take them.
Another very fine overview of another Englehart/Brunner classic — their collaboration on Dr. Strange is one of the highlights of early ’70s comics. Certainly, Colan provided great are as well, but it made for another shift in the series as is always the case when there’s a change in the lineup of the talent producing these sequential artworks.
his story is yet another example of how much more Bronze Age comics referenced aspects of Christian culture and mythos into their stories than was the case in the Silver Age. Of course, more so in Ghost Rider, Warlock, Son of Satan and Tomb of Dracula, but aside from Englehart & Brunner here, O’Neil & Adams made use of it in one of their GL/GA stories, and there’s some of it in Englehart’s Kang/Celestial Madonna stories in Avengers, and then the Foolkiller in Gerber’s Man-Thing, and other examples, I’m sure. Of course, it was part of the overall culture of the late ’60s/early ’70s, with Jesus Christ Superstar and the little subgenre of “god-rock” – Jesus Is Just All Right with Me, Spirit in the Sky, My Sweet Lord, One Toke over the Line, etc. Even aside from Silver Dagger himself, the “death” of Dr. Strange, his sojourn in a sort of hell within the Eye of Agamotto, and his “re-birth” echo parts of the Christ story, and likely not by coincidence, even if Doc didn’t have to suffer on a cross! Seems a bit odd that over in Ghost Rider, the “powers-that-be” appear to have gotten cold feet about the directions Tony Isabella was taking his stories involving “the friend”, such that as soon as Jim Shooter took a hand in the stories, he reversed Isabella’s directions and intent. Meanwhile, Starlin will soon be taking Warlock on his own religious-themed journey on worlds far, far away.
Back to Silver Dagger, he made for a memorable and different sort of foe for Dr. Strange, and too good a baddie to be stuck within the Looking Glass World forever more even if later chroniclers would be hard-pressed to even match nevermind surpass this original surrealistic epic.
Silver Dagger later gave his left eye to Dr. Strange, if I remember correctly.
I’m assuming the very up front references to Christianity (or it’s perceived opposites) etc are partly due to the relaxation of the Comics code by then, if not simply ignoring it, though the original 1954 code seemed to mainly just say :
“(1) Ridicule or attack on any religious or racial group is never permissible.”
Does that include Satanists?
Seemed Norse and Roman Gods were mostly fine though .
I don’t know if the revived interest in the Aesir and the Olympians was a thing back then but even if it was, I doubt anyone took it seriously. Rules like that one tend to be applied flexibly
Great wrap-up of this multi-part saga. What really captured my interest in the Silver Dagger storyline is Englehart’s (not surprisingly) excellent use of Clea. I’d always been fascinated by Clea, although she rarely did, up to this point, all that much of substance except show her bravery, and serve as arm candy for the good doctor. Even at the start of this arc, Clea succumbs to the 60’s norm of being kidnapped by the villain for the hero to ultimately rescue. Yet Englehart takes Clea’s predicament and makes her integral to the resolution, and gives her a chance to prove her worth as both Stephen’s disciple and her partner. For me, it was a great turning point in her character that started to redefine her character, with a few lapses here of there.
Good point. Much like Englehart’s boosting of Wanda’s power levels over in Avengers.
You might not realize this, but there’s a difference in what Dagger hearing people say about his origin in the Church and what others were actually saying about him. As a public service, I provide the following examples:
“I was an excellent cleric inspiring a healthy respect in my colleagues.” What they were really saying- “I was a pompous twit and my colleagues thought I as an egotistical @$$.”
“And a deep reverence in the laity.” What they were really saying- “They also thought I was an @$$.”
“Accordingly, I was the Pope’s chosen one.” What they were really saying- “He didn’t even know my name.”
“The cardinals will pass you by.” What they were really saying- “They think you’re nuts.”
“Over my protests.” What they were really saying, “And I think you’re nuts, too.”
Just a few examples of how self-deluded Silver Dagger was, which is fairly representative of how many people drawn to positions of power and influence in the church can be. Like any other large organization, there are good people…and there are those who are not good. We focus too much on the not-so-good ones because they make for great stories, but there are certainly an abundance of them to be found.
By and large, this whole series is about as perfect as a comic series could get in the 70’s (and it holds up pretty darn well today), so there’s not much to do but read it again, marvel (no pun intended) at it’s excellence, and thank you, Alan, for bringing it up. Englehart’s story, which truly seems to benefit from his relationship with Brunner, is deep and complex and operates on a number of levels that have become obvious to me as I’ve gotten older and (hopefully) wiser. The artwork is as good as anything being produced in those days (better than most) and holds up well against all of the computer-assisted artwork being produced these days, and most of all, by pitting him against a religious zealot; admittedly one in a lavender half-shirt and matching booties-made Strange real-world relevant in a way he’d seldom been before. Excellent story. Phenomenal artwork. Outstanding analysis. Thanks, Alan!
Brunner also did excellent work on Howard the Duck, as well as several magnificent covers for Man-Thing. Glad for what he did although I wish he had done a lot more.
I do too, Fred. He did excellent work on Howard the Duck and the Man-Thing covers. The problem with a lot of these really good artists, like Brunner and Sienkiewicz, and Windsor-Smith and Travis Charest and others is that work of that quality takes time and they often don’t have the hours in the day to do more than one or possibly two books at a time, and even then, they often struggle to get even one book in on time. The industry has improved in that regard since the days of Brunner’s work on Doctor Strange, but back then it was more of a thankless business where enough care wasn’t given to the pressure and strain put on creatives. Like you, I’m grateful for what we got, but more would have been nice.
You make an excellent point about Silver Dagger’s delusions.
In particular, I have to wonder about Cardinal Isaiah Corwen (his real name, though I have no idea who gave it to him) calling himself “the Pope’s chosen one.” There is no Theodore H. White who’s given us a Making of the Pope series with a “narrative history of papal politics in action,” but I can’t believe that an incumbent Pope can dictate his successor to the College of Cardinals as Theodore Roosevelt could choose William Howard Taft to succeed him as the Republicans’s candidate in 1908, or Joe Biden did with Kamala Harris this year.
(As Chief Justice, Taft probably was responsible for the appointment of Charles Evans Hughes as his successor in 1930, but I think he’s the only Chief Justice who can make that claim. Hughes, who retired in 1941, was alive when his successor, Harlan F. Stone, died in 1946, and he put in a good word for Fred M. Vinson, who was confirmed in the post…but I don’t know whether that tipped President Truman’s hand. I do think that Warren E. Burger was pleased when William H. Rehnquist succeeded him, as they’d served together on the Supreme Court for fourteen years.)
Furthermore, the College of Cardinals can sometimes find themselves surprised by their selection. In 1878, it chose a man near seventy to succeed Pius IX (the longest reigning Pope at thirty-two years), thinking he’d be a caretaker pontiff…and Leo XIII reigned until 1903.
Likewise, the selection of Angelo Roncalli (John XXIII) in 1958 should have been another caretaker pope. He didn’t reign as long as Leo XIII (he died in 1963), but he brought “aggiornamento” (updating) to the Church and called for Vatican II, even if didn’t see it through (begun in 1962, it finished in 1965)
Pax vobiscum!
Et cum vobis!
The late priest, sociologist, novelist and news commentator, Fr. Andrew Greeley actually wrote several “making of the Pope” books as a novelist, sociologist and news commentator
The “old Pope? depicted in the story does not resemble Paul VI’s predecessor, St. John XXIII (other than the glasses, worn later in his pontificate). Either Brunner was unfamiliar with his appearance, was told by Marvel’s legal counsel to alter his appearance or Brunner wanted to demonstrate the character was totally separate.
It is not clear how familiar how familiar Englehart and Brunner were with Catholicism generally, the Curia or the College of Cardinals or Conclaves in particular. Since Engelhart was a Wesleyan University alumnus, he probably had at least some familiarity with a Protestant Church of the Apostolic Succession. (Moris L. West’s The Shoes of the Fisherman had been a bestseller about 10 years before and had been made into a movie in 1968 (shown on TV in 1972, which could have inspired this part of the story).
In the Dr. Strange/Dracula story from about 18 months later, Englehart used a lot of fairly well researched Kabbalistic mysticism (in a respectful manner) to counter Dracula, which is indicative of his efforts to ground Dr. Strange in actual mystical beliefs (rather than writing him with generic Green Lantern/Starman power set) after reading things like Carlos Castanda’s books about Don Juan (later admitted to being fiction, rather than sociology/memoir).
Speaking of Fr Greeley, at the time this story was published, Fr. Greeley was becoming known as a critic of John Cardinal Cody, an American Cardinal who was widely assumed to have Papal ambitions. I have wondered if news stories about John Cardinal Cody inspired Isaiah Cardinal Corwin?
As is often said of the “papabile,” “He who enters the Conclave pope, often leaves a cardinal.”
Fred Vinson was the only VMI alum to become Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. George Marshall was also SecState and SecDef, we did pretty well under Truman!
I’ve often thought it would be fun to have Mordo and Silver Dagger sitting in a bar somewhere — “Everyone loved me, Mordo! I should have been pope!” “I hear that! The Ancient One thought I was his best student until that jackhole Strange came along!”
I’ve seen Silver Dagger’s true name given as “Isaiah Corwen” and as “Isaiah Curwen.”
As the former version is Wikipedia’s and the latter version is Marvel’s, a “mea culpa” is in order.
I’d still like to know who gave him a civilian identity.
I must be alone in this but I don’t really care for the art – I’d much rather Colan, Marie, Dan Adkins, or Smith. Always wondered what Steranko doing Doc would be like but he was only doing occasional covers by this point. Brunner just doesn’t grab me – possibly with another inker I’d like it but I don’t think so
Comics and horse races, different opinions etc
Much as I love Bruner, I do think Marie Severin did an outstanding job during her stint on the book.
Interesting trivia note: an FB comics group I’m in posted scenes from Dark Shadows 34 which includes a Greenwich Village magician named Stephen wielding the Eye of Agamotto. It even has the caterpillar from the orb — though visually nothing looks like Marvel’s take, of course.
Thanks, fraser — although I already mentioned this odd little crossover in the post (see the first paragraph after the last page of the story). It was only a brief reference, so I can see how you missed it (or just forgot about it over the last three months). 🙂 Anyway, for anyone interested, there’s a full synopsis and images from that “Dark Shadows” issue in the Martin O’Hearn blog post that I linked to there.
Now I remember!