Fifty years ago this month, this issue of Doctor Strange (second series) continued the storyline begun one issue earlier by the book’s ongoing regular writer Steve Englehart and “new” (actually returning, from the Doc’s first series) regular artist Gene Colan — a storyline that on first glance seemed to center on our hero’s old foe Umar the Unrelenting, but which by the end of its first episode had pulled back the curtain on an even older (as well as rather more famous) enemy of Doc’s: the Dread Dormammu.
Our opening splash page picks up right where the previous chapter left off, as Stephen Strange’s lover and disciple, Clea — a native of the Dark Dimension — is confronted by her home realm’s lord…
In the previous issue, Colan’s pencils were finished in ink by Klaus Janson; for this installment, Janson has passed the brush on to Marvel art director John Romita (who also inked Gil Kane’s cover). While I’d hardly call Romita my top choice for inking Colan’s notoriously hard-to-finish pencils, the combo here works better for me than I might have expected (your mileage may vary, naturally).
You might think that Dormammu is being rather arbitrary, not to mention extremely self-serving, in having decided that his “death” back in Avengers #118 (Dec., 1973) has freed him from his long-ago oath never to invade the Earth. And you might well be right; still, I think it might be instructive, or at least useful, to take a look back at the origin and history of the Dread One’s pledge, to see how it’s played out in previous stories.
The fateful vow dates back ten years from our present tale, to the storyline which first introduced Dormammu as an actual on-panel character (after numerous previous mentions of his name in mystical incantations and whatnot); the same two-parter also introduced Clea (who, somewhat ironically, didn’t get a name until some time after this). In Strange Tales #126-127 (Nov. and Dec., 1964), Stan Lee and Steve Ditko chronicled how Dr. Strange journeyed to the Dark Dimension to battle Dormammu in the stead of his own mentor, the Ancient One. Despite our hero’s most valiant efforts, Dormammu had him on the ropes as the second chapter neared its climax; but then, the energies Dormammu had been drawing from a magical barrier he’d previously erected to protect his domain from the rampaging Mindless Ones became weakened to the extent that the latter were able to break through. Unwilling to sacrifice the innocent folk of the Dark Dimension even to defeat Dormammu (and thereby safeguard the Earth), Strange added his own mystical might to his enemy’s, allowing Dormammu to drive the Mindless Ones back through the barrier and seal then within…
Of course, Dormammu (whose fiery visage was indeed colored green in Strange Tales #127, just in case you’re wondering) wasn’t going to let a little thing like a vow hold him back for long. Soon afterwards, he gave another of Doc’s enemies, Baron Mordo, a huge power boost, just for the purpose of destroying Strange and thus (in the Dread One’s view) making his personal pledge to leave Earth alone null and void. This set up an epic storyline that began in ST #130 (Mar., 1965) and reached a crescendo with #141 (Feb., 1966), where our hero managed to not only defeat Dormammu in hand-to-hand combat, but also to extract a renewal of the villain’s restraining oath (text by Lee, art by Ditko):
Presumably, this new version of the vow precluded Big D from any further employment of proxies, like Mordo, in the service of his Earth-conquering aims. Nevertheless, it didn’t stop him from fighting his hated enemy in another dimension, such as the Realm Unknown — where Dormammu got himself banished following a battle with Eternity in Strange Tales #146 (Jul., 1966) and where he and Doc subsequently threw down in Doctor Strange (first series) #171-173 (Aug. through Oct., 1968). That conflict ultimately spilled over into Earth’s dimension, however — and Dormammu found that his powers quickly waned upon our plane. As Dr. Strange triumphantly announced: “In days past, you did utter a sacred vow… never to enter the Earth-dimension! When you shattered that vow… you brought your own long-forgotten curse upon your head!” Strange called on the Winds of Watoomb to sweep the Dread One back across the gateway into the Realm Unknown (text by Roy Thomas, art by Gene Colan and Tom Palmer)…
…and Dormammu just barely managed to flee back home to his own Dark Dimension, instead… where, of course, he started trying to come up with new workarounds to deal with that vexing vow of his never to invade Earth, such as by possessing the body of Dr. Strange himself (in Marvel Feature #2 [Mar., 1972]), or by merging our dimension with his own (in the summer of ’73’s “Avengers/Defenders War”). Even so, stepping back into our realm in his normal form was clearly a non-starter after Doctor Strange #173.
All of which may well lead one to conclude that Dormammu isn’t just feeding himself (as well as Clea and “Mother Nature”) a line when he posits that he’s now a “new” entity, no longer constrained by pledges made by his former self. Otherwise, wouldn’t he be subject to the same “curse” that was his undoing back in DS #173? Of course, it may all be a matter of belief; perhaps the curse only kicks in if Dormammu believes it should. It’s all in his own flaming head, in other words.
We’ll probably never truly know the answer to that question, but it’s fun to speculate (or at least it is for your humble blogger). Still, that’s probably enough with the digressing for now; so let’s return to our present story, where, as you’ll remember, we’d interrupted Dormammu mid-gloat…
Clea, who has only the relatively meager magical powers of a novice at this point in time, seems doomed to succumb to Dormammu’s demons…
Dr. Strange’s forehead-ankh, introduced back in issue #4, gets a pretty good workout in this storyline overall, and in this chapter in particular… which is just as well, seeing as how it’ll be all but forgotten in the years to come.
“Olini” — or, as he’s consistently called in every subsequent panel (in future issues as well as in this one), Orini — may look like just your everyday extradimensional flunky, but as we’ll soon discover, he’s actually anything but. Surprisingly, this isn’t even his debut appearance — which was all the way back in Strange Tales #126 (see right), putting him in company with Dormammu and Clea. No, the guy in that earlier story never got a name (or even a second line of dialogue), but both the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe and the Marvel Database Project say it’s the same dude we see wearing that very pointy helmet-mask in both of these two issues, and who am I to say them nay?
Umar and Strange proceed to face off in a magical duel of wills. Confident that her power exceeds that of her opponent. Umar “anticipates the kill…”
The G’uranthic Guardian (which, incidentally, is yet another Lee-Ditko creation that first appeared in Strange Tales #126) immediately sets to draining Dr. Strange’s mind and powers, and Umar and company leave him to it. Meanwhile, back at the Sanctum Sanctorum…
This scene represents the second appearances of Rama Kaliph and the Aged Genghis, both of whom had only shown up once before, in Strange Tales #136 (Sep., 1965) — an issue which, naturally, came right in the middle of the same epic Dormammu/Mordo sequence previously referred to in this post.
While we did indeed meet this still-unnamed cult leader in his guise of “a nameless addict” in Doctor Strange #6, this is the first time he’s been identified as the equally-nameless cult leader from the Defenders story in Marvel Feature #2 (where, incidentally, he wasn’t colored as a Black man).
Strange notes that his strategy depended on Umar’s own cunning, and his knowledge that she’d want him to suffer a worse fate than a mere quick death… “– and thus the deceiver was herself deceived.” As confirmation of the Sorcerer Supreme’s words, we’re shown a single panel of Umar’s reporting in to Dormammu withe the news of his arch-enemy’s demise — and then it’s back to the Dark Dimension…
And now that Orini has been identified as the father of Clea, we can note that Doctor Strange #7 is actually the character’s third appearance, since a bald-pated fellow identified as having that status (though not given a name) had been seen in a single panel of Strange Tales #132 (May, 1965) — yet another chapter in Lee and Ditko’s epic Dormammu storyline, to which our present tale clearly owes a ginormous debt.
And yeah, things are getting pretty intense — not to mention complicated — as we take our leave of Clea and Stephen for the time being… though, rest assured, we’ll be back to see this family saga through to its end in a future post. Well before that, however, you’ll have the chance to enjoy Dormammu and Umar’s joint appearance in Giant-Size Avengers #4, where they’ll be part of the wrap-up of another storyline Steve Englehart had been chronicling for the past half-year or so. What, you may wonder, do the two leading denizens of the Dark Dimension have to do with the Celestial Madonna, or the history of how the original Human Torch became the Vision, or Kang the Conqueror? Well, not a whole helluva lot, to be honest with you; but don’t worry, Englehart will make it all fit together seamlessly. Pretty much. Anyway, we’ll all be able to check it out together next month; I hope to see you then.
Englehart was amazing at connecting random events and weaving t hem together as if the continuity he shows has simply been pointed out rather than created by him. Remember how he tied Carol Ferris’ convoluted and contradictory history as Star Sapphire into a single story where it all made sense as if planned all along? (Of course, that led to tone deaf Geoff Johns using a character called The Predator to be the avatar of the Corps of Love but that’s on Johns).
I never have liked Colan’s art on Strange. His work to me was best on non-costumed characters like Dracula and Night Force but at least this time we have Romita involved! It was also nice that the forgotten limitations to Clea in play. I liked that while she was a formidable (as much as a female character could be back then even in a Ditko plotted book), she could not wield another dimension’s magic without undergoing the training like she had received to master the Dark Dimension’s magic.
Was it ever explained why Dormammu is an energy being but not Umar or that the flames on his head that signify his position don’t transfer
I’ve heard the explanation but don’t remember it. Or I’m imagining I heard one. You be the judge.
I love Colan on Strange. Next to Brunner, he and Marie Severin were the best post Ditko artists.
Dormammu and Umar are members of the Faltine, a race of energy beings. They both had a weird interest with physical matter which was frowned upon. They eventually killed their parent and were cast out, ended up in the Dark Dimension where they took physical forms. They conquered the Dark Dimension, Dormammu returned to an energy form though still humanoid while Umar stayed in physical form. The flames are a manifestation of the magical energies of the Dark Dimension which Dormammu merged with when he returned to an energy form.
Working from memory so this may not be completely accurate.
Marcus, this is the way I remember it as well. In fact, I believe that back in the late 1980s or early 1990s when Roy Thomas returned to write the latest incarnation of Dr. Strange comics with his wife Dann, Clea herself had flames coming out of her head when she temporarily took over the throne of the Dark Dimension. To me, this made no sense because Clea was not a pure energy being at all. She lost the flames when her elders took the throne back from her.
Of course, the idea of Dormammu and Umar being members of the Faltine race of energy beings (flames of Faltine, get it?) is totally inconsistent with the idea of Dormammu’s creation or recreation being in any way related to the evil and worship of his being. Then again, it makes no sense that the belief of followers of Dormammu on Earth would have any bearing on Dormammu’s existence as he does not come from Earth and had no association with it until he discovered it. This whole notion of Dormammu being created and fueled by the evil and belief of his followers makes Dormammu into a Satanic or Mephisto like being, which I don’t think was ever the intent of Ditko and Lee.
Lee/Ditko were clear Dormammu is as much “alien” as “evil” and that he does take care of his people.
His big sin seems to be pride —he resented needing Stephen’s help in their first encounter (leading to his original promise not to invade Earth) and lost the second time because he wanted to show off his defeat of Dr. Strange to other leaders.
Of course in Strange’s origin (IIRC) we see Mordo invoking Dormammu to destroy the Ancient One. I suspect that as with so many comics of that era, they were figuring it out as they went along.
I was already a fan of Dr. Strange, having enjoyed some of his earlier appearances that you have chronicled, in Marvel Premier and in his own book (the Silver Dagger sage being the high point up to here) but this Dormammu/Umar multi-part sage clinched the title as a favorite for me. And it’s really all thanks to Clea.
Not surprisingly, under the pen of Steve Englehart, the female member of Doc’s supporting cast finally got some much-needed spotlighting. Clea uses her wits, the powers she does have, and her sheer bravery to make an impact on this story, and fills out the personal background that will impacdt her to this day.
Additionally, bringing in Gaea, and tying thie story in with the Avengers were fun touches that really elevated Dr. Stange into a must-purchase title for me. Nice post!
The whole idea that Dormammu was as much alien as evil and that his word could be trusted made for an interesting angle in his first appearance. As soon as he started looking for loopholes, that went away.
He’s still better than Galactus who simply breaks his word to Reed and attacks Earth a second time because hey, he needs to feed so screw principles. The whole “he’s above good and evil” thing is a pile of bollocks (and Byrne having Reed save Galactus was moronic).
One reason I like Fu Manchu is that he not only keeps his word, he honors the spirit as well as the technical wording.
Does the junkie-turned-cultist return? He seems like a shoe waiting to drop in some fashion.
This was a good issue and yes, Englehart does a great job cherry-picking various elements from other writers’ work to tie back in and make his version of Strange one of a piece with the others, but for all the callbacks to previous stories, his escape from Umar seems too much like a deus ex machina to me. So, the ankh appears on Stephen’s forehead and automatically Stephen knows enough of her plans to prepare that all-encompassing macguffin the Eye of Agamatto to defeat her if he gets in trouble? That sounds like a cheat to me, like every time Batman gets in trouble and just so “happens” to have the esoteric extremely plot-specific device he needs to escape in his utility belt. Englehart is a better writer than that.
As for Colan, I go back and forth on his work, both here and in Daredevil. Yes, it’s fluid and dynamic, but his faces are too wide and it seems to me (and I have no way of really knowing) that Colan gets in a hurry and leaves parts out of his pencils for someone else to fill in, but in some cases, no one does, which makes his work look rushed or unfinished or just plain incomplete. Maybe that’s just me. In this story, Romita finishes the work in front of him and that rushed quality isn’t there. Of course, Romita’s inks are so heavy over-all, that they leave little evidence of Mean Gene’s hand on the pencil to begin with, so I guess it’s a trade-off. Thanks, Alan.
When DC Comics put out its first RPG, they included the concept of the omni-gadget, something players don’t have to define (except very broadly) until they actually use it. That reflects that Green Arrow always has the right arrow for a given situation, Batman always has the right tools in this belt and so on.
This is the first issue of Doc Strange that I purchased back in April 1975.
Englehart really moves lots of pieces round, paying honour and due respect to Ditko’s magificent work on the feature starting with Strange Tales #126 ( not meaning that Ditko stated with ST#126, of course, but the work from #126 on was on another level, artistically and storywise, to that previously).
Romita did an amazing job here inking Colan. The art really stands out, without using any of the zip-a-tone process used by Palmer and other high-end inkers of the time, and without overloading the pencils with his Caniff based inking style of the era, as he did so often with Kane ( although Kane would really provide only layouts for the most part, leaving the inker a great deal to embellish). Particularly effective to my eyes are the inks on the panel of Umar screaming, and the panel showing Clea’s eve above Rama Kaliph.
Re favourite artists on Doc Strange other than Ditko and Brunner: most did amazing work but I would like to mention Adkins, Windsor-Smith, Sutton, Golden, Paul Smith and Rogers. Others that did great work over Colan in the silver/bronze age were Everett and Sinnott. No relevance to the issue being discussed here, but I just thought I would mention that!
If we’re going to mention great artists who’ve worked on Doctor Strange through-out it’s entire history, you can’t leave out Chris Bachalo. Phenomenal artist and I love his work on Doctor Strange.
Hi Don, I knew of Bachalo from his run on Shade, but I mostly stopped on anything new since ’92, so yes I would have and have missed out on anything he has done on the good doctor,
Another masterpiece in the Doc’s ongoing saga, in my opinion. Englehart really had a feel for this sorcerous stuff, like tying all the bits and pieces from Lee and Ditko’s previous work into this new storyline. I’ve mentioned before the idea of Doc’s confidence, almost Chutzpah in the role as the Master of the Mystic Arts, standing head and shoulders above others. Here Englehart highlights this with the inclusion of Rama Kaliph and the Aged Genghis, shown as clearly not in Strange’s league. Particularly noteworthy to me is Englehart’s explanation of Dormammu’s rebirth. The idea his follower’s worship and need for him is his essence. Succinctly put in the sentence “The masses cry of Dorammu is Dormammu.” Now there’s some religious philosophy to keep one busy for a long while! The idea he was rekindled mere hours after his abrupt demise at the hands of the Scarlet Witch is also an interesting concept to me. It’s hard to describe the level of respect I have for the author. Englehart elevated the Dr. Strange comic from frankly being about a superhero who points his arms and shoots mystic bolts at the bad guys into a dissertation worthy treatise on spiritual philosophy. Regarding Colan’s work I think he’s a master of the less is more school of artistry. For instance in this issue there’s no background in the Dark Dimension, just eerie swaths of color or hazy swirls. Instead of being a shortcoming It lends an air of otherworldliness to the setting. Combined with great juxtaposition of the characters. Strange, his opponents, Orini, no one ever stands on a level surface, it’s all off angles, viewpoints adding to the “otherliness” of the dark Dimension.
“Englehart elevated the Dr. Strange comic from frankly being about a superhero who points his arms and shoots mystic bolts at the bad guys ” Much as I like Englehart’s run, i disagree partly with that assessment. With Lee/Ditko, what enabled Dr. Strange to win was rarely the mystic bolts, it was that he could outthink and outwit every opponent. After Ditko left, that sense often got lost.
I agree that Ditko didn’t use the “shooting mystic bolts” thing much. I’d say that was more prevalent in Doc’s appearances in other titles, like the early Defenders or when he’d guest star in another title or be paired up in one of the Marvel Team Up books.
He did a bit of it, but it also was graphically interesting and ornate. It was almost like martial arts strikes and blocks rendered in a metaphysical way.
Yes Ditko’s magic looks like magic rather than ray blasts.
One of the many clunky features of the Official Handbook was trying to describe Strange’s magic and using stiff phrases about “bolts of mystical force”
I have mixed feelings about Colan. His fluid style perhaps fitted some titles more than others , as a kid I could take or leave him, he was one of those kinda “functional” artists , who did a job but didn’t really excite me though I didn’t actively dislike, though I rarely sought him out. It does often look rushed, as mentioned, and I wonder how much affect the inker can have on that.
Orini looks like the bizarre mascot on steroids of a SeaWorld Aquarium with his manta ray helmet.
I missed this mag when it was new but got the follow up. While Brunner’s contributions to the series are certainly missed, I much enjoyed Colan’s art. Actually, IMO, the only time Colan’s work felt really off was in his late run on the Avengers. But I loved his work on Dr. Strange, Dracula and Howard the Duck, as well as Daredevil and the late ToS era Iron Man. I did enjoy how Englehart’s writing on Dr. Strange evolved from the period when he took over the Defenders, mostly treating Doc as a standard super-hero who shot mystic bolts with his fingers but when taking over the solo Dr. Strange series, studying up on mysticism and the occult with Brunner to provide a very different take on the Master of the Mystic Arts. I think Colon’s style maintains the aura of eerie otherworldliness to the series much in keeping with the standard set by Ditko. Dr. Strange has had many stellar artists depicting his adventures over the decades.
Running late in responding to this week’s entry due to having been tied up with multiple things going on the last few days. Earlier tonight, I took part in a movie meetup group discussion on the 1959 film Some Like It Hot, which suddenly has me pondering Marily Monroe portraying Clea in a film! Of course, she died before Dr. Strange even made his debut.
I read this in early 1975.
I found the Colan/Romita art a rare treat.
However, having seen the first Dormammu story reprinted a few months before, I missed Ditko’s funky (but appropriate) designs.
Years later (seeing some Mort Meskin’s work on DC’s Mark Merlin strip, I could see a certain influence.
Meskin had taught Ditko at Jerry Robinson’s school and Ditko had been a Meskin assistant (as Joe Kubert had been in the early 1940s).
People have wondered if Kubert & Ditko had worked together. The answer is no, but each worked with Meskin.)
Meskin should be better remembered . . . .
“…having seen the first Dormammu story reprinted a few months before…”
Thanks for bringing that up, John. I really should have mentioned in the post that two key chapters of the original Dormammu storyline — the ones from Strange Tales #126 and #127 — had been reprinted less than a year earlier, in Doctor Strange #3, so they would be fresh in the minds of many readers.
I have re-read this issue again, and it is a real winner. Englehart’s script is intelligent and engaging, and pays due homage to past classics, identifying certain situations and building on them almost seemlessly. I wonder how long Englehart had planned the situation between Clea and her father? Did the idea come from the reprints in DS#3, or were those reprints in DS#3 ( which arose not from deadline reasons, but because the Doc was given a seventh issue instead of the bi-monthly six) part of a long-term plan by Englehart?
Clea’s handling by Englehart is so adept; the writer put plenty of thought into it, but none of it seems forced or contrived, and in complete contrast to Englehart’s handling of Sharon Carter at the same time in Cap A.