Fifty years ago this month, writer Steve Englehart and artist Gene Colan were just coming off a four-part storyline in Doctor Strange that had focused on a couple of the Master of the Mystic Arts’ best-established arch-foes — the Dread Dormammu and his sister Umar — when the latest issue of the title arrived on stands with a cover signaling that the creative team was returning to the well for another deep dip into the feature’s past. After all, Baron Mordo was arguably Doctor Strange’s oldest adversary, having first appeared in the heroic magician’s second published adventure (in Strange Tales #111 [Aug., 1963]), and then soon thereafter being confirmed to have played a role in his origin story (Strange Tales #115 [Dec., 1963]). Meanwhile, Eternity (who wasn’t exactly a villain, per se) had almost as distinguished a provenance, his debut appearance having come near the end of the seminal run of Dr. Strange’s creators, writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, in Strange Tales #138 (Nov., 1965).
And although artists Gil Kane and Tom Palmer hadn’t managed to fit him onto Doctor Strange #10’s cover, we fans of July, 1975 who picked this book up and took it home to read would learn soon enough that the story within included a third familiar face from Stephen Strange’s early days — that of Nightmare, whom our hero initially encountered in his first published adventure, all the way back in Strange Tales #110 (Jul., 1963).
So, did all that indicate that the new storyline Englehart and Colan were kicking off with this issue would be little more than a retread of familiar plot beats from old comics? Not if you’d read Doctor Strange #6 through #9, in which, without reinventing Dormammu and Umar from scratch, or indeed even changing any of the “facts” concerning them already known to longtime readers, the storytellers had added a new level of dramatic interest — and also opened up rich possibilities for future stories — by revealing the previously unknown, but altogether plausible, familial relationship between those two denizens of the Dark Dimension and Dr. Strange’s lover and disciple, Clea.
Of course, that didn’t necessarily mean that one approached the multi-parter beginning in this issue expecting to learn that Doc Strange and Baron Mordo were long-lost brothers, or that either (or both) of them were the secret love child of Nightmare or Eternity. But it did give one confidence that, even if most of the basic ingredients of this new story arc were already familiar to us longtime readers, what this creative team would ultimately make from them would be something different from what we’d ever seen before…
Returning as inker after Doctor Strange #9 was Frank Chiaramonte — an artist whom, as I’ve previously noted, I don’t consider to be one of Gene Colan’s finest embellishers, at least not these days. (I can’t honestly recall what my younger self made of his work at the time.) But while Chiaramonte’s somewhat sketchy style does little to enhance Colan’s pencils in my eyes, I can’t say that it significantly detracts from them, either. One feels that Chiaramonte is, at the very least, trying to follow Colan’s basic linework.
Englehart’s script for this issue is full of callbacks to previous stories, but, for whatever reason, neither he nor newly-installed editor Marv Wolfman has seen fit to footnote most of them. It thus behooves your humble blogger to step into the breach, both here and later in the narrative, to do the job; so, for the record, the reference in the last panel above is to the “Silver Dagger” saga of Doctor Strange #1–2 and #4–5, wherein Doc got sucked into his Orb of Agamotto and had to navigate his way across a Lewis Carroll-inspired wonderland of unreality before he was able to make his escape.
Doc’s two current house guests, Lord Pfyffe and Rama Kaliph, had arrived in DS #9 in response to Clea’s having reached out to the latter mystic in the midst of the recent Umar/Dormammu crisis. At that time, they were accompanied by two other sorcerers who, like them, had journeyed from abroad, Turhan Barim and Count Carezzi; given that we see neither of those gents in this scene, we’ll have to assume either that they’re sounder sleepers than their fellows, or that they’ve already returned home. (We never see either of them again after #9, in any case).
As for Baron Mordo, we’d last seen him at the very end of Marvel Premiere #14 (Mar., 1974), standing senseless on a rooftop in Times Square after his and Dr. Strange’s epochal experiences at the dawn of Creation. I’m pretty sure it hadn’t occurred to my younger self of July, 1975 to wonder just what Strange had done with his thoroughly addled, completely helpless enemy following the conclusion of that story, but Englehart was giving me the answer, regardless: all this time, Doc had been keeping poor Mordo shut away in a room in his house.
“…when he and I — saw God!” Englehart had in fact been somewhat more circumspect in his script for MP #14, where he had the apotheozized time-traveling sorcerer Sise-Neg identify himself as “the god called — Genesis!” rather than as, simply, “God“, full stop. Now, however, following his and co-plotter Frank Brunner’s having successfully bamboozled Marvel publisher Stan Lee into believing that a (completely made-up) Texas clergyman named Rev. David Billingsley had wholeheartedly approved of that issue’s handling of a religious theme, the writer evidently felt at liberty to (as he puts it in his 2013 introduction to Marvel Masterworks — Doctor Strange, Vol. 6) “make it [i.e., the identification of Sise-Neg as God] a bit more emphatic”.
As is his wont, Gene Colan abandons the standard rectangular panels-based page grid he’s been using in favor of more free-form layouts as soon as mundane reality goes askew…
Nightmare appears to be about to say more; but then, Mordo passes into unconsciousness, and the vision vanishes. Dr. Strange puts him back to bed, and then, brushing off his guests’ questions, ascends to the roof of his Sanctum Sanctorum to ponder what’s just transpired in solitude. Thinking back on his history with Nightmare, the Sorcerer Supreme muses on how, in their most recent encounters, the dream-demon has “involved himself with the higher order of forces, such as Shuma-Gorath [in Marvel Premiere #3 (Jul., 1972)], and Eternity [in Doctor Strange (1968 series) #180-182 (May, Jul., & Sep., 1969)]!” But then, just as the thought of Eternity enters his mind, Strange feels a chill go up his spine. Why? he wonders…
As regular readers of this blog will recall, Dr. Strange had met Death not all that long ago, in issue #4.
Splash panel from Strange Tales #138 (Nov., 1965). Text by Stan Lee; art by Steve Ditko.
Splash panel from Doctor Strange (1968 series) #180 (May, 1969). Text by Roy Thomas; art by Gene Colan and Tom Palmer.
This wasn’t the first time that Gene Colan had drawn Eternity, a creation of Steve Ditko and Stan Lee who, as noted earlier, had first appeared on panel in Strange Tales #138 (though he’d been mentioned by name four issues before that). Colan’s first go at the enigmatic entity had come in the aforementioned trilogy of Doctor Strange #180-182, where he’d demonstrated his facility with Ditko’s classic design for the character, whose main visual attributes are a body seemingly comprised of the stuff of outer space, a highly ornate headdress/collar-thingy, and a mask-like half-face. (See left and right for Ditko’s and Colan’s respective takes on the “classic” Eternity figure.) But Colan had also shown himself willing in those issues to take liberties with Ditko’s visual conception, following his own muse to offer us an assortment of more abstract images that made it abundantly clear that we weren’t just looking at some guy (or even some god) in a far-out costume, but rather at an awesome, alien being whose exalted nature could never be fully comprehended by our physical senses. We’ll see the artist taking much the same tack here, as well as in the later chapters of this storyline.
“You?” asks Clea. “What of me?” She’s clearly unhappy at the prospect of being left behind, but Stephen Strange declares it’s necessary for her to serve as “a sentinel” who can call him back if necessary. And with that, his astral body takes off — though not to directly confront Eternity, at least not at first. Rather, he zips across the globe to the Himalayan cavern retreat of yet another mystic whom Clea had recently reached out to, the Aged Genghis. Strange hopes that, as “the only living man with knowledge of Eternity”, the Aged Genghis may be able to provide him with counsel in the present crisis. However, just as Clea had before him, he finds that the elderly mage is too far gone into senility to be of any help…
Eventually, Mordo’s tormentors drive him into wakefulness, and he sprints out of his room, the door having been mysteriously left unlocked. A moment later, Dr. Strange’s astral body reunites with his corporeal one — but, up on the roof of his Sanctum, he has no way of knowing of the change in his “guest”‘s status. He has, however, come up with a plan for how best to approach Eternity…
That’s some interesting social commentary from Eternity on the page above, isn’t it? You have to wonder — If the Big E thought that mass communication and information overload had already driven our species to the point of no return back in 1975, what would he make of the data-saturated environment we live in today?
I’m not sure that you could find another mainstream comic book of this era that handles the question of whether or not the end of the world would actually be a bad thing with this amount of philosophical sophistication and rigor. For most comics, the answer would be simple: Yes, of course; it’s better to be alive than dead. Duh. But it’s not so simple for Doctor Strange, where for the past two years Steve Englehart has consistently put forth the proposition that “life and death are the same on a cosmic scale”. Strange can’t honestly contest Eternity’s argument that death is simply a form of change, and one that’s ultimately inevitable — only whether or not humankind has in fact “reached that point of change.”
The four “selves” that Eternity shows Dr. Strange have all been previously established, and are immediately familiar to longtime fans of the character — though it’s clearly the luck of the draw that the costume changes wrought by the feature’s creative personnel over the years serve to neatly line up visuals for “the resurrected acolyte to the Ancient One” and “the masked master of the mystic arts” that can be easily distinguished not only from each other, but from the present-day Sorcerer Supreme as well.
And that’s where we’ll have to leave things for now, with Mordo in the wind, and Stephen Strange facing an enforced journey of self-exploration with much, much more than his personal psychological health on the line. But don’t worry, we’ll be back to see Dr. Strange save the world — or to see him try to pick up the pieces, anyway — a few months from now. I hope to see you then.
I must say I’ve read long novels that don’t have the depth of characterization, plot, thoughtfulness and sheer artistry of Englehart’s work on Dr. Strange. I was constantly amazed back then just at the depth of the work. Plus Eternity’s description of mankind’s situation describes to a tee our own perilous predicament! Fifty years ago! As you mentioned, Englehart takes these well established characters, Mordo, Nightmare, Eternity and adds all sorts of nuance and complexities to them. It’s truly amazing. The way for instance the subject matter, the mcguffin, if you will, is a concept, death, not a ring or a doomsday device as lesser works are structured. Englehart’s whole run on Dr. Strange is less about hero versus villain than it is examining Strange’s inner workings as a man and a magician.
I have to agree that Chiaramonte is ill suited for Colan’s work. Look at the panels with Clea’s face.. the embellishing is dreadful. The linework by Colan seems fine, he could draw a beautiful woman, certainly, but the added thick dark strokes. Less is more, Mr. Chiramonte! Overall though this issue, really just the opening act, the set up for the main event over the next few issues, sets the stage admirably and stands up very well on it’s own.
I think the next issue is the only one I bought off the stands, though that certainly didn’t reflect a lack of interest (money, probably). The kind of weird, reality-is-mutable shadow play we get the next couple of issues always fascinates me. But yes, the philosophical stuff is cool too.
Looking back now, 50 years later, as the 68 year-old that I’ve become, I really enjoyed this story, despite the fact that is only a part of a long preamble to the actual battle Strange must fight to save humanity. In 1975, when I was naught but a lad of 17, this was the kind of story that made me leave Doctor Strange on the rack, time and time again. The endless talking and posturing and philosophical tongue-wagging made me nuts! But that’s what was so great about Englehart. He could take a simple story of good and evil, dress it up in all it’s moral conundrums and not only thrill you with the action, but make you think through the morality play as well. Over my head in 75, but now, I appreciate it a great deal.
Which is more than I can say for the art. As I’ve learned to appreciate Englehart over the years, my affection for the work of Gene Colan has waned. The blocky figures, the unfinished linework, it just seems so rushed now, and Chiarmonte’s inkwork, with it’s heavy blacks and sketchy pen strokes, certainly does the pencils no favors, no matter what you may think of them.
Given my new appreciation for Englehart and what he was trying to do here, I look foward to seeing how the entire story plays out. Thanks, Alan!
Hi, Alan!
Well, only a couple of days ago I wrote about how the work of Cary Bates and Elliott S! Maggin was leaving me cold over at DC because their stories seemed so shallow. Now we have the polar opposite – a nuanced philosophical discourse about nothing less than the fate of the world and the forces that are tearing it apart. But this isn’t some supervillain’s plot – this is what humanity is doing to itself. The fact that most of this issue is taken up with Englehart’s literate prose – witty, allusive, subtle – makes me love it even more.
I DO want to go back and comment on your various posts of the past year that I missed commenting on. But I will take this as an opportunity to say that the previous arc didn’t completely do it for me the way the three previous Englehart-Brunner arcs had. It made me worry a bit about the future of this title, which I had so loved only a few issues previously. (Though, re-reading the Mother Earth/Love issues with your commentary made me appreciate them in a somewhat better light.)
But then came this mind-bending story that – even then – I had the feeling would go ALL THE WAY to the destruction of the Earth, given Englehart’s previous work on the title.
Thankfully, this would be Frank Chiaramonte’s last issue as inker. Reviewing it, it wasn’t as bad as I remembered, but it’s certainly not Tom Palmer, which we would get in issue #11 (and going forward).
So Alan – when will you come to your senses and rename the blog “Attack of the 50-Year Old Steve Englehart Comics”? (HAH!)
Alas, I missed this when it was new, but this is some very heady material – in the art, plot and dialogue! That first full page of Eternity would make a great poster! Yeah, the inks don’t serve Colan’s art all that well but IMO don’t detract too much from the overall package. What’s most unnerving to me is that if this story were published brand new today, Eternity’s arguments for stomping out humanity would be even more relevant than they were in 1975! I did get the later parts of this story. Can’t say that Dr. Strange was one of my top favorites back in the mid-70s as I was still too much into standard super-heroics, but to my much more mature self, most of the Silver Age & Bronze Age Dr. Strange stories hold up better than most other comics of those eras. Mind you, even in 1973, when I happened to get Marvel Premiere #10, the finale of the Shuma Gorath epic, my young self recognized that issue as a stellar achievement of comicdom, but my collecting of Dr. Strange remained sporadic until a bit later in 1975 when I started collecting it much more regularly and later got the reprints of the Ditko era in Strange Tales. I finally gave in to the Sorcerer Supreme’s spells! Enjoyed your write up on and samplings from this chapter, Alan!
I’ve never disliked Colan’s art but it was far from a favorite. He could lay out a story like a master but his eccentricities never appealed. Brunner and Marshall Rogers were my favorites back then and Paul Smith would join them. Englehart was my favorite writer back then so I would have been in even if I had disliked the art. I thought he got too esoteric over time after this era and future writers have tarnished my affection for Doctor Strange. Does it annoy anyone else that Clea’s inability to naturally wield our dimension’s magic or that Dormmamu’s kid wears the flames of the Faltine even though they are the sign of rulership over the Dark Dimension?
I was so stunned when I saw the page where Eternity talks about how humanity could not deal with the sheer mass of information available through communication that I immediately stopped reading the blog entry, copied the screen shot, and posted it on my Facebook page where it has received several reactions in the last hour or so, not only from comic book fans.
This is not an ordinary polemic that happens to resonate still in the present day like in Englehart’s Captain America work during Watergate. I honestly don’t think that what Engelhart had Eternity talking about was an issue back in 1975 (I have no idea what I thought about Eternity’s comments when I read them back then). In 1975 the only real mass communication mediums we had were television and radio. Television options were limited to a few channels. Network news was pretty much the same style and presentation everywhere even if you weren’t Cronkite. Radio stations were mostly music driven programming hosted by flamboyant disc jockeys. Books and newspapers were in hard copy only. I don’t think that Eternity was talking about how many different brands of deodorant you can buy at the supermarket.
On the other hand, what Eternity was saying fits today’s world where everyone can find information about every topic from thousands of sources right at your fingertips from people who all have their own agenda to incite you, confuse you, convince you and lie to you. There is no conformity or gatekeepers anymore. Everyone demonizes people they disagree with and refuses to talk with them let alone compromise. One needs to use critical thinking and consider the source of everything they read or see, but almost no one does. Trump’s election is clearly the result of what Eternity was saying here, and it could not have been logically foreseen in 1975. I find it absolutely amazing that Englehart wrote that back then, because I don’t think that from the perspective of someone living in 1975 they would identify with what he was talking about.
As long as I’m here, I almost never comment on artwork because I was barely cognizant (consciously anyway) of it when I was reading these comics the first time and you all are much more knowledgeable than I, but I 100% agree that Chiaramonte was a terrible inker on Colan’s pencils. Colan is one of my favorite pencillers from my early years of reading comics, but Chiaramonte’s inks seem to draw out the negatives in Colan’s style that I see some of you mention. It makes me think that I should say that one of my favorite artists back then was Gene Colan with Tom Palmer embellishing, as he did in one of my all-time favorite Dr. Strange issues, No. 180 (which I believe is also Roy Thomas’ favorite of the issues that he worked on). The one screen shot from issue No. 180 that Alan provides shows a real contrast for me to the art in today’s subject.
I also must say that I am a fan of the original look of Eternity as modified slightly by Colan and Palmer in issue 180 (I’m not sure if you’d call it modified or if it’s just the different artists’ style). I like him having a half face. I know that someone wrote that he liked the splash page of Eternity in this issue. It’s a matter of opinion of course, but I found the look rather uninteresting with few different colors and shapes and a rather poor attempt at imitating “Kirby Krackle”. However, that’s only my opinion.
Another classic from Englehart, who appears to have carte blanche to do whatever with the feature. Cover by Kane and Palmer does not work for me, but, being a bit of an outlier here, the interior work does; the sketchiness of Chiaramonte’s inking augmenting the aura of other-worldliness and the sense that time is running out for mankind fast. Kane’s normal dynamic figures look unbalanced on the cover, and Palmer is off form, with not enough detail on Eternity, and too much on the fabric folds on Doc’s outstretched arm. The color palette does not help either. But all in all, another classic!