Doctor Strange Review

Doctor Strange story reviews in a comedio-serious vein. No A.I. is used in writing this blog.

[doctorstrangereview]

0263: Doctor Strange (vol. 2) #48

Cover Date: August 1981 On Sale Date: May 5, 1981

Here we go! This is the issue that, when I slid it out of its brown paper subscription sleeve, blew my 11-year-old mind. The massive difference in art is astounding. Mind you, I hadn't grown accustomed to Gene Colan at this point so my appreciation for it was less than it should have been. But this is an entirely different direction. And what's that I see? Doc has got a biker stache! Damn, that's hot! Doc hasn't thrown off this level of Daddy energy since the Brunner days.

What else do we get? We get Doc's first meeting with Brother Voodoo. Dr. Drumm will temporarily replace Doc as sorcerer supreme in a few decades. They remain friends and respectful of each other. We also get the first appearance of Morgana Blessing. We don't get her name yet, but she'll make Doc's life difficult in so many ways starting next issue.

Sadly, Marshall will only stay on for six issues and a story in Marvel Fanfare. (Boo!) But this year of Doc is just awesome!

Doc and his business manager Sara Wolfe are out banking. Since it's early in their business relationship, I'll assume he hasn't signed the Power of Attorney that would allow her to do all the mundane stuff like this herself. And maybe a short walk amongst the normies does Doc good. Of course this is the Marvel Universe and even depositing that cash you got for the ancient Asian trinkets is going to go wrong. The bank is robbed by a guy in a ski mask and a guy in what appears to be a nylon stocking.

They order everyone on the floor to which Doc and Sara comply. Doc uses this opportunity to go ghost and cast an illusion that he's a scary monster that's gonna eat them up. Funnily enough, he calls on Ikonn for this even though he just fought that entity last issue. Perhaps Ikonn doesn't mind showering power on an enemy.

Marshall and colorist Bob Sharen make use of the no black lines art which I'm told was difficult back in the pre-digital stone age of art. If you happen to see a paper copy or scan of the original issue you'll see that results are less than satisfying. It's one of the few things that the "remastered" Masterworks and Epic Collections get right. Just ignore the gaudy colors.

While Doc is wrapping things up for the authorities, a woman in delightful pink jacket strolls into the bank, blissfully unaware that there are still armed robbers inside. She manages to see what everyone else can't. Doc's ghost. And she faints.

As Doc attends to our damsel in distress while showing off chains that really belong on the Jersey shore, he demonstrates that he hasn't completely forgotten his prior profession. Doc makes a flimsy excuse about what our mystery lady saw and leaves. A bank teller reveals who he is and that "he dabbles in the occult!" This seems to really excite her for some reason.

Back at the Sanctum Sanctorum, Doc and Clea are enjoying tea being served by Wong. Marshall does an adequate job of portraying the Sanctum. It looks fairly faithful to the Ditko original and is on the corner of a block. Plus, the little joke about New York City's energy company, Consolidated Edison, colloquially known as ConEd, is amusing.

Clea tells Doc he shouldn't be worried about someone who was able to see his ghost. And this is a victory which deserves a celebration. What better way to celebrate that popcorn freshly popped in the fireplace? This is day of ordinary things going wrong. Poor Clea doesn't realize what's happening.

After our intruder destroys Doc's tea service, we get introduced.

Brother Voodoo then spends the next two pages recounting his origin story from the first two issues of the revived Strange Tales so we know that Jericho is also inhabited by the soul of his dead brother Daniel. He follows up with a few days ago his home burned down and his servant, Bambu was nearly burned to death. That image is disturbing. When I first saw it I thought the dudes head was literally burned off and there was just a stump. It took me a while to realize that the head was leaning back and I was looking at a chin.

Doc then does his own investigating. He wraps Jericho up in some cool looking mystic chains and out comes the all purpose amulet. I really hope it works quicker than it appears on the page.

Damballah/Daniel splits through the roof and Jericho is no longer possessed. Doc heads out alone to fight Damballah and free Daniel's soul. Jericho want's to join in the fun, but Doc politely declines the offer.

This is our first look at Marshall's rendition of the Cloak of Levitation. Man, that's just gorgeous! Doc heads out on Damballah's trail. Marshall gives us a skyline that includes a not entirely accurate view of the former World Trade Center. As a former New Yorker, these images still choke me up.

It does show us what a wonderful eye for detail Marshall had. He has great proportions and perspective as well. Wow, I sound like I know what I'm talking about!

Damballah decides he needs a body. There's a pet shop around the corner. He's a snake god so possessing the body of a snake seems really appropriate. It also looks really cool!

While Doc is making sure none of the normies get hurt, Damballah slips away through the sewers. Doc follows him and comes up at Central Park. By an amazing coincidence, a Hansom Cab happens to be passing by and Doc thinks "what a great place to stash my body while I go ghost and hunt for the fake snake god thing."

Doc finds the Damballah possessed snake, or so he thinks. Actually the demon has already fled and is on it's way to possess Doc's body. He's gonna kill the poor cabbie!

Doc clears his spiritual infection just in time and the two are duking it out on the astral plane. It's not going well for Damballah, but the cabbie is still riding around with Doc's body frozen in that "about to strangle you" pose. Doc gets back just as the cabbie is turning around. He was getting suspicious why Doc was so quiet! Doc zaps his tie into a $20 and heads out again. Turns out Damballah has followers even here. He finally gets to possess willing people.

Doc smashes through that skylight. Damballah flees before Doc even realizes it leaving him to deal with the enthralled minions. Damballah is heading to the Sanctum where Clea, Wong and Brother Voodoo are waiting for him. He says the lives of two versus the lives of nine. I guess poor Wong didn't count.

Fortunately, the trio in the Sanctum aren't helpless. Clea steps in to provide some protection.

Clea may not be up to the task for long. This gives Doc a time limit on how long he can take to free Damballah's followers. Fortunately, he accomplishes this rather quickly.

Doc heads back to the Sanctum, but his cloak and the all-purpose amulet have arrived first, giving Clea a breather.

Next, Doc needs to extricate Daniel's soul from Damballah. As presented he is literally filtered out from Damballah. How cool!

Doc seals Damballah in the Wangal-thing and Brother Voodoo puts himself back together again. Brother Voodoo heads out to send all of Damballah's followers home. Clea wonders how he slipped out of there and Doc asks Wong to pay his cabbie.

You may have guessed I really like this issue! Issues 48-53 are among my most re-read comics ever. My copies are all beat to hell because they've all been gone through dozens of times. Roger's words and Marshall's pictures are in amazing sync here. Where the previous issue was truly stand-along, this one only feels like it. It sets up lots of situations that will be realized over the next five issues.

Roger's Doc is well spoken but not overly formal like Byrne's stick-in-the-mud Doc in FF #232. I like seeing him do mundane things without yelling at poor Wong as he did way back in Strange Tales. His arrogance is still present but more subtle. He tells Brother Voodoo that he'll do this alone. Because he's got the tools and doesn't need Voodoo to get possessed again. He is confident and cautious throughout the tale. He chooses his battles on which one will do the most good, but gives up powerful tools to try and save his friends. It's all a rather impressive presentation of Doc that we've really seen before. He's grown from the arrogant jerk of the early Ditko days. So, thanks for that, Roger!

I've been raving about the art throughout the review. It really is spectacular. Colan's art is abstract and surreal. It's fitting for the type of book Doc headlines. But this is something else. It looks real and it looks magical. There's some amazing detail in there. Terry Austin gives each line just the right thickness to bring out all these details. When you have characters like Doc and Wong who don't wear skintight costumes, but very flowing stuff, it's important. Like Byrne, people's builds aren't exaggerated. They all look real.

The story itself is a nice, entertaining read. It doesn't have enormous stakes. I think that works here. Roger is building a multi-story arc and there are a bunch of seeds, but the universe doesn't need to be on fire yet. Everything seems to fit well, except Bambu isn't really dead. He'll die in a future issue of Doc's next book.

You should definitely not pass this one up!

[doctorstrangereview]

Bonus Minisode: Fantastic Four #232

Cover Date: July 1981 On-Sale Date: April 21, 1981

I call this a minisode because Doc only appears in the final two panels of the story. But, because I like this issue so much, I'll do a more in-depth review. The Fantastic Four are a favorite of mine. John Byrne has just taken over both writing and penciling duties on the title. And, like the title says, he brings the group back to basics. This includes dredging up Diablo, a villain first introduced a mere three issues after Doc's first guest appearance in FF #27. Diablo is quasi-mystical so it sort of makes sense that he come in combat with Doc, even indirectly as in this story.

We begin with Diablo pouring some noxious liquid into an ornate bowl with little effigies of our superhero team standing on the rim. Not only are potions dripping everywhere, but so is candlewax. The whole thing looks like a massive fire hazard. Hopefully Diablo has some fire-putter-outer portion inside an easy to reach pocket inside in his bizarre costume. The upshot on the splash page is impressive. John leaves out the background so we don't immediately know where we are.

Next, Diablo turns his attentions to a group of little statues. I can't tell if they have a rough texture or they're supposed to look smoky or if they're made of some wire. Not your best work here, John. But you are doing the whole shebang yourself so I'll cut you some slack.

There's a knocking a the door. It's Diablo's landlord. She's a stereotypical middle aged woman who likes to complain and has a cat. Also, Diablo's alias is Mr. Olbaid. Let's take a closer look. Our 1,000 year old alchemist, born into a noble family, is living in a cheap rental with a nosey landlord. Annoyed at her complaining about his smelly potions, he spouts stereotypical villain threats and calls upon his little ill-defined statues to go forth and murder the Fantastic Four.

We now change scene to salon where Mrs. Richards is getting a new doo. Sue isn't sure she's getting her money's worth at this fancy-pants salon, but doesn't have too long to dwell on it because there's a disturbance on the street. We learn this from an unidentified and rather befuddled looking woman. She calls the hairdresser Mister Tindolini so It's likely she works there.

The rest of the salon occupants scram because the walking pile of dirt heading their way has called out Susan by name. Susan shows us a new trick. She keeps her uniform invisible under her street clothes. This is part of a long line of hints that John intends to grow Mrs. Richards abilities and talents considerably. Dirt pile is unimpressed. He sprays the room with dirt and traps the Invisible Girl inside a rock hard layer of it.

Now we turn to the next member of our cast. Our favorite orange rockpile is leaving a showing of The Elephant Man with his gal-pal Alicia Masters. It suddenly rains, but this confuses the blind Alicia because it is only raining on him. In case you haven't quite figured it out, these are elementals from the days where we only believed there were four elements. The water elemental has trapped Ben in a water bubble. Even our super-tough rocky guy needs to breath. Uh oh!

Ben attempts to punch through the street and try to find air, but the water bubble follows him everywhere.

Next, we see the Human Torch flying through the sky on his way to meet with on-again/off-again girl/friend Frankie Raye. While most of this story is a clean start, this bit is definitely baggage from the past. There's a bunch of star-crossed lovers dialog between the two when things get windy. Yup, the next elemental is air.

I'm not sure how air can take a visible form. Maybe there was a lot of dust it kicked up while tossing Johnny around.

That leaves on member of the FF and one elemental. So lets head over to the Baxter Building where Reed Richards does his typical thing. Work. It suddenly gets unbearably hot. So what does the world's greatest genius with a mile long list of enemies do? He opens a window with predictable results.

No, it's not Johnny. This is the fire elemental. He looks cruder and his flame is a different shade of orange. Fire guy envelopes the top floors of the building in flame. In the great tradition of Legion of Super-Heroes Bouncing Boy, Mr. Fantastic makes a narrow escape.

Stretching out like a great big kite, Mr. Fantastic floats to Central Park and miraculously runs into Frankie Raye who tells him that Johnny is getting the stuffing beat out of him by a wind thing.

Reed starts tackling the wind thing while Johnny manages to flame on. The flame thing mutters something about not fighting their analogs and flies off to find his "master." Johnny follows.

Now the action really starts to "heat" up. Invisible Girl learns two new things she can do with her force fields. One, she wraps it around her between her body and the dirt layer, expands it and breaks it apart. Next she uses it as transportation "much the same way the Ice-Man uses his ice-slides." But it really looks like a transparent hand grabbing her.

As Sue flees, Ben manages to stumble into a sporting goods store. He did this on purpose because the store will probably have SCUBA gear. Fortunately the female employee reads his mind, thinks quickly and shoves the breather part of a SCUBA tank into the water. I mention female, because the guy she works with appears to be a blithering idiot.

The elemental goes "you're a clever orange rockpile, but not so fast!" and proceeds to envelop the woman. Ben gives her the tank and prepares to be enveloped once again. Just in time, Sue arrives and traps the water thing in a force bubble. Outside, Ben starts to take on the dirt thing. Ben punches it into little bitty pieces, but it reforms into a giant fist. Take that Green Lantern!

Reed now arrives at the scene and grabs a couple of contacts from a portable generator. He tells Sue to release water thing and trap air thing. What's next? Reed uses the power from the generator to perform some instant water electrolysis. Having changed state, water thing no longer exists.

Reed spreads the message. Ben is next. He digs up a water pipe and sprays the creature which turns to mud and also ceases to exist. (I'm not sure I agree with this. The dirt thing is now particles suspended in water, or a solution. His little bits are still solid. But maybe ancient alchemy doesn't care.)

Next, Sue still has wind thing trapped in her force bubble. Reed tells her to contract it until the pressure forces it to become a liquid. Pop goes the wind thing!

The Human Torch has a bit of a different issue with his foe. Fire isn't matter whose state can be changed. What can he do? Fire thing's fire is hotter and more intense than Johnny. But our delightful smart-ass isn't dumb. He realizes if he burns all the oxygen in the vicinity, our flame thing won't be able to exist. Elemental four is gone!

After rescuing Johnny, the gang gets together. Reed has figured out who it is and now just needs to track him down. Sue moans "How can we find him? He can be anywhere in the city. Even anywhere in the world!" Reed calls in a favor.

So how does a super-scientist track a mystic? He calls up his friend who happens to be the sorcerer supreme. Finally! We get to Doc.

This is a fun issue. I love the FF and John Byrne's run is pretty legendary. I'm not the hugest fan of his art style which is a bit rough. But, he does have certain nuances. Most people have an average build. It's good to know that not everyone in the Marvel Universe is a body builder. Not everyone's clothing is skin tight. That's right! Your clothes don't need to fit like a glove. He brings back the bathtub Fantasticar presumably because it's easier to draw. He is doing the writing and penciling. I think he'll go on to even do the inking. On the plus side, he's taking steps to making Sue more powerful and more intelligent. When Reed disappears in the near future, she will earn her place as leader of the FF.

As for Doc, he only has a few dozen words, but it's enough to make me glad John was never his regular writer. This Doc has a huge rod shoved up someplace where the sun don't shine. And just when he's gotten so much more likeable in his own book. It's still nice that he and Reed enjoy such a friendship that allows a cool crossover every now and then.

[doctorstrangereview]

0262: Man-Thing (vol. 2) #11

Cover Date: July 1981 On-Sale Date: April 14, 1981

Doc shows up once again the our favorite flora based character, Man-Thing's title. This is the last solo issue for our motile pile of vegetation for a awhile. Writer Chris Claremont celebrates/mourns by inserting himself and a bunch from the Marvel Bullpen into the story. Will this have any effect on Manny's imminent appearance in the Defenders and where on earth is this all going to lead?

We're coming off some plot threads from the previous issue which I haven't given a thorough read. I really should read this series in its entirety. It's only 11 issues and I like the character quite a bit. Claremont's self-inserts are only in this issue. We don't see him previously. It's always interesting to see how artists view themselves. Especially as interpreted by another artist.

He's sitting there with an issue of Man-Thing, continuing the tradition that Marvel Comics exists in the Earth-616 universe and publishes stories based on the real-life adventures of the heroes (and others) they portray. Self inserts go back at least as far as Fantastic Four #9 where Stan and Jack made a cameo at the end of the story. This is the first I'm aware of rest of title's editorial showing up as well.

Getting to the story, the three editors gang up on Chris wanting to know why he resigned from Man-Thing. Chris says he thought the stories he wrote were originals, but it turns out that wasn't the case. He starts narrating a flashback where he is in Greenwich Village, sees a pirate ship floating in the air and heading for a strange looking house that just happens to be Doc's Sanctum Sanctorum.

Val's rendering of the Sanctum is far from the worst I've seen, but it still feels a bit off. Chris runs up to the front door, finds it open and goes inside. Running up to the main study with the funky window, he finds the bodies of both Doc and Clea. After a brief moment wondering what happened, Chris turns around and is confronted by John Daltry. He's a former Florida sheriff turned pirate. Well, that explains the pirate ship in the air! John proceeds to stab poor Chris. (How does he manage to write this if he's dead? Read on!)

Next, we move our gaze to Citrusville, Florida. Man-Thing is breaking into the towns library and historical society. (It's one organization. He isn't in two places at once.) He scares the willies out of Barbra Bannister and heads toward our stories other John, John Kowalski. This John is relaxed, despite the walking vegetation approaching him. John says he's been expecting Mr. Thing. John, it turns out, is not alive and therefore doesn't project an aura for Mr. Man-Thing to react hostilely. John then gives a quicky origin for the creature.

Then we get some clues on our pirate dude.

So John Daltry is Barbra's lover. John Kowalski is a grim reaper who's gotten a bit weary and want's to share the love, but not quite in the same way as Billy Batson shares with the rest of his family. Kowalski will help save the other John, but Barbra has to die and become a grim reaper too. He also reveals that his appearance is based on the fact that he's a pretty boring guy. When Barbra becomes a new grim reaper she looks a bit... different.

So Barbra thinks death has great cleavage and a need to show it off! It sure beats that yellow turtleneck. Kowalski and Barbra start hopping around to begin their dead souls collection. For some reason they're dragging Man-Thing around with them. The come across a car accident and Barbra goes to reap her first soul. She experiences the victims entire life in a moment.

Next, the trio travel to some place called Sominus where they are immediately attacked and Manny is shot apart while the other two are already dead and in no danger.

Eventually, the pair start to overwhelm their living attackers. The place is magic so Manny does a Humpty-Dumpty, puts himself back together and collapses a wall that takes care of the remaining soldiers. Barb enters the fortress and Kowalski follows. Man-Thing frees himself from the wall's rubble and follows as well. Inside, Barbra is confronted by...

These are all the souls that the other John has collected. Heck, even Chris Claremont is there! He tells Barbra that he likes being evil. Then he introduces his master, Thog, the netherspawn. Thog imprisons Barbra.

Thog chose other John as his agent because he loves battle and used him to take out anyone who may have defeated him. Looks like he might just succeed, except for one forgotten variable. Manny!

Thog attacks Manny to no avail. They are both powered by this realm's magic. Instead he restores Manny's humanity and Ted Sallis is with us once more.

Thog is about to kill Ted and end Manny once and for all. But, surprise, surprise, Chris Claremont suddenly turns in the Man-Thing! Chris-Thing approaches Thog and Barbra manages to free herself. Other John is on it, but Barbra handles the situation with aplomb. She even manages to avoid touching other John as that would bring him instant death. She tosses him aside and gets grabbed by Thog. But Barbra's a grim reaper now!

Thog offers to leave her alone and free all the prisoners, including other John if she'll just skedaddle off. Before Barbra can answer, Chris-Thing grabs Thog and now Thog is afraid. And we know that whatever knows fear burns at the Man-Thing's touch.

Thog is gone and Doc has a speech for Kowalski berating him for tricking Barbra into becoming a grim reaper because he's lonely. He releases her from the vow and she's human again. Doc manages to turn Chris-Thing, back into just Chris. Yay!

The gang returns to the Nexus of all Realities, a.k.a. Man-Thing's swamp. The Nexus decides it still needs a guardian and Ted becomes Man-Thing once again. Doc is sad that he has to go through this again!

We return to the bar where Chris is meeting with his editorial. Now we know why he was doing the heavy drinking! Jim Shooter tells Chris he's cancelling the book. They head out and the pub's owner wishes them a farewell. It turns out the "owner" is Dakimh the Enchanter and he's the one who fed the Man-Thing writers with their ideas. He also bids farewell.

So this is a bizarre one. I'm not sure the meta angle works well here, but I've never been a big fan of self-inserts. (it sucked when John Byrne did it in Fantastic Four #262.) As for the actual plot, it would probably make more sense to me if I were familiar with this era of Man-Thing. There's more going on under the surface with this characters than I know.

It boils down to a demon wants to take over the world and takes out obstacles and competition through a proxy. Not incredibly original. Doc's role is minimal. He is technically dead for most of the story, but manages a bit of moralizing and I think it's in character for him. It helps that Chris wrote his book for a year.

As a Man-Thing story, it's okay. As a Doc story, you won't be any worse for the wear if you skip it.

[doctorstrangereview]

0261: Defenders #97

Cover Date: July 1981 On-Sale Date: April 21, 1981

Yay! We get to return to the Six-Fingered Hand for a bit! Three fingers are down and three to go. J. M. gives us some religious spectacle here. Do we have a cult, or just a guy who thinks he is doing good? We will find out as the story unfolds. Also, the Defenders get a new member. Woo hoo! Our favorite non-team gets another psychologically damaged hero in their ranks! Finally, our favorite walking pile of vegetation makes a brief appearance. Let's explore.

The Defenders have commandeered Asmodeus Jones's house as a base of operations. Ostensibly this is because Doc thinks being in the middle of Fashima's energies he'll be able to track things better, but we really know it's because everyone is too cheap to pony up for a motel. After five hours of floating in the air while Daimon whines and complains yield nothing, Doc suggests he probe Hellcat as there might be residual Avarrish in her. Good heavens, that looks bad written down! Patsy isn't exactly amenable to the suggestion.

We get a full page spread flashback of the last few issues apparently with a narrator. Doc realizes this is the little bit of Avarrish that was left behind. Doc attempts to exorcise this little speck with explosive results.

This gives the perfect moment for Eric Payne, the Devil-Slayer to make his dramatic entrance. Someone needs to call the fashion police on all that orange!

We get a quick recap of Defenders #60 where they all fought Vera Gemini and then Mr. Devil-Slayer talks about his failing marriage. Daimon asks him to get to the point. Eric says he's getting there and explains that his wife, Cory, ran away to Israel and fell under the sway of a cultist who believes he's the second coming and whom Eric believes is their next Six-Fingered Hand target. She conveniently put it all in a letter. Turns out Doc reached out to Eric and asks Daimon to use his all-purpose trident to probe Cory's letter for confirmation when it bursts into flame? "Off to Israel, methinks," says the Son of Satan. Of course this means that Doc must once again uses the forbidden spell of teleportation. Devil-Slayer, Hellcat and Nighthawk travel via means of Devil-Slayer's cloak. There's no in-story explanation on why they take separate cars, but we'll just go with it.

Meanwhile, J. M. gives us a tiny look into next month's story and we get our glimpse of my favorite lump of rotting flora for this issue.

In Israel, the Defenders have arrived. Doc has even dressed them for their desert sojourn. The ladies are slightly underdressed. Maybe Doc is secretly a bit randy.

They've arrived at the spot they need to be, but forget that it's sunny here which means Nighthawk's daytime curse kicks in and he collapses. Nearby, our messiah, David Kessler is performing miracles and baptisms. After a blind man is cured, the gang decides to use Kyle as bait and haul him over to David's little oasis. Eric unloads Kyle on David and has a little reunion with his wife. He lets her know that David is about to come crashing down, hard!

Cory gives Eric a little origin story for David who started as a radical hippie, started actual charity work by founding a school for disabled children and ran into an angel in the desert. (The angel, as all of the biblical angels are, is depicted as male.) Suddenly, Super-David. David has just completed dunking Kyle and we get...

Kyle can walk again. Cory tells Eric "I told you so!" and the others seem to question their own motivations. This just inspires Daimon to get cranky again and he calls David out. The disguised Gargoyle intervenes just as things are about to get physical and David takes their hands. He wants to see what these dudes are all about. Yeah, he got his wish.

David calls up an army of angels and Doc dresses the Defenders for the occasion.

Everyone engages in a battle. Nighthawk is confused. Should he be fighting against the dude that just let him walk in the daytime again? David looks at the battle and tries to call it off. However, the angels overstay their welcome. Doc shows him why.

Now that he sees their true colors, Kyle starts to fight against the "angels" while David is throwing fits. It's because he's really possessed by the Six-Fingered Hand demon Hyppokri. Fancy that. Eric was right all along!

Cory attempts to dissuade "David" from allowing himself to be possessed and is pushed aside. Eric doesn't take this well and Devil-Slayer pulls out his sword. He gets knocked down by David/Hyppokri. Our possessed messiah's David side starts to get through and he realizes what's happening. He's been possessed long enough that only death with release him. He flings himself on Devil-Slayer's sword which is conveniently pointed up. David dies and Hyppokri flees.

Eric admonishes Cory for following men like David. Cory ain't having none of that.

The religious angle on this one is interesting. The "Big Two" generally shy away from the light when depicting Christianity. While David ultimately turns out to be a false messiah, even these types of depictions are rare. It's much more interesting to show the dark side of things.

David is not selfish. In fact he's rather selfless giving his time and effort to help others with no tangible return for himself. Unlike Gargoyle, who attempted to use the power of evil for good ends, David is completely unaware of his power's origin. Heck, he's baptizing and healing people in the desert of the Holy Land. He's even amassed followers. (Disciples?) The ones we do see look like white tourists and Cory appears to be the only bit of visible diversity. In this part of the world I'd expect to see more and different ethnicities. But maybe that's why most of David's followers are in shadows and hidden. Between this and the army of archangels, it comes across as very daring to me. David even has a moment of arrogance assuming he and his heavenly host won't be defeated. It's only when they refuse to obey that he realizes something is up. While he wasn't the second coming, him sacrificing himself for others may indicate there could be a bit of the divine in him. Sadly we'll never see him again. Of all the one-off characters to die or disappear, David is one I'd like to return. Were he resurrected like so many others, what would he have learned and what would he have done next?

J. M. is getting a better and better handle on Doc. We see the healer in him early on and he's shaken by what he sees in Hellcat's mind. Could this affect how Doc acts for the rest of this saga? We shall see!

Devil-Slayer joins. We see he's broken by his break-up with Cory. It's pointed out to us that there is still a lot of love between these too. But it'll take a while before we find out just how damaged Eric is. Along with introducing a possible messiah, we also get an interracial marriage this issue. It's hardly shocking to a modern reader, but Loving v. Virginia was only decided 14 years prior to this book's release. It's not unique and not a first, but still pretty rare for the time. I like Cory. She may need some work on picking out her cult leaders, but she seems well adjusted, rational and with it.

Now just wait until you see what a possessed Man-Thing looks like!

[doctorstrangereview]

0260: Micronauts #31

Cover Date: July 1981 On-Sale Date: April 7, 1981

I can already tell I probably won't enjoy this arc. I normally like Bill Mantlo's work, but this is really text-dense. I read issue 30 to prepare for the arc and so I wasn't missing too many details. Nearly every page is a wall of text with oodles of explanation of how this world works and what the characters do. Ugh!

I will say, Pat Broderick's pencils are gorgeous! He definitely has a knack for drawing attractive people and technology. He includes quite a lot of detail and plenty of shading and cross-hatching. Sadly, it gets crowded with lots of speech balloons and captions. Ah well, here we go.

To briefly recap the previous issue, an archeologist finds an ancient table with a prophecy about the Microverse they can't decipher. An inhabitant of the Microverse sees the same table in his subconscious and transcribes it. They know what it means. They must find three "keys" to be able to connect with something called the Enigma Force and save the Microverse. An microverse-quake happens. The Microns set out on a mission to retrieve the keys. They wind up in an area called Oceania ruled by someone named Aquon, who was introduced earlier in a flashback. Aquon wears one of the keys. He is going to use it to make all his people water-breathers and not turn it over to the Microns.

Back on Earth, the archeologist despairs ever learning the meaning of the tablet when Doc shows up and says he may be able to help.

Now that you're caught up you know everything I do up to this point. Now comes the time to read and judge...

Doc is in his Sanctum Sanctorum checking out the ancient tablet. Apparently, he managed to convince a bunch of important people that he should borrow the oldest man made object on the planet. Using the all-purpose amulet, he goes ghost and goes back in time. This seems to be easier than way back in Strange Tales #124 where the Ancient One needed to keep a smelly candle lit. I guess being sorcerer supreme has its advantages.

Doc winds up in ancient Bahawalpur, India. He finds the ancient version of the city under siege by demonic forces and defended by a quartet of weirdos.

Inside the palace, Doc finds Price Wayfinder talking to a sword. Yup, even weirder.

The sword complains about having to save the Prince's people in manner that's a bit too modern. This was many thousands of years ago. But hey, they're also speaking English millennia before that was even a language.

Doc realizes that the sword sent the city's people to the Microverse. Now what? That question will have to wait. We've just returned to Oceania. Our microns are now riding fishies trying to rescue their fellows and (according to the caption) take revenge on the inhabitants of the city beneath the sea. Does Lady Coral know her brother is a bother in all this? I think, not yet.

She and her Micronaut allies will need to deal with a bunch of big sea creatures first. we get another lovely full page panel for this.

This leads to Lady Coral's discovery...

Lady Coral and Aquon bicker back and forth about who's a traitor and who's a savoir. The key gets a mention and we turn elsewhere to check in on Arcturus and Marionette. They're alive inside some bubble fish. Their air is running our, but a guard assures them they won't need it much longer. Are they going to die? Nah, they'll just become mer-men/maids. Before the change can really get started, a seaquake shakes things up. The Prince and Marionette swim to the surface. Not sure how far down they are, but hopefully it's not far enough to give them the bends.

On the water's surface, the Micronauts continue to battle the sea monsters and Aquon's soldiers. Coral continues to bicker with her brother. Bug gets captured and is rescued by Pharoid. Most of them meet on the water's surface while Aquon goes on about the key and how it will rescue everyone. While they go back and forth, Lady Coral's city gets hit by another quake and falls apart. Her dad dies and Aquon takes this as his cue. He uses the key to turn everyone scaly.

Lady Coral is having a rough time accepting this and the Micronauts have to explain that had he not done this, everyone in Seazone would have died. At least they get to live this way. And breathe water. Yay! Aquon realizes that the being who transformed him was a Time Traveler and connected to Arcturus. Arcturus realizes this means that Aquon cannot be evil. Aquon, having accomplished his mission, turns the key over to the Micronauts. Lady Coral stayed human and now, full of self loathing because she interfered with her people's salvation runs away, maybe to return if she figures things out.

Finally, Acroyear, who ran away at the beginning of last issue, has returned to his dead planet and branded himself a traitor for making his people run away. Now he's going to chase a comet and I guess we'll find out more about it in the upcoming issues.

Yeah, I am not enjoying this. We're at the intersection of some serious world building, a change of story arcs and a large cast of characters. Bill Mantlo is cramming an awful lot into all this. It's not a title to casually slip characters from other title in. Doc was barely in this installment. I'm hoping he gets more involved in the next few issues. I just don't care enough about the characters to really get invested. I may visit the original Micronauts run from the start and maybe things will make more sense.

This is skippable.

[doctorstrangereview]

0259: Defenders #96

Cover Date: June 1981 On-Sale Date: March 24, 1981

We continue our Six-Fingered Hand saga with a splash page that is anything but subtle along with another guest star from Marvel's horror line-up. Ghost Rider was created when the Comics Code Authority relaxed its rules about monsters. Suddenly we had Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, a Werewolf By Night and Johnny Blaze, who's Faustian deal with a devil went wrong. (Don't they all?) Blaze's Ghost Rider was a favorite ever since I first read an issue of his book and I am delighted to see him here. Let's see what J. M. and Don think of the early 1980s Satanic Panic!

As I said above, the splash is anything but subtle. We have a our frontman in what looks like snakeskin yelling "Nothing is true-- Everything is permitted... ...666 is the number to get with it..." on stage with a six fingered hand backdrop, flaming braziers and a backing band dressed in unimaginative cult robes. I hope the Hand installed some magical air-conditioning in those. It gets hot up there. I watched Marky Ramone pass out from heat exhaustion during a live show, so I know!

As Asmodeus sings, our Demon of the Month appears. She's of the feminine variety and not exactly modestly clad at that.

We see that watching backstage is Jonny Blaze, who appears to have picked up a job as a roadie. Johnny's employment was never very steady. Having a little experience with the dark side of the occult, he's a bit suspicious. It's clinched when he sees this.

Johnny may now think this gig questionable.

We turn to a skyscraper where Valkyrie is tending to Kyle while he visits his attorney. We blow a whole page on Kyle telling his mouthpiece to do his job and not pity him and then leaves. Val stays for a moment an asks the attorney to keep Kyle out of court for a while. After all, thanks to his hands-off approach and bad decisions, Kyle's businesses were a hotbed of corruption. Glad J. M. didn't forget about it. Val informing the mouthpiece that Kyle is under the best care gives us a segue to the badly drawn Sanctum Sanctorum. (The Sanctum is supposed to be on the corner of Bleeker and Fenno, but here it's in the middle of a block.)

Wong brings Doc some tea who explains to his faithful retainer that he's been probing the ether and it's revealed the whole plot to him, but he can't seem to make heads or tales of it. Doc and Ghost Rider have bumped heads in at least two previous encounters. He should recognize him.

C'mon Doc! You were much more clever against Ikonn!

Now we go to hell Montclair, NJ to look in on Dolly Donahue. Daimon, Patsy and the Gargoyle have decided to join us.

After a brief flashback to issue #94, Isaac moves closer in an attempt to comfort his victim, but Patsy is like "Hells no!" Daimon intervenes telling Patsy that she shouldn't have brought him along in the first place if she was gonna be such a bitch about it. Patsy gets all weird and backs off. Yes, J. M. is setting up stuff that won't have a payoff for quite a while.

Daimon is now like "Let me try something" And goes hands on with Dolly, but not in a dirty way.

Yay! Dolly is gonna get better! That mysterious word balloon to the right is from Doc. He whisks the Defenders away with that teleportation spell he isn't supposed to use, but seems to find a world threatening excuse to use it every five minutes. Yes, this too will have repercussions. Our gang disappears in front of a nurse who was just entering the room. It's always amuses me to think of someone writing a story about all these one-off background characters showing up years later. Maybe in some sort of support group.

Back at base, Doc shows the group the symbols he fails to get. Daimon seems to think he knows what they mean and the gang head off to Detroit because, well because of that giant sign in the cauldron flames. Duh!

In Detroit, Johnny is motoring along when his bike crashes into an invisible barrier. Yup, The Defenders have arrived. Johnny immediately goes Ghost Rider.

The group starts fighting, and Doc, practical as every once again uses his dangerous teleportation spell to send everyone to the nearest junkyard. Daimon then uses his all-purpose trident to bring back Johnny for now.

Daimon and company explain to Johnny what's going on and tells them that his current gig has a big six fingered hand backdrop. Could they be related? Doc goes ghost to check things out. Yup. Asmodeus Jones and his manager have been conjuring Fashima for a big climax.

Asmodeus shoots an eye-beam to get his manager to back off. Manager man threatens Asmodeus, who doesn't seem to get it. But Doc has been watching and listening and Doc does get it. The Defenders sneak into the concert under an invisibility bubble. They're waiting for their buddy Ghost Rider to provide a distraction. The crowd start acting all funny and our flaming rider appears on stage. Ghosty and Asmo start firing at each other. This is the moment. The Defenders strike!

To this day, I'm not sure what's coming out of Hellcat's head. She's supposed to have some minor mental abilities from her training with the bald wonder, Moondragon, but they were supposed to have pretty much disappeared by now. Anyway, the group burns Fashima out of Asmo's body. Victory belongs to the Defenders. Daimon proclaims that Asmo will live, but his manager lets them know he's the one who made the deal and it's his pockets that payment comes from.

Manager man, aka Felix Palmer vanishes on a hot wind. Asmo reveals his full name is Ozzie Palmer and manager man was his brother. Everyone reacts with shock, except Hellcat who can't seem to stop laughing.

This is definitely a fun story that puts us to about the midpoint of our six demons. But it doesn't end with six because that 100th issue isn't that far off. Obviously we're building to something here.

Doc's role is facilitator. I think he submerges his personality a bit so he can lead the rest to victory. He's a little clueless when presented with the clues, but once he knows what's going the general takes over and makes a plan. Daimon and Val question using a questionable player like Ghost Rider, but Doc snipes back comparing Ghosty to Daimon's darksoul. Way to go, Doc!

The story itself is fairly straightforward. We have a Faust deal inside the world of heavy metal. The Satanic Panic was just getting off the ground with lots of accusations cropping up of people being abused for the devil's sake. Most of these cases lacked evidence, but it scared the heck out of parents, especially when their children were listening to Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Motorhead, Iron Maiden and the Scorpions. The story is definitely a product of it's time.

J. M. is weaving in some easter eggs. Some of which will take a while to get fully realized. What's up with Patsy? She's been strange since her possession a few issues ago. Perhaps one doesn't recover from such an event quickly?

We also see more of the Gargoyle. He's a complex character. He did evil hoping it would lead to good. It didn't and he's trapped. He want's to make amends but no one trusts him. Gargoyle's attempt to comfort the comatose Dolly includes a beautiful seen of pathos and mercy. We see what a complex character Daimon is as well. He was born from evil, but he uses his gifts to heal Dolly. It's just lovely.

Ghost Rider is a favorite character of mine. He's here to drive the plot along by connecting the Defenders to his current employer, the demon worshipers and provide a distraction so the rest of the team can strike. Still, it's great to see him here.

J. M. provides a great balance in his story. It's never too slow or too fast. There aren't many walls of text to interrupt the flow. The battles aren't interminably long and boring. And he's setting things up that will have long term ramifications for everyone. I am certainly enjoying his turn on this book.

Highly recommended!

[doctorstrangereview]

Bonus Minisode: Micronauts #30

Cover Date: June 1981 On-Sale Date: March 10, 1981

This is an appearance of which I was completely unaware! While I loved the Micronauts toys and had a bunch as a kid, I never got into the comics. Looks like I have some catching up to do. Hopefully I find the title more interesting than I did 45 years ago.

Fortunately, this appearance is barely a cameo with Doc just showing up in the final panel. Unfortunately, Doc is in the next five issues. Between these appearances, the Defenders and a few other miscellaneous pop ups, there will be long slogs between issues of his solo book. Anyway, here is Doc's first appearance in Micronauts.

[doctorstrangereview]

0258: Doctor Strange (vol. 2) #47

Cover Date: June, 1981 On-Sale Date: March 10, 1981

Here we have Roger Stern's first full issue since returning to the title. Sadly, this is Gene Colan's second to last turn at art and the last one we'll see for a while. He won't return for his ultimate issue until Doc's next series Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme.

Roger gives us a nice little introductory tale. We meet a villain who's been invoked, but never seen before. We visit a university stuck in the past and get a little unsavory history of it. It's along the lines of the "Back to Basics" tale John Byrne will tell in next month's Fantastic Four as he takes over that title. In fact, Doc makes a cameo in that one so look for it's review in the near future.

We begin in Doc's fancy study under the Vishanti window. Here it's show to be perfectly vertical while most depictions show it at some sort of angle, but there's never really been a definitive portrayal of the Sanctum Sanctorum. I suppose that adds to the mystery of the place which apparently shifts around more than the interior of the Gryffindor residence. Gene gives Doc a fancy chair to sit in. It's not quite as wild as the ones Ditko conjured up, but it stands on paws and that's adorable. Doc's collar is tremendous! It must be magic or his chiropractor bills would be huge having to constantly adjust his back and shoulders.

Clea is up for some testing. Doc explains that her Rings of Raggadorr spell she conjured up during the Shadowqueen deal was kinda crappy and she needs to do better. She begins

Clea looks a bit like she shouldn't have eaten those mushrooms she found growing in basement. Especially after the whole Sa'arpool thing. But she perseveres and Doc attacks. First with the Vapors of Valtorr. Clea knocks that one out of the park, but she's confronted with the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak next and that's just about beyond her.

Doc disperses the rings with a nice lightshow and Clea gets a bit whiney over the whole thing. Seems there's a bit of Claremont Clea left. Doc then comforts her.

I love the way Gene has Doc hug Clea from behind! Clea's reward for passing the test is a grimoire so she can start jotting down her own "I call upon the Vishanti" type stuff. It's quite adorable.

Doc then proceeds to his next challenge. His new business manager, Sara Wolfe is pressing Wong to get receipts for the stuff he buys. Wong is a bit dubious because the U. S. government doesn't need to know EVERYTHING Doc purchases.

I would love to see this conversation today in the age of tap-to-pay and Turbo Tax! Would Doc still conjure up gold coins to clean up his messes? Or does he leave a bunch of bitcoin tokens? Suddenly Doc feels something is off and runs to one of his studies, followed by Clea who got an inkling of the situation as well.

He calls this the Orb of Agamotto, but this is definitely not its usual enclosure. Maybe this is a special stand Doc uses to dry the Orb after he's Windexed it. The pair find there's a disturbance in the force (he he) around the Carolinas. But, as he tries to zero in, things go... wrong.

Doc does manage to sense the center of the disturbance being Norcross, North Carolina. And they make arrangements to fly there. (There is no Norcross in North Carolina in the real world, but there is one in Georgia.) Roger now takes us to Norcross University where everyone seems stuck in a pre-counterculture time.

A pair of students have been invited to view a something discovered while a portion of the campus is being reconstructed. Inside a chest belonging to the school's founder they find an old temple bell. And, of course, one of them has to ring it. We've all seen enough horror movies to know no good will come of this.

Up in the air, Doc feels the bell being run and goes ghost to investigate before they physically land.

Doc scouts the campus, but finds he can't enter the building with the ringing students! Uh Oh! Guess this will have to wait until they land. Roger gives us a joke about Clea not being able to wake Doc up since his ghost hasn't returned to his body yet.

After landing, Doc attempts to convince the university president that supernatural baddies are up to no good right under his nose. It goes about as well as you'd expect.

The president goes on to explain how wonderful everything is and with perfect dramatic timing, this happens.

Doc and Clea fly into the heart of the demonstration. Doc attempts to entrance the students, but this isn't an ordinary demonstration.

The ghosts are actually part of Ikonn, who finally shows himself. Doc leaves Clea to keep entrancing the students while he follows Ikonn to continue the battle. Doc appears to trap Ikonn and then uses the all-purpose amulet to probe the entity's mind. Ikonn gives Doc a little history lesson. The university found stumbled across a temple in Tibet and found a bunch of cult members worshipping a bell. The bell is an instrument to summon Ikonn. Dr. Norcross decided he needs the bell for himself and murders a bunch of the cultists to steal it.

Ikonn's hold on the world grows stronger the longer the bell wrings and at this point he's able to break the chains Doc bound him with and use them on Doc. Doc breaks free, but Ikonn's abilities have grown to the point he can warp reality and we get the cover image happening in the story! (Love when that happens!)

Doc realizes that he can't directly fight Ikonn. He finds Mary Elizabeth, the student ringing the bell and tries to get her to stop. Ikonn has taken steps to prevent this. But Doc has other plans.

Doc slows down time inside the bell shaped shield. Mary falls to the floor and the bell stops ringing.

Doc and Clea return to the president's office who has conveniently forgotten everything. Yup, Doc did another mind wipe without consent of all them people! C'mon Doc, we've talked about this! While things appear to have been "reset," a pair of students burst into the office demanding a bunch of changes including an end to that silly dress code. They're so tired of looking decades out of date and this small town doesn't have enough thrift stores to sustain it. As they depart, Doc explains to Clea.

This is one of those special to me issues. It was the first one I received when my subscription kicked in. We have an interesting story isn't incredibly original and has little long reaching consequence in the long run, but is well told.

Ikonn had been mentioned a few times reaching all the way back to Strange Tales #145. Introducing him as a character works well. He seems like he'd be a lot of fun to spar with and it's sad he only makes a few more appearances. He's one ugly sucker but that just adds to his charms. He's powerful, confident, and assured, and looks like something that can give an army of xenomorphs a run for their money.

The story is a great little yarn. We start with Clea's test and Roger gives evidence that Doc is capable of being teacher and lover, despite the fact this would probably get him fired at Norcross (snicker.) We have a couple of convergent mysteries for Doc to solve and a battle that isn't long and ridiculous. Roger shows us that Doc is smart enough to bow out and go for the better solution when he realizes that what he really needs to do is stop the bell. When he finds he can't physically intervene, he immediately comes up with another viable solution. Doc is smart and has reasonable detective skills. Rogers return is promising so far.

Definitely a good start. Now just wait until next issue!

[doctorstrangereview]

0257: Defenders #95

Cover Date: May 1981 On-Sale Date: February 24, 1981

Yes, our title this month is an obvious allusion to the wildly popular Star Wars sequel released less than a year before. Star Wars mania was still incredibly popular so why not jump on the bandwagon!

We continue our Six-Fingered Hand adventure with an old foe who returns as something not quite a foe. Our lady, Clea, who is supposed to be watching over Kyle Richmond, our playboy turned Nighthawk only appears in two panels. The first of which is heavily shadowed and easy to miss. She really needs to be playing a larger role in these events. Speaking of Kyle, there are surprising developments for him. Son of Satan continues to be a hot-headed delight and we learn yet more about the tragic Gargoyle. Onwards!

Our heroes are returning from New Jersey, just barely surviving the experience. But, that's Jersey for you! And here comes my first complaint. While I really like Don's pencils in how they fall somewhere in-between serious and cartoony, he really can't draw the exterior of the Sanctum Sanctorum. Doc is letting the gang in through the front door, but this door is level with the street. Ditko went to all the trouble of giving him a stoop all those years ago and Don makes it look like the secret entrance to a brothel.

Now that they're inside, they hear a voice who swoops down and knocks several of them on their behinds. Oh, the indignity of Doc injuring his ...pride.. in his own home. Valkyrie isn't playing the game and grabs the unknown assailant's leg in the dark with Dragonfang ready to do some carving. Someone turns on the lights (by lighting a torch) and we see it's Kyle who's monkeying around with his teammates.

Seriously? A torch? If you're not casting a spell can you not use electric lights and keep the fire hazards to a minimum? Doc examines this supposed miracle and pieces together that the serum that gave Nighthawk his enhanced strength at night is working overtime to allow him to move again. There's a caveat Doc is trying to communicate, but everyone keeps interrupting.

Kyle, then notices the Gargoyle and ask who the heck he is. This give Doc the opportunity for a recap of last issues exciting events and for Don to make another Six-Fingered Hand drawing. It's similar to the final panel of last issue, but Don is no Dan Adkins and draws a new panel.

Just as Doc closes his recap, Kyle falls down paralyzed again. His miracle is tied to nighttime and he goes all gooey when the sun comes up. He's angry, but fortunately for us readers, he goes through those five stages of grief really quick-like!

Nice Kyle returns just in time for Wong to answer the phone and let Patsy find out her beloved housekeeper, Dolly Donahue, is dying. Bummer. (I know I sound callous, but that's because the situation's resolution ain't all that bad.) Patsy is angry/sad and takes it out on Gargoyle.

To be perfectly fair, this isn't a totally unreasonable reaction. Also, Gargoyle's skin is really tough so she can't do much damage. He doesn't fight back because he realizes she's right. Eventually she stops.

Next, Patsy and Daimon go to her mother's grave to find some answers. Daimon summons his all-purpose trident. This means it's also time to show off the chest and abs. Don gives us a full page spread to show us what's going on.

Damn, Dorothy was a really terrible mother! This is far worse than the mom who murdered her daughter's cheerleading rivals. She was perfectly willing to sacrifice her own daughter, whom she treated horribly throughout her childhood, just to live some more. At least the cheerleader mom was doing it FOR her daughter.

Back at base, some of Val's fellow Valkyries in Asgard contact her and ask her to come back. She politely declines. And this time that isn't sarcastic. She is exceedingly polite. I am only showing this tidbit because it illustrates how bad Don is at drawing the outside of the Sanctum.

The Defenders are having a strategy session when suddenly Doc seizes up. Something is coming!

Yup, Dracula has managed to break through Doc's security. And after all those many reviews yelling at him to beef it up. Drac tears through the Defenders like tissue paper until Daimon tells Doc to hold down Drac. (Damn, that's a lot of alliteration even for Stan Lee.) Daimon again uses the all-purpose trident, but this time it's for what he's really good at, exorcism.

I love all the little demons Don is able to come up with. They are so adorable! After Drac is a bit tamer, Doc mentions the Six-Fingered Hand and Drac is like "WTF?!" So Doc explains. They then look in on Castle Dracula where Six-Finger demon Puishannt has appointed a new Lord of the Undead. Sadly, he sorely lacks Drac's dress sense. On the other hand, Don's rendition of Puishannt is really cool!

Back at the Sanctum, Doc, Drac and Daimon call a truce and agree to work together on this while the footnotes get the issue that Doc and Drac first fought wrong for the second time. (It's Tomb of Dracula #44, not #41.)

After Daimon and Drac discuss how they have the same eyebrow person they all head to Transylvania, courtesy of the teleportation spell that Doc has said shouldn't be used too much because it can be dangerous (this is another J. M. easter egg) but doesn't accompany them. Val says it's so Doc and Clea can locate the Hand's home dimension, but the gang really could have used the additional muscle on this one.

They start cutting through the vampire army with Drac and Daimon being particularly vicious. The CCA really approved this panel?

The fight goes on. Gargoyle rescues Hellcat while Drac faces Gordski.

Daimon tells everyone to head to the roof. He's got a plan. Getting everyone in a ring of fire, the Son of Satan shoos off Drac.

Drac hoofs it (or wings it) outta there. Suddenly, the sun rises and it's bye-bye badly dressed vampires.

All the baddies turn into piles of ash, but that mean Nighthawk is suddenly paralyzed again. Rats, that sucks! Daimon explains that he and Doc worked out a scheme to speed up time in the local vicinity and let the sunlight do its thing. Patsy asked why he warned off Drac.

It's another great installment of the Six-Fingered hand arc! Drac is usually a great guest star. He's so evil, but when his own well-being is at stake, he can be so very rational and make sure what's best for him is what happens.

I think J. M. is getting a better handle on Doc. I wish he had join in on the action. The odds looked like they could be overwhelming for the gang and while Doc may have some trouble handling Drac, he can slice through regular vamps like a hot knife through butter. And J. M. could have demonstrated some more of Doc's personality. The rod isn't up there as far, but it's still there.

Gargoyle shows us he does have a heart. His deal with the Hand wasn't made out of selfishness, but love for his fellow citizens. He doesn't try to stop Patsy from pummeling him because he knows she is correct. Dolly's situation is his fault. He is repentant and even tries to make small amends. Way to go Isaac!

Lastly, Daimon shows more of his battle to control his evil half. It would have been easy to let Drac cook with the rest of the turncoat vamps, but he stuck with his alliance and Drac lives to haunt us another day. J. M. shows us he knows how to turn on the drama.

it's another highly entertaining and very re-readable issue!

[doctorstrangereview]

0256: Defenders #94

Cover Date: April 1981 On-Sale Date: January 20, 1981

This is it, the issue that really starts the Six-Fingered Hand arc. At the end of the arc we'll find out why issue 92 counts, but the action starts here. Patsy gets tainted in a way that doesn't wash off for a long time. Patsy's beloved housekeeper returns. And we are introduced to a character I hold dear, The Gargoyle. More on him later.

Our tale begins as a ball of fire approaches a house in Montclair, NJ. This ball of fire is the Defenders, or some of them, at least. The jolly green giant didn't join them and looks like Namor is staying in Atlantis for a bit. For once it wasn't a temper tantrum that screwed things up and Namor has some rifts to close. Doc, Son of Satan and Valkyrie are worried. So worried that they're braving New Jersey! J. M. and Don really know how to script and draw and entrance!

That saved the creatives from a couple of dialog heavy pages! And that bystander we'll never see again looks A LOT like Val. All looks okay, but Daimon's trident is buzzing like he just put in a new bunch of D-batteries. Doc waves his hand dispensing with the illusion and they find...

They hear moaning coming from the ruins and find out Dolly was in the house when it blew up or whatever. Ouch!

Dolly is able to tell them what happened and we get our first look at our new cast member. The Gargoyle came and kidnapped Patsy while blowing up the house as he headed out. Dolly falls into merciful unconsciousness right after completing the tale. Whew! Good thing she managed to finish!

Elsewhere in town, we join the Gargoyle in the present and it looks like he's about to do nasty things to Patsy. Patsy is nude under a blanket and she's probably okay with that since she doesn't have to wear one of those ugly black hoods or any of those unfashionable outfits. She is a former model after all!

Looking in on the Defenders, we find Daimon struggling a bit. All the evil in the air is messing with his darksoul. He manages to control himself and we find out what he was trying to tell Doc two issues ago right before Kyle's collapse interrupted them.

Kyle uses his magic trident to find Patsy and the group heads out. That thing is nearly as useful as the all-purpose amulet. Doc goes ghost and heads to the Sanctum Sanctorum and has Clea check on Kyle. This introduces us to a surprise to be revealed next issue.

The team lands in Christiansboro. Val finds it hard to believe there's evil in this quiet little burg. Daimon says "That's what you think!" He's right.

The Defenders fight the horde and win, but sadly, we never see the Gene Simmons demon again. It would have been fun to see what it did with that tongue. Daimon takes on the Gargoyle who tries to convince them this all actually a good thing. The demon, Avarrish, done good things and Christiansboro ain't a slum anymore.

The pair continue to trade blows when Daimon is struck in the back. He turns around to find this.

So, Avarrish managed to do naughty things to Patsy and this is the result. Daimon starts to perform an exorcism, which Patsy shrugs off. Doc attempts to use the all-purpose amulet to get Avarrish to vamoose from Patsy. She shrugs that off too. There's one hero left standing and it's the one who can't fight fellow females.

Val doesn't bother trying to fight and pretty much surrenders herself to Patsy's tender mercies, but tries to talk her out of the possession.

It works and Avarrish scrams. Fortunately, he conjured a skimpy outfit for Patsy. While she's not exactly modest, she should at least be legal.

The townsfolk, also freed from the naughty influence of Avarrish go on to blame their mayor, Isaac Christians. He was good until he was past it and then messed around with things he shouldn't have. The Defenders go to Isaac's house and find out he's the Gargoyle!

Isaac then tells them about the deal he made. They could put him in the Gargoyle body for awhile while magic fixed the dying town. Because things didn't work out as planned, he's know stuck in it forever. Doc tries to wring some information about the Six-Fingered Hand's plan but he's pretty ignorant of it. The Gargoyle offers to join the Defenders to fight the Hand. Daimon has some reservations, but he winds up joining anyway. Meanwhile, Patsy lets everyone know that she was promised to Avarrish years ago...

This is an amazingly fun intro the the Six-Fingered Hand arc. There's lots of action and J. M. is laying a few Easter eggs that will be picked up on later. He also resolves a few from his first issue. I always enjoy this level of plotting. It's obvious he's got a long range plan for this. He sticks around until issue #131 and even the ones that won't be covered here because they lack a Doc appearance are still worthy to be read. They are all in multiple collections, so get out there. Even after J. M. leaves the title, the book remains wonderfully bizarre and finishing out the run is a good deal.

Doc seems a tad more personable here, but still a bit stilted and formal. As sorcerer supreme, he should have been able to handle Patsy's possession by a minor demon with no real issues, but I guess him getting knocked out served the plot and allowed Val to serve as the heart and soul of the team in Kyle's absence. She does manage to talk down a possessed friend, although it leaves Patsy forever changed with ramifications that will haunt her for decades. These are changes to the status quo that I like. You don't need to destroy New York City every other issue. Patsy has issues like everyone else. They're just a wee bit more complicated.

Lots of fun and highly recommended!

[doctorstrangereview]

0255: Doctor Strange (vol. 2) #46

Cover Date: April 1981 On-Sale Date: January 6, 1981

This is a fill-in issue. It's sort of padding between creative teams. Written by Bill Kunken of whom I know very, very little and who doesn't appear to have written much for Marvel and penciled by Kerry Gammill who appears to have penciled a couple of hundred pages for the publisher. Scripter David Michelinie has contributed much more to Marvel than Bill. The point being, I'm not very familiar with the story's creators. The plot is mildly novel while the art is fairly workman-like but easy on the eyes. We're introduced to a bunch of characters and an alternate Earth who never appear again. We are lucky The Reality War has nothing to do with Ncuti Gatwa's final turn on Doctor Who!

Fortunately, there's a backup story drafted by the series returning writer, Roger Stern. Roger had the unenviable task of ending the awful Creators Saga, but also gave us the Dweller in Darkness arc taking us through to Chris Claremont's run. It's a delight and highlight of the issue. Michael Golden's art makes you wish he had a long run on the series.

Doc and Clea are going on vacation! Clea is fascinated and excited by all the activity at J.F.K. airport. There's even someone paying cash for their ticket in front of our happy couple. You don't see that anymore. Doc is less so. He's rather jaded by the spectacle. I'm sure flying to all those medical conventions learning to make more money had something to do with it.

As they check-in. Doc keeps setting off the metal detector. What ever could be triggering it. Also, Clea's chunky bracelet doesn't seem have been an issue. Could Doc have gotten her costume jewelry?

The mystery of the stealth chunky bracelet may never be solved, but Doc's is. The all-purpose amulet is setting off the infernal machine. Presumably, only Doc and Clea can see it poking out from his suit.

Doc disguises it (as a St. Christopher's medal). How clever of Doc to use the patron saint of travelers. The rest of check-in is uneventful and the couple settle down in their seats as the airplane heads to Rome. Clea takes a snooze and that's where the fun begins.

Clea is being contacted by Sibylla, a long dead oracle who lived during the Roman Empire. Sibylla hocked her fortunes to the crowds for many years and shuffled off this mortal coil. Sibylla asked the god Apollo to let her stick around so she can guide and spook future Sibyls. Sure, says Apollo. Go for it. Sibylla turns to dust and ghost Sibylla continues to make Mt. Gaurus her home.

But all things die and the Sibylline sisterhood had it's run. The final member, a woman named Thaleia, began offering her craziness as edicts of the gods and eventually she offs herself. Apollo and Sibylla then start talking about something called The Black Prophecy and need for three Sibyls. Apollo seals crazy Thaleia in her rotting corpse waiting for the right moment. Yuck, that sounds worse than hanging around as a ghost!

After burning a few panels talking about how the ghost and dead body hung around for a long, long time never changing, Sibylla gets to the point. She's been searching the world for a new Sibyl and Clea has been elected! Oh Joy!

The couple lands and things start going nuts right a the airport. Doc sees Roman Centurions with advanced sci-fi weaponry and they are suddenly transported to Mt. Gaurus.

After entering the cave, the pair encounter mists with faces and ghostly centurions. Also Thaleia's dead, but still occupied corpse, still as rotten as the day she poisoned herself. Doc thinks this may be what brought them here, but Sibylla dramatically proclaims it was her doing.

Gotta love that angle! Sibylla then treats Doc to Clea's dream, but he still doesn't really understand what's going on. Sibylla then tells them that the cave is "the nexus of all possible realities" and it exists everywhere, including an Earth where the Roman Empire flourished to the present day, developed space travel and liked to conquer whatever looked at them funny. Eventually they ran out of enemies.

"What are we gonna do?" says the very young King Tiberius Exeter. "Leave it to me!" responds evil wizard Xennus. Evil wizard dude talks it up with he patron goddess Livilla, also evil. She says "There's this place you can go and invade other realities. I'm sure you'll find other people to crush and murder there."

Ending her tale, Sibylla asks Clea to be in their throuple. She accepts and sits in one of the mini-thrones. The big one is still reserved to the lady in blue dress.

Doc takes it upon himself to guard the trio and uses the all-purpose amulet to check on things. Xennus, meanwhile, is sending attacks into Doc's world.

Doc shrugs off the attack and Xennus makes a few more tries. Doc has had enough and says "We're doing this face to face!"

Back on our Earth, the sisterhood prepares for the final blow.

And Doc has had it. Xennus tries to mess with Clea and Doc is like "No Way!"

I think of this like that scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark where Harrison Ford says "You gotta be kidding me" and just shoots the other guy. Doc returns to our Earth and Clea is praised by Sibylla. She frees her nutcase sister from her corpse and both go to dust. But not before showing Doc and Clea outside. The cave is about to collapse after all. Doc and Clea walk off into the sunset.

This story is definitely unpopular, but I don't hate it. I enjoy the concept of an alternate Rome that kept growing and getting more powerful. It was done before in an early episode of The Tomorrow People, but it's a concept that can be shared. It's shame no one revisited it. The corruption that must have set in after several millennia would have been staggering.

Doc is a supporting character in his own book. He's a grumpy traveler, but other than his supportive and protective instincts we don't get much of him personality wise. His relationship with Clea seems quite solid at the moment. No signs of the tension and angst that showed up in the last few issues can be seen here. Perhaps Clea is really giving this a go!

Speaking of Clea, she seems un-nerfed a bit here with Sibylla explaiing how powerful she may become. It's good that someone recognizes her potential that seems to have disappeared, otherwise. Thank you Sibylla for sharing that with her.

Now, on to...

The backup story is a true delight. We find out Doc and Clea have been having a lovely time in Rome with no further issues elaborated on. Now they're on their final day and Clea is up for some night swimming. Good thing she's a sorceress. What's the point of having these powers if you can't conjure up a bathing suit. At least she didn't choose a skimpy bikini.

Clea has some fun swimming while Doc broods. Here's the Doc I've been missing in the lead story and recent Defenders issues.

Wow! That's just gorgeous! After her little prank, Clea invites him for a swim again, and he politely declines, again. But he gives her a playmate for the evening.

Clea is having fun while Doc broods some more. This time going all the way back to when he and Mordo where students of The Ancient One. Basically he comes to the conclusion that being lovers and master and disciple presents a problem, but is manageable. Well, that was anti-climactic! Guess what! Time to go!

This has always bugged me a bit. Did Doc actually murder a sentient creature? Or was it not truly alive. Or was it's consciousness returned to the water. Sometimes I think about things too much.

Next, Doc pushes the reset button on the evening with some large scale flair.

Doc can certainly be a huge drama-queen when he wants to be. Doc tells Clea they are going back to New York tomorrow and Clea realizes it's time for her to be a disciple again.

I don't think we ever got more moments like this. Roger Stern and Michael Golden conjured some true magic in these five pages. Visually it is spectacular. This is the kind of art usually reserved for a big battle, but here we use it to illustrate a couple in love that must return to the real world. I definitely would have liked more moments like this if there was this amount of talent involved. These five pages make the whole book worth buying.

[doctorstrangereview]

0254: Defenders #93

Cover Date: March 1981 On-Sale Date: December 23, 1980

It's the second issue of J. M.'s run and he's already stepping away from the arc he secretly started last issue. But, it's a secret so that's okay. We all love it when Namor gets emotionally manipulated, goes bat-crap crazy and invades the surface world. Guess what? That's what happens here! How awesome is that. Now throw in some old villains and some cloning nonsense and you've got the icing on the cake!

As we open our tale, our hot-headed and freakishly strong undersea monarch, Namor, is getting in some relaxing in by swimming with the dolphins. This is a good thing, because our temper-tantrum diva needs all the relaxation he can get. Unfortunately, he starts hearing someone calling his name and when he discovers who it is, it's mind-blowing to him. Yup, it appears that his old girlfriend, fiancé, wife, and or queen, Dorma has been calling out to him.

Dorma is one of Marvel's oldest characters. She appeared in the first Namor story in Marvel Comics #1. The Marvel Database says it's Motion Pictures Funnies Weekly #1, but that's not correct. That book only had the first eight pages of the story and she ain't in them. The additional six pages added in MC #1 is where she shows up. Anyway, why is she in those big chains and how is she even her as she snuffed it almost a decade before this story.

Time will tell, but first we must look in on the rest of our cast. Son of Satan admires Doc's paperweight. It's actually rather nice looking and seems to be kept under a bell jar. That's quite a bit of respect for a big crystal. Clea comments on how Namor and Patsy hoofed it out of there rather, Wong serves everyone tea, because at this stage in his comic career, that's what he does and Bruce Banner is scratching his head. Looks like Doc has a supply of purple pants he keeps around for Bruce to wear.

Clea is about to explain to Bruce what happened, but Valkyrie puts the kibosh on it wanting to just sit back for a bit. Our playboy heart and soul of the team enters with ice cream and Daimon needs a private word with Doc. What better way to accomplish this than conjuring a bubble around them. Saves those steps walking to another room.

Daimon is interrupted from revealing any of the plots of the upcoming issues by a scream which turns out to have come from Kyle, who has inexplicably dropped dead. Bruce doesn't take this too well.

We turn back to Namor who is presenting Dorma to his people and Lord Vashti in particular. Vashti is a bit surprised to see her until Namor recounts the long ago events of Sub-Mariner #37 where he battled Llyra who assumed Dorma's likeness and Dorma died during the battle. Dorma told Namor that it was a clone that died in his arms. Vashti seem dubious until Dorma gives him the evil eye.

What's next? Why, declaring war on the surface is next! One of Namor's subjects objects, but after a look from Dorma, his fellow citizens beat the tar out of him. War it is!

Back at the Sanctum Sanctorum, Doc has discovered that Kyle isn't dead, just paralyzed. Something broke the bond they created way back in issue #14 that saved Kyle the last time. He's alive, but can't move. Hulk is rather peeved that his bird-nosed buddy can't move and is about to take it out on Doc when Wong bursts in and tells everyone they need to watch the TV.

Despite Doc's ambivalence to the idiot box, he watches. Of course Namor has invaded London. Man, that dude can pull an invasion together in no time!

Next, we have an interlude where we check in on Patsy. Her mom, whom she hated, died a mere four issues ago. Even though the elder Mrs. Walker was a horrible person, Patsy isn't taking her departure too well. Then something else appears to make it all worse. We'll find out more about it next issue.

Doc has zapped the Defenders to London and appears to have great aim. They are in the thick of Namor's invasion force. Our hot headed half-fish man is starting at the Houses of Parliment.

Doc attempts to reason with Namor. He ain't buying it!

Ouch, I hope the all-purpose amulet or some other trinket softened that blow. Doc may be sorcerer supreme, but he's just average flesh and blood. The troops pile on our heroes and Namor seems to question how things are going.

Namor doesn't have any captives. The Defenders kick lots of homo mermanus butt. Dorma nearly slips when telling Namor to "Do Something!"

Namor's big gun is a sonic scrambler, which manages to scramble everyone's grey matter. Now they really are captives. Val tries to talk to Namor, but Dorma keeps getting in the way. Then she starts to hit Val. Striking back, Val's blows are ineffectual. I initially thought this was because of Val's inability to fight other women, but there's something more sinister at work. Dorma isn't Dorma at all. But I think we all know that by now.

Dorma is really Nebulon the Celestial Man and he's out to get even for the ones that kicked his butt years ago. Now that's why "Dorma" had "forgotten" how powerful they were. Nebulon gives a long monolog about how his interference last time led to his people punishing him so he took to Earth's oceans and tried to scam Namor into conquering the planet, blah, blah, blah.

While he's going on and on, the Defenders have freed themselves. Namor gives a really, really good punch. It's so strong Nebulon turns back into his native self. Namor isn't to pleased that he got busy with THAT.

Namor literally throws Nebulon away when he is seized by his people. Looks like they need to another trial thingy for our bad golden boy. Our heroes regroup. Doc says to Namor "Let the memories die." But that simply ain't happening. Next, we get the true start to J. M.'s Six Fingered Hand arc.

I've never been a big fan of Namor gets made and invades the surface stories. As those go, this isn't a bad one. Fortunately, the actual invasion doesn't take the whole book. There's nothing worse for me than when a fight goes on for too many pages. It simply gets boring. Another difference here is Namor has been manipulated by a villain slipping into his brain pan. Namor may be hot-headed and not the most reasonable character in the Marvel Universe, but he recognizes his friends (at least for this point in his timeline) and that's important enough for him to break Nebulon's control. Overall, the story is tolerable. it's not one I'd be rereading over and over again, except as a reread of the entire story arc.

As for Doc, he still seems a little stiff here and lacks the charm he exhibits in his solo book. I'm glad he's there but he's kind of a Jiminy Cricket to the rest of the team who happens to be able to throw some really devastating mystic bolts. Maybe Doc just stiffens up when he's around too many other people.

So, it's not a favorite, but easy enough to get through. Somewhat enjoyable. Fortunately, greater treasures await us.

[doctorstrangereview]

0253: Defenders #92

Cover Date: February 1981 On-Sale Date: November 25, 1980

So Doc has rejoined the Defenders on closer to a full-time basis. He'll appear quite regularly until he permanently quits in a couple of years time. Mr. DeMatteis has taken over the writing chores and we definitely have some delights in store for us! Any book with Doc and Eternity in it is one I know I'm gonna like. But, I don't think Don really got Doc's and Clea's looks quite right on that splash page.

We begin our tale in Doc's Sanctum Sanctorum where he and his lady friend Clea are watching our favorite jolly green giant play with dolls. One of them is a Dormammu doll so this is absolutely adorable. Suddenly Doc gets one of his feelings and mystically opens the door, much to Nighthawk's surprise.

Fortunately, Don's rendition of Doc and Clea has improved a bit since the splash page. His chin no longer looks like it'll knock down people several feet in front of him. Kyle moans on about how his own lady friend, Mindy, made him feel shallow and useless. Doc counters this with telling Kyle all the good he's done when something weird happens. J.M. saves Don from having to draw a panel.

At the bottom of the page it happens again.

Sadly, this little trick doesn't reoccur even though the reason for it doesn't get resolved until the very end of the story. Don must have been disappointed he didn't get to draw more blank panels. Certainly not like when John Byrne gave himself a vacation on Alpha Flight #6 by making half the book empty white pages. Anyway, Doc himself suddenly goes wrong.

Now, that's a cool image! Where has Doc gone? We'll ghost Doc has gone to visit Eternity. No willingly, mind you. He was summoned!

Wow! Eternity is being deferential to a speck! My how times have changed! Eternity goes on to explain that he decided to actually check out his creation by creating lots of little pseudo-eternities and sending them out to learn about things and stuff. Once he felt he learned whatever it was he sought, he issued the great recall. But like all recalls, not everyone came back. Three of the Eternity juniors decided to stay put. Oddly, they're all located on Earth. Well, that's convenient. Doc returns and tells the gang what's up and that they need to glue these little cosmic beings back onto the main body or everything goes kaput. Doc then sends for rest of the team members. Silver Surfer is depressed as usual and declines, but the rest happily join. Even ever-grumpy Namor.

I included a couple of extra panels because Son of Satan, with the ever-exposed-abs joins full-time as well. Doc explains where they need to go and that he and Clea won't be joining in since they belong to the Magician's United union and will work on keeping Eternity together instead. Doc sends the team on their ways.

First up is Son of Satan and Hellcat. This is their first meeting and it's going to lead to all sorts of fun and shenanigans in the many years to come. They land in a Hindu temple and are immediately attacked. Quick to anger Daimon fends them off somewhat brutally and then tries to get answers from on of the temple attendants. Hellcat tries a softer approach and gets the info they need.

As Daimon and Patsy head on, Daimon explains why he needs to constantly work out to make sure his ridiculous costume always looks good on him and also that it's his darksoul thing that makes him a constantly angry bitch. Suddenly the big fake purple monkey Hanuman appears and attacks them. They take him out and looking further in the distance they see another temple. This is really convenient.

In the meantime, Hulk and Bird-Nose have gone to the backward Russian village. Really, Doc? Backwards? Considering what your neighbors say behind your back all time, you think you'd be more tolerant! The super pair wind up in the middle of an attack by giant snowmen, which they handily dispatch..

The villagers gather and the pair find out that a young boy has disappeared recently. The parents beg our heroes to bring him back.

Well, Hulk manages to break out of his ice prison and does Bird-Nose a solid by getting him out as well. Lo and behold, they've landing by some sort of ice temple. Man, that's convenient!

Valkyrie and Namor wind up in Greece and are immediately attacked on arrival. Seems like a bit of a pattern here. Greek soldiers aren't much of a match for a goddess and a super powerful mutant. The soldiers are called off by woman who is juxtaposed against a cloud in such a way that it looks like she has powers.

The woman identifies herself as Mrs. Elizabeth Carvopolis who is married to the Marvel Universe's answer to Aristotle Onassis. These little Eternities certain chose an interesting variety of occupations. Mrs. Shipping Magnate wants Namor and Val to get her husband back. Namor has the same realization as Bird-Nose did, but is more blunt about the reality of the situation.

Once they get going again, the pair are attacked (shocking!) by an ersatz Glaucus (a male mermaid and minor sea god from Greek mythology and a Harpy. The pair go under the ocean and after a while resurface, seemingly victorious over their odd attackers. Fortunately there's land nearby with a cave that has mysterious chanting coming from it. Funny that.

Once inside things get all weird. Okay, weirder.

So there you have it. These three mini-eternities liked their individuality and decided to move out from home permanently. Son of Satan realizes that all the battles were to keep them from reaching these junior cosmic beings until it was too late. And it nearly is. Our heroes immediately attack them, except for Kyle who is still unconscious. They're taken out pretty easily and ghost Doc has arrived attempting to prod Nighthawk awake as a last resort. Kyle wakes up and realizes the fighting is useless. He does what he does best. He talks to them.

His appeal to their humanity and their love of their fellow human beings works. They finally return home. Existence is saved! Yay!

The heroes return to the Sanctum and Doc applauds Kyle's actions which saved the day with logic, passion and love instead of brutality. Showing us that this one-dimension playboy is really the heart and soul of the team.

This was very early into my experience with the Defenders. In fact, my only previous encounter was in the book that introduced me to Doc, Hulk #207. It was also my introduction to Son of Satan, Hellcat and Eternity. All their earlier appearances would have to wait until I managed to collect those back issues. Good thing Doc was on the cover or I might not have bought this. Mr. DeMatteis is also secretly beginning his "Six Fingered Hand" arc here which will take us to the wild, double sized conclusion in Defenders #100.

There are parts of this story that are a bit formulaic and repetitive, but I really like it. In addition to the novel plot and a bunch of wacky characters that were new to me, you've got some great action that isn't extended over many boring pages. And I learned who Glaucus was! It was very helpful when I read Circe by Madeline Miller. (It's a really good book and if you like reimagined Greek myths it's a must have.)

J. M. DeMatteis is off to a rip-roaring start that will keep us entertained for many, many months!

[doctorstrangereview]

0252: Doctor Strange (vol. 2) #45

Cover Date: February 1981 On-Sale Date: November 11, 1980

And we come to Chris Claremont's final issue. It serves as an epilog to his last arc. Here he Doc face two enemies. First, the N'Garai who empowered Shialmar, the Shadowqeen want some revenge for her destruction. Second, and more importantly, Doc must battle the gutter press. Fortunately, he has more luck than most in that regard.

We open our tale in the offices of the New York Daily Globe, where Doc is excoriating Jim Starrett, the editor. The Globe is the Marvel Universe's answer to the New York Post, but maybe not quite as sleazy. The Globe has run a story about Doc and some ritual murders, but tacitly implies he's involved beyond a role as a consultant. Doc, of course, calls the story a pack of lies and Starrett replies "Them's fightn' words!"

This goes back a bit until Starrett explains there will be another installment the following day. Doc is obviously unhappy about that.

Starrett has a reporter staked out across the street from the Sanctum Sanctorum. He get's his cue and heads over to Doc's house disguised as a telephone repair man. Ah, the days when telephones where clunky objects on a desk and not a candy bar shaped supercomputer in your pocket. You actually had people come over to check your phones and wiring instead of hauling your device to the nearest Verizon store.

The reporter hornswoggles Wong into letting him in and they go down to the basement to check. The reporter is really there to plant some bugs, but that doesn't save him or Wong from their fate.

While Wong and the reporter are busy being captured by the stinky demon, Doc has arranged a date with Clea at The Plaza Hotel. However much Doc has been "humbled", he's still pretentious picking one of the most expensive venues in the city (at the time.) At least it's pre-Trump ownership and everything hasn't been coated in tacky "gold". Clea is late, but looks spectacular, if Doc doesn't say so himself.

This is one of the few times the "remastered" version outshines the original newsprint book. The slightly lighter purple used for the dress allows the folds drapes to show much better. The skin tone is also improved providing a better contrast. Gene's 60s fashions were definitely of the era, but his late 70s and 80s stuff is more timeless. That is a lovely dress. Here is a scan of the newsprint version.

Changing to camera two and going back to the Sanctum, the spy across the street is getting worried. His buddy (now named Sanderson) hasn't come back yet and Sara Wolfe is heading over. Gotta check to make sure that fire she previously ignored because it looked like it went out didn't do any real damage to her new bosses pad. Sara finds the basement door open and does what everyone horror movie watcher knows not to do. She goes down there... with predictable results.

Swinging back to the restaurant, we delve more into Doc and Clea's relationship problems. When Doc asks why Clea isn't eating she storms off saying he's the problem. Doc runs out, but not before conjuring some gold coins onto the table to pay for the meal and clean-up. I have to wonder. Did he conjure them out of thin air and create gold, or did he teleport them from one of the Sanctum's safes keeping the money supply rare and limited like it's supposed to be. Paul Volcker wouldn't have been please about this unauthorized addition to M0. Also, isn't this inconvenient for the hotel management? Someone has to schlep to a coin dealer or jeweler to hock these.

Clea, now outside the hotel, nearly gets hit by a car and winds up in Central Park. We do get to see that her clutch purse is the exact shade of her dress. What a match!

They find a spot to sit and Clea unloads. "Ever since Chris Claremont nerfed me, I can't really hold my own in battle and you may get killed trying to protect me." Doc says he won't stand in the way of her decision, but don't make it just yet. Let's have some smoochies.

Doc and Clea take a hansom cab ride back to the Sanctum. Now, I've been on one of those and your pretty much downwind of horse farts the entire time. I hope their ride was more pleasant. When they get back to the Sanctum, Starrett is at the door trying to get in. Doc come up to him and asks "WTF, Starrett?" He explains one of his employees went in there and never came out. Clea has gone inside and we get more predictable horror movie results.

Doc and Starrett enter and Doc "grows" his sorcerer's costume. Doc heads to the basement while Starrett heads upstairs to check things out. Doc, at last, reveals the culprit. Now we know what the big, red lighting bolt from last issue left behind. A Sa'arpool.

Our demon explains the plot while Doc frees Clea.

Now that there's some magical action, Gene starts with his crazy panel layouts. Subtle at first but crazier as the battle progresses. Doc and Clea attack, apparently actually hurting the creatures who drags his other victims beneath the surface of the Sa'arpool. Upstairs, you have to wonder if Starrett has actually opened Pandora's box.

Back in the basement, the demon's other victims have been a bit transformed and now Doc and Clea have multiple foes to fight.

In a turn of events, it's Doc who does something stupid and gets caught in his own spell while reeling under the touch of the N'Garai demon. Clea is the one who's effective. Thanks, Chris. you did one good for our silver haired sorceress.

Doc needs to find a spell to seal the Sa'arpool and goes ghost while Clea holds down the fort. He catches Starrett meddling upstairs.

Doc finds the spell and also summons a silver dagger to help him out. I assume this is Silver Dagger's silver dagger imbued with some his exorcism mojo. In a delightful image, we get to see the dagger chase Starrett down the stairs while ghost Doc goes to rejoin his body.

Doc arrives in time to watch the possessed Sara give Clea a really good left hook. The dagger arrives just in time and Doc gets all stabby getting those nasty demons out of his friends and foes.

Now comes the big climax. Doc's gotta seal that smelly Sa'arpool and needs everyone to participate, conscious or not.

The spell works and Doc is now left with a big circular trench in his basement. If he really does rent the place, as suggested way back when in Strange Tales, his landlord will be really pissed. Doc realizes that Starrett saw the whole thing. His attitude has changed a bit. Starrett will have his rag lay off the Doc special features.

Everyone heads upstairs so recently possessed and dispossessed Wong can serve everyone tea and cookies. The poor guy never gets a break. Doc and Clea hang back to discuss things. Clea is worried that after all these years, she only has a fraction of Doc's power. Doc reassures her that she's stronger than she realizes. Clea makes the decision to stay, but sexy time first!

This was an interesting little coda to the Shadowqueen arc. That lightning bolt that nearly, but didn't fry the Sanctum last issue left something behind. It's a clever tie-in. Doc faces a serious foe and it's not certain that he'll win. But Doc has other worries too. A tabloid newspaper is digging into his past. As Doc has relied on his relative obscurity to help him work his magic behind the scenes, this could be a big deal. Who wants to move especially when you've got literal tons of magical crap that need to be hauled off.

We also delve into Clea's issues. Yes, she feels she should be advancing faster, and if another writer were in charge, she probably would be. She's shown awesome power in the past. Despite the happy ending shown here, the issue isn't resolved. Roger Stern will build on this over the next year.

Finally, despite a somber atmosphere, we get touches of humor. In the opening at the Globe's offices and with Starrett poking around the Sanctum. It's little touches like this that lighten the mood that are missing from modern comics. Everything is so serious and dour it robs so much of the entertainment value. Newer comics can be a real bummer to read.

We have a very entertaining story with some great action interspersed with personal drama and some light touches of humor. I think it's a great achievement. Despite your nerfing Clea, I will miss you, Chris Claremont!

[doctorstrangereview]

Bonus Minisode: Defenders #90

Cover Date: December 1980 On-Sale Date: September 23, 1980

This is a quick one. Doc still hasn't rejoined the Defenders full time. He's busy on alternate earths battling Shadowqueens and hanging with the X-Men in pseudo-hell dimensions. It seems he managed to stop by the Sanctum Sanctorum long enough for Bruce Banner to borrow a suit for one of the Defenders many, many court appearances. I'm not sure Don Perlin has ever rendered the Sanctum exterior the same twice.

[doctorstrangereview]

0251: Doctor Strange (vol. 2) #44

Cover Date: December 1980 On-Sale Date: September 9, 1980

This issue we wrap up the current arc as both Chris Claremont's and Gene Colan's runs on Doc's title approach their ends. I have a special fondness for this issue that I'll explain in the wrap up.

Gene gives us an awesome mystic battle between Doc and the Shadowqueen. As we've seen in the past, Gene's panel layouts start out fairly standard and go completely crazy as the action heats up.

We also get some history to this alternate earth that itself has decent action. It's a shame we never returned to it. As the history ties to Wong and his family, it's nice to see his character fleshed out a bit.

We begin in the Shadowqueen's throne room. She is spying on Doc and his cohorts who plan to overthrow/kill/destroy Shialmar and her reign. She's planning to do the same to them. Unfortunately, they don't appear aware they are being observed. Shialmar consults with her cat. I'm sure this is a reason why I like this villain more than I should.

Shialmar also gives us a nice summary of the major players' roles and abilities in this game. I suppose it's helpful to those (like me) may have missed the previous issues. If you bought your comics off the newsstand back in those days, it was easy to miss an issue of a not extremely popular book like Docs. Shialmar then flits off... somewhere. We'll find out eventually.

Cut to camera two in the rebel camp. Wong is about to give a history lesson and explain his connection to this world. This all started because Wong was kidnapped which drew in Clea who also disappeared and then Doc was drawn in and all wound up in this strange world. But Wong had an ancestor who wound up in this world a 1000 years ago as we saw last issue. What happened after that?

The prince introduces himself, his sister and his sorcerer Vung, who seems to think orange and lavender are a good fashion choice. Vung's sorcery is superior to his fashion sense and he cast a spell to find the multiverse's heavy hitter. That turned out to be Kan, who is a bit skeptical of Vung after hearing the explanation.

Kan isn't buying it at first. So Vung sets up a display to convince him. Kan and Shialmar are walking around the battlements apparently in a love at first sight situation when Vung's summoned demon attacks the pair. Kan dispatches it based on Shialmar's claim that it serves the wizard kings and slew her parents. Kan is now convinced.

Kan leads his allies into battle and kills everyone. When it's over, Vung shows up and strikes Kan and Shialmar down. He's got some nasty plans for them.

Vung's captured everyone. He has nasty plans for everyone! But Shialmar ain't having it. She's got some quickly thought of plans of her own.

The dread ones do listen and Shialmar trades her dubiously fashionable lavender and yellow duds for something far more sinister.

Vung strikes the newly born Shadowqueen with his left hand, so "sinister" isn't entirely out of place here. She kills Vung, makes her brother disappear, sends Kan home and seizes the throne.

We return to the present and find out where the Shadowqueen flited off to in the first couple of pages. Right here to their camp! She kills one of the guards and lets her presence be known to the rest, showing off her raiment which has been bedazzled since the early days. A millennium of boredom will do that to a person.

She immediately attacks Silver Fox, but Doc parries it. Next she brings the dead guard back to life transforming him into a stone gargoyle-like thing. It has the added benefit of transforming whomever it touches into stone gargoyle-like things just like itself. Shialmar hoofs it out of there and Doc follows to confront her. This leaves everyone else to face the growing number of stone gargoyle-like things.

Doc and the Shadowqueen immediately get into it giving Gene the opportunity to draw some wonderfully crazy stuff like this.

On the ground, Silver Fox's army with Clea and Wong face their stony opponents, each in their own way. Clea manages a bit of badassery.

Back in the air, Doc has a startling revelation that puts the outcome of this battle in doubt.

Back on the ground, Clea is grabbed by a stony guy. Uh oh! Or is it?

Silver Fox uses his magic to sweep the gargoyles out of the tent and Clea's arm returns to normal. (Whew!) Wong attempts to help his master by firing an arrow at the Shadowqueen which only succeeds in pissing her off even more.

Wong manages to survive the blast, perhaps because he's Kan's descendant and identical twin. The distraction gives Doc a fighting chance. He casts his grand spell.

Doc falls to the ground while a blood red lighting bolt strikes from the sky. (It doesn't hit Doc.) An identical bolt hits the Sanctum Sanctorum in New York City. His neighbor, Sara Wolfe witnesses the display. It seems her apartment overlooks the Sanctum.

Back to the alternate Earth, Doc has landed and may be seriously injured. Clea uses the all-purpose amulet to scan Doc and see if there are any residual heebee jeebees from drawing off Shialmar's evil. Fortunately he's clean and they go over to the now good Shadowqueen who is also grievously injured and being tended by Wong. Doc thinks he may be able to save her life, but she asks that he doesn't. She wouldn't be able to live with the atrocities she committed as the Shadowqueen. Calling Wong Kan, she asks for a kiss and dies.

That wraps up our tale. Doc and Clea go for the celebratory smooch.

The reason this is a special issue is because it is the first I purchased off the newsstand. My previous encounters with Doc had been as part of the Defenders in an issue of the Hulk and the Pocket Books reprint of Strange Tales #110-129. Gene Colan's art was a definite shock to my young brain reared on Ditko, Perlin and other more traditional artists and it took a while to appreciate it.

My main issue with Chris Claremont is his nerfing of Clea. She has been presented as much more capable in previous years and in the last few issues she can barely do anything but look pretty and yell for Doc. This issue slightly improves on things, but if you check out what she did during the Creators saga, she should have been able to whisk away the gargoyles with a thought.

On the plus side, he made Doc and Clea's relationship more complicated. I thank Roger Stern for continuing this when he takes over in a few issues. Both seem more like real people.

As for the story itself, it's great. You have a fascinating villain. She is evil because she tried to do good. As Doc says, there is a duality to her nature and it's a shame she died and hasn't been seen since. Heck, no one stays dead. And there are always time travel shenanigans to check her out again. Even a What-If story "What if the Shadowqueen Lived?" would have been satisfying if handled well.

There's plenty of action, a history lesson and our heroes have lots to do. Wong is more than "I'll bring the tea" and gets a few heroic acts in.

All this allows Gene to produce awesome illustrations that get crazier as the story proceeds. It's a delight to look at. This is definitely a highlight!

[doctorstrangereview]

0250: Uncanny X-Men Annual #4

Cover Date: 1980 On-Sale Date: August 5, 1980

Wow, that was a long break. Apologies to former followers who might see this. Work got complicated and I struggled to fit this into my schedule. It's a habit I happily wish to redevelop.

Here Doc guest starts in an X-Men adventure. He's encountered them before, but this is the first time he's really involved with them side-by-side. In the thick of it, one might say. This all happens while he's fighting other Chris Claremont creations on an alternate Earth. No wonder he's sorcerer supreme. He's in all these places at the same time!

This story also stoked interest in Dante's Inferno. I learned of its existence from this comic book version. I will say, getting through an English translation of a 14th century Italian epic poem is no small feat for a pre-teen. But it was worth it.

For X-Men fans, we find out more about Nightcrawler's girlfriend and her family. For Doc fans, we are introduced to an antagonist who will return to be a pain in Doc's backside.

This story takes place shortly after the (first) death of Jean Grey/Phoenix so it's nice that it begins on a happy note. It's Kurt Wagner's/Nightcrawler's birthday and the team arranged a surprise party for him. What a bunch of pals! Wolverine has even given his a buddy a portrait of himself! How humble!

Just before that, Ororo gave him a kiss. It makes me wonder if his face is just blue, or is it furry like the rest of him? Will Ororo be coughing up hairballs later? Kitty Pryde, who has yet to gain a code name, is standing back. She's just joined the team and isn't sure what her place is yet, and Kurt's appearance still makes her nervous. It was the 80s, this type of behavior wasn't uncommon back then.

Kurt finishes opening his gifts, when the group discovers a mysterious black box. Nobody knows from whom it originates. So, this team with oodles of enemies far and wide just goes ahead and opens it. Professor Xavier, especially, shouldn't have been this naive. The gift is a lovely little glass statue of Kurt. Harmless, right?

Not in this Marvel Universe! That sucker blows up in his face and Kurt is down for the count.

The Prof. and Ororo take him down to the medical part of the mansion and run some tests. When they come back they tell the others "He is no longer... alive." The Prof's words are carefully couched. He tells the rest he has arrangements to make while the rest go on a self-recrimination spree. I'm guessing they'll be more careful before opening mysterious boxes of dubious origin. Kitty is especially hard on herself as she goes to answer the door. She opens the door to welcome the guest and is surprised to be facing the reason this story is being reviewed in this blog.

She obviously didn't know who was at the door. Is the X-Mansion security as bad as the Sanctum Sanctorum's was in the early days and anyone can walk up and ring the bell? Or does the Prof. have an exception for his buddy, Stephen?

Everyone heads down to the medical bay where Doc runs his own tests using the all-purpose amulet. After some space filling nonsense about how he is still as thrilled at using the amulet as his first time he is surprised to find that Kurt is fully human (or mutant) and not some demonic hybrid. Next he tells the onlookers that Kurt's soul has been stolen, right before something enters the room.

Now, all hell breaks looks, literally and figuratively, as slimy green tentacles capture Doc and the X-Men. Ororo attempts to get Prof. and Kitty to safety, but is caught before she can clear the doorway.

Kitty phases through the door and finds the room is now empty. Where have our favorite mutants and supreme sorcerer gone?

Yup, that is Dante's door to hell! Doc immediately recognizes it. The others, not so much. The Prof.'s education skips some classical literature. The doors open and Doc wonders why it doesn't look like what he saw way back in issue #16. The gate opens and Charon takes the group over the river Acheron to a giant palace.

Doc uses his knowledge of Dante to introduce the group to Minos., the guardian of the gate of hell. Minos is all smarmy in formal attire. The X-Men are not exactly please to meet him.

A tentacle from underneath Minos's throne shoots out and grabs Kurt, tossing him through the air. Ororo flies after and catches him as he is about to fall into the pit of hell.

The pair attempt to fly back to Minos's palace, but a hurricane shows up out of nowhere and then they attacked by harpies.

The harpies get the best of Ororo who winds up falling into the pit while Kurt manages to teleport back to the palace where we find Doc attempting to impress Minos.

Minos informs the gang that Ororo will be in whatever circle is appropriate for her. Looks like they're going to have to go after her. Wolverine asks Doc (rather nicely) if he's willing to join them. Even Logan seems to respect Doc's abilities. Doc won't miss this for the world.

They venture outside the castle where the weather is still rather crappy. Wolverine picks up a faint trace of Ororo and the group are then attacked by Cerberus. The three headed dog, not the aardvark with bad spelling. Cerberus doesn't seem like much of a challenge as Logan and Peter handle the threat in a few panels.

Mr. Claremont doesn't document what the group encounters during their decent through the first five circles, but then they come to the City of Dis represented by high flaming walls with a bunch of demons on top chucking spears at them. They find a gate which Peter forces open and all the demons run away.

Petey shouldn't have been able to do that and Doc begins to suspect something may be rotten in Denmark (and hell). The group now face Malabolge, depicted as a hell within a hell, or maybe a bunch of sub-circles, because, apparently, nine wasn't really enough and IBM wasn't around to help Dante categorize everything.

Logan loses Ororo's scent. Everything stinks too much down here. Doc then explains what all the bolgias contain and they head to the one for thieves. They think they found here, but hell has more surprises for them.

Doc saves Kurt who asks if Doc can fix Ororo. Doc tells them that it isn't Ororo, but a demon serpent thing that's taken her place. Fortunately, Logan finds the real Ororo who bites the demon version of herself and Storm is with us again!

The gang heads for the final, ninth, circle. It's divided into four levels and when they get to the final level, Judecca, for those who broke faith with their lords or benefactors, Kurt suddenly finds himself trapped beneath ice. Petey manages to break him free and big daddy Satan shows up to protest.

Fortunately, either John Romita or the Comics Code Authority spared us from seeing Satan eternally chewing on Judas, Brutus and Cassius. Doc figures out this isn't really Satan and the true perpetrator shows herself. My my, she's the same women who kidnapped the gang at the beginning of the story. She calls herself Margali of the Winding Road.

Jimaine's interference doesn't last long as Margali turns her into an ice statue. Doc then battles Margali to a draw. Kurt offers himself up to Margali as he seems to believe her claim that he murdered someone. Margali then takes over the all-purpose amulet to play back the past. Kurt and Margali's son, Stefan, became blood brothers. Stefan made Kurt promise to kill him if he ever turned evil. This being a comic book, of course Stefan turns evil and Kurt has to kill him. Seeing the truth, Margali returns the X-Men and Doc to the X-Mansion and forgives her adoptive son. Margali skedaddles leaving the X-Men alone with Jimaine.

Jimaine, Kurt's adoptive sister, has been hanging around disguised as Kurt's girlfriend, Amanda Sefton.

I may be in the minority about this, but this strikes me as creepy. They're not blood related so it's not biological incest, but I still find it unsettling. Kurt, however, loves it and considers it the best birthday gift. Kitty has been hanging around in the background until Logan invites her to join the circle. Maybe she's even warming up to Kurt; just not to the degree Amanda is. And thus we close our story with everyone happy and only slightly worse for the wear.

As an X-Men story it's very entertaining. Less so as a Doc story. While he has a major role, Doc mostly lacks personality here. He acts as the X-Men's sherpa through pseudo-hell and saves some of them along the way. Doc is far less interesting here than in his own book and both are written by Chris Claremont. Perhaps he just wished to concentrate on his favorites but throw a crossover to help out Doc's solo title. Who knows?

I've reread this many times. It's fun but hardly great. Amanda Sefton being Nightcrawler's adoptive sister and girlfriend is a bit disturbing, but no one else seems to mind. A bit of history for Nightcrawler is enlightening, but there are no far reaching consequences here so it's just a fun adventure into hell. Margali will return to bug Doc again in a couple of years and I think I prefer that story.