Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Tag: Doctor Strange

Dan Adkins — Was It Nightmare All Along?

Original Art and The Artists

Doctor Strange #170, July 1968

Nightmare prepares to reveal himself to a fallen Doctor Strange in the second issue of the Sorcerer Supreme’s solo title.

Ever since Marvel Films announced that Sam Raimi was going to direct the Doctor Strange sequel, I’ve thoroughly convinced myself that Nightmare would be a (or “the”) nemesis of the film. Horror, darkness and weirdness? Bring on Nightmare.

And then, we had a Scarlet Witch (w/Vision) TV series, where it appeared that Agatha Harkness was the big bad? C’mon, there’s more to that than meets the Eye of Agamotto, right?

After that, Shuma-Gorath (the giant one-eyed creature) appears in the Doctor Strange trailer? The same Shuma-Gorath (now called Gargantos because of legal reasons) who once “employed” Nightmare in the comics? 

And the same trailer where both Strange and Wanda talk about…Nightmares?

Yep, I’m a Nightmare conspiracy theorist, apparently.

I have zero inside information. 

I don’t even read most of the spoiler “news” on-line.

I am just convinced that some time before those last post-credit scenes in Doctor Strange 2 are finished rolling, Nightmare will have raised his hallucinogenic head. And I guess by this time next week, most of us will know whether I’m right, or I’m the one hallucinating.

And one more thought on the subject of hallucinogens and impersonations:

Who says that was actually “our” Doctor Strange in Spider-Man: No Way Home?

Just sayin…

Agatha all along? Maybe, maybe not.

Erik Larsen — Marvelous Melee

Original Art and The Artists

Defenders #11, January 2002

Erik Larsen (With help from Sal Buscema and Kurt Busiek) has some fun with the Defenders on this frenetic splash, as they clobber the undersea warlord Attuma and his feckless fish men. The Defenders are celebrating their 50th anniversary this year.

I only learned recently the reason that Doctor Strange replaced Silver Surfer between their first “unofficial” appearance in Sub-Mariner, and their official launch in Marvel Feature later in 1971. Apparently, Stan Lee was feeling precious about the Surfer, and didn’t want anyone else to write stories featuring him.

Eric solves that line-up problem here by including both of them, along with original stalwarts Hulk and Sub-Mariner.

(Many of the latter members of the group — Nighthawk, Valkyrie, et al — are along for the ride as well.)

All in all, a fun 20-year-old mini-series that has yet to be collected as far as I can tell.

Gabriel Hardman — Of Monsters And Magic

Original Art and The Artists

Savage Hulk #6, January 2015

Doctor Strange battling the Hulk? Seems like a great page to kick off our 2020 Halloween salute. As suggested previously, Gabe Hardman would likely be one of the best known talents in comics — if he were a full-time comic book storyteller. His main gig, though is film storyboard artist, and his many credits include Logan, Spider-Man 3 and The Dark Knight Rises. (And many well known non- “comic book” films as well. But we digress.)

He creates his storyboards digitally, but fortunately, for us, he creates his comic book art using traditional physical methods. Something he does very well.

The story itself is co-written by Gabe and his wife, Corinna Bechko who have collaborated on a number of projects, perhaps most notably the Hugo-nominated SF series Invisible Republic.

Frank Brunner — A Separate Reality

Original Art and The Artists

Doctor Strange #2 (1974) Re-creation, 2003

Frank Brunner’s run (with writer Steve Englehart) on Doctor Strange is among my favorites. In fact Jim Starlin and Brunner were (consciously, or otherwise) competing for the trippiest  “superhero” stories published at the time.  And I was the right age to eat up that stuff.

Comic book storytelling on acid. Side effects not included.

Brunner beautifully recreates his original cover for issue #2 of the 1973 series. In fact, the line work and cross-hatching appears more precise than the original. Overall impression — it is a knockout

Done correctly, Strange was always a fascinating character whose stories could combine magic, fantasy, SF and horror into a mind-bending mix.

So when I heard Sam Raimi was on tap to direct the Doctor Strange film sequel, the only word that jumped to mind? 

Perfect.

Raimi is a very talented director — and good guy — who I had the pleasure of briefly working with during the filming of the original Spider-Man movie way back in 2001. As fans know, despite his Spidey pedigree, he has a love for the supernatural and the weird.

I’m really looking forward to his take on the good doctor.

Paul Smith — Wonderous World

Original Art and The Artists

Paul Smith, Pin-up tribute to Steve Ditko, ASM Annual #2 (1965), 2001

Elegant, clean and striking: The definitive Paul Smith style captures Steve Ditko’s classic (and only) pairing of Spider-Man and Doctor Strange in Amazing Spider-man Annual #2 from September 1965.

Seeing the pairing of these now iconic Marvel cinematic characters creates some wistfulness here.

Last week, Disney postponed the feature film Black Widow once again. It’s now scheduled for May 2021, a full year behind schedule. 2020 will be the first year without a film in The MCU since 2009.

And, even when the films were less frequent in the early days, a Fox or Sony Marvel film typically filled in the gaps.

(No, I’m not going to act as if the recent New Mutants counts. More people have probably seen the officially unreleased Roger Corman Fantastic Four film than New Mutants.)

Now of course, Covid has thrown the entire upcoming film schedule into disarray. Eternals and Shang-Chi also moved, and swapped positions in the queue — for now.

After that, it’s a bit of a wild card.

The next three films should be Spider-Man 3, Doctor Strange 2, and Thor 4… but, we’ve seen differing revised release dates for those just in the last week.

Then, the schedule becomes even hazier, but let’s put off that discussion until next week.

Meanwhile, up next this coming week on the blog:

Spidey, Doc, and of course… Thor. See you soon.

The current digital version of the original splash from Amazing Spider-Man Annual #2 in 1965.
Many reprints, many colors, and a few layout and production changes, too. From left to right, the original annual coloring re-mastered for digital, the coloring and other changes from the “emergency” reprint in Doctor Strange #179, and the re-colored (again) reprint from Marvel Tales.
Here’s a bet: Ditko drew the cover for ASM Annual #2 well before he and Stan knew what the story would be. Otherwise… you’d probably see Doctor Strange actually on the cover. A few years later, and a deadline blown, Barry Smith was called on to provide a new cover for the story which was reprinted completely out of continuity in Doctor Strange #179.
Digital colors by Gerry Turnbull, and, in the MCU, Spidey and Doc work together to try to defeat Thanos in Avengers Infinity War. It doesn’t go well… at first.