Favourite Comics: Dr Strange , Master Of The Mystic Arts #1 Brunner & Englehart

Don't you just love it when you find what you thought was a long lost item from your past, well thats what happened to me last week when I was looking through a box of old British comics in my loft . There sandwiched between two 1970s issues of the Lion comic was the above first issue of "Dr Strange Master of the Mystic arts", one of my all time favourite titles. I don't think that I purchased this comic in 1974 as from memory issue 4 was the first issue of this title that I picked up so this was probably bought in the late 1970's to early 1980's when specialist comic book stores seemed to be everywhere. Regardless this issue sees the start of the excellent Silver Dagger story arc featuring a certain caterpillar and some of Brunner and Giordano's best art - enjoy.

Top Tens: Frank Brunner

Frank Brunners first venture into comics was as an artist and writer for “Web of Horror” (Major Publications) before moving to Warren where he worked on their “Creepy”, “Eerie” and “Vampirella” titles. However, it was at Marvel where I first came across Brunners work in the 4th issue of the re-launched “Doctor Strange , Master of the Mystic Arts" title in 1974. Although that would be the last US issue of this comic that I would see for a few years, I was fortunate enough to read his excellent Dr Strange strips when it was reprinted a few years later in UK Marvels weekly titles “Avengers” & “Super Spider-Man” starting from his first Dr Strange work in Marvel Premiere. Although Brunners comic strip career was relatively short he worked on some of Marvel’s best comics and produced some of their most striking covers of the 1970s - some of my favourites are shown below.

"Howard the Duck" - #2 - March 1976 - Along with his work on Dr Strange, Howard the Duck contains my favourite Brunner art. Although he only drew two issues of Howards own comic along with a couple of strips in "Giant Sized Man-Thing" his artwork is fun, adventurous and exciting without ever becoming overly cartoony. You can see some of Franks art from "Howard the Duck" #1 here.

Red Sonja #12 - Cover art only - November 1978

Ka-Zar #4 - Cover art only - July 1974 - This is a pretty poor issue of Ka-Zar that featured some of Don Hecks poorest art.

Supernatural Thrillers # 11 - February 1975 - Cover art only - My most recent back-issue purchase from last week based only on Brunners amazing cover (and perhaps the cover price of only £3).

Journey into Fear #17 - October 1973 - Cover art only.

Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction #6 - December 1975 - Cover art only - Brunner painted a few covers for Marvel's monthly titles including "Savage Sword of Conan"

Giant Sized Man-Thing #4 - May 1974 - Cover art by Brunner.This issue also featured the first solo tale of "Howard the Duck" by Brunner and Stever Gerber.

Marvel Premiere # 12 -August 1973 - Cover by Brunner with internal art by Brunner/Crusty Bunkers. Marvel Premiere # 9 at header - July 1973 - with internal art by Brunner and Ernie Chua. As noted above my first (and favourite) Frank Brunner comic was "Dr Strange Master of the Mystic Arts" #4 - you can see some pages here.

Super-Team Family # 3 - February 1976 - Cover art only - I think this may have been Brunners only DC cover.

Cover from Grand Comic database.

Brunner has for the most part now left the world of comics and now focuses on producing commissions, the occassional comic book cover for companies like Dynamite, and fine print portfolios - the above painting is taken from Heritage Auctions.

Favourite comics: Howard the Duck issue 1

Howard the Duck first appeared in “Adventures Into Fear” issue 19 in a “Man-Thing” story written by his creator Steve Gerber and illustrated by Val Mayerik in December 1973. After that appearance Howard graduated to a backup series in “Giant size Man-Thing” issues 4 and 5 in 1975 written by Steve Gerber where he faced the terror of “Garko the Man-Frog” and “Bessie the Hellcow”. As fun as these stories were it was the introduction of artist Frank Brunner that took the character to new hights and was instrumental in getting Howard his own comic in 1976. Sadly Brunner left the strip after issue 2 to be replaced by the equally excellent Gene Colan from issue 4 (after an excellent one- off tale in issue 3 by John Buscema). The history of the Howard the Duck character has had its fair share of issues including the production of one of Hollywood’s most maligned movies, an enforced redesign of the character by Disney, a short lived newspaper strip, and a bitter copyright infringement lawsuit made against Marvel by Steve Gerber for sole rights to the character. Despite all this Howard the Duck was a fun comic and those early issues by Gerber and Brunner have remained some of my favourite comics.

Above: The first appearance of Howard the Duck from "Adventures Into Fear” issue 19

Favourite comics: Doctor Strange; Master of the Mystic Arts ( vol 2) Issue 4

I have been a fan of Dr Strange ever since I first read his earliest tales that were reprinted in the UK Marvel “Avengers” weekly comic back in 1973. Those early tales by Steve Ditko and Stan Lee are without doubt the benchmark for the character but in the 1970’s there was plenty of stiff competition for that title with Gene Colan and Steve Englehart’s excellent (long) run on the character. However, it was in 1974 that arguably (and for me at least) one of the best ever single issues of the entire series came out; “Dr Strange: Master of the Mystic Arts” (vol2 ) issue 4. Like so many things from back in the day (in this case 1974) I can no longer recall with any certainty where I purchased this comic but I do remember being absolutely blown away by the art and story.

After appearing in a successful run in Marvel Premiere issues 1-14 in the mid 1970’s Dr Strange moved back into his own title “Doctor Strange: Master of the Mystic Arts” , which ran for 81 issues between June 1974 – February 1987 . Although the most famous run on this title was by the aforementioned team of Englehart and Gene Colan there is no doubt that the stand out issues were by the team of Frank Brunner and Steve Englehart which ran until issue 14 of Marvel Premier (which also featured art by Sal Buscema, Jim Starlin and Ditko) until Brunner’s last issue “Doctor Strange: Master of the Mystic Arts” number 5. The above cover and opening page to issue 4 by Frank Brunner are absolute gems that beautifully illustrates the madness that faces Dr Strange.

Although Dick Giordano is credited as the inker it seems that Neal Adams did most of the inking chores on this book and his hand certainly seems evident to me in many of the pages. In the story itself Dr. Strange continues to make his way through an unreal world within the Eye of Agamotto. Fighting Death, the sorcerer supreme struggles until he spies the shape of Eternity and eventuially defeats Death. Afterwards, the spirit of the Ancient One arrives to inform Strange that this was the final test for the new Sorcerer Supreme and that Dr. Strange can no longer age and can only die by means of violence. He is also gifted with the mystic Ankh of Enduring Life. For me the Brunner and Adams's collaboration places this story not only among the best drawn of the entire series, but is also one of the best drawn comics of the 1970’s and beyond.