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.

Great Comic Book Runs: The Defenders / Avengers War

Like many of my US comic book purchases of the 1970’s I never managed to collect and read all the issues in this series at the time (1973/4). Instead, it took me over 50 years to finally pick up the last 2 US issues that I missed at the time; Avengers #118 and Defenders #8, although I did read the full story when it was reprinted in the UK weekly Rampage comic in the late 1970s. As a 13/14 year I was totally engrossed in this cross-over series written by Steve Englehart and illustrated by Bob Brown and the wonderful Sal Buscema. On re-reading this series as an “old git” I found the story a fun tale that albeit predictably ends with the two teams coming together to fight the story villains, Dormammu and Loki, but there were times when I was for an all to brief period transported back to 1973 when my main worry was who would win the war between these 2 super groups.

The concept of this crossover event is that pieces of the Evil Eye have been spread all over the world, and Loki and the Dread Dormammu were fighting over its capture. They each separately convince the Defenders and the Avengers that it would be better for them to have the Evil Eye as the other would use it to destroy the Earth. So, the heroes race around the planet in search of the pieces that make up the Evil Eye before the other team can find it. Eash issue sees each group split into teams to fight the other (similar to the old JLA/JSA cross overs) including Silver Surfer vs. Scarlet Witch and Vision and Doctor Strange vs. Mantis and Black Panther etc.

Great comic book runs: Batman by Marshall Rogers (Englehart and Wein)

As much as Neal Adams (with Denny O’Neil) defined Batman for me in the early 1970’s it has to be said that Marshall Rogers provided one of the most interesting takes on the Batman myth during his tenure on the character in Detective Comics (issues 471 – 476 written by Engleheart and issues 478/9 by Len Wein) in 1977/78. A great example of the wackiness and genius of these story’s is in the tale “The Laughing Fish” (issue 475) where the Joker infects fish with the Joker serum that provides that manic grin on their faces. The aim of what seems to be a pointless exercise is that Joker expects to be granted a trademark on his grinning fish which he thinks will make him a fortune. Of course you can’t grant a trademark on a natural resource so he kills any bureaucrats that stand in his way in obtaining this license. A great story that melds the world of the (then) modern 1970s Batman and the true madness of the Joker to the wacky original Kane-Robinson era. Other tales were just as inventive and all were all stunningly illustrated by Rogers giving a familiar yet stylised version of the characters. Sadly Marshall Rogers passed away in 2007 at the all to young age of 57 but he left us some wonderful comics and some great comic book covers.

Cover image taken from the DC Wiki page (can't believe I lost/sold/gave away my copy of this classic)

Issue 477 was a reprint of Detective Comcis issue 408 "The house that haunted Batman" by Len Wein and Neal Adams with Marshall Rogers providing a couple of intro/end pages into the story.

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.