Doctor Strange - Master Of The Mystic Arts!

Doctor Strange was created by Steve Ditko. Stan Lee said as much from the very beginning of the series. While the Amazing Spider-Man has many fathers -- Lee, Ditko, and even Joe Simon and Jack Kirby perhaps, there's no denying that Ditko came up with the notion of Strange and he pushed Lee to let him do it. The series appeared with little fanfare in the back pages of Strange Tales (appropriate) where at the time the Human Torch was holding down the lead feature. Strange began his magical career in a small way, an enigmatic man in dark hues who possessed a vaguely Asian look and who left his Sanctum to sally forth into the world to defeat mysterious menaces. 

Slowly the strip picked up steam and Strange became more fully developed, eventually getting an origin which made him a selfish American surgeon who sought a way to heal himself through magic, and who is transformed into a selfless defender of mankind. Restricted to only a few pages in the back of the comic and getting only a small cover push, Doctor Strange proved resilient. Eventually after his first fight with the other dimensional menace Dormammu, Strange came into possession of his famous red cloak of levitation and his magic amulet, the Eye of Aggamotto. 

As the series progressed, Ditko's artwork matured and in a utterly bizarre seventeen-part battle with Baron Mordo, then the agent of Dormammu, Doctor Strange became a fully functioning part of the Marvel Universe. By this time the Human Torch had departed, but was replaced on the covers by Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD. Despite his long tenure in the series, Strange was still not seen by Lee as a character who could sell a book. This despite the fact that Ditko had seen fit to crossover his two creations in the second Spider-Man annual.  Eventually the day came when Ditko left Marvel and Doctor Strange. 

In that final issue Doctor Strange was at last given full reign on the cover. Soon after Marvel would adopt a policy in all its split books that allowed the features to switch up covers, but by that time Ditko was off working for Charlton and Tower and other companies. Perhaps if Lee had seen fit to give Ditko's creation more of a push he might've felt better respected, but we'll never know. 

Although he's not even on many and when he is he's rarely featured and is most likely drawn by Jack Kirby, (At least Kirby did a decent version of Doc Strange, unlike Spidey who he could not draw at all for the most part.) here are the covers for Doctor Strange's Ditko years. 

Doctor Strange proved to be one of Marvel's more resilient heroes, and to date even has two major theater features to his name as well as a TV movie from decades ago. Ditko created something very compelling in those secretive back pages of Strange Tales so long ago. 

Rip Off

Spider-Man '67 - Season One!

I have enjoyed again the 1960's Spider-Man TV show. It's a hoot. This cartoon, along with the Hanna-Barbera Fantastic Four and the Marvel Superheroes in syndication were my first windows into the Marvel Universe and the comics in general. I have great fondness for them, despite not having seen most of them for decades.

The first season of Spidey is a pretty formulaic affair. There are plenty of baddies from the comics series. There was Dr. Octopus, Elektro, Sandman, Mysterio, Lizard, Vulture (called Vulture-Man for several episodes), Rhino, Scorpion, Green Goblin and a few others. Notably missing was Chameleon though there was a make-up villain named "Charles Cameo" in a few episodes. Most of the villains got two episodes with a few getting into three. The most fun in that category for me though were the "new" guys they invented. Dr. Noah Boddy ("Nobody" get it) an invisible guy, The Human Fly twins (named "Stan" and "Lee"), some guy named The Phantom, and my personal fave - Parafino, proprietor of a wax museum and fabulous baddie. Also, I assume that the Aussie hunter named "Clivendon" is a stand-in for Kraven the Hunter. This change along with the Chameleon one I don't get, as they originals are perfectly fine characters.

The other side of the coin was pretty thin. Betty Brant starts out as a pretty good character, but as the episodes roll on, she becomes a cypher, merely a friend of Peter Parker's who stands up for him with J. Jonah Jameson. JJJ is in just about every episode and frankly it gets a bit tiresome, as way too many plots revolve around the Daily Bugle or its publisher in some way. JJJ seems to be the mayor of NYC the way the act in this cartoon. Aunt May shows up maybe once or twice at most, though we do see the Parker home many times.

The stories are pretty simple affairs. Spidey becomes aware of a threat usually by chance, intervenes and encounters the villain, we get the title of the episode, then Spidey loses the initial conflict. After that he goes to see Jameson for some reason or other, then fights the baddie again and usually loses. Then in the last battle he wins, typically by throwing webbing over them, a scheme that often doesn't work earlier in the story.

Here are a dozen things I learned watching this cartoon:

1. The streets of NYC are largely deserted save for a few villains, their victims, and at most five cops at any given time. Cop cars show up in threes and most of the cops are of Irish extraction.

2. The Rhino looks hilarious when he runs, picks the lamest hideouts, and his motivations for his crimes are ludicrous. A golden statue? Really!

3. The Green Goblin is a really little guy and wants to master real actual magic for some reason despite his many gimmicks of science.

4. The pictures in the Daily Bugle are not hung all that well and constantly shift when doors are slammed, or maybe that only applies to those featuring Jameson's mug.

5. Spidey's webbing has some really curious properties such as functioning as small motors for no discernable reason. He makes fans and propellers and all sorts of things. I love that he whips up special webbing on a whim.

6. The police really trust Spidey, but I can't really tell why. Maybe that's why he seems to know all sorts of classified stuff he really shouldn't know.

7. NYC has a Conservatory of MOD Music.

8. Dr. Connors has two arms on TV all the time.

9. Spidey spends quite a bit of time at the docks and more time in and around the water than I'd have expected. As a consequence, he fights way too many gators.

10. Giant robots like to eat cars and appear for no reason in the middle of the city.

11. Pluto is inhabited by ice men, perhaps they are time-lost members of Martinex's race.

12. It always bugged me as a kid wondering where exactly Spidey's web lines were attached as he swung through the city, and after watching the full first season, I don't have any more idea about it than I did then.

As always in these stories, if the villains just used their intellects for good they'd make a lot more money than they do with crime. The Phantom could use his shrinking machine to revoltutionize shipping for instance.

The first season was fun, but after the thrill of seeing Spidey actually swinging across the city it gets a bit weak. I love the few shots we get now and again of actual comic art, especially the few images of Ditko Spidey books.

Good fun. Next up is Season Two!

Rip Off

The Pocket Book Spider-Man!

These three Pocket Book volumes featuring vintage Spidey stories came out from 1977 through 1979 and offered up those choice Lee and Ditko classics in a handy diminutive format. Despite the Johnny Romita covers for the last two volumes all the interiors are vintage Ditko. 

Rip Off

Marvel Tales Gallery - Part Four!

We wrap up this gallery of Marvel Tales reprints of the classic Stan Lee and Steve Ditko Spider-Man comics. It was very nifty to have these in handy reading form, even if some topical references had been altered by Tom DeFalco, the reprint editor of the series. 

That's wrap on Marvel Tales and Steve Ditko's contribution. 

Rip Off