Marvel Masterworks: Doctor Strange, Vol. 4

Marvel Masterworks: Doctor Strange #4

by Roy Thomas, Gardner Francis Fox, Stan Lee

Written by ROY THOMAS, GARDNER FOX, STAN LEE,
BARRY WINDSOR-SMITH & ARCHIE GOODWIN
Penciled by GENE COLAN, BARRY WINDSOR-SMITH,
FRANK BRUNNER, P. CRAIG RUSSELL, JIM STARLIN,
SAM KWESKIN, MARIE SEVERIN, HERB TRIMPE & DON HECK
Cover by BARRY WINDSOR-SMITH
The Master of the Mystic Arts, Dr. Stephen Strange once again descends into to the eldritch depths of adventure in this amazing collection of Marvel Masterworks! Kicked off by Roy Thomas and the incomparable art team of Gene Colan and Tom Palmer, the good doctor battles his greatest adversary, the towering cosmic presence of Eternity. Although his solo series ends, Dr. Strange's saga against the Undying Ones continues as he teams-up with Sub-Mariner and the Incredible Hulk in a storyline that lays the seeds for the dynamic Defenders! Then, Stan "The Man" Lee and Barry Windsor-Smith raise the Sorcerer Supreme to new heights of otherworldly glory in the all-time classic Marvel Premiere series. Guided by Golden Age great Gardner Fox and a host of up-and-coming art talents from Frank Brunner to P. Craig Russell, Dr. Strange runs a gauntlet of Lovecraftian horrors from the depths of the ocean to the monoliths of Stonehenge in pursuit of Shuma-Gorath. After four volumes of Marvel-ous Masterworks, Doc Strange is just getting started! Collecting
DOCTOR STRANGE #180-183, SUB-MARINER #22, INCREDIBLE HULK #126, MARVEL FEATURE #1 & MARVEL
PREMIERE #3-8
280 PGS./All Ages

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction

280 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Roy Thomas was the FIRST Editor-in-Chief at Marvel--After Stan Lee stepped down from the position. Roy is a longtime comic book writer and editor. Thomas has written comics for Archie, Charlton, DC, Heroic Publishing, Marvel, and Topps over the years. Thomas currently edits the fanzine Alter Ego for Twomorrow's Publishing. He was Editor for Marvel comics from 1972-1974. He wrote for several titles at Marvel, such as Avengers, Thor, Invaders, Fantastic Four, X-Men, and notably Conan the Barbarian. Thomas is also known for his championing of Golden Age comic-book heroes — particularly the 1940s superhero team the Justice Society of America — and for lengthy writing stints on Marvel's X-Men and Avengers, and DC Comics' All-Star Squadron, among other titles.

Also a legendary creator. Creations include Wolverine, Carol Danvers, Ghost Rider, Vision, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Valkyrie, Morbius, Doc Samson, and Ultron. Roy has also worked for Archie, Charlton, and DC among others over the years.

Reviews

[Tom Ewing · Rating 2 out of 5]

An odd volume, which straddles the period where Strange’s book was cancelled before the character was brought back in Marvel Premiere. It’s the work of many hands, which is rarely a good sign but at least said hands include Gene Colan and early work by Barry Windsor-Smith, P Craig Russell and Frank Brunner. The comic never looks bad but it is wildly inconsistent, as all these gentlemen have different ideas about what cosmic horror should look like.

Yes, this is the era when the ideas of Lee and Ditko crash into the ideas of HP Lovecraft, and the results are not especially satisfying to fans of either. It’s interesting though - and testament to how modish Lovecraft was becoming - that both the faltering solo series and the revived run have the same idea: re-energise the strip by having Strange fight nameless cults and unspeakable horrors. So you have Roy Thomas pitting Doc against the “Undying Ones” then a bunch of writers (mostly Gardner Fox) having him track down the cultists of the more explicitly Cthulhoid Shuma-Gorath.

The Shuma-Gorath stuff is better, sometimes a lot better. Roy Thomas’ bombastic style is completely unsuited to the creeping uncertainty of Lovecraftian horror, though at least he happily throws cool shit in for Colan to draw (and, more inexplicable than anything Abdul Alhazred could come up with, a 2-panel Tom Wolfe cameo). Once Doc is revived and wrestling with ancient evils, unspeakable cults and enemies called things like Sliggoth the writers know a bit more about what they’re doing.

Even so there’s a basic mismatch between the narrative frame of the Marvel U, in which heroic individuals can and do overcome the forces of evil, and of Lovecraftian fiction in which that… doesn’t really happen. Cosmic horror gets its power from the revelation that creation is older, darker, scarier and less friendly than we imagine. Marvel storytelling is based on heroes winning, even if nobody says thank you after.

Put them together and the likeliest outcome is going to be someone punching Cthulhu in the face (which sort of happens). Future writers will find ways to square this circle sometimes - it’s what the Hellboy franchise is built on! - but what we get here is Doctor Strange fighting a succession of what look like, and might as well be, guys in monster-suits.

[Rick Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Doctor Strange finally moves beyond the silly mask-wearing phase and into H.P. Lovecraft territory.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite volume so far. My all time favorite Dr Strange material also.

[Matthew Lipson · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Disclaimer -- Read dates do not reflect actual timeline.)

I made the decision not to review graphic novels unless I had something unique to say about the volume. Most Marvel Masterworks are going to be a mixed back due to changing creators and the like. With Doctor Strange, after the first two volumes dominated by Steve Ditko, these creators have a hard act to follow. Roy Thomas and Gene Colan hit a fantastic stride, but when Mr. Colan departs due to workload the series once again flounders. There are some glimmers of hope until a Golden Age great takes over and writes a story that hasn't caught up with the sophisticated Marvel readers of the time period. This is when the good Doctor loses his regular series and, almost, his existence in the Marvel universe. Then the Defenders are created and new life is breathed into the character. When Frank Brunner and Steve Englehart take over, we are treated to what we really want from the character and get storylines worthy of the Master of the Mystic Arts. Even when art chores are taken back over by Gene Colan the amazing ride shows no sign of letting up. The there is an editorial falling out causing Mr. Englehart to depart the book. This is where I'm at, as I await the next volumes to come in the mail. Isn't quarantine fun?

[Remxo · Rating 3 out of 5]

By the time of the 180th issue, Doctor Strange wasn't selling too well. They'd given him a secret identity and a mask, but the makeover didn't do much for the title's sales so the series was cancelled. This volume contains issues written and penciled by some of comic's most well-known writers and artists, including Staling, Lee, Severin, Trimpe, Windsor-Smith and Fox, but Gene Colan's pencil's for issues 180-183, beautifully restored, were definitely the highlight for me. Lovecraftian horror permeates these stories, with Strange battling against ancient evils "that shall not be named" and a "wicked something beyond the range of human understanding".

[Brandon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wow, what a mess. Roy Thomas does some pretty cool stuff in Doctor Strange but then the series gets cancelled so he trails off and tries to wrap up his storylines in numerous other titles. The first meeting of the "Defenders" is neat, at least, but then Marvel Premiere starts and the constantly changing creative teams are so wishy-washy. Sometimes an issue can look really promising, sometimes it's garbage, and as a whole this entire volume isn't something I'm a fan of. The idea of having Doctor Strange fight eldritch gods is cool but the pace and tone of the story keeps changing, with so many different ideas being shown in weird ways.

[Ross Kitson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A curious phase for the character with the end of his own book, some interim stories with the start of the Defenders, and then a long run in Marvel Premiere. The tone shifts from the earlier standard stories with classic villains, and latter stories with a different vibe of Strange vs Lovecraftian entities. I like the plots here, the cultists, the frequent nullification of Strange’s power, and the style of the monsters. Tonally, I’m not certain that cosmic horror and the bleakness of mankind’s insignificance marries well with Marvel big fight slap downs but is fun stuff anyway.

[Brett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lucky I like Doctor Strange as a character because this collection is pretty hit and miss. It ends Doc’s initial run the starts to set up his return. I think the next volume is when the Doctor Strange stories that grabbed me begin.

[Keith · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am not a fan of the blue Dr Strange, nor the Cthulhu and Robert E Howard stories – I despise all that 'eldritch gods' shit.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some really good stuff in this volume. The writing is pretty consistent, even though the art teams changed every couple of issues. Marvel was still trying to figure out how to keep this character afloat while superhero comics were more popular. So the stories drifted around in Marvel Premiere until it could find its own series. Now I looked up Marvel Premiere and what I found out was kind of interesting if you're into classic Marvel. The series falls into two categories: for the most part, it was a tryout series for new characters and second it was a place where already established character go and Marvel checks sales to see if anyone is still interested. Doctor Strange fell into the latter category, which is a shame because these HP Lovecraft stories are actually kind of cool. Maybe not pushing the boundaries as much as the Warren stuff was just about to do, but better than a lot of the other bland junk that was being published at the time.

[J.R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

In an odd twist, the art and layouts actually drop the rating from a four to a three. There's really two sets of stories here. The stuff before the Defenders is ok. The stuff after is great. Strange running into Lovecraftian mythos is superb.

The thing is though, did anyone proof this? There's more than one instance of speech bubbles pointing at the wrong character, there's a doubling up of a caption box, and the word "necromancy" is used about every other panel, often to describe Doctor Strange, even though Strange is not a necromancer (do you see any dead people around? No? Thought so). This was likely an attempt to link Strange with Lovecraft's fictional Necronomicon, but it fails spectacularly.

[Kenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential!

[Robert Garrett · Rating 2 out of 5]

Comic book collecting has brought me a great deal of joy, but there’s a downside. Keeping your collection complete requires suffering through some subpar stories.

You can see where this is going. The stories in this volume, originally published in 1969-1973, represent a low point in the title character’s history.

The volume begins with the last four issues of Doctor Strange’s first self-titled series. The good news is that writer Roy Thomas and artist Gene Colan, who produced good stories that were collected in the last volume, remain until the end. Colan’s art is as great as ever, and Thomas continues to take some time for character moments (A refreshing change from the shorter Dr. Strange feature in STRANGE TALES). The stories are marred, however, by Thomas continually trying to make Dr. Strange more and more like a traditional super hero. Thus, after gaining a more super hero-y costume (as seen in the previous volume), Doc gains a real secret identity here (in a rather contrived manner) and faces the X-Men foe Juggernaut. Thomas felt that such measures would increase sales, but they didn’t, and nearly fifty years later, they simply prove distracting. What’s more – the series is cancelled after the first chapter of a new story arc. Thomas finishes it in issues of SUB-MARINER and INCREDIBLE HULK, and fortunately, those issues are included in this volume. They’re not bad issues, but Dr. Strange is relegated to guest star status in what was intended to be a Dr. Strange story.

Dr. Strange then retreats into comic book limbo for a year and a half, until he’s returned as the de facto leader of a super team called the Defenders (NOT the characters in the pending Netflix series.). Fortunately, Roy Thomas gets to bring the good doctor back in a short solo story from MARVEL FEATURE #1. That story is, of course, also included in this volume, and while it’s a fairly average tale, it’s nice to see Thomas redeem himself somewhat by throwing away the super hero trappings that he had forced upon the character.

Finally, in April 1972, Doc gets another chance to shine, as a new Dr. Strange series begins in MARVEL PREMIERE. The first issue of this is probably the highlight of the book, and its cover is featured on the cover of this volume. Admittedly, the story itself is average, and the villain’s identity, while kept secret until the climax, is obvious to any long-time reader. That ultimately doesn’t matter, though. Stan Lee provides the dialogue, and while some modern readers don’t care for his often purple prose, I love it myself, and it was great to have him back, if only for one story. The real treat, though, is the art by Barry Windsor-Smith, billed here simply as “Barry Smith.” Windsor-Smith’s renderings are truly wondrous to behold, and probably look even better on this book’s high quality paper than they did in the original comic. Seriously, people, this is beautiful stuff.

Sadly, it couldn’t last. Windsor-Smith remains for one more issue, but his pencils are rougher there and finished by Frank Brunner. Brunner is a great artist in his own right (as we’ll see in the next volume), but I don’t think that his style meshes especially well with Windsor-Smith’s. Stan Lee departs and is replaced by Archie Goodwin, who also immediately leaves after one issue. Goodwin. Windsor-Smith and Brunner provide an adaptation of the H.P. Lovecraft story “Shadow Over Innsmouth” and insert Dr. Strange into it. They succeed at providing a creepy feel, but sadly, it really is a Lovecraft story and lacks the trippy coolness generally associated with our main hero.

From there, things go downhill, and the book’s last four stories are a chore to sit through. No artist remains for more than an issue, so the art becomes very uneven. The writing is provided by Gardner Fox, then a DC veteran of many years, and you get the impression that his heart just wasn’t in it. The stories are a clunky mess of bad continuity, contrivances and dragged out storytelling, and it often feels like you could substitute Dr. Strange for Batman, and it wouldn’t make much difference. In a word – “ugh.”

On the plus side, the very last story does provide hope for better times, which were indeed coming. It’s drawn by Jim Starlin, who was renowned for his “cosmic” tales at Marvel, and it brings back some of that “trippy coolness” that I mentioned above. It’s possible that Starlin had some input in the plot, but regardless, it’s at least an improvement. Starlin, too, doesn’t stay, but in the very next issue, writer Steve Englehart and artist Frank Brunner would begin a long, acclaimed run. Unfortunately, one has to find Volume 5 to enjoy it, but then, that’s the good part of collecting: If you stick with things, quality often does improve, and you feel rewarded in the end.