Doctor Strange: Nightmare

Marvel Novel Series #7

by William Rotsler

Book by William Rotsler

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Fantasy, Superheroes, Fiction

188 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1979

About the author

William "Bill" Rotsler was an American cartoonist and graphic artist; author of several science fiction novels and short stories, and television and film novelizations, and non-fiction works on a variety of topics, ranging from Star Trek to pornography; a prominent member of science fiction fandom; and a sculptor, primarily in metal, who contributed to the art at the entrance to the Los Angeles Police Department headquarters.

Pseudonyms:
Victor W. II Appleton, William Arrow, Andrew Garth, John Ryder Hall, Cord Heller, Latham Hilliard, Linda Holland, Harmony Holt, Lothar Korda, Honey Malcom, Hord Markham, Clay McCord, Howard Scott Miles, Clint Randall, Beverly Sorenson, Beth Waring, Fletcher Westflag.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

By the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak, this was the first (and maybe still the only) prose novel that featured everyone's favorite Master of the Mystic Arts. It was written by William Rotsler, who wrote some very good (and a little bad) science and franchise fiction in the '70s and '80s. I thought this one was pretty good, not great, but a nice introduction to one of the lesser known (at the time) Marvel characters. It has more of an adult theme than was common at the time for the venue, and I suspect Marvel got some harsh backlash as a result. (Rotsler was a notorious producer of sexually oriented material, and the relationship of Stephen and Clea was a bit more explicit than anyone had before seen. I'm surprised editors Len Wein and Marv Wolfman okayed some of it.) In any event, there are a couple of poorly-paced sections where it seems Rotsler might have needed to hit a certain word-count, but overall it's a good Marvel adventure. I believe Rotsler knew the material well and cared about it, a big plus on franchised novelizations.

[Like a fairy a · Rating 2 out of 5]

نتیجه‌ی اهمیت ندادن به نمره= دراپ

نوشتار کتاب کسل کننده بود. یعنی حتی اگه اتفاق جالبی هم می‌افتاد بخاطر خسته کننده بودن متن اثرش از بین می‌رفت.
این کتاب رو فقط بخاطر شخصیت دکتر استرنج گرفتم و اهمیتی به نمره‌ش ندادم....
مثل من نباشید:')

[hasti · Rating 3 out of 5]

خوشحالم که تموم شد. بذارین این‌جوری توصیفش کنم؛ یه شکنجه‌ی تمام عیار که توسط کاراکتر مورد علاقم هم انجام شد.😂💔
اول از همه این که واقعا حیف بود در حق دکتر استرنج خفن که انقدر کم به شخصیت قدرتمند و با ابهتش پرداخته شد.
فن‌فیک موفقی نبود.. اصلا!! یعنی ترجیح می‌دم چند تا از فن‌فیک‌های نسبتا خوب توی واتپد رو بخونم. اگر این کتاب فروش کرده، فقط به خاطر این بوده که اسم دکتر استرنج رو چسبوندن بهش.
نویسنده قلم بدی نداشت. درواقع تخیل خیلی خوبی داره و خوب توصیف می‌کنه اما همین براش یک مشکله چون بییییش از حدددد توصیف می‌کنه و تا جایی پیش می‌ره که گاهی دیگه از داستان اصلی فاصله می‌گیره. واقعا نویسنده‌ی عزیز یه ترمز لازم داره که وقتی توی توصیفاتش زیاده‌روی می‌کنه و از کنترل خارج می‌شه ترمز رو بکشه.😂
البته از یک طرف فکر کردم که شاید این توصیفات لازم و ضروری‌ان تا مخاطب با داستان ارتباط بگیره ولی، من به‌شخصه _این فقط و فقط تجربه‌ایه که خودم از خوندنش داشتم_ اصلا نتونستم توسط توصیف خوبش از فضا و اتفاقات با داستان ارتباط بگیرم.
درواقع توصیف زیادش باعث شد که بیشتر از داستان فاصله بگیرم. یه جاهایی رو کلا رد کردم _منی که اصلاااا پیش نیومده بخشی از کتابی رو رد کنم و نخونم_ و یه جاهاییم به خودم اومدم و دیدم چندددد صفحه خوندم و اصلا فکرم یه جای دیگه بوده چون حوصلم سر رفته.
فقط ۵۰ صفحه آخرش یکم برام جذاب شد.
به نظرم بهتر بود نویسنده برای جذاب‌تر کردن داستان، یکم گفت‌و‌گو و تنش وسط توصیفاتش رو بیشتر می‌کرد تا حداقل آدم خیلی از داستان اصلی فاصله نگیره.
اول می‌خواستم دو ستاره به کتاب بدم ولی گفتم شاید بی‌انصافی باشه چون بقیه‌ ویژگی‌های کتاب خوب بودن و فقط روند کسل‌کننده‌ای داشت، پس تصمیم گرفتم دو تا ستاره رو فقط کم کنم. یک ستاره به خاطر توصیفات بیش از حد و غیرضروری، یک ستاره هم برای اینکه از نظر من به کاراکتر‌ها خوب پرداخته نشده بود؛ در واقع من در این مورد انتظار بیشتری از کتاب داشتم. می‌تونست یکم از توصیف در و دیوار کم کنه و کمی بیشتر به کاراکتر‌ها بپردازه.
این ماه واقعا ماهِ من نبود. چند کتاب خوندم و از هیچ‌کدوم راضی نبودم. خدا کنه بعدی تلافی اینارو دربیاره.😬

[Robert Garrett · Rating 3 out of 5]

A televangelist, a famous actress, a boxer and a professional assassin are plagued with bad dreams. Although not aware of these at first, Dr. Stephen Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts, does sense the return of an old enemy; he just doesn’t know who it is. Of course, he could find a big hint in the title of this book.

NIGHTMARE is the seventh of 11 “Marvel novels” published by Pocket Books in 1978-1979. In many ways, these are “comic books without the pictures,” and contemporary Doctor Strange fans would have found themselves in familiar territory with NIGHTMARE.

That being the case, it surprises me a little that the book contains some “adult” moments. There are scenes with men and women in bed together, e.g., the aforementioned famous actress owns a vibrator and, at one point, she removes her clothes for an attempted seduction. Several of the female characters like to “hang medallions” between their “full breasts.”

Marvel comic book stalwarts penned most of the 11 novels in this series, and as a 1970s comic fan, I recognized most of the authors. William Rotsler, however, was a new name to me.

A Wikipedia search turned up an interesting entry. Wikipedia notes no comics credits for Rotsler, who died in 1997. It does note, however, that he wrote some science fiction stories and won four Hugo Awards for “Best Fan Art.” It also notes that Rotsler was a prolific actor, writer and director of pornographic films. It’s tempting to assume that this explains his apparent need to frequently comment on the female characters’ breasts.

All that aside, it’s the story that matters. To this, my reaction is mixed.

On the negative side, the plot is thin, with much obvious padding. The plot synopsis lists four characters under Nightmare’s thrall, but at least two could be dropped with little to no impact. Rotsler devotes two full chapters to the origins of, respectively, Dr. Strange and Clea, Strange’s extradimensional lover/discipline (Well…it was the 1970s.), but these do nothing to advance the main narrative. Rotsler provides an extended chapter in which our hero opens portal after portal into magical worlds, and while Rotsler’s descriptions of these worlds prove imaginative, the whole sequence again mostly just takes up space from a story standpoint.

I also yearned for some art. The superhero genre is an inherently visual one (It’s not an accident that comic books popularized the genre in the first place.), and thus a prose superhero story starts with a disadvantage. With Dr. Strange in particular, a pure prose story (NIGHTMARE contains no illustrations at all, apart from drawn Dr. Strange figures at the head of each chapter.) omits trippy depictions of magical spells and worlds. Artist and Dr. Strange co-creator Steve Ditko made these synonymous with the character back in the 1960s, and his successors have followed suit. While Rotsler does conceive some truly imaginative magical scenarios (as I noted above), I couldn’t help but wonder what a Steve Ditko, Gene Colan, Michael Golden or Marshall Rogers (all artists associated with the Dr. Strange character) would have done with his descriptions.

That aside, Rotsler does display affinity for Dr. Strange. Yes, his magical worlds are imaginative, but equally importantly, I feel, is that he understands the thrills of the sorcerous battles. Dr. Strange is one of my favorite Marvel characters, and the twelve year old inside me still gets a thrill when he trades spells with villains and shouts dramatic incantations. (“By the powers of the nameless stone of Shagorri, I banish you!,” Strange proclaims in one passage from NIGHTMARE.) For me, Rotsler delivers several such moments.

Rotsler also provides an interesting interpretation of the villain Nightmare and his motivations. I’m not going to spoil anything, but I did find this aspect quite memorable. NIGHTMARE doesn’t seem to be official Marvel canon, and as far as I know, there was no follow up on Roster’s idea, but that makes it no less compelling.

In summation, then, I have good news, and I have bad news. Whether the good outweighs the bad is for individual readers to decide, but much may depend on one’s own feelings toward Dr. Strange. If you’re new to the character, then I could suggest better places to start. If, on the other hand, you’re an established fan like me, then you’ll almost certainly find enough to enjoy.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was...odd. There's a lot of complaints about how slow Stephen was to discover it was Nightmare behind their problems, but this has happened in the comics, besides, it didn't take THAT long for him to realize it. Besides that, the writing was a mixed bag. There was an unnecessarily long scene where Stephen ran though metaphysical corridors looking for Clea, like more than 5 pages worth. Yikes. Also three of the antagonists/victims were not needed. Finally, there was the, er, sensual nature of the book in general. Like holy smokes, this is adult! For the 70s at least. Come to find out, the writer was also a pornographer. That explains thin plot :/

There were also complaints of flashbacks. Yeah, they didn't add anything to the main plot, but they were probably the best written scenes. Really a shame so much was wasted.

Besides that, the book only really picks up near the very end in the final confrontation. Why the rest of the book couldn't have been written that way was beyond me. Stephen had to confront his old self, the surgeon and the arrogant Sorcerer Supreme, and it gave a good insight into his character.

[Michael P. · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first quarter of this book is a lot of fun, but it becomes bogged down in flashbacks and endless scenes of Dr. Strange battling beings from other realms. Well, not technically endless for the book is only 188 pages long, but since Strange will obviously win in the end I found myself so bored that I skipped whole paragraphs, then pages, skimming to see where the pointless battle of the moment would end and the plot begin to advance again. I skipped and skimmed a lot of paragraphs and pages. The book becomes so dull and repetitive that I might have given it a single star, but I found this on page 15. "John Barrymore had got drunk there, and caught cold lying on a lawn under the stars, reciting Shakespeare." I happen to be writing a book that is in part about John Barrymore getting drunk and reciting Shakespeare, so that page endeared itself to me.

[Ross Vincent · Rating 3 out of 5]

As I got into the book's last half, I was reminded why I didnt read the "Doctor Strange" comics as a kid.

Very surreal and mystical.

But in the end, it was ok

[Ekenedilichukwu Ikegwuani · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book isn't good. The villain is predictable (his name is literally the title), but the book wastes time trying to protect his identity, but the twist is not a twist at all. Time is also wasted on certain challenges and story elements that have no bearing ultimately on the story (50 pages get wasted on Doctor Strange walking down a hall, and the way he solves his problem he could've done from the beginning). And from the way the women are characterized and the emphasis on sex in this book, you would've believed it was written by a horny 13 year old.

[Jeff Correll · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was a real slog to get through this novel. I thought it was badly written and very repetitive. Very disappointing.

[Keller Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was excited to read this book. It started off strong but started to drag a bit. I was hoping for more action and fun.

[Tim Deforest · Rating 3 out of 5]

William Rotsler wrote the previous book (about Iron Man) in the Marvel Novel series from the late 1970s and it was arguably the best in the series. So this somewhat plodding (though still often imaginative) Dr. Strange tale is disappointing.

To be fair, it is difficult to translate Steve Ditko's superb illustrations of weird alternate dimensions into prose. But even considering that, the book is poorly paced. There are more minor characters than are needed. Extended flashbacks recounting Dr. Strange's and Clea's origins seem to be there just to up the page count. A sequence that could have been fantastic--Strange walking down an endless corridor looking for Clea, with each door he comes to leading to a difference bizarre dimension/alternate reality--goes on too long. And Strange's final battle with Nightmare includes more pseudo-philosophy than action.

It's not bad overall, but disappointing compared to the higher quality of the other books in the Marvel Novel series.

[Benn Allen · Rating 2 out of 5]

For awhile, as I was reading this book, I wondered whether to dismiss it as fluff or crap. The further I got into it, though, it became clear that William Rotsler's "Doctor Strange: Nightmare" isn't a fun book, it isn't charming nor all that entertaining. At least not entertaining enough to call it "fluff". Instead it's pretty obvious the novel's not a story Rotsler felt compelled to tell. More likely, he was hired by either Pocket Books or Marvel Comics to write a "Doctor Strange" novel. The result is a thinly developed tale that might have worked better had it been written as few issues of the comic book series rather than a work of prose. I will give Rotsler credit for the rather clever idea that Nightmare might not be invading our dimension so much as he trying to escape his. Too bad he never quite fleshed it out.

As it stands, "Doctor Strange: Nightmare" an ordinary, at times tedious work. (Seriously, the sequence where Strange is looking for Clea, his apprentice slash lover in otherworldly corridor with [almost] countless doors got monotonous. We really didn't need a play by play of Stephen Strange opening thirty, forty damn doors. I admit, though, it did help Rotsler waste about 20 pages. [While doing absolutely nothing to advance the plot.])

Ultimately, there's not a whole lot to recommend this book. It's not terrible. It's just product and little else.

[Matthew Price · Rating 2 out of 5]

From the 1979 Pocket Books series of superhero novels. This one is more adult, with some implied sex and nudity and so on. Overall, it didn’t really work for me, though the flashback to Dr. Strange’s origin was well-enough done.

[Little Timmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good novel adaptation of the comics. if you are a comic super hero fan these are Very recommended.