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Marvel Masterworks: Doctor Strange #3
Marvel Masterworks: Doctor Strange, Vol. 3
Collects Doctor Strange (1968) #169-179 and Avengers (1963) #61.
With the Marvel Age of Comics running full tilt, 1968 brought with it a massive expansion of the Marvel line, and the good Doctor Strange finally landed his own practice. Headed up by no less than Rascally Roy Thomas, paired with the one of the Silver Age's greatest art teams in Gene Colan and Tom Palmer, this trio of talents would take the Master of the Mystic Arts to new horizons beyond our wildest imaginings! It all starts off with the Sorcerer Supreme's tragic origin, followed by the return of the nefarious Nightmare – and then, it goes straight into overdrive as Doctor Strange must face Eternity and Dormammu with the lives of Clea and Victoria Bentley hanging in the balance! But it doesn't stop there! Next comes one of the greatest Doc Strange epics of all as he battles the Sons of Satannish in an adventure that will leave him changed…forever!
With the Marvel Age of Comics running full tilt, 1968 brought with it a massive expansion of the Marvel line, and the good Doctor Strange finally landed his own practice. Headed up by no less than Rascally Roy Thomas, paired with the one of the Silver Age's greatest art teams in Gene Colan and Tom Palmer, this trio of talents would take the Master of the Mystic Arts to new horizons beyond our wildest imaginings! It all starts off with the Sorcerer Supreme's tragic origin, followed by the return of the nefarious Nightmare – and then, it goes straight into overdrive as Doctor Strange must face Eternity and Dormammu with the lives of Clea and Victoria Bentley hanging in the balance! But it doesn't stop there! Next comes one of the greatest Doc Strange epics of all as he battles the Sons of Satannish in an adventure that will leave him changed…forever!
244 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2006
14 people are currently reading
122 people want to read
About the author
Roy Thomas
4,477 books271 followersRoy 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
January 18, 2022
You can see why Roy Thomas’ rise at Marvel was so rapid: he delivers all the pace and pomposity of Stan Lee with none of the patter. It’s the ideal combination for the fan-readers who had begun to take this stuff in deadly earnest. He’s also - almost impossibly - EVEN WORSE than Stan in his treatment of women characters: Clea and Victoria Bentley do nothing but fawn over Strange, get rescued by him or told off by him (in Clea’s case) for using her powers in a frivolous way. Woeful stuff.
Fortunately, the art in this volume is glorious, finally shaking off the legacy of Ditko and delivering the swirling, horror-comic version of Doctor Strange that sets him up for his classic 70s stories. Dan Adkin sets the tone well but everything steps up a notch when Gene Colan arrives. Colan is the first Doctor Strange artist whose main strength isn’t the mystic dimensions but the real world, and the best parts of the volume are the ones which recast Greenwich Village in contemporary gothic, with Strange tracking down a cult. Colan is also a wonderfully fluid action artist, which is just as well as Roy Thomas’ mystic duels generally just involve two dudes zapping each other. It adds up to a comic that is - mercifully - a far easier and more enjoyable read than its stories deserve.
Fortunately, the art in this volume is glorious, finally shaking off the legacy of Ditko and delivering the swirling, horror-comic version of Doctor Strange that sets him up for his classic 70s stories. Dan Adkin sets the tone well but everything steps up a notch when Gene Colan arrives. Colan is the first Doctor Strange artist whose main strength isn’t the mystic dimensions but the real world, and the best parts of the volume are the ones which recast Greenwich Village in contemporary gothic, with Strange tracking down a cult. Colan is also a wonderfully fluid action artist, which is just as well as Roy Thomas’ mystic duels generally just involve two dudes zapping each other. It adds up to a comic that is - mercifully - a far easier and more enjoyable read than its stories deserve.
September 13, 2015
Great Dan Adkins art with mediocre Roy Thomas writing until Gene Colan's art comes along and inspires better writing from Roy. Still, the way Victoria and Clea fall all over Stephen is definitely a male wish fulfillment fantasy.
November 8, 2025
This volume incorporates the bulk of the first solo Dr Strange comics coming off the back of the Strange Tales comic, and writing chops being taken over by Roy Thomas. Thomas keeps the verbosity of Stan Lee, with plenty of alliterative spell names and Strange,s magic items being able to do anything the plot requires. The series starts with the expected recaps, and then lunges straight into Nightmare (an old favourite) then Dormammu. We get not one love interest to rescue but two— the British Victoria Bentley (whose magic awoke during the Mordo plot line a little while ago) and mainstay Clea, whose naive approach to Earth is very charming. There’s a definite appeal for the likely male teen audience here, with Dr Strange in the centre of slavish adoration from two beautiful women.
This run’s highlight is the Sons of Satannish for me. Gene Colan, who was all over the Marvel comics at the time (Cap America, DrStrange, and Daredevil, plus horror titles at the 5ish), is great. Though I disliked him as a youth, age has made me appreciate him: such good motion, and creative angles albeit quite dependent on inkers to bring the best out. I liked the storyline as it worked around Strange in New York and grounded him in comparison to Sanctum Santorum/ Tibet, then Dimension of whatever.
Sadly the title dips at the end with an inexplicable adoption of a superhero costume which looks utterly naff, and misses the whole vibe of the comic. Easy 5o say in retrospect as the comic was cancelled soon after and Strange reappeared in Marvel Premiere and Defenders.
A good selection. 3 stars.
This run’s highlight is the Sons of Satannish for me. Gene Colan, who was all over the Marvel comics at the time (Cap America, DrStrange, and Daredevil, plus horror titles at the 5ish), is great. Though I disliked him as a youth, age has made me appreciate him: such good motion, and creative angles albeit quite dependent on inkers to bring the best out. I liked the storyline as it worked around Strange in New York and grounded him in comparison to Sanctum Santorum/ Tibet, then Dimension of whatever.
Sadly the title dips at the end with an inexplicable adoption of a superhero costume which looks utterly naff, and misses the whole vibe of the comic. Easy 5o say in retrospect as the comic was cancelled soon after and Strange reappeared in Marvel Premiere and Defenders.
A good selection. 3 stars.
August 3, 2020
Doctor Strange finally emerges out of Strange Tales with his own solo series! Picking up where the numbering for Strange Tales left off, Doctor Strange #169 starts with Roy Thomas and Dan Adkins spinning a new story arc. Adkins does a beautiful job creating settings and capturing a horror vibe with his magic, before departing the title and leaving Gene Colan to take up the primary art duties (with Tom Palmer on inking duties). Colan uses a lot of creative panel layouts that cut into each other and use different shapes than the rectangular boxes comic readers would be used too, giving the Doctor Strange title a definitive look that reads just as jagged and sharp as the panels themselves. Unfortunately the weak spot here is the writing from Roy Thomas, while not bad it doesn't have the same flair as other Doctor Strange titles. Most of the volume surrounds Clea, and the cult-like "Son of Satannish" who challenge Doctor Strange's mystical mastery. Certainly a good set-up for a comic, and it does an adequate job delivering on it, but the real stand-out here is definitely the artwork.
December 17, 2016
If I were to try to make some sense out of the plots in this book and the character motivations, it would probably rate one star. But that's not really the point. Doctor Strange is always trying to come up with some way to outwit his adversaries and none of this really makes sense. This is what the reader is in for: some bright colors, beautiful illustrations (not a bad artist in this volume), and some crazy, psychedelic situations. The only thing that makes this volume stand out in comparison to previous volumes is that Roy Thomas seems to go further out of his way to make the dialogue more stilted and ridiculous than before. Keep in mind that the main character was formerly a medical doctor, now he speaks like this: (actual quote) "And such is the cupidity...the sheer greed of men...that many would pay such blasphemous cost...for the heady taste of power!" I love this ridiculous junk.
May 9, 2017
This run begins with a sort of "soft reboot" of Doctor Strange. All of the previous continuity is intact, but the first comic in this set retells the origin story and over the next several stories, Doctor Strange's main enemies are reintroduced. It appears that Marvel intended this to be a new jumping-on point for people who hadn't read the previous comics.
Overall, I enjoyed the stories. The focus on Doctor Strange as a real person with a real life was a nice way to move his storyline forward. However, the romantic triangle he's involved in comes across as awkward and goofy. (I would have totally been on board with it if 12-year-old me was reading it though.) Giving the good doctor a more superhero-y costume was another mistake in this run. It made him look like a generic, nondescript comic book hero, whereas his original look was unique and fitting for his style. Glad the superhero look didn't stick in the long run.
Overall, I enjoyed the stories. The focus on Doctor Strange as a real person with a real life was a nice way to move his storyline forward. However, the romantic triangle he's involved in comes across as awkward and goofy. (I would have totally been on board with it if 12-year-old me was reading it though.) Giving the good doctor a more superhero-y costume was another mistake in this run. It made him look like a generic, nondescript comic book hero, whereas his original look was unique and fitting for his style. Glad the superhero look didn't stick in the long run.
November 18, 2017
The first Dr. Strange series, running from 1963 to 1968, was only one feature in an anthology comic called STRANGE TALES. The first two Dr. Strange Masterworks volumes collected those STRANGE TALES stories, and now, in Volume 3, we finally have the first tales from the character's first eponymous comic title, debuting in 1968.
Roy Thomas, Stan Lee's main protege, handles writing chores, and he does a fine job of reintroducing our hero and consolidating his mythos. The first issue retells the origin and those immediately following re-introduce prime villains from STRANGE TALES: Nightmare, Dormammu and Dormammu's evil sister Umar.
Naturally, Thomas also assembles our supporting cast: the wise Ancient One, the loyal Wong, an other-dimensional sorceress named Clea, and Victoria Bentley, an Englishwoman with latent magic abilities. Unfortunately, the first two are bad Asian stereotypes, although Thomas does attempt to give them a little more personality than they had exhibited in STRANGE TALES. For the most part, however, they're in the background, as are Clea and Victoria, two women who mostly exist to form points on a love triangle (It goes without saying, I suppose, that super hero comics of this vintage were written mostly by men for a mostly male audience.).
If you're looking for great hero/villain mystical battles, though, then you need look no further. The villains are evil, the hero is good, and Dr. Strange, unlike many super heroes, typically wins by simply outsmarting his enemies. Often, this is done in a fairly clever way.
A few issues in, Thomas decides to introduce some new villains: the Sons of Satannish - wizards who literally sold their souls to the devil for increased magical ability ("The devil" is presumably called "Satannish," rather than "Satan," because the Comics Code Authority rules of the time would have forbidden use of the latter name. This is admittedly silly, since we all know who "Satannish" is supposed to be, despite his extra syllable.). The Sons prove fiendish and formidable, and Dr. Strange faces them in a multi-issue epic that, for the first three or four issues, at least, proves a rollicking fun read.
...and then something changes. In his introduction to the volume, Roy Thomas explains that the comic was not selling well, so he hoped to fix this by making Dr. Strange a more traditional super hero. "Doc" (as his fans affectionately call him) is given a more "super hero-y" costume, complete with a full face mask, and Marvel's Avengers are called in to help. Then, a story that had been quite enjoyable is resolved in a less-than-satisfactory manner by changing it from a Dr. Strange story to an Avengers story - and not a particularly good one. The ride is pretty fun up until that point, however, and save for the last two issues reprinted here (the very last of which is actually an issue of AVENGERS), this volume is worth reading.
The art is also a big highlight. Dan Adkins provides some lush illustration for the first two issues. Tom Palmer provides a competent, although admittedly not especially remarkable, job on the next issue following...and then we have Gene Colan. Colan draws most of the stories, and he's a phenomenally good match for the series, populating each tale with dark shadows, freakish monsters, and incredibly fiendish villains - all floating at odd angles in the weird "outer space" of the book's magical dimensions. Sadly, this description doesn't really do Colan's work justice, and you really have to see it to fully appreciate it. To me, Colan has always been the second-best (after Steve Ditko) artist on Dr. Strange.
If you're a Dr. Strange fan (as I am), then this volume is definitely worth your time, and you may even have it in your collection already. Although the stories here are not as "trippy" as in the previous two volumes, I feel that they make up for it in good old fashioned fun and generally more coherent plotting. Unfortunately, quality does dip in the last couple issues, but with that caveat - dig in and enjoy the Silver Age goodness! I did, and I'm glad.
Roy Thomas, Stan Lee's main protege, handles writing chores, and he does a fine job of reintroducing our hero and consolidating his mythos. The first issue retells the origin and those immediately following re-introduce prime villains from STRANGE TALES: Nightmare, Dormammu and Dormammu's evil sister Umar.
Naturally, Thomas also assembles our supporting cast: the wise Ancient One, the loyal Wong, an other-dimensional sorceress named Clea, and Victoria Bentley, an Englishwoman with latent magic abilities. Unfortunately, the first two are bad Asian stereotypes, although Thomas does attempt to give them a little more personality than they had exhibited in STRANGE TALES. For the most part, however, they're in the background, as are Clea and Victoria, two women who mostly exist to form points on a love triangle (It goes without saying, I suppose, that super hero comics of this vintage were written mostly by men for a mostly male audience.).
If you're looking for great hero/villain mystical battles, though, then you need look no further. The villains are evil, the hero is good, and Dr. Strange, unlike many super heroes, typically wins by simply outsmarting his enemies. Often, this is done in a fairly clever way.
A few issues in, Thomas decides to introduce some new villains: the Sons of Satannish - wizards who literally sold their souls to the devil for increased magical ability ("The devil" is presumably called "Satannish," rather than "Satan," because the Comics Code Authority rules of the time would have forbidden use of the latter name. This is admittedly silly, since we all know who "Satannish" is supposed to be, despite his extra syllable.). The Sons prove fiendish and formidable, and Dr. Strange faces them in a multi-issue epic that, for the first three or four issues, at least, proves a rollicking fun read.
...and then something changes. In his introduction to the volume, Roy Thomas explains that the comic was not selling well, so he hoped to fix this by making Dr. Strange a more traditional super hero. "Doc" (as his fans affectionately call him) is given a more "super hero-y" costume, complete with a full face mask, and Marvel's Avengers are called in to help. Then, a story that had been quite enjoyable is resolved in a less-than-satisfactory manner by changing it from a Dr. Strange story to an Avengers story - and not a particularly good one. The ride is pretty fun up until that point, however, and save for the last two issues reprinted here (the very last of which is actually an issue of AVENGERS), this volume is worth reading.
The art is also a big highlight. Dan Adkins provides some lush illustration for the first two issues. Tom Palmer provides a competent, although admittedly not especially remarkable, job on the next issue following...and then we have Gene Colan. Colan draws most of the stories, and he's a phenomenally good match for the series, populating each tale with dark shadows, freakish monsters, and incredibly fiendish villains - all floating at odd angles in the weird "outer space" of the book's magical dimensions. Sadly, this description doesn't really do Colan's work justice, and you really have to see it to fully appreciate it. To me, Colan has always been the second-best (after Steve Ditko) artist on Dr. Strange.
If you're a Dr. Strange fan (as I am), then this volume is definitely worth your time, and you may even have it in your collection already. Although the stories here are not as "trippy" as in the previous two volumes, I feel that they make up for it in good old fashioned fun and generally more coherent plotting. Unfortunately, quality does dip in the last couple issues, but with that caveat - dig in and enjoy the Silver Age goodness! I did, and I'm glad.
June 16, 2017
I hate to give a Doctor Strange title only three stars - especially when Gene Colan's artwork is so good. But Roy Thomas' writing is very formulaic and lackluster in this collection. And it really breaks my heart to see Clea's power weakened so much and her role reduced to that of a damsel in distress and fawning love interest. And poor Victoria Bentley isn't even that...
December 27, 2024
Another of my favourite comic book characters, partly from the classic Ditko art then the Englehart run and then as one of the Defenders. These Roy Thomas stories (some with art by Gene Colan) are full to the brim with crazy ideas. And that’s exactly what you want from Doctor Strange.
This series ends with his (short-lived) masked period.
This series ends with his (short-lived) masked period.
July 6, 2017
Great Gene Colan/Tom Palmer art, in the main, but horribly overbaked scripting from Roy Thomas...worse than the average for the time, by far (that Stan Lee's return, briefly, in the Marvel Premiere run, was a distinct improvement is an indicator.)
April 3, 2018
Still Great
Still an awesome story, even in today's standards. Doctor Strange never ceases to amaze us and cast us into wonder.
Still an awesome story, even in today's standards. Doctor Strange never ceases to amaze us and cast us into wonder.
August 19, 2020
Another excellent Doctor Strange Anthology
An anthology of Doctor Strange comics, every volume is fantastic. A must for any fan of the Sorcerer Supreme, Doctor Stephen Strange.
An anthology of Doctor Strange comics, every volume is fantastic. A must for any fan of the Sorcerer Supreme, Doctor Stephen Strange.
September 20, 2020
Ese episodio luchando junto a Spider-Man fue fantástico. ❤
June 28, 2023
Vintage Marvel
Ahead of its time, but also very 60s, and trippy, a pity that the movies don't follow this route !
Ahead of its time, but also very 60s, and trippy, a pity that the movies don't follow this route !
March 17, 2017
A magical mystery-tour of early Dr. Strange adventures. I kept hearing ELO's "Strange Magic" in my mind as i read this masterwork. Thank you, Stan Lee, for another fun ride!
Want to read
April 29, 2014Collects DOCTOR STRANGE (Vol. 1) #169-179 and THE AVENGERS (Vol.1) #61.
April 6, 2016
Awesome Gene Colan run.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews