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Essential Doctor Strange #3
Essential Doctor Strange, Vol. 3
After earning the title of Sorcerer Supreme, Doctor Strange must defend his title, his life and his world against enemies old and new! Dormammu, Silver Dagger, Nightmare, Stygyro and more test Strange's sorcery and sanity!
Collects: DOCTOR STRANGE #1-29 and ANNUAL #1, and TOMB OF DRACULA #44-45.
Collects: DOCTOR STRANGE #1-29 and ANNUAL #1, and TOMB OF DRACULA #44-45.
616 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1978
3 people are currently reading
143 people want to read
About the author
Steve Englehart
1,395 books97 followersSee also John Harkness.
Steve Englehart went to Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. After a stint in the Army, he moved to New York and began to write for Marvel Comics. That led to long runs on Captain America, The Hulk, The Avengers, Dr. Strange, and a dozen other titles. Midway through that period he moved to California (where he remains), and met and married his wife Terry.
He was finally hired away from Marvel by DC Comics, to be their lead writer and revamp their core characters (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, and Green Lantern). He did, but he also wrote a solo Batman series (immediately dubbed the "definitive" version) that later became Warner Brothers' first Batman film (the good one).
After that he left comics for a time, traveled in Europe for a year, wrote a novel (The Point Man™), and came back to design video games for Atari (E.T., Garfield). But he still liked comics, so he created Coyote™, which within its first year was rated one of America's ten best series. Other projects he owned (Scorpio Rose™, The Djinn™) were mixed with company series (Green Lantern [with Joe Staton], Silver Surfer, Fantastic Four). Meanwhile, he continued his game design for Activision, Electronic Arts, Sega, and Brøderbund.
And once he and Terry had their two sons, Alex and Eric, he naturally told them stories. Rustle's Christmas Adventure was first devised for them. He went on to add a run of mid-grade books to his bibliography, including the DNAgers™ adventure series, and Countdown to Flight, a biography of the Wright brothers selected by NASA as the basis for their school curriculum on the invention of the airplane.
In 1992 Steve was asked to co-create a comics pantheon called the Ultraverse. One of his contributions, The Night Man, became not only a successful comics series, but also a television show. That led to more Hollywood work, including animated series such as Street Fighter, GI Joe, and Team Atlantis for Disney.
Steve Englehart went to Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. After a stint in the Army, he moved to New York and began to write for Marvel Comics. That led to long runs on Captain America, The Hulk, The Avengers, Dr. Strange, and a dozen other titles. Midway through that period he moved to California (where he remains), and met and married his wife Terry.
He was finally hired away from Marvel by DC Comics, to be their lead writer and revamp their core characters (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, and Green Lantern). He did, but he also wrote a solo Batman series (immediately dubbed the "definitive" version) that later became Warner Brothers' first Batman film (the good one).
After that he left comics for a time, traveled in Europe for a year, wrote a novel (The Point Man™), and came back to design video games for Atari (E.T., Garfield). But he still liked comics, so he created Coyote™, which within its first year was rated one of America's ten best series. Other projects he owned (Scorpio Rose™, The Djinn™) were mixed with company series (Green Lantern [with Joe Staton], Silver Surfer, Fantastic Four). Meanwhile, he continued his game design for Activision, Electronic Arts, Sega, and Brøderbund.
And once he and Terry had their two sons, Alex and Eric, he naturally told them stories. Rustle's Christmas Adventure was first devised for them. He went on to add a run of mid-grade books to his bibliography, including the DNAgers™ adventure series, and Countdown to Flight, a biography of the Wright brothers selected by NASA as the basis for their school curriculum on the invention of the airplane.
In 1992 Steve was asked to co-create a comics pantheon called the Ultraverse. One of his contributions, The Night Man, became not only a successful comics series, but also a television show. That led to more Hollywood work, including animated series such as Street Fighter, GI Joe, and Team Atlantis for Disney.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 23, 2022
The Sorcerer Supreme, the Master of the Mystical Arts, Dr. Strange has alway been one of my favorite marvel characters that blends horror, the supernatural and comic book action perfectly. These early issues are amazing chock full of action and narrative and typically each issue contains what takes 5 or 6 issues to tell today. In my opinion these are so much more interesting and enjoyable.
April 5, 2016
Creative teams seem prone to abrupt changes in mid-storyline in this volume. I'm sure there's a story behind Steve Englehart suddenly giving way to Marv Wolfman, for instance. Standout stories for me were Englehart and Frank Brunner's run on the title, as well as the P. Craig Russell tale from the annual. Overall, this volume doesn't flounder around for direction quite as badly as volume 2 did. In general, the various creative teams seemed to have a pretty good idea of what sorts of stories work best. It's not easy writing a character who can do just about anything--magic, after all. All involved rose to the challenge admirably.
April 15, 2019
By the comics collected in Volume 3, they'd definitely moved Doctor Strange into more proper territory. There's a touch of the old horror comics, like 'Eerie,' 'Creepy,' etc. It also kinda reminds me of Marvel's 'Man-Thing,' which makes sense. The two mix in the same waters of weird worlds and magics. As is the case with 'Man-Thing,' I wish these comics were not made under the Comics Code. A lot of the Horror/Fantasy/Weird comics Marvel was putting out in the 70s felt like they were being restrained, like the writers/artists wanted them to have more sex & violence and adult themes, but were hampered by being part of the mainstream. This is not at all to say that adding sex or violence would make the comic better. Vertigo comics are proof positive that swearing, sex, and violence don't automatically make comics good or 'adult.' While the writing is better than earlier Strange outings, it's still over-written and occasionally straight-up silly.
Doctor Strange and his supporting cast and rogue's gallery have tons of great material for good stories. I just don't think Marvel is a company best suited to bring them about.
Doctor Strange and his supporting cast and rogue's gallery have tons of great material for good stories. I just don't think Marvel is a company best suited to bring them about.
February 24, 2018
As a young comic reader, I loved rifling through my collection, pulling out two or three years worth of issues and then sitting down to read them all on a lazy Saturday afternoon. As an adult with responsibilities, it took me much longer to read ESSENTIAL DOCTOR STRANGE, VOLUME 3 but shades of that childlike experience nonetheless remained. A lot can change in just a few years, and following a character over that time frame still proves a fascinating and even somewhat intoxicating journey.
ESSENTIAL DOCTOR STRANGE Volume 3 took me on such a journey. Collecting the first twenty-nine issues of the second DOCTOR STRANGE series, along with DOCTOR STRANGE ANNUAL #1, the material spans four years (1974-1978) and three Presidential administrations (the end of Nixon's, all of Ford's and part of Carter's.). Throughout that time, "Doc" (as we fans affectionately call the title character) never ceases his battles against the mystic forces of evil, but the people who draw his adventures and put words in his mouth continue to come and go, with each bringing his or her own spin to the series.
Steve Englehart, a "hot" comic writer in his day, pens the first eighteen issues, and most would likely agree that these are the highlight of the collection. Englehart brings us a Doctor Strange who is both more self-assured and more powerful, and he also tackles such "weighty" themes as the natures of death, reality and religion. The first five issues, which are perhaps the "deepest" philosophically, are jointly plotted by Englehart and artist Frank Brunner. Afterwards, Brunner departs, and Englehart plots and writes solo, with Gene Colan handling the art chores. While the stories with Colan may be somewhat less "heady," they still have their philosophical moments, and they also feature some wonderful consolidation and expanding of the Dr. Strange mythos, as Doc faces Dormammu, Umar, Nightmare, Eternity and even Satan himself (Well, you have to admit that the Devil would seem a natural foe for Dr. Strange.)! Brunner's art is somewhat more realistic and lush, whereas Colan's is moodier, wonkier (in a GOOD way, I'd argue) and more atmospheric. Naturally, each has his fans and detractors (I'm a Colan man myself.), but they're both fan favorites for a reason and both did some wonderful work here (Different inkers vary the results somewhat, but then, variety is the spice of life.).
While most of Englehart's run is here, the first few issues (originally published as MARVEL PREMIERE #s 9-14) are actually reprinted in the previous volume. I believe that the whole run has been reprinted elsewhere, and selective fans wishing to avoid inferior runs might want to seek out alternate collections. The ESSENTIAL volumes, again, have the advantage of showing complete change to a title over time, and when you read them, you really do have to take the good with bad.
This, of course, is my way of saying that the book's post-Englehart tales vary greatly in quality. Sadly, Colan left with Englehart (He would return to the series at a later time.), and then, we find a revolving door of writers and artists, some better than others. Marv Wolfman immediately succeeds Englehart as writer, and for whatever reason, he seems determined to undo many of Englehart's changes. Sadly, he often seems more concerned with THAT than writing a good story, and his issues are arguably the weakest in the volume. Fortunately, he doesn't write that many, and to my surprise, Jim Starlin manages to rescue (in my mind, anyway) Wolfman's story by expanding it into a much trippier and more epic tale. Finally, Roger Stern comes aboard to give us a more human Dr. Strange, with the able Tom Sutton providing the art. I should probably also note that DOCTOR STRANGE ANNUAL #1, with some elegant art and a fairy tale plot by P. Craig Russell, also represents a highlight of this collection.
As with other ESSENTIAL collections ( no longer in print, sadly), this volume presents the stories in black and white, on cheap paper, at a bargain cover price. I'm okay with this, and this format is obviously for people who want to READ the stories and don't care if they look pretty on a shelf. Interestingly, the absence of color provides different results. For an artist like Gene Colan, who specializes in mood and shadow, it's sometimes arguably an advantage. On the other hand, there are artists like P. Craig Russell, whose work, I think, really begs for lavish color. Again, you take the good with the bad. For me, personally, I just loved feeling like a little kid again, sitting down to a big stack of comics.
ESSENTIAL DOCTOR STRANGE Volume 3 took me on such a journey. Collecting the first twenty-nine issues of the second DOCTOR STRANGE series, along with DOCTOR STRANGE ANNUAL #1, the material spans four years (1974-1978) and three Presidential administrations (the end of Nixon's, all of Ford's and part of Carter's.). Throughout that time, "Doc" (as we fans affectionately call the title character) never ceases his battles against the mystic forces of evil, but the people who draw his adventures and put words in his mouth continue to come and go, with each bringing his or her own spin to the series.
Steve Englehart, a "hot" comic writer in his day, pens the first eighteen issues, and most would likely agree that these are the highlight of the collection. Englehart brings us a Doctor Strange who is both more self-assured and more powerful, and he also tackles such "weighty" themes as the natures of death, reality and religion. The first five issues, which are perhaps the "deepest" philosophically, are jointly plotted by Englehart and artist Frank Brunner. Afterwards, Brunner departs, and Englehart plots and writes solo, with Gene Colan handling the art chores. While the stories with Colan may be somewhat less "heady," they still have their philosophical moments, and they also feature some wonderful consolidation and expanding of the Dr. Strange mythos, as Doc faces Dormammu, Umar, Nightmare, Eternity and even Satan himself (Well, you have to admit that the Devil would seem a natural foe for Dr. Strange.)! Brunner's art is somewhat more realistic and lush, whereas Colan's is moodier, wonkier (in a GOOD way, I'd argue) and more atmospheric. Naturally, each has his fans and detractors (I'm a Colan man myself.), but they're both fan favorites for a reason and both did some wonderful work here (Different inkers vary the results somewhat, but then, variety is the spice of life.).
While most of Englehart's run is here, the first few issues (originally published as MARVEL PREMIERE #s 9-14) are actually reprinted in the previous volume. I believe that the whole run has been reprinted elsewhere, and selective fans wishing to avoid inferior runs might want to seek out alternate collections. The ESSENTIAL volumes, again, have the advantage of showing complete change to a title over time, and when you read them, you really do have to take the good with bad.
This, of course, is my way of saying that the book's post-Englehart tales vary greatly in quality. Sadly, Colan left with Englehart (He would return to the series at a later time.), and then, we find a revolving door of writers and artists, some better than others. Marv Wolfman immediately succeeds Englehart as writer, and for whatever reason, he seems determined to undo many of Englehart's changes. Sadly, he often seems more concerned with THAT than writing a good story, and his issues are arguably the weakest in the volume. Fortunately, he doesn't write that many, and to my surprise, Jim Starlin manages to rescue (in my mind, anyway) Wolfman's story by expanding it into a much trippier and more epic tale. Finally, Roger Stern comes aboard to give us a more human Dr. Strange, with the able Tom Sutton providing the art. I should probably also note that DOCTOR STRANGE ANNUAL #1, with some elegant art and a fairy tale plot by P. Craig Russell, also represents a highlight of this collection.
As with other ESSENTIAL collections ( no longer in print, sadly), this volume presents the stories in black and white, on cheap paper, at a bargain cover price. I'm okay with this, and this format is obviously for people who want to READ the stories and don't care if they look pretty on a shelf. Interestingly, the absence of color provides different results. For an artist like Gene Colan, who specializes in mood and shadow, it's sometimes arguably an advantage. On the other hand, there are artists like P. Craig Russell, whose work, I think, really begs for lavish color. Again, you take the good with the bad. For me, personally, I just loved feeling like a little kid again, sitting down to a big stack of comics.
June 26, 2022
This volume of Essential Doctor Strange sees the good doctor back in the starring role of his own title. After renouncing his title as Master of the Mystic Arts with the cancellation of his first series, Stephen Strange went back into medicine. But as with just about any and all comic book universes, you just can't keep a good character down.
After teaming with both the Hulk and the Sub-Mariner, Doctor Strange donned his mystical cape and formed the Defenders. With the popularity of that super-team title, Strange starred in about a dozen issues of Marvel Premiere. With the horror levels amped up thanks to the recent loosening of the Comics Code, Doctor Strange won over a ton of new fans.
By the summer of 1974, Doctor Strange was leading his own title again. And that's where this book begins. Strange has resettled into his Sanctum Sanctorium. Along with his faithful servant Wong, Strange has taken an apprentice, his lover Clea. Strange has also taken on the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme after his master, The Ancient One, has left this physical plane to become one with the universe.
The adventures in this volume is one to boggle the mind. First Strange must save himself by entering the Orb of Agamotto. Then Doctor Strange must battle Eternity after the Earth has been deemed ready for destruction. After that battle, Strange takes on the Lord of Vampires, Dracula, after the Count attacks Wong. Things wrap up with a twisty little saga called the 'Creator Chronicles'.
The last volume wasn't really something I enjoyed. The level of evil in the characters was upped, especially as Strange went from dueling super-powered beings from other dimensions to magically imbued satanists. From page one of this book, things were mystical and arcane. But I saw that magic as science that wasn't yet understood. Strange and Clea have to struggle with this type of thinking when they go back in time to Colonial America. But when Strange battles Dracula, I started feeling ill at ease again.
Anything magical Doctor Strange does to take on the Lord of the Vampires didn't bother me. But the workings of Dracula and his followers were not my thing. There's literal devil worship and I don't like stories like that. I had been wanting to one day gather the collected Tomb of Dracula books. But if the comics contained in this collection as any indication of such, I won't be taking part.
A good collection of stories. Just some of those stories felt so very evil. I'll be selling this book along with my other 2 Essential volume
After teaming with both the Hulk and the Sub-Mariner, Doctor Strange donned his mystical cape and formed the Defenders. With the popularity of that super-team title, Strange starred in about a dozen issues of Marvel Premiere. With the horror levels amped up thanks to the recent loosening of the Comics Code, Doctor Strange won over a ton of new fans.
By the summer of 1974, Doctor Strange was leading his own title again. And that's where this book begins. Strange has resettled into his Sanctum Sanctorium. Along with his faithful servant Wong, Strange has taken an apprentice, his lover Clea. Strange has also taken on the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme after his master, The Ancient One, has left this physical plane to become one with the universe.
The adventures in this volume is one to boggle the mind. First Strange must save himself by entering the Orb of Agamotto. Then Doctor Strange must battle Eternity after the Earth has been deemed ready for destruction. After that battle, Strange takes on the Lord of Vampires, Dracula, after the Count attacks Wong. Things wrap up with a twisty little saga called the 'Creator Chronicles'.
The last volume wasn't really something I enjoyed. The level of evil in the characters was upped, especially as Strange went from dueling super-powered beings from other dimensions to magically imbued satanists. From page one of this book, things were mystical and arcane. But I saw that magic as science that wasn't yet understood. Strange and Clea have to struggle with this type of thinking when they go back in time to Colonial America. But when Strange battles Dracula, I started feeling ill at ease again.
Anything magical Doctor Strange does to take on the Lord of the Vampires didn't bother me. But the workings of Dracula and his followers were not my thing. There's literal devil worship and I don't like stories like that. I had been wanting to one day gather the collected Tomb of Dracula books. But if the comics contained in this collection as any indication of such, I won't be taking part.
A good collection of stories. Just some of those stories felt so very evil. I'll be selling this book along with my other 2 Essential volume
February 25, 2018
Una invitación a mundos increíbles, para realizar reflexiones morales y religiosas, decepcionarse y sorprenderse por los engaños y revelaciones de los participantes de estas historias llenas de juegos mentales, combates dimensionales, viajes en el tiempo y un constante cuestionamiento a si Stephen Strange hace o no lo suficiente como Hechicero Supremo para protegernos del Mal que nos amenaza constantemente.
El fuerte de las historias son orquestadas por Steve Englehart en los guiones y Gene Colan con una imaginación y estilo gráfico envidiables para seguir con guiones de Marv Wolfman quien aprovecha para realizar un enfrentamiento entre Strange y Drácula. Más adelante seguirá Jim Starlin quien llevará a nuestro héroe a lugares y situaciones más complicadas. Roger Stern finaliza las historias de este tomo donde aterriza a Strange para asociarlo más al universo Marvel al que pertenece.
El fuerte de las historias son orquestadas por Steve Englehart en los guiones y Gene Colan con una imaginación y estilo gráfico envidiables para seguir con guiones de Marv Wolfman quien aprovecha para realizar un enfrentamiento entre Strange y Drácula. Más adelante seguirá Jim Starlin quien llevará a nuestro héroe a lugares y situaciones más complicadas. Roger Stern finaliza las historias de este tomo donde aterriza a Strange para asociarlo más al universo Marvel al que pertenece.
September 12, 2021
The earlier Dr. Strange stories fell more into the genre of Fantasy. In the 70's, as evidenced by this collection, the story lines have drifted more into horror. So much so , that this collection contains a crossover with the Dracula series.
July 9, 2021
Only read the first 6 issues as I have the rest in full color epic collection.
August 12, 2014
The general good things that happen in a Dr. Strange collection are still on hand here. Dr. Strange uses his magical eye gem, or some other analytical tool, and he uncovers a realm filled with mystical bad guys, or finds other reasons to shoot mystical beams out of his hands. It's a good way to create good art with images of space and astral bodies and such.
The best part is about the first half of the book, written by Steve Englehart. He's able to create really impressive star spanning adventures. Battles with death, fake Avengers, all kinds of fun stuff. Once Roger Stern took over, it sort of tried to keep on the vast star spanning Dr. Strange stuff, but it seemed to fall into a more predictable superhero smash-em-up type, not really using space-time all the way.
But the stories are generally fun to look at, and flow ok.
As far as art is concerned, the best art was Frank Brunner, but he only drew Engleharts' first 5-issue storyline. Then it was mostly Gene Colan, who does this weird shadow thing, I never cared for it. But the writing creates its own unique imagery.
Some issues are really really good, but mostly, if you generally like Dr. Strange, you'll generally like this.
5/5
The best part is about the first half of the book, written by Steve Englehart. He's able to create really impressive star spanning adventures. Battles with death, fake Avengers, all kinds of fun stuff. Once Roger Stern took over, it sort of tried to keep on the vast star spanning Dr. Strange stuff, but it seemed to fall into a more predictable superhero smash-em-up type, not really using space-time all the way.
But the stories are generally fun to look at, and flow ok.
As far as art is concerned, the best art was Frank Brunner, but he only drew Engleharts' first 5-issue storyline. Then it was mostly Gene Colan, who does this weird shadow thing, I never cared for it. But the writing creates its own unique imagery.
Some issues are really really good, but mostly, if you generally like Dr. Strange, you'll generally like this.
5/5
October 3, 2015
Negli anni 70 il Dr. Strange ha dato, probabilmente, il meglio di sé in queste storie. Storie di qualità, anche se spesso la verbosità tipica dell'epoca le rende di pesante lettura rispetto a quelle odierne. Di certo erano storie profonde, più complesse di quelle di oggi e per certi versi persino più trasgressive.
Tra gli autori figurano Steve Englehart e Marv Wolfman, e verso la fine un precoce ma già gradevole Roger Stern tra gli scrittori.
Gene Colan e Frank Brunner (inchiostrato da Dick Giordano) la fanno da padrone per la parte dei disegni, ma non manca una ristampa delle origini del dottore di Ditko, Rudy Nebres e Jim Starlin, e come cigliegina sulla torta quel Dr. Strange Annual 1 disegnato da un P. Craig Russell in grandissima forma.
Tra gli autori figurano Steve Englehart e Marv Wolfman, e verso la fine un precoce ma già gradevole Roger Stern tra gli scrittori.
Gene Colan e Frank Brunner (inchiostrato da Dick Giordano) la fanno da padrone per la parte dei disegni, ma non manca una ristampa delle origini del dottore di Ditko, Rudy Nebres e Jim Starlin, e come cigliegina sulla torta quel Dr. Strange Annual 1 disegnato da un P. Craig Russell in grandissima forma.
December 17, 2010
Mostly meh. It think it suffered from many writers having to pick up loose ends of previous story lines and then only get to start their own before leaving it for the next writer.
The only memorable stories are:
1. Dr Strange vs. Dracula (who had his own series at the time)
2. Dr Strange fails to save the world (for once) and it is obliterated except for him. He then convinces the destroyer they were wrong to do so. The destroyer then recreates an exact duplicate of earth for Dr. Strange to then live on. He knows he is the only survivor from the previous Earth and kind of freaks out about it.
3. On a trip to the past, Dr Strange's love, Clea, is seduced by a randy old Benjamin Franklin.
The only memorable stories are:
1. Dr Strange vs. Dracula (who had his own series at the time)
2. Dr Strange fails to save the world (for once) and it is obliterated except for him. He then convinces the destroyer they were wrong to do so. The destroyer then recreates an exact duplicate of earth for Dr. Strange to then live on. He knows he is the only survivor from the previous Earth and kind of freaks out about it.
3. On a trip to the past, Dr Strange's love, Clea, is seduced by a randy old Benjamin Franklin.
November 12, 2009
Except for the blatant, ham-handed anti-Christian material from Steve Engelhart, this is the best Doctor Strange material I have ever read, including the story and art.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews