TreasuryCast #27 – Doctor Strange

TREASURYCAST #27 - DOCTOR STRANGE

By the hoary hosts of Hoggoth! Rob welcomes the hosts of the INTO THE WEIRD podcast, Herman Louw and Grant Richter, to discuss MARVEL TREASURY EDITION #6 - DOCTOR STRANGE!

Check out images from this comic by clicking here!

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8 responses to “TreasuryCast #27 – Doctor Strange

  1. Sounds like a really great treasury. I was actually a bit surprised to learn about the content, as before I had always thought that this one just reprinted a set of stories from the Lee/Ditko years.
    Also, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that there are actually stories that delve into the past of the Ancient One – I’d never seen these, as I’ve hardly read any of the Dr. Strange stories that came out between the end of the Ditko run and the Englehart material from the early 1970s. I’ve always been fond of the Ancient One, and I think a mini-series, or even a 12-issues maxi-series should have been done about his past, i.e., his youth and training and his time as the sorcerer supreme – ideally written by Roger Stern.

    The cover, by the way, truly is one of the most iconic images of Dr. Strange ever drawn (one of the others, also drawn by Brunner, is the cover to Dr. Strange #1 from 1974). Frank Brunner is certainly one of the definitive Dr. Strange artists, but Ditko is right up there for me, as are Marshall Rogers and Paul Smith.
    Also, I think Zom has an awesome look: it’s horrific and a bit humorous at the same time. Leave it to the great Marie Severin (RIP) to come up with a design like that…

  2. I never saw this in UK shops but I’ve read all the material. That cover is truly a grabber; I must admit, I’d forgotten Clea was on there at all – It’s as if Steve is levitating her in the manner of a stage magician. I miss Clea.

    I can never hear Umar’s name without recalling Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds album – ‘Umaaaaarrrrrrr!

    It’s so sad that Marie Severin has died but what great work those of us who never met her can remember her by. And wow, her design for The Living Tribunal remains peerless.

    I loved the the masked Dr Strange look, it was just a slicker version of his first look.

    I adore Gene Colan on anything – horror, superheroes, romance… whatever he drew was a total treat.

    Incidentally, Tilda Swinton isn’t American, she’s (exceedingly posh) English. And she has a comics connection in that she has two children by the artist John Byrne.

    Oh all right, it’s a different ‘artist John Byrne’!

  3. Denny O’Neill wrote Dr. Strange? Wow! Great analysis, gents! I liked how Grant (?) continually referred to Dr. Strange as “Stephen.” Regarding your comparisons of Marvel and DC treasury of the time, I believe that Roy Thomas was the editor of Marvels treasuries, and Roy has always shown himself to be a scrupulous librarian, researcher, and archivist. He would have been extraordinarily canny and shrewd as to which stories would be included.

  4. Great episode, and this sounds like a fantastic collection. I’ve always been intrigued by that cover. Brunner is vastly underrated, in my opinion. I think he could have been Marvel’s Neal Adams had he been able (or wanted) to crank out more work. I know Adams worked for Marvel too, but I always think of him as mostly a DC guy.

    I also agree Marvel did a better job “packaging” their treasuries. The mid 70s were kind of a fallow period for DC. As much as I love the characters, a lot of the better talent was over at Marvel at this time. Once Adams
    and Nick Cardy walked away from monthly work, DC really took a hit.

    Herman and Grant were great guests, and I’m definitely going to check out their show!

    Chris

  5. While I like him, Dr. Strange isn’t a character I collect, so the reason this is in my collection is that, as a 70s baby, I just can’t resist a treasury. The only other Dr. Strange solo book I have is the Ditko omnibus.

    Since I’m not that familiar with the character, I can attest that it is a good introduction. Rob, I think you’re right that the earliest of Marvel treasuries are good primers on the character. My only complaint with the Dr. Strange treasury, and I have this with several of Marvel’s treasuries, is presenting only one part of a multi-part story. If Marvel felt they had to do that, at least present the final part with the flashback recap scenes intact, which Marvel did in Spider-Man and Hulk treasuries. I also thought the inclusion of the “masked” look for Strange was a bit unusual, since I think it was pretty short lived and had already been abandoned at the time of the treasury. My first exposure to it was in an old Hulk reprint in Marvel Super Heroes reprint, long after Strange had abandoned the blue-face in current continuity. I remember not liking the look because it wasn’t how he looked in the Defenders.

    As for the Marvel vs DC, I think DC’s Superman and Batman treasuries did feature a theme to tie the selected stories together. Now, it may have been a theme I didn’t enjoy (*shudder* Superman’s adventures with children*shudder*) but there are themes none-the-less. Where DC’s treasuries come up short is that they kept cutting the page count, meaning some only featured a couple of stories. Since Marvel kept their reprint treasuries up to at least 80 pages, they seemed more epic and like they were giving the readers more. I understand that DC was trying to keep the price down, and treasuries had gone up to $1.50 and $2 by the time I started to get them. I did come across the $1 JLA treasury at a store that apparently didn’t return their stock, since it pre-dated when I began collecting. Fortunately, I had an understanding mom that was just glad I was eager to read and didn’t complain about spending the extra money on treasuries.

  6. Hey guys, just listened to this episode and very much enjoyed it. I have never read a lot of Doctor Strange, and I don’t have any Treasury Edition comics, so this was very informative and entertaining for me. All of the crazy inter-dimensional shenanigans sounds like crazy fun.

    My LCS has a bunch of treasuries for sale on a rack right near the register, and I am tempted every time. This one has just jumped onto my “look for” list.

    Thanks for the great show!

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