Single Issue Review: Strange Tales #152

Strange Tales by this time was shared by Nick Fury, Agent of Shield and Dr. Strange. The opening story features the former, and is a continuation. Fury had escaped from Hydra in the previous episode, but realized too late that Hydra intended for him to get away. His ship's radio did not work and thus Shield's men may shoot him down. He avoids that trap by flying upside down and wiggling his wings; an international distress signal. But he also realizes that his plane is carrying the Overkill Horn, which will explode every atomic pile on Earth when it sounds, so he can't relax just yet.

The layouts are by Kirby but the pencils are by Steranko, in his second issue.



Sitwell orders that something called the Strato-Mine be launched, even though it will probably kill Fury. Meanwhile at Hydra:



You can see Kirby's influence in there, but the inks are all Steranko. Anyway, Fury aims the plane at Hydra's base, bails out over water and is rescued by a Shield submarine. The Strato-Mine zeros in on the horn and destroys it and the Hydra base.

But the job isn't over yet; Fury's gotta rescue the daughter of the former Supreme Hydra, which he accomplishes with the help of another gimmick: the Electro-Spear, which makes the enemy's weapons too hot to handle. There's a cute little gag at the end as Sitwell celebrates his successful stint as temporary head of Shield:



Comments: Entertaining little story with the usual overload of gadgetry. Steranko was just getting started with his extremely influential run; there are only hints of the psychedelic work that was to come.

The second story introduces Umar, the sister of Dormammu. As you can see, there isn't much of a family resemblance:



In fact, she looks more like the Sub-Mariner, which may be because the art is by Bill Everett (Subby's original creator back in the Golden Age). She explains why she has called Dr Strange to Dormammu's former dimension:



Dr Strange is not fooled by her friendly demeanor; he knows that she's got something planned, but with Clea in danger he cannot avoid facing the Mindless Ones.

Comments: Everett does a decent faux-Ditko in this issue. While the concept of a sister of Dormammu is interesting and works, the story itself seems padded as we wait for Dr Strange to fight his way to her chambers.

A note: These Marvel anthlogy mags really don't work well for the single-issue review concept, especially after about 1965, when Stan started writing more serial stories. I think from now on I'm going to tackle them more like I have been with the Iron Man series lately. Thoughts?

Dr Strange Versus Dormammu

Up to this point, there was no particular reason to consider Dr Strange as one of Marvel's more interesting characters. Yeah, Ditko's art was psychedelic, but the series suffered from fairly mundane villains and supporting characters. There were hints that Dr Strange was becoming more popular; at first the character did not even appear in every issue. That quickly changed, and he even began to share cover space with the Human Torch.

But the series really took off with the battle between Dr Strange and Dormammu starting in Strange Tales #126. Here's the memorable splash page:



Dr Strange is summoned by the Ancient One. The Dread Dormammu is planning to leave the Dark Realm and come to Earth. The Ancient One is unable to face him, so the Doc is drafted as a replacement:



Now there's a villain worthy of facing Dr Strange. And a durable companion is introduced a short while later:



The actual confrontation between Doctor Strange and the Dreaded One takes place in the following issue. We learn that Dormammu is the only thing keeping the Mindless Ones from breaking through into the Dark Realm.

In the battle itself, we see signs of Ditko's influence on the character:



And when the Mindless Ones break through, we see that Dr Strange is a man of honor:



He lends his support to Dormammu and together they repel the invaders, putting the Dreaded One in Dr Strange's debt:



This highlights one of the odder aspects of some of the Marvel villains. There were several who possessed a moral code despite their essentially evil nature--Dr Doom, the Sub-Mariner (back when he was played as a villain) and Galactus were notable for this supposed trait. In a sense this is just another out for the writer, which may explain why Lex Luthor underwent a similar transformation in the 1960s.

Single Issue Review: Strange Tales #120

Strange Tales was another one of Marvel's anthology magazines. It had originally been a horror comic, but after the debut of the Fantastic Four, the cover slot and main feature had been turned over to the Human Torch effective with Strange Tales #101.

Crossovers were frequent in the Marvel Silver Age, and the Human Torch's feature was no exception. It was perhaps inevitable that the Torch and the Iceman, both teens and representing the opposite ends of the temperature spectrum, would end up meeting. As it happens, Johnny Storm is on a date with his gal Doris on a pleasure boat around Manhattan, while Bobby takes the same ride solo. He tries to pick up Doris, but she's not interested:



As it turns out, and as shown on the cover, the ship is attacked by Captain Barracuda, and the Iceman and the Torch go into action:



Comments: An amusing little story with solid sequential art by Kirby, although I confess that Dick Ayers' inks leave me cold.

The backup feature is Dr. Strange, who had debuted only ten issues earlier in this magazine. This series had still not hit its stride and this story is a silly little adventure about a haunted house that a reporter has agreed to stay inside overnight. Predictably, he emerges much the worse for his experience:



Comments: As indicated, this is a pedestrian tale, lent some luster by Steve Ditko's dark, brooding artwork:



This series was about to lift off into the stratosphere, but there is little sign of it here.