Doctor Strange by Roger Stern – The #48 Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus of 2017

Doctor Strange by Roger Stern is the #48 Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus of 2017 on Tigereyes’s Secret Ballot.

What’s it about? Should you read it? What issues does it include? Can you get them right now? Read on to learn the answers! And, visit the Marvel Masterworks Message Board to view the original posting of results by Tigereyes.

What Is It? Roger Stern first wrote Doctor Strange (1974) with #27 in February 1978 and departed after #37 in October 1979. He later return for a longer run with #46 in April 1981 to #75 in February 1986.

Stern’s lengthier run was marked by several distinct periods of Strange – one focused on his relationship to Clea, a second where his connections to reality proved to be a weakness to be exploited, and a third mostly comprised of one shot stories that ended with the resolution of the Clea relationship.

The title would continue for another six issues until #81 under author Peter Gillis at which point Doctor Strange was relaunched as half of Strange Tales (1987), still under Gillis.

Past Ranking: This volume debuted at #19 in 2014, disappeared in 2015, and returned at #28 in 2016.

Creators: Written by Roger Stern with pencils by Tom Sutton, Alan Kupperberg, Gene Colan, Michael Golden, Marshall Rogers, Brent Anderson, Paul Smith, Kevin Nowlan, Steve Leialoha, Bret Blevins, and Sal Buscema, and inks by Sutton, Smith, Leialoha, Ernie Chua, Rudy D. Nebres, Pablo Marcos, Dan Green, P. Craig Russell, Terry Austin, Joe Rubenstein, Rick Magyar, and Mark Badger

Probable Contents: None!

I think this omnibus is wishful thinking and would never be produced as imagined by voters, which would presumably contain Doctor Strange (1974) #27-37, 46 (b-story, 47-75 (though Stern doesn’t write #63-64 & 74), Chamber of Chills (1972) #3-4 (and maybe material from Fantastic Four #267-277 leading into #75).

Instead, I think this ought to be rethought as a vote for a volume titled “by Roger Stern & Peter Gillis” AKA Doctor Strange, Volume 4, which begins with the b-story of #46 and 47 and finishes his 1974 series.

That would allow it to be the next solicited Doctor Strange Omnibus while containing a complete run and leaving room for the two remaining Silver/Bronze volumes that would reach that point – which is exactly what Marvel did with Captain America by Jack Kirby, which is effectively Captain America, Volume 4.

Want to know why I changed my tune so dramatically? See my proposed mapping, below.

Can you read it right now? Not entirely in color.

Visit the Guide to Doctor Strange for guidance on how to collect this run.

Marvel Unlimited has Doctor Strange (1974) #1-22, 58-62, & 68-81.

The Details:

Doctor Strange has always been about more than casting spells and Roger Stern places that on fine display.

This run begins in 1981, and I find that it’s helpful for me to mentally frame it as being parallel to historic runs like Claremont’s Uncanny X-Men and Wolfman’s Teen Titans. This was a time of mostly self-contained adventures with their more inter-personal soap opera elements serialized across months, occasionally peaking in 3-4 issue climaxes.

For Doctor Strange, that means a shift from a pure focus on psychedelic magical battles and inter-dimensional adventures to something much more domestic (although there is still plenty of psychedelia).

The first arc of Stern’s run begins as a romance, with each tale framed Strange’s relationship to Clea. A back-up story in issue #46 finds Strange contemplative and full of second guesses on a brief vacation as his companion Clea splashes him while taking a light-hearted dip in the ocean.

They are back to work as master and disciple beginning in issue #47, which finds each issue beginning with their training in the Sanctum Santorum before spinning off into an adventure. Later, issues focus on Strange’s mourning their broke relationship, as Clea retreats to the Dark Dimension.

While Stern writes a powerful, mercurial Clea, her constant self-doubt starts to wear after a while.

While Marshall Rogers might not be the name to stick out in the laundry list of artists next to such renowned greats as Paul Smith and Gene Colan, I found myself transfixed by his run on the title. Rogers detailed, realistic artwork reminds me of the Prince Valiant comic strip that used to run in daily newspapers.

Rogers’ Strange and Clea have a sense of detailed age and depth to them that almost reminds me of the style that Todd McFarlane would later cartoonishly over-adorn with details and distended limbs. This run ends with an issue patterned after A Christmas Carol with spectacular art from Michael Golden.

The next arc begins with #56, with Strange refocusing on his life on the mortal plane as he is beset by mystical intruders and personal entanglements. This run forges some connections to Marvel’s other hot franchises, with appearances from Nightcrawler’s adopted mother Margali Szardos and Scarlet Witch, as well as a multi-issue arc battling Dracula that ends with #62.

These issues have a rotating cast of pencilers, each as strong as the last. While the book doesn’t have the focus of the Rogers run, these single, serialized stories do just fine with changing artists. Paul Smith and Dan Green dial down the inky detail of Rogers and Golden, presenting cleaner pages that at times resemble single cels of animation.

Then, after fill-ins on #63-64, Doctor Strange takes on the role of a sort of paranormal investigator and problem-solver for #65-70 in a series of relatively anonymous one-shot stories.

Finally, with the end of his run in sight, Stern reunites Strange and Clea in #71-73

Will we see this omnibus in 2018? Maybe?

We’re getting a Doctor Strange omnibus this summer for a relatively undemanded 80s and 90s run that doesn’t tie into any other media property as Marvel’s omnibuses so frequently do.

Maybe that means they see an unquenched hunger for more Strange stories in the omnibus-buying marketplace.

If that’s the case, I could see them hopscotching over the second volume of Silver Age Strange to get to this Stern good stuff in 2018, then going back to fill in the skipped Silver Age volumes for a second Doctor Strange film.

Would I recommend reading it? Yes, if you are interested in Doctor Strange and like mid-80s comics.

Roger Stern’s run is the perfect balance of accessible and consequential for Strange. Go much earlier and you need to be a fan of 60s and 70s writing and art, which can be challenging for modern fans. Later and we’re into more slapdash 90s stories.

Stern delivers two solid meta-arcs and a number of enjoyable one-shots, and they all look damned great. It deserves every ounce of its reputation as a classic run.

Doctor Strange Omnibus Mapping

Whether or not this Omnibus will ever be conjured into existence in the way that voters have in mind comes down to mapping.

Doctor Strange by Lee/Ditko covered Strange Tales (1951) #110-111, 114-146 and Amazing Spider-Man Annual (1964) #2. That’s not even a pair of Marvel Masterworks when Marvel’s Silver Age books are always at least three Masterworks, and lately even as long as four.

Part of that volume’s intentional brevity was wanting to contain only Steve Ditko’s run on art in that volume, which is a major draw for many readers.

How will the rest of the volume be mapped? We can pull a clue from the one Doctor Strange Epic Collection out so far Volume 3: A Separate Reality. It collects Doctor Strange (1968) #180-183; the origin story of the Defenders from Sub-Mariner (1968) #22, Incredible Hulk (1968) #126, Marvel Feature (1971) #1, Marvel Premiere (1972) 3-14, and Doctor Strange (1974) #1-5.

Generally, Epic Collections have been designed to neatly fit around the contents of Marvel’s omnibus volumes. This Epic covers all of Masterworks Volume 4 and the majority of Volume 5. That could telegraph a Doctor Strange, Volume 2 omnibus containing the remainder of Masterworks Volume 2, all of Volumes 3-4, and most of 5 – a reasonable length. However, that would mean the next volume cuts off in the middle of Stern’s run.

Here are the two ways things could play out.

First, the large second omnibus and the fractured Stern run, which would only title the second half of the Stern run as “by Roger Stern.”

Doctor Strange Omnibus, Vol. 1
A curiously brief book that is explained by the fact that it covers only artist Steve Ditko’s run on the character. Collects Strange Tales (1951) #110-111, 114-146 and Amazing Spider-Man Annual (1964) 2

Doctor Strange Omnibus, Volume 2
Collects #147-183, Sub-Mariner #22, Incredible Hulk #126, Marvel Feature #1, Marvel Premiere #3-14, and Doctor Strange (1974) #1-5.

Doctor Strange Omnibus, Volume 3
Doctor Strange (1974) #6-46 & Annual 1, Tomb of Dracula #44, Man-Thing (1979) #4, Marvel Fanfare (1982) #5, What If? (1977) #18, and material from the Marvel Comics Calendar 1980

Doctor Strange Omnibus, Volume 4 AKA by Roger Stern & Peter Gillis
Collects Doctor Strange (1974) #47-75 and Chamber of Chills (1972) #3-4, plus finishes the series with #76-81 and Doctor Strange: Into Shamballa (1986) plus has room to add all of Gillis’s Strange Tales (1987) #1-19 (B-stories only) (but probably not also Stern’s Dr. Strange & Dr. Doom: Triumph & Torment (1989) as and Dr. Strange: From The Marvel Vault.)

Alternately, let’s assume Stern gets a single volume. What would that map look like?

I think it violates Occam’s Razor of recent Marvel Omnibuses – it breaks an Epic Collection in half, it skips content in a Silver or early-Bronze run, it makes five potential volumes out of four, and ends with a too-short, hard to sell run.

Doctor Strange Omnibus, Volume 1
A curiously brief book that is explained by the fact that it covers only artist Steve Ditko’s run on the character. Collects Strange Tales (1951) #110-111, 114-146 and Amazing Spider-Man Annual (1964) 2

Doctor Strange Omnibus, Volume 2
Collects Strange Tales (1951) #147-183, The Avengers #61, Sub-Mariner #22, Incredible Hulk #126, Marvel Feature #1, Marvel Premiere #3-8

Marvel has hewed pretty closely to that so far except for when cleanly breaking two omnibuses into three Epics, which would be the case here to preserve the break between MMW 4 and 5.

Doctor Strange Omnibus, Volume 3
Marvel Premiere #9-14, Doctor Strange (1974) #1-22, 34, 38-45, 46 (A-story), & Annual 1, Tomb of Dracula #44, Man-Thing (1979) #4, Marvel Fanfare (1982) #5, What If? (1977) #18, and material from the Marvel Comics Calendar 1980

Doctor Strange by Roger Stern
Doctor Strange (1974) #23-33, 35-37, 46 (B-story), 47-73, & 75, Chamber of Chills (1972) #3-4.

(Stern takes a break for issues #63-64, but these stories are much more a part of his continuing run than the lengthier insertion of #36-45.)

Doctor Strange by Peter Gillis
Collects Doctor Strange (1974) #74, 76-81 and Strange Tales (1987) #1-19 (B-stories only)