Comments on: John Seavey's Storytelling Engines: Doctor Strange

By: plok

plok — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 10:58:24 +0000

Oh, I think that's all just a myth. Lots of writer/artist teams have done a fantastic job with Doc despite the alleged "power creep problem", and plenty of writers who've sought to give him more "clearly defined" powers have bollixed it up. Is there really some huge potential Doc audience out there, that's only not buying because the magic powers are just too confusing?

By: Omar Karindu

Omar Karindu — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 21:09:12 +0000

To go back to John's original post, the strength of the Ditko Strange stories was that there were distinct, if largely implicit, limits to what magic and Doc himself more specifically could do. He coul;d b shot by an ordinary gun, for example,, as happened in one Ditko-era story; conversely, his powers were at their most effective when he used them cleverly. You don't often see Ditko's Dr. Strange doing much more than casting illusions, using hypnosis, tossing zaps and creating shields, using the Eye of Agomatto's anti-evil light for the really powerful foes, using the Cloak to fly, and dodging harm via astral projection (which had very explicit limits in Ditko's tales). The more exotic stuff is presented as workable only on already-beaten foes, or as requiring lots of incantation and preparation and interpretive dance. Once Ditko left, however, power creep and "do-anything" doggerel spells became the rule...and then Engelhart, for all the brilliance of his stories, took Doc "cosmic" in the 1970s fashion. The character has never really been grounded in a way allowing for a workable execution of the concept since.

By: Random Stranger

Random Stranger — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 22:07:41 +0000

I also thought that the instant change of direction complete with retconning of pretty much every story Englehart had done in the previous year (I think Strange was bi-monthly then) resulted in some pretty terrible stories. In fact I found the change in quality and the sudden drifting of the title after Englehart's incredibly strong run to be one of the worst changes in Marvel history.

By: mikesensei

mikesensei — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 20:33:42 +0000

The US Bicentennial was acknowledged throughout popular culture, including many comics. Englehart's entry was off to a great start. Not only did it begin in the Francis Bacon era (rather than with the more-obvious 1775-76 era), it also made me believe that septuagenerian ladies man Ben Franklin could seduce extradimensional teacher-lover Clea. I was completely hooked, and looking forward to watching the story unfold in future issues, when the first Wolfman issue came out and pulled the rug out from under the whole premise. Wolfman even had characters, including Strange, dismissing the events of the previous two issues as ridiculous and unbelievable. Which pissed me off: *I* believed it!

I'm going from 30-year-old memories here, but I know I felt that the new writer was showing not only contempt for Englehart, but for the readers. I dropped the title.

None of which undermines your point about Dr.Strange having a wonderfully flexible story engine, which could accomodate such leaps. In this case, though, the derailing of one kind of story, and it's accompanying atmosphere, for another pulled me right out of the story and had me wondering instead about what the heck was happening in The House of Ideas.

By: Blair

Blair — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 19:21:08 +0000

Saw the Muriel Gray thing in the soaraway "Scottish" Sun and have to say the gallus besom coud very well fall on the 'dodgy execution' side of the argument.

By: Keith Martin

Keith Martin — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 17:33:01 +0000

As I understand it, Englehart's sudden departure from the title wasn't due to a problem over Doctor Strange per se, more a big breakup between him and Marvel editorial of the day. The same month, he left his other title (Avengers) in mid-issue.
A long time ago, I read a fanzine article where Englehart summmarised his original ending for the story. As I recall, it revealed Stygro to be a psychic parasite, who had attached himself to the astral concept of America at its founding. As long as the country lived and flourished, he would leech power from it like a vampire. At the end of the story, Doctor Strange would have had to return to his own time to fight a final battle with Stygro and break his psychic connection. I was always sorry not to have read that version in full.

By: Matthew

Matthew — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 10:12:39 +0000

I see Lying in the Gutters is claiming that Muriel Gray is to write the good Doctor soon, but I have been unable to find any more information so far.

By: Bill Reed

Bill Reed — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 03:02:30 +0000

I agree that Strange has a pitch-perfect concept and some dodgy execution. Curse the perils of being a sorcerer in comics.