Sunday Splash Page #160

 

"Mystical Tailors Aren't Listed in the Yellow Pages," in Doctor Strange (vol. 2) #78, by Peter B. Gillis (writer), Chris Warner (penciler), Randy Emberlin (inker), Bob Sharen (colorer), Joe Rosen (letterer)

After Stern's final issue, Peter B. Gillis took over as writer, with Chris Warner as penciler, for the final six issues before the series was canceled. I discussed those issues about five years ago, but in summary, Gillis presents a Stephen Strange who feels a distance growing between himself and the humanity he defends as Sorcerer Supreme.

Stephen keeps trying to catch up with friends and acquaintances he's not seen in a long time, and regretting that he's let those relationships lapse. But those regrets keep distracting him, leaving him either off his game when he encounters threats, or unaware of them until it's too late. His entire Sanctum is whisked away into space by some alien wizard while Stephen is trying to actually keep a date with Morgana Blessing for once.

The other side of that coin is Stephen struggles with whether it was the right thing to let those human connections fade, given his responsibilities. That the Sorcerer Supreme may need to think of the bigger picture, and if that means a few people die to some minor threat, it's acceptable as long as it lets Strange be prepared for something that endangers the entire world, or the entire dimension.

It almost feels like a step back for the character from where Stern had him. Stern's Strange wasn't unbeatable or invincible - Dracula put him on his heels, and he couldn't face Umar alone - but he seemed confident of his abilities. Aware of the risks of his actions, able to balance the sides of his life. But you could argue that the pursuit of knowledge is an ongoing process, and that Gillis is just showing that there's still more for Strange to learn, in many fields. That just because Stephen was able to handle those past threats, doesn't mean he can keep multiple balls in the air indefinitely. Sometimes even a Sorcerer Supreme can get overwhelmed.

Or you could look at it, that the way that Stern's Dr. Strange was occasionally a bit awkward or oblivious is because, as Gillis presents it, he's become distant from humanity. He doesn't notice women swooning over him because he's kind of forgotten that's even a thing. I'm not sure that would hold up, since Stern sent Strange into a funk after he and Clea parted ways, but it's another possible interpretation.

The series ends at issue 81, with Stephen choosing to defeat the immediate threat and save his friends, even at the risk of leaving himself undermanned against greater dangers in the future. Gillis would write Strange's next ongoing series, which started a year later, but only the first four issues before Dann and Roy Thomas took over as writer. That series would run for 90 issues, but I don't own any of it, so next week, we'll move on to graphic novels and mini-series.

Random Back Issues #16 - Dr. Strange #81

Oh, well then that makes Stephen's back getting torn open by a spell while he's trying to fight in a minotaur's body all worthwhile.

Up today, we've got the last issue of Dr. Strange's second ongoing solo book. All his magical items - except the Eye of Agamotto and his Cloak of Levitation (just back from the tailor) - were swiped by a sorcerer from another galaxy entirely. Along with the Sanctum Sanctorum. And Wong, and Topaz. As an added bonus, Stephen's body was trashed a couple of issues ago, and isn't ready for a big-time mystical showdown. For the time being, he's piloting Rintrah's body instead. Even that caused problems, because his secretary Sara offered to let him use her, and he turned her down in favor of the minotaur he barely knew

The fight's going pretty well at first, until Urthona remembers he has hostages. He does something to Wong's face off-panel, which throws Stephen off his game enough for Urthona to bust out the Book of the Darkhold and unleash all the demons Strange banished when he destroyed all vampires in his last throwdown with Dracula.

Strange can't get his shit together until Rintrah astral projects out of his own body (meaning it's down to Stephen to protect it) and into Stephen's, so he can try and free Topaz and Wong. Topaz is more fixated on getting the remainder of her soul, which is in the jar he smashes at her feet. Which also somehow frees her? Pure soul magic, that's what it was!

Gillis had been playing up the idea of Stephen feeling torn in his role as Sorcerer Supreme. He felt distant from humanity except as an abstract concept. It kept coming down to whether to save individuals, and leave himself vulnerable, or focus on the bigger, long-term picture. Here, that manifests in what it will take to win this battle, and whether it's worth winning. Stephen chooses to focus on winning the fight and protecting the people here and now. He'll worry about the consequences of trashing his entire arsenal later.

Considering he had the Orb of Agamotto again by the time Acts of Vengeance rolled around a couple of years from now, I'm guessing he found a workaround to that problem. I haven't read much of his series that followed this, other than knowing Rintrah stuck around as his apprentice for a few years. I don't know if there was any fallout with Sara, or if this was Gillis' way of writing her out of the cast. Don't know what happened with Topaz, either, or if Urthona ever came back for a rematch.

[Longbox #3, 156th comic, Dr. Strange (vol. 2) #81, by Peter B. Gillis (writer), Chris Warner (penciler), Randy Emberlin (inker), Bob Sharen (colorist), Many Hands (letterer)]

Strange Would Pay The Ferryman SImply Out Of Politeness

Marvel released a collection last fall called Doctor Strange: Don't Pay the Ferryman, which covered the final 7 issues of the '80s volume of his series. Written by Peter B. Gillis, with most of the art by Chris Warner, I've owned the first issue, #75 (which was written by Roger Stern and drawn by Sal Buscema), since I was a kid, which is why I wound up tracking down the rest in back issues.

The story starts with a demon escaping Mephisto's realm after Mephisto gets his ass kicked by Franklin Richards' awesome mental powers, because Mephisto overextended himself relying on the power boost granted by the Dire Wraiths managing to bring their world (sun?) into Earth's orbit, only to have it busted by Forge's giant Neo-Neutralizer.

None of that is strictly relevant to Strange's story, but it's just a such a bizarre sequence of intertwined events I had to lay it all out because I love that strange overlap of all these different worlds and characters.

As it turns out, the creature is actually a beautiful woman trapped within the form named Topaz, who is missing her soul, which Strange vows to help her recover. Except, for the remainder of the arc, Stephen is constantly distracted. An old friend falls in love with a powerful succubus sorcerer type, and Strange narrowly saves him from having his life force drained, only for his friend to curse him for leaving him in an empty existence. Which sets off a crisis of confidence in the Sorcerer Supreme, as to whether he has become so focused on the larger job of that title that he's become distanced from his own emotions. Which raises the question of whether that's actually the proper approach for a Sorcerer Supreme to take, as Strange is repeatedly confronted with situations where he can act to save one or two lives right now, but it may impair his ability to defend all of reality down the line.

It's a bit of a quandary because on some level Strange resents being forced to save all these people all the time, but also hates that he feels that way. His attempts to reconnect with friends he's kept at arm's length leaves him distracted when an alien sorcerer manages to steal the entire Sanctum Sanctorum and whisk it to another galaxy. So he's torn with indecision, and confronted with how much there is he doesn't know. He visits realms he's never seen before, encounters forces he doesn't understand, and struggles all the more because he keeps wavering in whether to trust his own judgment on how to proceed.

Ultimately, I think Gillis feels Strange makes the right call opting to save the people in danger in the present, but since the series ends with this story, I don't know what he might have done with the status quo going forward. The end does feel a bit rushed. In the final issue, Stephen uses the body of Rintarah, a minotaur apprentice of the being Stephen asked to repair his Cloak of Levitation. He appeared in between issues 80 and 81, and offered to assist Strange in recovering his friends and home from the alien sorcerer. And Stephen's acceptance elicits an angry reaction from Sara Wolfe, who had been housing Stephen's astral form (as his physical form was injured), and sees this as a rejection. There seemed like there was more there that got cut for space concerns. Also, in issue 75, Wong mentions he's arranged to be married, again to Sara's consternation, but that never comes up again. I guess Gillis wasn't interested in that idea.

Warner's art works well. His various creatures are impressively menacing or mocking as the situation requires. Khat in issue 77 is this long-limbed, scrabbly shape with big eyes and teeth. But everything else is covered in what I guess is fur, but it's drawn to look almost like a living mass of scribbled lines, or like someone was drawing a swarm of insects. And Warner frequently draws him in extreme close-up on the face, so those teeth and eyes are front and center, commanding the reader's attention. And since Khat is mostly using words to attack Strange's confidence, the fact the panels are forcing you to look at him as he cuts away at Stephen is highly effective.

Randy Emberlin tends to ink heavy shadows around Stephen's eyes and cheeks, like a man in considerable gloom, or perhaps, with his eyes hidden, someone missing some key human component. Topaz has striking red eyes (except in issue 75, where she has no pupils at all), but Stephen's are often hidden entirely. Warner also gives Strange this appearance of walking with a light tread, which I tended to read as uncertainty of his next step, both physical and philosophical.