Approximately five decades ago, the world ended.No, I'm not referring to the Oil Crisis. I don't mean the Recession of '73, either. The end of the world happened soon after that had been cleared up. No, the end of the world... happened within a comic book. The very same one you're in this thread to read, in fact!Fifty-one years ago, Dr. Strange killed us all. It seems we have never truly forgiven him for it, but that hasn't stopped him from risking his entire existence to save our sorry hides regardless. This four-issue arc covers exactly how he managed it, comprising Doctor Strange: Master of the Mystic Arts #10-13, and may be one of Englehart's trippiest tales ever put to paper. To delay it any further would be doing you all a disservice.Therefore, let us celebrate a near half-century since the world's end began... with Eternity's return to life!
"Return" is a very fitting choice of words here, mind. This comic will house Eternity's first appearance in almost six years, having last cropped up in Doctor Strange's very short-lived first ongoing back in September 1969. The Embodiment of All There Is was completely absent from then until July 1975-- this comic's publication-- and remained an obscurity outside of the good doctor's ongoing (or events wherein he played a major role) until the 21st century. Nowadays, Eternity is common enough to have documented appearances in almost every single month of 2025... but, long before Disney ever got their hands on the Marvel Universe, its avatar's appearances were enormous events.
In case you missed it while I was rambling on about Eternity last page: this issue is penciled by the legendary Gene Colan. He has a wonderfully airy style that fits this arc like a glove, and would go on to pencil many more of Dr. Strange's groovy-era adventures. If you're ever in doubt as to whether he penciled something Strange, look out for the Sorcerer Supreme's collar "horns" being significantly curlier than normal and lots of shadows across the center of his face.This page itself does a decent job at capturing the precarious nature of Strange's job. Sure, he's a master of the mystic arts... but the mystic arts are, by definition, mystic. One cannot ever truly understand them the way one can other disciplines.
Baron Mordo is insane. Moreso than usual. He's recently witnessed (and partly caused) the creation of the entire universe itself, and that left him about as mentally stable as a kangaroo balancing on a taught balloon string.
Seeing God was indeed part of the package, but that's a tale for another time. (One I hope to storytime before this year is over.) Strange came out of it fine-- although, of course, "fine" is relative-- and has deemed himself fit to care for Mordo as a result. Of course, if he explained exactly why and how he's been doing this to any sane person off the street, they would think he'd gone madder than Mordo.
Englehart's biggest trip begins early...
...courtesy of Nightmare! Or is it still Mordo? Who knows?
The "hole in the cosmos" Doctor Strange is referring to is the same hole he took advantage of to beat Death and become immortal. Anyways, remember Clea? I do! She's great! The first thing she does upon seeing her lover in a rut is try and cheer him up with a lighthearted prank. It's a shame that her lover is also her teacher, and her teacher deals with rather sombre topics on the regular...
...which this page is a rather literal representation of, but still serves to prove that point! Just as the two are reconciling their love for one another, Strange's work threatens to kill them both! (It also looks absolutely beautiful while doing so! If I saw that gigantic eye in the sky, I'd probably faint before I got to admire it.)
Eternity, Eternity! Eternity lives once more! Clea and Strange's kiss? Nevermore!
(This is where I remember to make an anchor post for bumps! Oops. Storytime OPs can't bump their own threads, so please bump mine if you're reading!)
I really wish the Aged Genghis appeared more often. Only Englehart seems to ever have cared for him, despite Ditko creating him, and the character has been completely neglected (save for Triumph and Torment) outside of Englehart's run. He's a great addition to the Magical Marvel Mythos on multiple levels. I can't say I truly mourn him, but I can't say I dislike any of his appearances either.
Gene Colan's ethereal style works its magic once more. You'll be seeing a lot of art like what's in the top right corner this arc.
As Dr. Strange is, in fact, something that exists, he has the potential (and, in this case, experience needed) to return to his place in the embodiment of everything that exists. Only Englehart ever makes thorough use of this, though, likely due to other writers not doing nearly as many drugs and many more of them not knowing how to write conflict around a character who can do this.
I'm never going to stop praising Colan's art, am I? Look at that ringed planet right where a third eye could be on Eternity in the third panel! Look at the nebula crackling along the Cloak of Levitation in the first!
And what a reason for Eternity to end the world! Printing this in the 70s-- it is insanely ahead of its time. Readers back then would have chalked this up to telephones and TV, but I'm sure everyone here today would draw parallels to the internet and the freedom of information it provides. "The choices are too many, mankind cannot decide [...] increasingly, calamity and cacaphony [sic] are met with apathy!" Notice how Eternity itself seems to warp into a shapeless, vaguely black-holed figure here? How the paneling seems to fall away? Already, the world is starting to become a figment of our imagination!And I'm too busy staring at the ringed planet mimicking clothing wrinkles (panel 2) to notice it!
As Doctor Strange challenges Eternity itself, he's got the planet he's given up a normal life to defend drawn atop his very core! The rest of the solar system trails behind, but it's a worthy inclusion nonetheless. It his still his duty to protect it, after all.
Another black hole, now distorting Eternity's human-like face completely! As he grows more hostile, Eternity grows less familiar!
Mordo's run amok, Strange has been sent someplace else, and both have lost sanity itself-- so ends issue #10! If you thought this comic was hard to follow, brace yourself-- things don't get any easier from here!
A MIND GONE MAD-- that might be underplaying it! This is possibly the most surreal tale penned by Englehart yet, and I struggle to say any that come after this are particularly grounded! True, it's technically an homage to(/adaptation of?) a rather comprehensible literary classic, but Englehart's spin on it is... unique.
Colan remains on pencils, but he has a new inker on board! It's only fitting that they change the person in charge of conveying darkness in a story called Shadowplay, I suppose. The next few pages need to be seen to be believed...
I wonder how this reads to people who don't know Englehart's thoughts on Nixon?
Confirmation that the real world still exists! The last issue's epilogue left it a bit vague, but it's clear now. Eternity's kind of just... standing there. Menacingly. That alone is enough to unnerve even the mystics that keep Strange company.
What a transition! Look at the way that panel's skewed, too, while everything else on the page is in a neat grid. I think I've got this page in my art-inspiration folder somewhere.
Crabs in a bucket can be vicious things! That's the second time a scene transition has been noticeably skewed against a straight grid, too... this time, the other way 'round!
The pace quickens--
--as Dr. Strange narrowly avoids both death and dispiriting with the help of his long-lost love (and the power of MARTIAL ARTS)!
>>154562850Bump
>>154563053(Thank you, anon!)
If you've ever read the original Masque of the Red Death, his appearance here might be more than a little disconcerting... and if you've seen the film adaptation, it's no surprise as to why Englehart chose that story in particular for Dr. Strange...
...for those of you who have not read or watched the original short story, it should be noted that this page is complete fantasy and the only resemblance to the original that it bears are in its first two panels. Unless you count the Red Death having the face of the protagonist. Then it also shares similarities to the movie adaptation, which changed quite a few things from the original Poe story.(A good lot of the rest of this story is very different, too, but it's more important that I clarify the ending rather than the middle here.)
Madness meets madness as the ball dissolves away! Mordo meets Genghis, Strange meets Ancient One! The little blurb at the bottom is a bit misleading, and hints at some behind-the-scenes trouble. Issue #12 is not the finale of this arc-- though it could be argued as a finale of sorts-- but it may well have been when that blurb was written.
What a spread! Colan working his magic once again.The paneling here is very unique: it's not so much one unified whole as it is bringing two threads together. Both Mordo and Strange's plots end on the bottom-right corner, but you're meant to start on Mordo's after finishing Strange's (despite Mordo's thread being out of the way and significantly less flashy than Strange's... like their plots are in-story)!
The strand and pit, of course, harken back to the ever-present Eternity through their choices in color...
Balancing atop a single thread, Stephen's personal life threatens his work even more effectively than this tightrope threatens his balance.
*Covered in great detail during a previous storytime: https://desuarchive.org/co/thread/153385992/#153385992 !
Strange faced many, MANY versions of himself in the previous issue. Faced them, indeed-- save for one in a Nixon mask, all could be seen as for the normal men they were... but the masked magician, not yet sorcerer supreme, stands alone, anon!
Even back then, Strange's masked years were... not looked upon kindly.It's a vicious irony, then, that Roy Thomas ultimately won out in this respect. Not in keeping Strange masked-- but in making him less humble.
I find these lines rather ironic given their context. Masked Strange was born out of confusion-- of asking what to do with Strange without Ditko. Thomas's answer was to make him more like other superheroes; Englehart's is almost the exact opposite. This is him putting that onto paper so that it may never be forgotten.
>quite literally calling masked Strange soullessEnglehart remains a trailblazer, lol.
IT WAS ME, STEPHEN!This is where the story once again loses what little groundedness it once had...
...to fully delve into the insanity of Mordo's psyche!But this insanity is not only Mordo's, and this psyche is not only Strange's...
...it is THE ENTIRE PLANET'S!!The narration echoes the Ancient One's words, while subtly nudging the audience into buying...
...issue #13, the TRUE finale to this arc! ALONE AGAINST ETERNITY-- Dr. Strange must greet the new year (of 1976) by once again saving all of mankind in the issue that gave this storytime its name!For those who don't know, Strange's last bout against Eternity(, Eternity!) began on New Year's Eve! I highly doubt this comic being published in January was meant as a callback to that, as it never shows up in-story, but the timing is quite delightful.
PLANET EARTH IS NO MORE! That's fun to say!Look at that art, too. Appropriately desolate, properly striking. I like the little piece of debris forming the midsection of the A in the title.
Sorry about that, audience. Don't worry-- you'll get better. Probably. But it must be fun, being dead like that. Can you tell me what it's like on the other side when this is all over?
Survivor's guilt and the curse of immortality go hand in hand to produce AAANGST! Appropriate, given the situation! But Dr. Strange's greatest strengths come in triumphing over such things, so he continues onward-- forcefully unfazed!
The Eye of Agamotto hasn't been used as a portal to other realms in quite a while, but that was originally one of its primary purposes. Ditko made great use of this aspect, and Englehart carried it forward. Past Stern, though... the need for it somewhat diminished, especially as Strange's own teleportation skills grew more pronounced.
And so, the cause for Eternity's erratic behavior is revealed!There are some truly breathtaking sequences beyond here, but I'll have to spoiler almost all of them to keep this intact...
So everything's fixed now, right? It was all a dream-- but that dream was Eternity's, so it was reality-- and now it can be undone?
...nnnno, of course not. Things can never be that easy when dealing with cosmic abstracts. Dr. Strange, just the slightest bit upset after having to go through all he just did only to face rejection, acts out...
...nearly prompting Eternity to make #12's cover a reality, before-- intervention!
Earth remains destroyed...
...yet reborn.There's actually a story, published 45 years after this one hit the stands, which takes place in the brief period between the world's destruction and eventual resurrection. It's the first in a monochrome anthology-- The Mystic Hands of Dr. Strange-- penned by Kieron Gillen and Frazer Irving, called "The Cure." The art's pretty shit, but the plot isn't half-bad. I would tentatively recommend it if you're looking for an okay modern Strange story, though it never reaches the heights of what I'm storytiming here. (Nothing else in the anthology is very good, save for maybe the prose at the end, but the second story's got some Frank Brunner art to stare at if you're a fan of his.)
>>154562843waow, he glows
>>154562781Bump. Thanks op. I have a vague feeling I've read this one before, but I'm gonna keep going to confirm it. Plus I love pre-90s Strange
And so ends our world... as well as issue #13 of Dr. Strange's second ongoing, and the arc that this storytime covers! Thank you all for reading along with me! If you're seeking more Dr. Strange, I'll direct you to this ever-reliable mediafire package:http://www.mediafire.com/download/araspaddej639ae/Doctor+Strange+Introductory+Package.zipAlthough it doesn't include this arc (much to my chagrin), this .zip comes with a plethora of .cbz's containing many other similarly-impressive Strange tales. (None of which, unfortunately, derive from Strange Tales.) I would highly recommend giving it a look if you're interested in Doctor Strange to any degree whatsoever.
I would also recommend reading absolutely everything on this list (most of which is contained in the aforementioned .zip; Strange Tales is not, and I would heavily recommend it as a starting point),as well as the entirety of the ongoing this arc is from (Dr. Strange vol 2/1974/Master of the Mystic Arts).There are a bunch of other, much nicher stories that I also want to shout out:>New Avengers (2013) Annual,>Strange Tales v3,and the aforementioned anthology story come to mind most quickly,but Amazing Spider-Man Annuals #2 and #14 are also goodand a substantial swathe of the first Defenders ongoing (primarily everything written by Englehart, Gerber, Kraft, and DeMatteis), including Marvel Feature #1-3 and every Giant-Size Defenders issue, are also great. (You just have to put up with a lot more jobbing in those since it's a team book and Strange is stupid powerful.) Anything that Busiek wrote for them isn't bad either, but not as good as Gerber/Englehart/Kraft/DeMatteis were (and a fair amount of it won't make sense if you don't read Gerber first).There is a *lot* of good Dr. Strange out there. Almost everything from 1985 and before that includes him as a character is some level of good. Even some stories after the new millennium with him in it aren't terrible. I'm biased, of course-- he's my favorite cape by far-- but even by objective metrics, plenty of his ongoing issues have a fair amount of artistic merit. I'd heavily recommend them to any aspiring comic artist who wants to experiment with paneling or play with the format's strengths and limitations in general. With all that said... thank you for reading! May the Vishanti smile upon you!
>>154563470I do too! And thank you for the bump! Even if you've read this one before, it's always worth looking over again. Seriously one of the prettiest stories I've seen published in an ongoing from around that time period, and definitely one of the most interesting.
>>154562850Thanks for the storytime OP. I've never read something of Strange before so this has been an interesting starting point.
>>154562781Hell yeah
Your love for him is amazing.
thank you for story timing
>>154562850bump
>>154563902I'm flattered! I do my best to at least make my appreciation of the guy entertaining to read, haha. I really could talk about him for hours if I was allowed to, if not days. Everyone just thinks of the movie/Rivals version first, though, and he's not so similar that they'll really get what I'm talking about (especially when citing comic-specific events), so it's sometimes tough to do outside of these storytimes.>>154563653What a place to start! If you want similarly trippy stuff, I'd recommend running through Ditko's Strange Tales issues (#110, 111, and 114-146) or the Sise-Neg saga in Marvel Premiere (#12-14). The latter's also written by Englehart (although drawn by a different artist-- Frank Brunner, whom I'd put on par with Colan but isn't as well-known I think) and tackles similar themes of apocalypse and rebirth. Good stuff all around.I'd recommend more in-between, as those two have quite a bit of chronology between them, but many of those stories aren't nearly as surreal and some of them can be very scattershot.If you want to be crazy like I am and read as much pre-90s Strange as physically possible, just go through all of his appearances in chronological order using this site: https://marvelreading.com/character/doctor-strange(I've linked to Strange's first page for you just to make it easier. Stop after page 15 if you want to stick to the *consistently* good stuff (or 13 if you don't care for Peter Gillis). The 90s begin on page 16, and they do not treat the good doctor very kindly.
(Oh-- and thank you to everyone saying thank you! I'm delighted to share all this with you guys.)
>>154563286>>154563314i can't beleive earth is kill
bumping
>page 9Hell no
>>154564842>https://marvelreading.com/character/doctor-strangeAh now this is quite the resource. Thanks again. Didn't realize they had these. Been interested in some older styled magic adventures and this feels like exactly what I was hoping for.
>>154563653Englehart's Doctor Strange is one of the greatest comics Marvel's ever put out. The sort of hippie dippie philosophy of all things being connected and concepts exisiting that even someone as all powerful as Strange has issues comprehending, the way he has to keep his connection to his humanity to keep himself grounded, the psychological effects of having to deal with all these near incomprehensible forces and events and then the great art from Brunner and Colan on top of it.>>154564842>but isn't as well-known I thinkHis comics output is pretty small, that's why. The Doctor Strange run is the most notable thing he's ever done in the medium. His work in animation is probably better known since he was the character designer for X-Men TAS.
>>154562781I want Dr Orpheus’s voice actor to play doom in an animated show
>>154568228Wrong thread?
>>154562850bump!
>>154566331
>>154563473Interesting read. Thanks OP.
>>154562781One more
Bump. Thanks op. Some of the first strange I've read in years. Read a bunch of Stern's issues years ago but this story is right up there with all that kino
>>154562781There some kinda bot, what's with all the story time threads? No one reads this shit
>>154573819Stern’s great
>>154573829>Bot There was just a huge thread about story timing and anons activity posted about wanting to do more. Strangeanon is one of those Chads
>>154562783Gene Colan is a highly underrated artist
>>154562850ok
>>154566329This strange looks like he's trying to score weed at a Renfair
>>154574713Isn’t he pretty well-rated? I hear about him a bunch when people talk about Bronze Age, but usually not for Strangewasn’t he on Starlin’s Cosmic stuff? Or was that someone else
Reading bump
>>154577210He definitely deserves more mainstream recognition
>>154574713>>154577210>>154579861He was an amazing penciller, but he needed a really good inker working on him, which he rarely got. His work would've gone over much better later on with his pencils photographed and scanned directly with more subtle coloring, but his pencil work was too nuanced and subtle for primitive comic book printing of the 60s through the early 80's.
>>154576446kek
>>154562859Yeah I've always liked this guy too. Has he ever had another aged mystic he seeks advice and stuff from? Be cool if he had a couple of guys like this from different countries and with cool gimmicks
>>154574229Storytimes are stupid as fuck tho, who has the patience to read this shit aside from like one or two lonely schizos on this board. Its a waste of catalog space.
>>154574229Storytimes have always been low effort slop threads that why no one goes to them. Least productive thing you can do here
>>154580879I won't read it in this format, but it did make me make a note that I want to pick up copies of Doctor Strange #10-13 and read them physically.
>>154580879>>154580892
>>154580879>>154580892Fuck off
>>154580879>>154580892Naw you're a fag. I wasn't able to read this all the way through yesterday and appreciated anons bumping so it was still up
Bumping
when did death stop being eternity's brother & become female?is adam qadman (eternity) the same as adam k'ad-mon (old father, manthing)?
>>154582384Death is still Eternity's sibling, but it's been kinda handwaved with "the abstract concepts are complicated af and mortal minds cannot fully comprehend them"As to when Death became a woman, that is entirely down to Jim Starlin and Mike Freidrich, as that little change came during their run on Captain Marvel (Captain Marvel v1 #35, to be precise! - Ever-Elucidatin' Anon)
>>154581554He's mad a Digital Cancer thread got pushed off of the catalog.
>>154580680He had the Ancient One before Englehart, but after him not really. The closest he had were other mystics— Rama Kaliph, Lord Phyfe, Victoria Bentley’s uncle(? Who I think died, I can’t remember. He doesn’t come up as much), the like— but those guys died a sad and quiet death after Stern. I don’t think any of them have shown up past the 80s, just like Genghis. It goes without saying that they’re probably never coming back, now that Strange is a very different character and being brutally forced into the cape mold. I’m a little surprised Hamir never made it into that mystic supporting cast after Into Shamballa, but I suppose the lines between graphic novel canonicity and ongoing canonicity can be a bit blurry and his ultimate fate wouldn’t have been known to many readers of the latter. (I think Strange might’ve also entered the Gillis run not even a year later, so his supporting cast wouldn’t exist long enough to host Hamir after that anyways. RIP Rintrah, gone too soon.)
>>154582384>>154582823As for Qadman and K'ad-mon, nobody seems to have drawn any connection between the two - K'ad-mon is meant to be Adam... as in, Garden of Eden Adam.
>>154582384>>154582934>look up Adam K'ad-mon>he last showed up in that shitty Man-Thing mini written by R.L. Stine, of all people
>>154582907>It goes without saying that they’re probably never coming backThat's a shame >now that Strange is a very different character and being brutally forced into the cape mold Can't stand that. I've only really read Englehart and Stern because I know they avoid that so well. Who opened the floodgate as far as making Strange more capeshit adjacent? Probably more of an editorial thing
>>154583301>Who opened the floodgate as far as making Strange more capeshit adjacent?Combination of Roy Thomas and editorial yeah. Thomas heavily changed his personality and M.O. to focus more on typical cape stuff in both of his runs. He couldn’t get away with sticking Strange in a mask for his second attempt, but all the other hallmarks were mostly there. The rest of that ongoing was a disaster due to all of the better writers on it clashing with editorial (and all the bad ones sticking around longer as a result), and Quesada forced Dr. Strange not to be used for a long while so that “marvel magic could be sorted out” (properly powerscaled). That never really happened, then Bendis got ahold of Strange for most of the 2000s, then things just kept getting worse and worse and worse.
>>154583425Wow that's kind of surprising considering he's the Conan guy, but if it was also editorial what can you do>Bendis Yeah death sentence for any non street level character
>>154583425>>154583455>My cape doesn't work in these conditions!
>>154583757Why did you have to remind me
storytime threads are so fucking boring. whats the point?
>>154563026reading these really makes you bitter with how shit modern comic art has gotten.
>>154584717Im convinced these threads are made inhabited by one or 2 lonely spergs just schizo posting for days end, sad really. Just more evidence on why why need a containment board for them.
>>154584717>>154584825>Mr No Fun Allowed is sockpuppeting againShouldn't you be out scouring your local glory holes?
>>154580879>>154580892>>154584717>>154584825You ever considered not being a samefagging cunt?
>>154585005Hey, at least this time he remembered not to let the autoposting give the game away completely
bump
Bump
>>154585005nice projection schizosperg
>>154585985Congratulations, you know how to edit out all but one of the (You)s on my post in Paint
>>154585985Seriously, what's the end goal for you being a little bitch? What are you trying to achieve?
>>154586245He’s trying to bump the thread so that more people can read the story, clearly
Bumping again because fuck the asshole sperg above
>>154583425tbf the 200s also had this ethos of making every hero in comics be pals with each other, and Strange got swept up in that
>>154562781thank you anon
>>154562888Trips of good taste
>>154588858Trips of good taste
>>154562941Palmer seems a better fit for Colan, desu
>>154563118Sick cover
>>154587999It’s strange (hehe), when reading anything premodern, how isolated Dr Strange was. The moderns runs water him down to some dnd Wizard with a few spells. Thought the biggest changes came from his time as the DoctorTM, when he had the quirky assistant. They really pulled the rug out of magic with the Imperikal plot. Though I think that Ewings’ Defenders runs are the only time of late where strange felt anywhere at the level he used to be. Even though they’re just exercises in Ewings lore faggotry, I’ll take what I can get.
>>154591596I mean, he WAS part of the og Defenders
>>154562977I read the Secret Empire story arc in my lcs years ago... seeing the big revelation about the leader was a trip
>>154591596He used to be incredibly lonely, yeah. He was New York’s Wizard in a Tower, not “that magic superhero.” He pretty much exclusively hung out with other mystics outside of what was essentially a joke book played straight (the Defenders, which only existed to bring together all the loners and let sparks fly), and even there he never really had more than three or four heroes in his orbit at any given time. Spider-Man is the primary exception, and that’s mainly due to Ditko (who created both of them) pairing those two up very early on into their respective careers. It’s also worth noting that magic in general used to be pretty heavily stigmatized. People didn’t really believe in it, didn’t like it after being shown it was real, and often really didn’t like practitioners of it. Pretty much all of Strange’s non-mystic relations befriended him reluctantly, never particularly liking his field of work or understanding the man himself, and it used to be a staple of Strange’s stories that normal people couldn’t know about what he did or they’d lose their minds (so he’d just mindwipe them to stop that from happening).I could go on about this for hours. It’s one of my favorite aspects of old marvel magic and it’s been completely lost nowadays. Probably because heroes are more “celebrities with powers” than specifically heroic vigilantes nowadays.
>>154592906>Probably because heroes are more “celebrities with powers” than specifically heroic vigilantes nowadays.I blame a lot of that on Civil War
>>154584717
>>154593515I feel like the rot set in during the 90s
Strange anons how yall feeling about his Asgard exilem
>>154594618Feels forced af and ties back into how he's just one of the boys now.
>>154594379The rot set in after the Marvel bankruptcy and re-structuring post-1996.
>>154562827>Beat death and become immortalWhen was that?
>>154595842Same ongoing as this story, in the first arc>>154594618Cool idea but executed really badly. All the Angela screen time makes me think it was an Angela book that they forced Strange into to sell copies. Also >>154595140.
>>154562827Funny that 50 years ago Nightmare was his most "enigmatic and ephemeral foe" and now he's the biggest jobber out of the most recognizable ones.
>>154562897Beautiful>>154562888>Mouthing words which are more than words, and the entire celestial sphere seems their sounding board!I'm not opposed to powercreep, I like my supermen throwing planets around, but so many writers forget to bring the grandeur and awe that that scale should bring. The issue isn't so much that Eternity shows up nearly every month but that he no longer speaks with words as deep as the celestial spheres.
>>154596129samefagging and necrobumping a thread for a full day should be a bannable offense this shit is ridiculous. Exactly why Storytimes are a fucking cancer.
>>154562911What's the deal with masked strange?
>>154562971It's funny how Nixon is basically a folk figure for americans.
>>154594618I dont read comics I just watch the movies.
>>154596225Why is this story time in particular making you such crybaby faggot? Are you mad there's people on here who are actually comic fans? Is this thread taking up space your She-Ra thread could be using? Or are you just the ghost of Spiral Agnew? Whatever it is fuck off
>>154596225Complaining about samefagging while characterfagging an trying to shit up multiple threads of actual discussion. Retards like you ruined this board. Go kill yourself.
>>154563462I really liked how chaotic the paneling in this issue is. Sells the intensity of the story without the page looking incomprehensible. This page in particular is great too. Love how mysterious and epic marvel used to make their cosmic beings feel
>>154596225What's the end goal here? What are you trying to accomplish?
>>154596225what's wrong not enough twitter e-celeb idpol drama for ye?
>>154599275Nta but storytimes have always been kinda shit, it always winds up being some neet sperg trying to push some lame book no one's cares about and the threads always enter zombie mode immediately but they refuse to let the shit die and it's winds up pushing organic threads off for like a week because they don't have some raging autist checking the page number every hour.
>>154599927Nta but what exactly is the point of bitching in them though? Especially in one that actually has discussions and even commentary on the pages from op. You guys are just wrong too. The usagi storytime gets replies. That recent TMNT storytime was active. I've seen active ones without even engaging in them for fucks sake. Really quality ones being rare doesn't mean anons should just stop trying. Op actually has the right idea, posting a single story rather than taking on the task of posting every strange comic over weeks. So you guys are bitching about an on topic thread that won't even be up for that long on a board that's slow anyway
>>154600277Dubs of Damn, you summed it up better than I ever could
>>154587999Awesome facial hair bros!
>>154600277Fucking this. Out of all the storytime threads to bitch in, these assholes pick one where OP is engendering discussion and art appreciation?Wotta buncha douches.
...I honestly didn't expect my thread to last this long. All of the others I've done have barely lasted a day.Would anyone want me to storytime the short story I mentioned here >>154563462 as celebration? It's not its anniversary, but might be interesting.
>>154602330Go for it, champ
>>154602431Alright, gimme a bit and I'll have it all ready to post! Having some trouble with downloading, but should be done soon.
>>154601581A revoltin’ development indeed. At least they’re bumping the thread lol
>>154602853Anon?
>>154603793Hello! Sorry for the delay-- got wrapped up in something I couldn't ignore. All's well now. Anyways...As part of The Mystic Hands of Doctor Strange, a black-and-white anthology released sometime in 2011, Kireon Gillen got to write a Dr. Strange story! Now-- I don't know that much about Kieron Gillen. I tend to avoid very modern comics as a rule, but from what I've read of him he seems to be one of its least-bad writers. A low bar to clear, sure, but still worth mentioning. I can say with certainty that he did a perfectly adequate job here, and I'll elaborate on exactly how in just a moment. For now, though, it should be noted that this is the closest this story gets to a cover page or credits. Every story in this anthology is rather crudely separated, with only a Table of Contents at the start of the anthology to clue you into the name of each story and who's writing/drawing what. A small thumbnail of their work is also included to give you an idea of what everything looks like. This is The Cure's, and... well, you can see what I meant about the art right away, I hope.
This is a very specific sort of pseudo-3D style that I can't quite put into words but know when I see it. Halfway between tracing models and actually making art. I'm not proficient enough in the medium to really critique this, though I dislike how it looks, but it is rather jarring when compared to Gene Colan's good work above. I'll try only to comment on the art when it really stands out (for better or for worse), because I don't have many particularly good things to say about it. The best thing I can attribute to it is that its uncanniness somewhat fits the tone of the story.Complaining aside, this story starts off in an interesting place. The clothing and hairstyle of what seems to be the antagonist already firmly establishes the setting-- this is some sort of pseudo-sciencey hippie historical. I'm on board with that. It's in Dr. Strange's wheelhouse, albeit somewhat retroactively (Ditko certainly didn't intend for it to be his forte, after all), and opening the story by trying to redefine "sick" in this very specific way is a great red flag that has me intrigued.
Already, we see our protagonists. The date is set-- the year is 1975. (A little bit off from the actual end of the world, in our world, but I highly doubt the entire end-of-the-world arc took several months in-universe.) Dr. Strange is in a bit of an odd place here-- walking around in full ceremonial garb, helping Wong out with groceries. Not a typical activity of his... and, if you've noticed that, congratulations! The story's working as intended. This, for once, is not due to author unfamiliarity with the character.If you're wondering about the date-- Dr. Strange is one of the very few Marvel characters notably exempt from the world's sliding timescale. This is likely due to his aforementioned immortality, and allows authors to do things like what Gillen's doing here. Most other characters need to have some weird finagling with their narration that may or may not imply a certain historical period, but can't outright be said because everything is supposed to have happened 13-15 years ago.
The uncomfortable clash between realism and exaggerated facial expressions is a bit hard not to notice here, but I'm more interested in what's being written than drawn in this one instance. Strange being delighted at the thought of someone wealthy deciding to give it all up to a random guy on the street and go live in a commune-- I can't help thinking that's maybe more the author speaking than the character. I highly doubt he'd be this naive. Anyways, it's funny in comparison to Clea immediately wanting to rob a bank. That's what matters, for the most part.
Lord, that facial expression in the fourth panel is unfortunate.Anyways, no surprises here-- Clea wanting to rob a bank and some random rich man in New York City are both, in fact, not very natural occurrences. There's something magical at work here!
>>154603875Glad your irl stuff got sorted. I know how frustrating that can be.As for Gillen, he's one of the better modern writers (damning with faint praise...) as he's good about acknowledging continuity, especially continuity errors as he tries to make them make sense. His Eternals run was great and I really wish that had lasted longer. I actually sat in on a con panel he did a few years back with Al Ewing, it was interesting stuff (and they mention some stuff brought up itt)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vWfzaJk-cs
Somewhat like old Strange-- this is a shockingly large-scale threat, well within his wheelhouse. He rarely tackles matters this grave on Earth anymore. Not much like old Strange-- that narration is all him thinking. Thought bubbles are discarded in favor of narration boxes. Very odd! I'm really not sure why they're so taboo nowadays.
>>154604104Ah, that certainly came across here! Yes-- damning with faint praise, definitely. But faint praise is still praise, and I do think it's deserved in this instance. (I'll watch that panel a little later-- thank you for linking it.)As for the story-- This is very much like old Strange-- he decides to scope out the situation by cloaking himself and infiltrating the source directly. I'm not sure why exactly he'd need a teleportation rite when he can teleport on his own just fine, but Gillen probably wanted something to let Strange physically show Clea so that her reassurance was easily communicable.
I like this gadget quite a lot. It fits in perfectly with this sort of off-kilter, clinical atmosphere that a shady clinic might have, and seems like a great balance between some kind of magical artifact and all the funky toys one would see upon entering a psychiatrist's office. You could put this thing next to an abacus or a Rorschach test and it wouldn't look out of place at all.
It also makes for a really stellar reveal! ...that I've unfortunately spoiled, for you lot, but really impressed me upon first reading this story. I really didn't think this kind of attention to detail existed in the industry anymore. (It may not anymore-- this story is 15 years old, after all...)
If you've ever been to a quack therapist before, this kind of talk will make your damned skin crawl. I've met lots of guys like this before and Gillen has captured their mannerisms perfectly here. He even got the righteous rage bit correct-- that obligatory little aside where he'll call for some kind of vengeance with fingernails in his palms and visibly gritted teeth. That somehow soft-spoken, yet passionately furious bit of emotional manipulation. All the little titles, dividing the "awake" from the "asleep" (both you and the doctor are, conveniently, awake, of course-- unless you disagree with him, somehow)...
The "cure," in this case, is a healthy dose of...
...SATAN! Rise, destroyer of marriages! Rise, breaker of hearts!
>>154600277>>154601581Fuck off sperglord, storytiming died for a reason. Keep this shit on /b/ or /trash/ where it belongs
This is another bit of anachronism. An anon earlier in the thread mentioned the lack of grandeur these cosmic entities are treated with nowadays-- this story happily contributes to that, though I hesitate to say it's a bad thing in this case since Mephisto is clearly quite annoyed. It fits with the story, even if it doesn't quite fit with the old tone, so I'm tempted to give it a pass.
>>154604333Trips of tryhard bullshit
I do have quite a hard time believing that anything would be beneath Mephisto... but, then, I'm rather more cynical than this depiction of Strange.
>>154604333Yeah, I'm sure everyone on /trash/ will really appreciate 70s Dr Strange among all their AI furry slop
This is one of the better-looking pages of the story, Photoshop sparkles aside. I like how the little demons are depicted here. The writing also shows that Gillen at least understands the underlying difficulties Strange once had, and his genuine hesitance to put down what he believes might be a change for the better really highlights how different from many heroes Strange can sometimes be. He's rather more proactive and not shy about it at all.
I'm conflicted as to whether this is particularly in line with his older character-- I'm not entirely convinced he'd have let things go this far after finding out this was Mephisto's doing-- but it works in this story to underline just how deeply this is bothering him. This story also underlines just how powerful the sorcerer is, which is an extreme rarity nowadays-- a spell enacted by a pretty high-level demon, strong enough to warp his wife's desires without resistance, is negated by one of Strange's simpler shields. If this were written even 5 years later, I'm quite certain there would've been some convoluted web of explanations as to why he couldn't have done this included for the sake of padding.
More anachronisms in the second panel here. I like how over-emotional the Doktor is here; if the audience hasn't caught onto him being the high-strung insecure type by now, this'll surely demonstrate it to them.
This is more of a modern theme as well-- Strange working with the enemy to achieve a means to an end. It mostly became prominent after Peter Gillis's Dark Magic run in Strange Tales v2, and didn't appear quite so much before. (I think it might have happened once or twice, but not nearly so blatantly as it did later on.) This theme is one of the main whips used to lash Strange with nowadays, and I'm not too fond of it at all. It can be done better or worse, however, and this implementation of it is certainly not the worst. I'd even say it might be the second-best behind Gillis's original take (which I still disliked, but must admit was somewhat solidly-written... in a vacuum).
>>154604503While Irving's art has been a bit wonky in this story, I do enjoy how he drew Strange in this final panel
One big splash panel to really drive home the Faustus parallels, and then...
>>154604333You are replying to two different anons but use a singular insult. Can't deal with your ass opinion being disliked? >storytiming died for a reason You're in an active thread and we've already established that some storytimes get replies even if they're in the minority >>154603935You weren't kidding about this art, Strange anon. That Englehart story was good though so I'll read this one too
...a conclusion, but at what cost?Ideologically, I have to admit that I do not align with this story. This is clearly meant to be a bittersweet ending. It's very well-made in that respect, and you can feel Strange's guilt seeping off the pages. But if you don't entirely align with the more hippie-dippie tension this story's going for, it might be a bit funny to read. It certainly is for me, anyways. Mephisto's dialogue isn't half-bad, politics aside. I like pretty much everything he says in the second panel. Has anything he's said since even come close? I'm genuinely kind of curious; the devil's treated so lackadaisically nowadays, I'm half-expecting him to talk like some big tech CEO trying to be relatable.
A bit of meta-commentary on how reactive heroes with these big titles tend to be, combined with Clea being a doll and trying to cheer Strange up again. (I really miss the two of them together. MacKay does a sort of decent job at it, but it's not the same and you can really tell.) Not a bad ending at all, and overall I'd say this is a pretty solid story. The art really does drag it down-- I honestly wish Brunner had done this instead of Melancholia (the story immediately after this one, not too great)-- but the plot itself is solid. Perfectly adequate. Unfortunately better than a very large portion of Dr. Strange stories from this century. Still, I hope it was good enough to be enjoyable! The little callback to the teleportation rite certainly helps lighten the mood somewhat. God knows the aftermath of that-- I'd have liked to see it in a comedy issue (if Marvel still does those).Hope you all enjoyed. I'll be doing plenty of other storytimes as more anniversaries come up. There'll be more Englehart yet!
>>154604593I assume he's projecting - stupid people like to think that only the minority disagrees with them>>154604666>ends a Mephisto story with 666
>>154604666>BrunnerThat reminds me, I recently read all of Warp at the insistence of someone in a meta thread about storytimes (it was how I found this thread, funnily enough)It was... interesting.
>>154604666Thanks for this, OP - both stories were interesting to read, as were your commentaries!
>>154605200I'm glad! And more than happy to post, lol. This is quite fun. :)>>154604688A happy coincidence! The site's smiling on me today, I suppose. The extra panache for the ending is appreciated.
>>154604459Yeah why would he need to see this to confirm shenanigans are afoot with Mephisto? Seems more like a half assed way for Gillen to give the story higher stakes/scale
>>154604409These demons, along with the mundane portrayal of Mephisto, are actually highlighting why this style doesn't work for Strange. Feels like the artist is being fairly conservative with the mystic imagery you'd expect because the style wouldn't look right paired with "trippy" aesthetics and bizarre creatures. A competent story overall though
>>154605640Eh, I see it more as justification for Strange not just letting Doktor do his bullshit. For stories like this there needs to be some reason why the protagonists don't just let the antagonist change society forever.
>>154605815That's true. I'm thinking outside of the narrative and just thinking >Mephisto=Bad Which is true, but still need to flesh out your story's potential consequences
>>154605807i didn't mind that really. strange & mephisto were both just doing their jobs. it wasn't special or magical to them, just work. strange grocery shopping and watching tv frames the story that way, the mundane art fits.
>>154606209I'm probably just being pretentious but Strange to me just doesn't feel right when drawn with modern techniques and technology. I flipped through The Oath real quick because I remembered that having a similar vibe to the Gillen story as far as being Strange done in a less fanatical style. That comic though has plenty of trippy visuals but it still lacks the aura that pages like these excude >>154562897>>154562905>>154562911
>>154606496I agree.I would have liked Tradd Moore's version more if it was fully traditional.
>>154562859Lol that's such a fun word to say... 'senility'
>>154609088is a little fun yes
>>154562977>>154563085The appearance of this mask gives you domain over other men has limits apparently.
