Review- MARVEL MASTERWORKS: DOCTOR STRANGE VOL. 2

MARVEL MASTERWORKS: DOCTOR STRANGE VOL. 2 (Marvel, First Printing, 2013; Softcover)

Collects the Doctor Strange stories from Strange Tales #142-168 (cover dates March, 1966- May, 1968)

Writers: Stan Lee, Denny O'Neil, Roy Thomas, Raymond Marias, Jim Lawrence, and Dan Adkins with plots by Steve Ditko (#142-146)

Artists: Steve Ditko, Bill Everett, Marie Severin, and Dan Adkins, with Penciling by George Tuska and Inking by Herb Trimpe

Steve Ditko's legendary run on this title draws to a close in grand fashion four issues into this book, with the Dread Dormammu fighting Eternity. One could end their marathon there (as the recent Doctor Strange Omnibus does), but then you'd be missing out on some real treats. This was my first time reading this material and, dare I say it, the series actually improves once Ditko leaves the fold. All of his original concepts and designs are expanded on.

Bill Everett takes over the art with #147, and this is among his finest work. Everett is a legend who created the Sub-Mariner back in the late 1930s but is largely a footnote to modern comic fans. Kaluu looks like something out his Sub-Mariner run, and the follow up villain, Dormammu's sister Umar, could have come out of his 1950s Atlas Heroes revival.

Marie Severin takes over the art chores with #153, and while she is legendary for being the colorist for EC Comics and that iconic Hulk Annual cover (you know the one...), her artwork leaves me cold. To defeat Umar, Doctor Strange must release Zom, a ridiculous looking, supposedly unstoppable demon whose Achilles heel is embarrassingly easy for Doctor Strange to find. The Living Tribunal arrives at the end of issue 157. Herb Trimpe's inking helps save Severin's artwork beginning with that same issue and running through 160.

158 is where things really get cooking. Roy Thomas has arrived with thesaurus in hand to turn comic books into purple prose Shakespeare. The psychedelic elements are continually ramped up from one issue to the next, and it's easy to see why all of the 'heads loved this series in the '60s. Thomas brings back Baron Mordo, but it's Jim Lawrence who puts a cork in this arc with a battle between The Living Tribunal and yet another cosmic entity, Nebulos.

Dan Adkins arrives with #163, and he has a real wide angle psychedelic lens. Adkins out Ditkos Ditko. +covers face to shield self from stream of rocks and tomatoes+ I love the battle with Yandroth, Scientist Supreme, who uses advanced technology to battle Doctor Strange. I really love his robot, Voltorr (renamed Voltorg one issue later for no reason), because robots rule. And science meets magic resulting in a battle with a robot rules even more.

Since Strange Tales was a split book featuring two headliners, this strip is limited to 10 pages per issue. The shortened page count keeps things moving briskly, albeit in the same dense, meaty fashion that you'd expect from a Silver Age comic book.

Bill Everett rules. 

The entirety of this book has a sort of soap opera element with the Ancient One and Clea. Doctor Strange braves untold dangers across untold dimensions for this bird, and I hope that she's worth it. Doc's spent all 304 pages looking for her for crying out loud!

Junk Food For Thought rating: 5 out of 5.

The OCD zone- Softcover Masterworks are wider than a standard trade paperback. I was all over this line when it came out, buying everything that I had passed over in hardcover. Now the Epic line of books has filled that gap.

Linework and Color restoration: Marvel Masterworks are the Criterion Blu-Rays of collected editions, with top shelf restoration and a color palette faithful to the original comic books. Romanticists yearn for Ben Day dots and off register printing, but these were never artistic considerations, folks. They were charming byproducts of the limits of printing technology of the day. The original art (and by extension, film used on these books) didn't look like that. It's a real philosophical debate amongst collected edition sorts, and it's shaken out like this: If it's Marvel or DC you get full blown restoration. Expensive and time consuming but worth preserving history correctly. Dark Horse was in the game but has gotten out for the most part. Everyone else uses scans with varying degrees of tinkering. I'm done arguing about it. It all boils down to preference, and there are benefits and drawbacks to both presentations. Given the choice I'll stick with full blown restoration though.

Paper stock: Matte coated stock, the paper used in these books (as well as Epics) is my favorite.

Binding: Perfect bound trade paperback.

Cardstock cover notes: Laminated cardstock cover. 

Review- MARVEL MASTERWORKS: DOCTOR STRANGE VOL. 1

MARVEL MASTERWORKS: DOCTOR STRANGE VOL. 1 (Marvel, First Printing, 2010; Softcover)

Collects the Doctor Strange stories from Strange Tales #110, 111, 114-141 and the main story from Amazing Spider-Man Annual #2 (cover dates July, 1963- February, 1966)

Writers: Stan Lee and Don Rico (#129)

Artists: Steve Ditko with inking by George Roussos (#114, 122-125)

I bought this and read it years ago, but I dumped that copy when it fell out of print and was commanding several times over cover price. I'm not married to my collection and will cash in whenever I get a chance. I then found this copy shortly thereafter out in the wild. I had to read the new copy, which is in and of itself a reread. Marvel has since reissued this in hardcover (which has also fallen out of print). This material is currently available in an Omnibus hardcover.

This was very enjoyable on the re-read. The essence of Doctor Strange's second battle with the Dread Dormamuu was caught in last year's movie, Doctor Strange. I'm not going into much else here, as you can read what I thought of this material a few years ago.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4.5 out of 5.

The OCD zone- Softcover Masterworks are wider than a standard trade paperback.

Linework and Color restoration: Marvel Masterworks are the Criterion Blu-Rays of collected editions. Top shelf restoration and a color palette faithful to the original comic books.

Paper stock: Matte coated stock, the paper used in these books (as well as Epics) is my favorite.

Binding: Perfect bound trade paperback.

Cardstock cover notes: Laminated cardstock cover. 

Review- AVENGERS: WEST COAST AVENGERS- LOST IN SPACE-TIME

AVENGERS: WEST COAST AVENGERS- LOST IN SPACE-TIME (Marvel, 2012; Hardcover)

Collects West Coast Avengers (Vol. 2) Nos. 17-24, Fantastic Four No. 19, and Doctor Strange No. 53 (cover dates October, 1963; June, 1982; February- September, 1987)

Writers: Steve Englehart, Stan Lee (Fantastic Four No. 19), and Roger Stern (Doctor Strange No. 53).

Artists: Pencilers- Al Milgrom, Jack Kirby (Fantastic Four No. 19), and Marshall Rogers (Doctor Strange No. 53); Inkers- Joe Sinnott (Nos. 17-21), Dick Ayers (Fantastic Four No. 19), Terry Austin (Dr. Strange No. 53), and others (Nos. 22-24).

Steve Englehart was on a roll with this title. What were once merely entertaining, serviceable superhero stories have blossomed into a full bore centuries spanning epic lasting 8 issues. There is no way that this could be done today, as endless company wide crossovers would interrupt the flow of this title. Most titles lose steam along the way, but Englehart was like a locomotive here. Slow to start, but once things got cooking he was impossible to stop.

I always smile when people refer to Brian Michael Bendis as the greatest Avengers writer of all time. Roger Stern, Roy Thomas, Steve Englehart...these are the cats who wrote the classics. Englehart's character development is worlds beyond anything that Bendis did, and he did it with greater efficiency. Hank Pym's growing despondency and thoughts of suicide, the growing arrogance of Wonder Man's new-found confidence, the increasing friction between he and Iron Man, Hawkeye's progression from unlikable upstart to guiding light for the team when the chips are down...these are all real, organic character developments, done within the confines of the story, and done without the sacrifice of action or fun. No snarky dialogue, no condescending attitude toward superheroes...in short, just great comic book writing. 

The gist- The West Coast Avengers head to Albuquerque to find Firebird and offer her membership on the team. Once there, they run into a dead end...and four supervillains named Sunstroke (who looks exactly like Stingray with different colors), Gila, Butte, and Cactus. Yes, Cactus. As in a walking, talking humanoid Cactus. The villains flee but Iron Man manages to track them down to their cave hideout, where they find their leader, Dominus. Dominus is from the same alien race as Lucifer (Silver Age villain), and he traps the team in Doctor Doom's malfunctioning time machine. It sends them backwards in time but cannot return to the present. All of this occurs in one issue. Bendis would have milked that for an entire trade paperback and then launched it into a company wide crossover spanning 50 issues.

Englehart certainly knows his Marvel continuity. In the Lost In Space-Time mega-arc he refers to his classic '70s run and includes characters steeped in Marvel lore like the Two-Gun Kid, Rawhide Kid, the Ghost/Night/Phantom Rider, and Rama-Tut. The team ends up jumping backward in time a few times trying to repair their broken time machine. They go all the way back to ancient Egypt to enlist the help of Rama-Tut, who traveled thousands of years back in time himself. This is another nod to Englehart's '70s run, as Rama-Tut/Kang/Immortus all figured into the classic Celestial Madonna arc.

The ranks of the team swell with the addition of La Espirita (formerly Firebird), Doctor Pym, and Moon Knight. Doctor Pym is a horrible character name and idea, and he dresses like the Phantom Stranger. God awful. Englehart created the shrinking things other than himself aspect to Pym's power, something which is utilized to this day. There is an interesting development with Moon Knight's weapons, with Englehart inserting a continuity porn aspect to them which diehards will love. 

Note Doctor Pym's costume in panel 2. Looks just like the Phantom Stranger.

I love how the story keeps splitting into an extra part with each issue, culminating with 8 parts in the final issue. The splash page for part two has two panels, and it increases by one panel for each subsequent issue. The story continually adds layers and grows more complex but Englehart didn't miss a beat. The guy was juggling plotlines like plates and didn't break a single one. I'm even betting he didn't need a “creative retreat” to pull this off.

The Fantastic Four and Doctor Strange issues are included as a sort of bonus because both of these issues intersect with the events of the West Coast Avengers Rama-Tut/ ancient Egypt time travel adventure. Very cool and very fun. The Roger Stern-penned Doctor Strange issue is a treat, with artwork by the team of Marshall Rogers and Terry Austin. Of course the Stan Lee/ Jack Kirby Fantastic Four are great. It was fun to re-read that one again.

This was a great read, the best run of this title thus far. I am looking forward to the next hardcover, which I already have in queue.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4.5 out of 5.

The OCD zone- The late, lamented Marvel Premiere Classic line was sort of a junior Masterworks line. Classic material presented in hardcover with nice paper and sewn binding at a much lower MSRP. 
Extras: None. 

Linework and Color restoration rating: 5 out of 5. The restoration is excellent throughout the book.

Paper rating: 5 out of 5. Heavyweight thick coated stock paper with a slight sheen.

Binding rating: 5 out of 5. Sewn binding. The book lays completely flat because the casing is not glued square to the spine, allowing for a good deal of flex.

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Review- MARVEL TALES BY ALAN DAVIS

MARVEL TALES BY ALAN DAVIS (Marvel, 2012; Softcover)

Collects Fantastic Four Annual No. 33, Daredevil Annual No. 1, Wolverine Annual No. 1, and Thor: Truth of History (cover dates December, 2008- October, 2012)

Writer and Penciler: Alan Davis

Inker: Mark Farmer

Colorists: Javier Rodriguez and Rob Schwager (Thor: Truth of History)

This book is a collection of orphaned Alan Davis stories, three of which form a cohesive ClanDestine arc. The Annuals are all from 2011 and 2012 and deal with a timestream clusterf*ck courtesy of a previously unseen member of the Clan Destine, Vincent. 

The cool thing about the stories in these Annuals is that we encounter Vincent and the Clan Destine from different angles in each one. The Thing, the Human Torch, and Doctor Strange encounter Vincent at two different points in his life, while Daredevil is caught in a skirmish with Hex (Dominic). Wolverine encounters the rest of the team and sets things right.

I really enjoy how each issue can be read on its own while all three Annuals form a cohesive story. Thor: Truth of History is completely unrelated to this arc. It is collected here because it is an orphaned Alan Davis story. We get to see Thor and the Warriors Three journey to ancient Egypt. Well, it was actually just Egypt; the story takes place thousands of years ago.

This is a great read with wonderful artwork by the team of Alan Davis and inker Mark Framer. I love all of Alan Davis' work, both his writing and his art. For my money, it really doesn't get much better. I celebrate the man's entire catalog.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4.5 out of 5.

The OCD zone- Standard fare Marvel trade paperback.

Paper rating: 5 out of 5. Nice thick coated stock paper.

Binding rating: 4 out of 5. Glued binding.

Cardstock cover coating rating: 5 out of 5. The usual high quality laminated coating on the cardstock cover.

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Review- ACTS OF VENGEANCE CROSSOVERS OMNIBUS

ACTS OF VENGEANCE CROSSOVERS OMNIBUS (Marvel, 2011; Hardcover)

Collects Alpha Flight Nos. 79, 80, Damage Control Nos. 1-4, Daredevil Nos. 275, 276, Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme Nos. 11-13, Fantastic Four Nos. 334-336, Incredible Hulk No. 363, Marc Spector: Moon Knight Nos. 8-10, New Mutants Nos. 84-86, Power Pack No. 53, Punisher Nos. 28, 29, Punisher War Journal Nos. 12, 13, Uncanny X-Men Nos. 256-258, Web of Spider-Man Nos. 64, 65, Wolverine Nos. 19, 20, and the Apocalypse back-up story from X-Factor No. 50 (cover dates December, 1989- June, 1990)

Writers: Walter Simonson, Archie Goodwin, Roy Thomas, Dann Thomas, Peter David, Mike Baron, Carl Potts, Chuck Dixon, Ann Nocenti, Terry Austin, James D. Hundall, Louise Simonson, Chris Claremont, Dwayne McDuffie, and Gerry Conway

Artists: Rich Buckler, Ron Lim, John Byrne, Jackson Guice, Jeff Purves, Jim Lee, Ernie Colon, Rob Liefeld, Paul Smith, Alex Saviuk, Mike DeCarlo, Klaus Janson, Marie Severin, Mark Farmer, Al Milgrom, Tom Palmer, Al Williamson, Bret Blevins, Bob Wiaceck, Joseph Rubinstein, and others

I really enjoyed the core of this crossover which was collected in the Acts of Vengeance Omnibus. This book collects the odds and ends of the event, including the “epilogue” battle between Graviton, Brothers Grimm, Goliath, Thundra, and Trapster against Spider-Man in Web of Spider-Man Nos. 64 and 65. Marvel really caters to the completist rather than the mythological mainstream bookstore buyer that DC keeps on chasing, and god bless 'em for it. Marvel's collected editions are exhaustively researched and amazingly complete. DC's often omits covers, for chrissakes.

Many of these issues are mediocre, although there is some gold in this sand. The aforementioned Web of Spider-Man, Power Pack, Doctor Strange, and Alpha Flight issues all rank as highlights for me. The Moon Knight, Punisher, and Wolverine issues were also highly entertaining. Others, such as the second Damage Control mini-series, will be skipped over when I re-read this book in the future. The writer of that title, the late Dwayne McDuffie, would go on to do vastly superior work on Fantastic Four and the Ben 10 Alien Force cartoon. 

The worst issues in the book are probably the favorite of the under 30 crowd: the Uncanny X-Men issues with the idiotic Claremont/Lee collaboration which turned Psylocke from a British telepath from the UK Captain Britain strip to an Asian ninja. This is asinine and has never been undone. Ninjas in general are often lame, and ruining a perfectly good character when you could just create a new character is just plain dumb. 

Is that Robin? Nope, it's Jubilee. Artwork by the overrated Jim Lee.

Also horrendous is Jubilee, whose color scheme is just like Robin's. Yes, Robin, as in Batman and Robin. Horrendous costume designs were just coming into vogue during this time and would last for the better part of the '90s. I find Jim Lee to be the most overrated artist in the history of comic books. He's okay, but people act like he is the lord and savior of comic book artists. He still sells, so I am in the minority, but in my opinion he is a huge part of the problem with comic books, not the solution. 

Is this an essential, must-own book? No way, Jose. Is this a fun, albeit uneven, read of one of Marvel's earliest crossovers? Absolutely positively. There is some good writing and good artwork throughout the book, but that's all it is: good. Never really good, or even very good. Strictly second and third gear stuff. If you go into this book with that in mind and read this book in small doses you will enjoy it. I couldn't plow through more than five issues at a time. I quit comics as this crossover was gaining steam and didn't come back until the early aughts. Read whatever you want into that.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3.5 out of 5. 

The OCD zone- I love the Marvel Omnibus format. It may seem like I don't review a lot of them, but that is because they take forever to get through. This beast was over 750 pages. I probably have two dozen more unread Omniboo in my backlog waiting to be read.

Linework restoration rating: 5 out of 5. Much of the artwork in here is just okay, but it is flawlessly presented here in its mediocre glory.

Color restoration rating: 5 out of 5. Rest easy, folks: Rob Liefeld's New Mutants have received the hi-def treatment.

Paper rating: 5 out of 5. Beautiful thick coated stock with a slight sheen. These Chinese made books smell fantastic, the result of ink made from compounds of asbestos tiles, mercury from recalled thermometers, and lead paint chips. Once mixed with the final ingredient, the tears of the Chinese children working the sweatshop printing presses, you get an aroma that is delectable. The paper is also great, likely sourced from virgin Amazon rainforest trees. China's complete lack of respect for the environment is our gain, at least pertaining to the wonderful, toxic aroma of this book.

Binding rating: 5 out of 5. Like all late 2007-on Marvel Omnibus hardcovers, this has sewn binding. The casing is not glued square to the spine, allowing for a considerable amount of flex. The book lays perfectly flat from the first page to the last. 

Review- MARVEL MASTERWORKS: DOCTOR STRANGE VOL. 1

MARVEL MASTERWORKS: DOCTOR STRANGE VOL. 1 (Marvel, 2010; First softcover printing)

Collects the Doctor Strange stories from Strange Tales Nos. 110, 111, 114-141 and the main story from Amazing Spider-Man Annual No. 2 (cover dates July, 1963- February, 1966)

Writers: Stan Lee, Steve Ditko (plotter), and Don Rico (issue 129)

Artist: Steve Ditko

This is 320 pages of prime Silver Age goodness by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. You don't need me to talk you into buying this, you should need me to try and talk you out of buying it. But I won't, because there is no reason any self respecting comic book fan shouldn't have this on their bookshelf. I had only read three of the stories before buying this book, so don't feel bad. There is still time to save yourself and bask in the glory of Steve Ditko's psychedelic acid trip, Doctor Strange. 

I love how Doctor Strange starts out not as the Master of the Mystic Arts, but as the Master of Black Magic. There are changes to the character as the strip progresses, but like all Marvel Comics of this era they are logically explained and are believable. Doctor Strange's signature Cloak of Levitation is presented as a gift from the Ancient One for freeing him from a curse, etc.

I love Stan Lee's ongoing, seemingly endless plotlines. The story arc that features the pact between the Dread Dormammu and Baron Mordo, which leads Doctor Strange to discover Eternity, is epic. If Ditko did not use hallucinogens, then he stared at Dali paintings or other surrealistic pictures long enough to learn those lessons. The dimension that Doctor Strange travels through are trippy to say the least. 

The OCD zone- While I admittedly have a hardcover with sewn binding fetish, these softcover Masterworks are really, really nice. They boast state of the art remastering. This looks even better than the existing hardcover versions, with the original color palette restored, and the linework painstakingly restored from superior film/file sources. Consider this the Blu-Ray version. I also love the paper used in these softcover Masterworks. It is a coated stock of reasonable thickness with a dull matte finish. I like this paper even more than the stock used in the hardcovers, believe it or not! Another great thing about these softcovers is that there is a good deal of flex. They lay flat in your hand like a giant periodical. Wonderful.

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