I read tons of Marvel comics as a kid, but never really connected with Dr. Strange. I think by that time, artists other than Steve Ditko had come on board and I just wasn't too jazzed about the artwork. (It was always the artwork with me back then. Of course it could be that the first time I picked up one of my brother's comics I hadn't yet learned to read.)
Anyway, a couple of months ago I read Blake Bell's excellent Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko and really got into his work on Dr. Strange. Shortly after, I found The Essential Doctor Strange on sale at an outlet mall and bought it.
This large (over 600 pages) volume includes all of the Dr. Strange stories from Strange Tales from issues 110, 111 and 114-168. (Albeit in black and white)
If you only know Ditko through his work on The Amazing Spider-Man, you haven't seen his best stuff. Ditko's Dr. Strange is so wacked out (even for the 1960s) you can't even describe it. There's so much weird stuff floating around, dimensions within dimensions, worlds within worlds, out-of-body experiences....you name it. Ditko drew Dr. Strange in Strange Tales through issue #146. After that, the stories were bounced around to a variety of other artists, none of whom had anything close to Ditko's vision.
The stories themselves are nothing to write home about. Strange throws a few spells at his arch-enemy Baron Mordo, then tricks him with some spell Mordo forgot about, etc. Pretty thin stuff, but the artwork is amazing. I haven't come close to reading all of the Dr. Strange stories beyond this volume, but I can't imagine that any other artist has come close to matching Ditko's standard. If you're into Silver Age artwork, pick up this one.
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