So begins the marketing for Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme, Marvel Studio’s latest release.
Let me begin by saying that Doctor Strange and I have a long relationship. I first discovered him in the waiting room of my orthodontist back in 1979. It was actually an issue of The Hulk that guest starred The Defenders, an informal superhero team led by the good Doctor. It was the good Doctor that stuck out in the story. I was strangely attracted to the character. Pun intended.
I went to the local bookstore (B. Dalton’s, this was in the days before the Borders, Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million megastores) and managed to find a paperback that Marvel had published a few years before reprinting his first 18 stories. Man, did I love that book. I reread it countless times. Imagine my dismay after my dog tore it to pieces. With my Mom’s help, I eventually located another copy, bless her soul. Eventually I would spend a great deal of money (for someone in their early teens) getting my hands on everything that so much as mentioned the Doctor.
OK, that’s my history with the character. The Doctor himself has a fairly rich history going back more than four decades. His modest beginnings was as a five-page back up story in a magazine called Strange Tales, (I’ve never confirmed if the magazine title influenced the name, but most seem to think this so.) sharing the pages with the hot headed member of the fantastic four, The Human Torch. Strange’s stories would eventually grow to full ten page adventures and would go from back up to co-headliner. The Torch would leave the book to be replaced with super-spy Nick Fury, but the Doctor remained. It would take 35 issues before he got his own cover. Ironically, it would be the last issue that Steve Ditko drew. No artist would ever truly recapture the trippy other-dimensional feel that Ditko imparted on the series, but a few would come close.
Strange tales was eventually split into two titles with Nick Fury starting a new book at issue one, and our resident sorcerer retaining the Strange Tales numbering. Both would run for 15 issues and then be canceled. The story started in the Doctor’s final issue was finished off, without explanation, in an issue of Namor, The Sub-Mariner and finally, The Hulk (not the issue I discovered at the orthodontist). It seemed as if the Doctor had retired for good. But you can’t keep a good sorcerer down.
A year after retirement, the Doctor reappeared at the birth of The Defenders. It was supposed to be a superhero with a slightly different concept. These were a bunch of B-list heroes that would get together when needed and then go their separate ways when the threat was over. While the Doc’s Manhattan brownstone served as their headquarters, their were no heroes on patrol, no rooms filled with monitors watching the activity of the world and no direct lines to the president. It appears that the price of Doc’s currency was rising. He would take over a book called Marvel Premiere for 11 issues (including one that was mostly old stories reprinted) and then get his own series again for the first time in five years. It was around this time that the stories got truly cosmic. The Marvel Premiere run consisted of two story arcs. The first was a Lovecraftian inspired epic about the return of a cosmic obscenity after many thousands of years. It would end with the Doctor having to kill his mentor, The Ancient One and inheriting the title Sorcerer Supreme. The second arc would have him (possibly) meet God. Once regaining his own series, he would die himself, only to be reborn as someone immortal who would not age. This is actually very convenient for a long lived character. You have the problem of characters like members of the Fantastic Four who fought in World War II but are still alive and kicking today despite the fact that they’d have to be in their eighties. (Marvel invented a sliding time scale to cope with this and no longer pins stories to years.) Or take Franklin Richards, who was born in 1968, but is still a toddler. Doctor Strange doesn’t need a sliding time scale. He can be around and looking all masculine for as long as is needed. Also, the good Doc died and came back to life before it was the fashionable thing to do!
Maintaining a solo series would be a problem for the Doctor/Sorcerer. His second series would last 81 issues (but was bi-monthly for most of its run, so this would amount to about 12 years) before he would be regulated to sharing a book called Strange Tales once again. This time his partners in fighting crime would be the mysterious team of superpowered teens called Cloak and Dagger. Unlike his run during the sixties, the Doctor and Cloak and Dagger would meet in a book length story. A number of people criticized this period, but I felt the character experienced huge growth during the 19-issue Strange Tales run. He would be forced to kill, forced to use black magic, betray an old and dear friend and join his dead mentor’s rival to defeat the evil behind the scenes. It turns out that the puppet master is the Lovecraftian horror from the Marvel Premier run. He destroys the immensely powerful creature and gains a measure of justice for the death of his mentor.
Soon afterward, he would gain a new solo series that would run for 90 issues over about eight years. There were some questionable artists and writers that affected the quality of the stories. Toward the end, Marvel would start to subcontract scripting and artistic chores on all its books and the Doctor would completely loose his way. Towards the end, he would loose his powers and gain new ones on a regular basis. There were several costume changes, but the only true improvement to his look was going from a mustache to a goatee. Unfortunately, this series ended on a down note.
Several mini series would follow: the somewhat interesting Flight of Bones, the apocryphal retelling of Strange’s origin, Strange and the fairly good but not overly spectacular The Oath. The Doctor serves as a guest in a number of other Marvel series. This tends to be a problem as he is generally nothing more than a Deus Ex Machina device for these stories. Only time will tell if a writer/artist team with the talent required to properly handle this character will ever be assembled again.
Now onto the movie. This is the fourth release in Marvel’s series of animated features. Given the above, you can probably imagine how much I anticipated this. Naturally I was somewhat disappointed when finally saw it. The story suffers from the usual problems with the first release of a franchise. It has to have a compelling plot and tell the character’s origin. For Doctor Strange this is particularly difficult. Stephen Strange didn’t get bitten by a radioactive bug, or get hit by a drum filled with radioactive waster or fly through radioactive space with inadequate shielding. (Stan Lee must have had a hard on for radioactivity. Then again it was the middle of the cold war and the nuclear threat was an ever present one.) He had to study for a long time. His initial eight page origin story would be expanded on twice with this mini story turned onto a full page tome during his first (Strange Tales renamed) series and later further expanded on in the second series where we would learn that the Doc spent seven years studying under The Ancient One. (In case you’re wondering, in 44 years, The Ancient One’s name is never revealed.) In the movie, you can get a sense of time passing, but since the major threat is present from the beginning of the movie it can only be a matter of a few months at best. As the Ancient One dies near the end of the movie, rather than sticking around for 10 years of comic book time (plus the seven years of study as Doctor Strange was started with him already in the sorcerer business and the origin presented as a flashback) there is no chance for the father/son relationship they was so important in the books to develop. With the addition of a small sorcerer army, the relationship is more boss/employee.
The origin also draw heavily on the Matrix inspired Strange re-imagining of the character’s beginning. In his classic incarnation, the Doctor starts out as an asshole, plain and simple. Thus, the Doctor’s origin is a story of redemption Both this retelling and the movie try to delve into the Doctor’s pre-medical days, give him some pre-existing “good” characteristics that make him somewhat less of a dick. This severely dilutes the redemption. In the comic book, the first sign of any redemptive characteristics in Strange’s character is when he attempts to warn the Ancient One that his student, Baron Mordo, is planning to betray him. This is missing from the movie, though is present in the Strange mini series to some degree.
The crucial turning point in the Doctor’s life is when he has an automobile accident that causes nerve damage and he looses the fine control needed for neurosurgery. In the classic origin there is no explanation given. It is just an accident. In the first retelling, it is revealed that Strange is thinking about trying to land a rich woman as a client/patient and causes the accident with inattention and a high rate of speed. It’s ironic and actually improves the story. It was only spoiled by Roy Thomas’ horrible dialog. The Matrix/Strange origin recasts the Doctor as a cosmetic surgeon, thus losing the critical, lifesaving role this selfish jerk plays in the world. And the car accident is replaced by a ski accident. It looses a great deal of its importance. In the movie, Strange is a neurosurgeon once again, but the accident is caused by images placed in his head by the oncoming enemy, rather than his own greed. It’s a compromise between the two, but the story stands this way, even if it’s impact is somewhat blunted.
As for the rest of the movie, it starts with a wonderful tribute to the classic second series. Two sewer workers are attacked by an unknown force. This began a story arc in the books about an other dimensional creature called the Dweller in Darkness. Here, it is a prelude to an invasion by the demon Dormmamu. (Put the emphasis on the second syllable.) The creature is pursued by a small army of sorcerers led by Baron Mordo. In the books, Mordo and Strange were the only students. The Ancient One has a closer and more personal relationship with his students. Here it’s the Marvel version of Hogwarts and the nameless Ancient One is an Asian Dumbledore.
During this battle, Strange is able to see through the spell cast to conceal the battle. Though he technically had no encounters with sorcery before meeting the Ancient One, in a badly received retcon of his origin late in the final regular series, it turns out that Stephen Strange was destined to become Sorcerer Supreme and Mordo had been attacking him eight years old. In the ultimate insult, Mordo’s subtle attacks had damaged him so bad that the car accident was revealed to be a suicide attempt.
The movie continues with a slice of Strange’s life. He is forced to attend to some child patients in the hospital’s coma ward. An encounter with one puts visions of the enemy in his head. (This is what leads to the crucial car accident described above.) Incidently, the design for Dormmamu is horrible. He is a devil like, goat headed, horned thing here. In the books he was a simply guy in a funky suit with a flaming head. Ditko wasn’t elaborate in his design, but it was unique and not something from a previous mythology.
So where were we? Oh yeah, Strange just fucked up his hands in an accident. He goes traveling all over the world looking for a cure and exhausting his fortune. Of course, nothing works. In the books, he hears about the Ancient One who can cure any disease. In the movie, when all is seemingly gone, he attempts to commit suicide and is rescued by Ancient One student, Wong. (Looks like the suicide from that horrible mid nineties arc was liked by someone.) Wong tells him to go to Tibet, where he went of his own initiative in the books.
The movie introduces the character of April Strange. She was the Doctor’s sister and apparently had a neurological problem that no other Doctor would touch. When he graduated from medical school, he attempted to operate on her, but she died on his table. This emotional scar was not present in the books and very little of Strange’s family is ever revealed. Rather, the Ancient One must dig for the spark of goodness and fan it into a flame. Mordo’s betrayal, as far as we can tell caused him to commit his first selfless act ever.
As the Ancient One and Wong attempt to goad Strange toward spiritual healing, Baron Mordo’s army fights a number of battles with the minions of Dormmamu. They loose a bunch along the way. (There’s a lot of death in this movie.) This where the whole “time compression” thing comes in. The menace existed before Strange’s accident, attempted cures, and trip to Tibet. That alone would have taken a number of months, all the while, the menace grows. In the books, the training takes at least seven years, before Strange returns to America and sets up shop in NYC. Here it can’t be more than a year. How good could he have gotten?
Here, Strange’s training consists of breaking down walls that are rebuilt overnight each time he completes his task. Like in the books, he gets frustrated and attempts to leave. In the book, snow makes the trails impassable and Strange is forced to stay. In the movie, Strange does leave, but the Ancient One “prods” him along, by reliving April’s death with him. Forcing him to stay and commit the selfless deed seems more effective. I like it better when Strange is an arrogant prick, rather than a confused jerk.
Strange returns to his training, which still consists of breaking down stone walls. Meanwhile, Mordo takes the army out to deal with some more creatures in NYC. The creatures are pretty much funky lizards. A one hundred foot Gecko may be a scary sight, but it lacks originality (again). This gives the Ancient One an opportunity for some one on one quality time with the Doc. Here, he basically tells him to not believe everything he’s believed all his life and a few mystically conjured swords later, Doc has found religion. The most annoying thing happens next. The Ancient One heals Stephen’s hands. This NEVER happened in the books. The Doc always had a slight shake in his hands and it even provided a minor plot point in an story where his wife is visiting a formal rival disguised as him. She notices the hands not shaking. There are many charges of Doc as deus ex machina. Having some limitations (healing flesh like that is beyond the power of sorcery in the books) is important. Fighting God every issue would get tiresome very quickly.
Right after Doc’s revelation and the laying on of hands, Mordo is informed that he is not next in line for Sorcerer Supreme. In the movie, Mordo is an asshole, but is on the right side until he feels he’s been abandoned by The Ancient One. The seeds of betrayal are sewn rather quickly. While in the books, Mordo was evil from the start and even had an evil grandfather to help this along. Next, Stevie discovers a hidden talent. He can absorb his enemy’s strength and turn it against him. Is the Doc a mutant sorcerer?
Wong is now training the Doc and we see lots of Karate Kid like moments with some martial arts. Doc then shaves (finally) and the next time we see him he’s wearing a really bitching coat. Most of the design in the movie is uninspired, but I really want that coat. Armed with the bitching coat and cool new haircut, the AO and the gang travel to NYC where the group has their Sanctum Sanctorum. It hold “The Nexus. The Center of all realities.” (This seems to mirror the Man-Thing plot device of a similar name.) Years and years and years ago, Dormmamu was driven back by the Ancient One and the route back to earth was sealed. Clever Doc thinks he’s trying to get through by using all the comatose children. He goes to them, accompanied by Baron Mordo. Doc begins to wake the children up by rescuing their souls, but the Baron manages to talk with The Goat Headed One and strikes a deal.
This is, of course, followed by loads of sword and sorcery type fights with uninspired creatures from other dimensions. Right before the final battle, Mordo kills the Ancient One. Now this is a major bone I need to pick. The Ancient was involved in the comic book line of stories for ten years. In his final story arc, we learn that an ancient evil is trying to enter our world through his mind. Ultimately, it comes down to Strange needing to make a painful choice. He must kill the Ancient One himself or let the evil enter and conquer earth.
The inevitable fight between Mordo and Strange occurs. Of course Strange wins and Dormmamu simply pushes him aside as punishment for failure. In the final battle between Dormmamu and Strange, the most obviously telegraphed maneuver occurs as Strange uses his “mutant” ability to absorb his enemy’s power to defeat the creature of pure magic. Once it’s all over, only Strange and Wong are still alive. After visiting April Strange’s grave, they set up shop at the Sanctum to build a new army. A promising recruit name Clea has presented herself…
There it is in a nutshell. I think the movie was too ambitious and was bound to disappoint. It certainly wasn’t bad as a stand alone story, but when viewed in the light of the character’s history, it is pale indeed. Perhaps a sequel, not burdened with the telling of an origin will be an improvement.
One last bone to pick is with the character of Wong. Besides the Ancient One (and first villain Nightmare), he is the only character that was present in the very first story. Throughout the history, he is a manservant, marshal arts trainer, confidante and later business partner. He has never been a sorcerer. He descends from a family who trains specifically to serve the Sorcerer Supreme. His father was a servant to The Ancient One. That relationship has been important to the series and is also significantly altered here.
With all that being said. If you get a chance to see it, take the opportunity.
Tags: Comic Books, DVD, Doctor Strange, Entertainment by Dean
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