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Essential Doctor Strange #4
Essential Doctor Strange, Vol. 4
After earning the title of Sorcerer Supreme, Doctor Strange must defend his title, his life and his world against enemies old and new! Dormammu, Silver Dagger, Nightmare, Stygyro and more test Strange's sorcery and sanity!
Collecting DOCTOR STRANGE #30-56; CHAMBER OF CHILLS #4 and MAN-THING #4
Collecting DOCTOR STRANGE #30-56; CHAMBER OF CHILLS #4 and MAN-THING #4
564 pages, Paperback
First published December 10, 1982
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About the author
Roger Stern
1,554 books111 followersRoger Stern is an American comic book author and novelist.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 6, 2016
I think this is my second favorite of the Doctor Strange Essential volumes--my first favorite would be the first, with all the classic Lee/Ditko stories. The high point of this book would probably be the issues with Marshall Rogers and Terry Austin on the art. There's a meticulous quality to Rogers' work that I find appealing. It never feels fussy though. He does incredible detail, but with a feeling of playfulness to it. And Terry Austin's inks make anyone's art look better.
It also helps that most of the book is written by Roger Stern. Comics are often a collaborative art, especially published as open-ended serials. Writers and artists change. But a certain amount of artistic continuity helps with reading extended runs like this. And Stern is one of the better writers of the 70's and early 80's. As is Chris Claremont, who is another excellent writer of the time period. As one who cut his comics collecting teeth on the early 80's X-Men, I admit to a bias when it comes to Claremont (and Terry Austin. And Paul Smith, who takes on the art chores for the last story in this book. ) I did notice that the ending to Claremont's Dr. Strange/Man-Thing story seems a bit ... convenient. Almost deus ex machina, really. And that info dump paragraph on the second to last page ... I suspect the story got away from him and he had to wrap it up more quickly than he would have preferred.
The worst writing in the book, though ... Okay, so Roger Stern wrote a story bringing back a character, Murdoch Adams, who'd appeared in a short story from Chamber of Chills, an early 70's Marvel horror anthology title. The story appears in this Essential volume, which is nice, but the writing is pretty awful. With all due respect to Gardner Fox whose contributions to comics history are legendary, the story is hokey and the dialogue laughable ("It tore the very soul--from out my body! The life has fled from me ... I die!") The artwork is serviceable--from a very young Howard Chaykin--but unremarkable. Definitely not one of Fox's finer moments.
A few random comments: the Dweller in Darkness is probably the closest Marvel could get to H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu without incurring the wrath of Lovecraft's estate. From issue #49: a "tantric exercise"? Doc, you sly dog! And in the issue where Strange is being convinced that he's delusional, fixated on a comic book character, the creators' names, if their appearances don't ring a bell, are anagrams of "Steve Ditko" and "Stan Lee". Nicely done!
As I said, this is one of the better Dr. Strange books that I've read. Definitely recommended!
It also helps that most of the book is written by Roger Stern. Comics are often a collaborative art, especially published as open-ended serials. Writers and artists change. But a certain amount of artistic continuity helps with reading extended runs like this. And Stern is one of the better writers of the 70's and early 80's. As is Chris Claremont, who is another excellent writer of the time period. As one who cut his comics collecting teeth on the early 80's X-Men, I admit to a bias when it comes to Claremont (and Terry Austin. And Paul Smith, who takes on the art chores for the last story in this book. ) I did notice that the ending to Claremont's Dr. Strange/Man-Thing story seems a bit ... convenient. Almost deus ex machina, really. And that info dump paragraph on the second to last page ... I suspect the story got away from him and he had to wrap it up more quickly than he would have preferred.
The worst writing in the book, though ... Okay, so Roger Stern wrote a story bringing back a character, Murdoch Adams, who'd appeared in a short story from Chamber of Chills, an early 70's Marvel horror anthology title. The story appears in this Essential volume, which is nice, but the writing is pretty awful. With all due respect to Gardner Fox whose contributions to comics history are legendary, the story is hokey and the dialogue laughable ("It tore the very soul--from out my body! The life has fled from me ... I die!") The artwork is serviceable--from a very young Howard Chaykin--but unremarkable. Definitely not one of Fox's finer moments.
A few random comments: the Dweller in Darkness is probably the closest Marvel could get to H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu without incurring the wrath of Lovecraft's estate. From issue #49: a "tantric exercise"? Doc, you sly dog! And in the issue where Strange is being convinced that he's delusional, fixated on a comic book character, the creators' names, if their appearances don't ring a bell, are anagrams of "Steve Ditko" and "Stan Lee". Nicely done!
As I said, this is one of the better Dr. Strange books that I've read. Definitely recommended!
June 28, 2016
The only ESSENTIAL DOCTOR STRANGE available in my Library I was hoping this would be the start of the Master of the Mystic arts adventures. However this is volume four and starts quite a way into his second run. This one volume spans from AUG 1978 through to DEC 1982 and covers quite a range of characters and story arcs.
Roger Stern is the writer throughout and creates great continuity throughout the series. Tom Sutton’s Dr Strange sports a cool 70’s mane whilst he reverts to a swept back widow’s peak by the eighties. I think I prefer his look in the early tales. The fights are truly remarkable as there are no rules to physics or even dimensions. A visual treat a lot of the time although the psychedelic nature can get lost in the simple black and white printing.
Not the easiest book to jump into as it can be very continuity heavy in places but the arcs are rewarding and even though the dialogue can be a bit clunky at time there is always a true sense of magic and wonder to the visual imagery.
This will really whet your appetite for the film and is a bargain price too :) recommended
Roger Stern is the writer throughout and creates great continuity throughout the series. Tom Sutton’s Dr Strange sports a cool 70’s mane whilst he reverts to a swept back widow’s peak by the eighties. I think I prefer his look in the early tales. The fights are truly remarkable as there are no rules to physics or even dimensions. A visual treat a lot of the time although the psychedelic nature can get lost in the simple black and white printing.
Not the easiest book to jump into as it can be very continuity heavy in places but the arcs are rewarding and even though the dialogue can be a bit clunky at time there is always a true sense of magic and wonder to the visual imagery.
This will really whet your appetite for the film and is a bargain price too :) recommended
October 20, 2014
The title of my book is called Marvel’s Essential Doctor Strange Vol. 4. The author’s name is Roger Stern. I am liking the book right now. I'm not yet done with the book. I like this book is because it’s a Marvel Comics superhero and in 2016 they are making a movie about the hero.The main setting in the book is manhattan, new york. The main characters in the book is Doctor Stephen Strange a surgical doctor turned sorcerer supreme, and his girlfriend/ wife Clea she is also a magician.
December 24, 2018
Excellent series.
January 13, 2021
Worth the price of admission purely for the art and for fighting Hitler with magic.
November 3, 2024
A great read for any fan of Dr. Strange!
June 19, 2016
Alcune delle storie sono veramente ottime, e tutte degnamente disegnate.
Roger Stern è il principale scrittore, e il suo Dr. Strange è, in effetti, il mio preferito.
Tra i disegnatori troviamo Gene Colan, Marshall Rogers, un paio di prove magnifiche di Michael Golden e infine una di Paul Smith.
Sono tutte storie edite in Italia dalla Corno o dalla Play Press, ma devo dire che in b/n rendono meglio (a parte Golden e Smith) specie Colan.
Roger Stern è il principale scrittore, e il suo Dr. Strange è, in effetti, il mio preferito.
Tra i disegnatori troviamo Gene Colan, Marshall Rogers, un paio di prove magnifiche di Michael Golden e infine una di Paul Smith.
Sono tutte storie edite in Italia dalla Corno o dalla Play Press, ma devo dire che in b/n rendono meglio (a parte Golden e Smith) specie Colan.
February 7, 2016
Beautiful & boring.
March 26, 2017
"At 177A Bleecker Street in New York's Greenwich Village, there is an odd little house.
It seems to stand apart from surrounding buildings, and its architecture is weird... Even for the village.
This is the home of Dr. Stephen Strange.
In the past week it has become his refuge."
Aeegh, so good so emotional so beautiful so sad so scary so raw so evil so exciting so unnerving so brilliant!
Especially the stories 'A time for love, a time for hate!', 'Life-times', 'Alone' and 'To have loved... and lost!' were great, as they built up Stephen's character a lot. I also enjoyed the others very much.
It's strange that Strange's so strange... It's like he has two sides. There's the ruthless, able-to-do-anything, stern Master of the Mystic Arts -side, and then there's the emotional, gentle Stephen somewhere inside that jumble of wards, magic and harshness. I think he's a well done character. He's interesting, and kinda different to most other superheroes I've stumbled upon. Yet he's not over-exaggerated or too complex; he's still the uncomplete, weak human we all are, with an ego greater than it should and too many people believing too much of him.
"In all the world... In all the stars... I feel totally alone!"
It seems to stand apart from surrounding buildings, and its architecture is weird... Even for the village.
This is the home of Dr. Stephen Strange.
In the past week it has become his refuge."
Aeegh, so good so emotional so beautiful so sad so scary so raw so evil so exciting so unnerving so brilliant!
Especially the stories 'A time for love, a time for hate!', 'Life-times', 'Alone' and 'To have loved... and lost!' were great, as they built up Stephen's character a lot. I also enjoyed the others very much.
It's strange that Strange's so strange... It's like he has two sides. There's the ruthless, able-to-do-anything, stern Master of the Mystic Arts -side, and then there's the emotional, gentle Stephen somewhere inside that jumble of wards, magic and harshness. I think he's a well done character. He's interesting, and kinda different to most other superheroes I've stumbled upon. Yet he's not over-exaggerated or too complex; he's still the uncomplete, weak human we all are, with an ego greater than it should and too many people believing too much of him.
"In all the world... In all the stars... I feel totally alone!"
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews