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Home page Highlights,
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Cosmic KC by Stuart Immonen
a KC COLUMN by KC Carlson
Doctor odd fights alongside the Defenders.
It’s very odd to see doctor odd in the spotlight lately, after decades of being one of Marvel’s a lot of obscure and arcane characters. even his arguably a lot of visible role wasn’t even in the pages of his own ongoing series; it was when he was the default (and typically reluctant) leader of The Defenders, especially during the earliest years of that series, where the Doctor’s popular house (alliteratively named the Sanctum Sanctorum, by Stan Lee — of course) became the Defenders’ de facto headquarters.
Better known as “Magician” (at least to the extraordinary Hulk), doctor odd is now in his fifth separate self-titled series (although one of those “series” is only four issues long). For a soon-to-be-feature-starring hero, his launch was distinctly under the radar.
Doctor odd first appeared in odd Tales #110 though you wouldn’t know it from the cover.
The character first debuted wayyyy back in odd Tales #110 in 1963 — as a five-page back-up feature by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko in a story that isn’t even pointed out on the cover of that issue. That set a pattern for his next few stories. He appeared again in the next issue (again, only five pages and no cover appearance), only to then disappear until odd Tales #114 and another five-page story. doctor odd then starts appearing frequently in odd Tales — and in issue #115, we saw his origin for the first time in an expanded eight-page story! (Still not pointed out on the cover yet, though!)
While pointed out on the previous issue’s cover, odd Tales #118 is the first time an image of doctor odd appears on a cover.
Doctor odd was finally first pointed out on the cover of odd Tales #117 and got a tiny headshot on #118. Eventually, the good doctor keeps getting story pages until, by the time of the Human Torch (and the Thing’s) ousting from odd Tales in #134 (to make way for the new marvel spy series Nick Fury, agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. starting in #135), his page count is up to 10 per story, where it stayed until Ditko leaves the series (and Marvel) in issue #146.
THE mystery OF THE actual CREATOR
Also significant in odd Tales #135 is that artist Steve Ditko begins officially getting a plotting credit. At the time, fans had suspected that Ditko had been heavily plotting doctor odd considering that the beginning of the series. According to Ditko, he presented the original five-page story from odd Tales #110 in pencil form to Lee as his own original idea. The official credit scores for the earliest doctor odd stories normally separate Lee and Ditko as writer and artist, respectively, but that changes (finally) in #135.
Doctor odd meets Eternity on Ditko’s cover to odd Tales #146
Ditko began being credited as sole plotter for the fifth installment of a enormous (for the era) 17-part story arc in odd Tales #130-146, which introduced the cosmic character Eternity. The last issue of this storyline in #146 was also Ditko’s last issue of the series.
The entire Steve Ditko/Stan Lee run on doctor odd (Strange Tales (1951) #110-111, 114-146, and the remarkable Spider-Man annual (1964) #2) has been collected in the recently released 456-page doctor odd Omnibus volume 1.
SUBHEAD… NOT just HEADS…
Doctor odd battles Baron Mordo and the Human Torch and the thing meet the Beatles in odd Tales #130. sounds like Johnny and Ben got the better deal.
This early Ditko era of the series has been highly inspirational to subsequent artists and writers of the series. It also made a big splash in the media during the 1960s, due to the character’s embrace by the counter-culture (a then-buzzword for college students exploring different lifestyle options and choices). In other words, a lot of students in the 1960s liked to get high on mushrooms or pot and then read Ditko’s doctor Strange, hopefully to enhance the reading experience.
A lot of writers and scholars have considering that pointed out how this run of the series remarkably predicted the counterculture’s interests in psychedelia and Eastern mysticism. Historically, doctor odd has always been one of Marvel’s oddest heroes. depending on the talents of his subsequent chroniclers, the popularity of both the title and the character has waxed and waned depending on both the quality of the creators and the tastes in superheroes of any given comics era.
DECADE BY decade STRANGE
Doctor odd goes superhero and gains a mask for a short time. doctor odd #177 cover by gene Colan and Tom Palmer
Lots of stellar creators tackled doctor odd over the decades, including some historically big names. extraordinary artists and writers who serviced the character include gene Colan and Tom Palmer (better known for their collaboration on tomb of Dracula with writer Marv Wolfman). Roy Thomas wrote the Colan and Palmer run uTHIS, THAT, and other odd things (###) This post is Filed Under:
Home page Highlights,
Interviews and Columns
Cosmic KC by Stuart Immonen
a KC COLUMN by KC Carlson
Doctor odd fights alongside the Defenders.
It’s very odd to see doctor odd in the spotlight lately, after decades of being one of Marvel’s a lot of obscure and arcane characters. even his arguably a lot of visible role wasn’t even in the pages of his own ongoing series; it was when he was the default (and typically reluctant) leader of The Defenders, especially during the earliest years of that series, where the Doctor’s popular house (alliteratively named the Sanctum Sanctorum, by Stan Lee — of course) became the Defenders’ de facto headquarters.
Better known as “Magician” (at least to the extraordinary Hulk), doctor odd is now in his fifth separate self-titled series (although one of those “series” is only four issues long). For a soon-to-be-feature-starring hero, his launch was distinctly under the radar.
Doctor odd first appeared in odd Tales #110 though you wouldn’t know it from the cover.
The character first debuted wayyyy back in odd Tales #110 in 1963 — as a five-page back-up feature by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko in a story that isn’t even pointed out on the cover of that issue. That set a pattern for his next few stories. He appeared again in the next issue (again, only five pages and no cover appearance), only to then disappear until odd Tales #114 and another five-page story. doctor odd then starts appearing frequently in odd Tales — and in issue #115, we saw his origin for the first time in an expanded eight-page story! (Still not pointed out on the cover yet, though!)
While pointed out on the previous issue’s cover, odd Tales #118 is the first time an image of doctor odd appears on a cover.
Doctor odd was finally first pointed out on the cover of odd Tales #117 and got a tiny headshot on #118. Eventually, the good doctor keeps getting story pages until, by the time of the Human Torch (and the Thing’s) ousting from odd Tales in #134 (to make way for the new marvel spy series Nick Fury, agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. starting in #135), his page count is up to 10 per story, where it stayed until Ditko leaves the series (and Marvel) in issue #146.
THE mystery OF THE actual CREATOR
Also significant in odd Tales #135 is that artist Steve Ditko begins officially getting a plotting credit. At the time, fans had suspected that Ditko had been heavily plotting doctor odd considering that the beginning of the series. According to Ditko, he presented the original five-page story from odd Tales #110 in pencil form to Lee as his own original idea. The official credit scores for the earliest doctor odd stories normally separate Lee and Ditko as writer and artist, respectively, but that changes (finally) in #135.
Doctor odd meets Eternity on Ditko’s cover to odd Tales #146
Ditko began being credited as sole plotter for the fifth installment of a enormous (for the era) 17-part story arc in odd Tales #130-146, which introduced the cosmic character Eternity. The last issue of this storyline in #146 was also Ditko’s last issue of the series.
The entire Steve Ditko/Stan Lee run on doctor odd (Strange Tales (1951) #110-111, 114-146, and the remarkable Spider-Man annual (1964) #2) has been collected in the recently released 456-page doctor odd Omnibus volume 1.
SUBHEAD… NOT just HEADS…
Doctor odd battles Baron Mordo and the Human Torch and the thing meet the Beatles in odd Tales #130. sounds like Johnny and Ben got the better deal.
This early Ditko era of the series has been highly inspirational to subsequent artists and writers of the series. It also made a big splash in the media during the 1960s, due to the character’s embrace by the counter-culture (a then-buzzword for college students exploring different lifestyle options and choices). In other words, a lot of students in the 1960s liked to get high on mushrooms or pot and then read Ditko’s doctor Strange, hopefully to enhance the reading experience.
A lot of writers and scholars have considering that pointed out how this run of the series remarkably predicted the counterculture’s interests in psychedelia and Eastern mysticism. Historically, doctor odd has always been one of Marvel’s oddest heroes. depending on the talents of his subsequent chroniclers, the popularity of both the title and the character has waxed and waned depending on both the quality of the creators and the tastes in superheroes of any given comics era.
DECADE BY decade STRANGE
Doctor odd goes superhero and gains a mask for a short time. doctor odd #177 cover by gene Colan and Tom Palmer
Lots of stellar creators tackled doctor odd over the decades, including some historically big names. extraordinary artists and writers who serviced the character include gene Colan and Tom Palmer (better known for their collaboration on tomb of Dracula with writer Marv Wolfman). Roy Thomas wrote the Colan and Palmer run urkable work.
Doctor odd #14, part of the “Blood in the Aether” storyline.
The team is on their third storyline already. “Blood in the Aether” only just started but already looks to bring back a lot of the classic odd opponents that we haven’t already seen.
The first story arc (issues #1-5, beginning in late 2015) was “The way of the Weird”. It’s an exceptional story to remind both old and new readers what doctor odd is all about, as Strange’s neighborhood goes a little whack-a-doodle, and odd need to set everything right. except it’s not as easy as it must be, and it appears that using magic now has a cost. Old and new characters appear, and fun, adventure, and weirdness are the new norm.
Doctor odd #6
Then, in “The Last Days of Magic” (issues 6-10, plus one-shot specials for both odd and Deadpool), the Empirikul (spell that three times fast!) arrive in the marvel Universe, and not even a confab of the MU’s leading mystics — including Scarlet Witch, Shaman, Tailsman, Daimon Hellstrom, Monako, doctor Voodoo, Mahatma Doom, Wong, and even a lot more — can stop some tragic deaths.
Both “The way of the Weird” and “The Last Days of Magic” have (or soon will be) collected in hardcover and softcover volumes. I don’t know about you, but I’m not a big fan of these skinny little collections, so I may hold out for the a lot more attractive oversized hardcover format that must collect several storylines/issues. as of now, there’s no indication of this ever actually happening, but I have faith in the quality of this material that marvel will get there eventually and do a nice, thick oversized hardcover. I can wait…
Doctor odd annual #1
In the meantime, the monthly is remarkable me… uh, every month! It’s not that typically I can say that about a lot of titles. even the fill-ins and extra issues for doctor odd feature folks the caliber of Kevin Nowlan and, in the Annual, an amazing Kathryn Immonen-written story featuring the return of Clea. just around the corner is a second odd book… doctor odd and the Sorcerers supreme debuts very soon (today, in actual fact) after a substantial preview in the aforementioned Annual.
Marvel is looking very odd these days… and it’s all good!
LET’S ALL go to THE LOBBY…
Doctor odd motion picture poster
Many people (including me) are anxiously awaiting the new (and heavily-hyped) doctor odd marvel Studios film opening in the us on November 4 starring Benedict Cumberbatch. (He’ll also appear as odd in Avengers: Infinity War, currently scheduled to be in theaters in may 2018.) a lot of people have probably forgotten that there was a previous doctor odd live-action TV motion picture in 1978, staring Peter Hooten as Strange. That’s probably all for the best…
Doctor odd is also referenced briefly in Tom Wolfe’s The electric Kool-Aid Acid test from 1968. apparently Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters really dug the Doc!
Don’t we all? See you at the movies!
________________________________________
At one time, Frank Miller was announced as the new artist on doctor Strange, though it never pertained to pass. We did get a tantalizing look at what could have been on the cover of doctor odd #46 and in remarkable Spider-Man annual #14.
KC CARLSON: !EGNARTS ROTCOD EVOL I (Whoops! wrong magic words… Uh, oh…)
WESTFIELD COMICS is not responsible for the silly things that KC says. especially that thing that really irritated you. thing a lot of irritating tonight: Rain! Please don’t flood, basement!
Classic covers from the Grand Comics Database.