|
| Essential Doctor Strange, Vol. 2 (Marvel Essentials) | 
| Authors: Roy Thomas, Dan Adkins, Gene Colan
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Category: Book
List Price: $16.99
Buy New: $3.65
You Save: $13.34 (79%)
New (36) from $3.65
Avg. Customer Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 297600
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 608
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 10 x 6.7 x 1.6
ISBN: 0785116680
Dewey Decimal Number: 741.5973
EAN: 9780785116684
ASIN: 0785116680
Publication Date: March 23, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Ships immediately! Perfect and New! 2005 Paperback.
|
| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 1-5 of 10 | | NEXT » |
The Last Stories Make It September 5, 2008
The Marvel Essential series puts monochrome versions of its comic-book series in trade paperbacks. These provide the "essential" artwork and the stories.
Doing any story about a real magician (i.e., one who wields actual magical forces) is difficult, as anything can happen in such stories, particularly in comic books. The Doctor Strange character is even more difficult to handle, as he often travels to other "dimensions," sometimes referred to as "planes" by some mystics.
From what Stan Lee wrote elsewhere, the character evolved in part from feedback by scholars who wondered the origins of some of the mystic phrases uttered by the magical characters. In time, even the writers even understood that "black magic" meant stuff full of negativity, rsther than just "magic."
Toward the end of the book, two sequences tended to elevate the character from being just another comicbook superhero. The first was a storyline "based on Robert E. Howard" concepts. Actually, Robert E. Howard was writing stories that were part of H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, and so the sequence was ultimately influenced by Lovecraft. Eventually, the story progresses tio the ultimate menace, an extradimensional entity known as Shuma-Gorath. How Strange ultimately deals with this menace elevates him to the rank of Sorcerer Supreme. By this time, Frank Brunner has become the principal artist, and the story raises its sights, metaphycically.
The final sequence in the book is the best, with Dr. Strange and his human archenemy, Baron Mordo, contending with Cagliostro, who turns out to be somebody else. The actual person, they learn, is an ultrapowerful magician from the future who has a mind-boggling ambition. Since what he might achieve could change the entire cosmos, both Mordo and Strange accompany the other magician as he executes his plan. The ultimate outcome is rather spiritual, and the highpoint of the book.
For those interested in the storylines, the best part of the book is these latter stories, which are likely to be the only ones a reader will remember.
 Black & white reprints of classic four-color comics...? April 22, 2008
1 out of 7 found this review helpful
I honestly don't get the appeal of these books. Why bother making (or reading) black & white reprints of classic four-color comics...? I mean, yeah, the stories are still great and the original comics are hard to find, but a huge part of what made these comics great was the eye-popping artwork, including the bright primary colors: reading them in dull B&W is just plain wrong. Sure, the printing costs are lower, so you can get more pages for your money, but it's more pages of boring, not more pages of fun. It's really a travesty.
This is particularly true of these old Doctor Strange stories, which had utterly fabulous artwork: you *think* you're reading the stories in this format, but you're really not. Not by a longshot.
On the other hand, it recently occurred to me that these could be used as coloring books... Maybe you could buy a box of crayons to go along with all the artwork that the publishers ruined in this format. (Axton)
 A pretty decent Doctor strange collection April 5, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
It's pretty good but most of the storys follow a formula and i found the caracter of doctor strange to be a little boring. The storys are entertaing but they wont rox your sox and there are better Marvel Essentials out there. All in All, it's ok. Worth reading, but a little forgetable.
The desert wasteland after Ditko finally leads to an oasis March 30, 2008
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
If you noticed a slow and steady decline in the quality of Doctor Strange stories toward the end of Essential Doctor Strange vol. 1, don't expect relief to come early on in this volume. While we've seen the last of abysmal stories like the one where Doctor Strange battles a corny mad scientist and his monsters on an alien planet, it takes this volume an incredibly long time to hit its stride. Fortunately, Essential Doctor Strange vol. 2 does eventually get there.
This volume begins with the start of Strange's first (short-lived) series. While one would expect this to be an exciting time to be reading the adventures of the good doctor, the stories are only pale imitations of what Steve Ditko already did best in the first volume. The cosmic battles are neither as exciting, well-executed, nor visually interesting, and yet Roy Thomas keeps conjuring up cosmic villains, new and old, in an attempt to repeat the success found when Strange faced off against Dormammu and encountered the likes of Eternity and the Living Tribunal. The fact is that Ditko had already taken the cosmic theme as far as he could. Strange had already encountered the most impossibly powerful forces in the most impossibly abstract dimensions. To attempt to repeat this was futile. And while Thomas's tenure on Doctor Strange was not completely devoid of entertainment (I found the New Year's Eve story quite touching in some respects), it was a delay in the necessary development of the Doctor Strange premise. Clearly, a new conceptual direction was needed, but all Thomas could provide was a new (quickly discarded) costume.
Fortunately, the Marvel Premiere stories waste no time in taking Doctor Strange in new directions. In Marvel Premiere #4, Archie Goodwyn takes Doctor Strange out of his Sanctum Sanctorum and out on the road, trotting the globe in search of the occult and taking on human companions when necessary. Sure it's a bit corny and reminiscent of Scooby-Doo, but it allows Goodwyn and later writers to expand the scope of the traditional Doctor Strange story. No longer just abstract battles between the Doctor and some evil cosmic entity, Doctor Strange stories were now free to introduce carefully laid plots and make better use of supporting cast and setting, all grounded in reality but free to ascend into astral occult as need be. Unfortunately, after only one issue, Goodwyn turns the reigns over to Gardner Fox, a legend of the Silver Age, but a man out of place in a bronze age title. His continuation of the same sweeping story arc feels a bit more campy and non-senseical, frequently contradicting itself and misunderstanding aspects of the Doctor Strange mythos. Still, it's far better reading than much of what came after Ditko and before this.
Finally, in Marvel Premiere #9, on the tenth anniversary of Doctor Strange's first appearance, the reigns are turned over to writer Steve Englehart and penciller/co-plotter Frank Brunner. With Roy Thomas using his past experience on the character to guide them as editor, Englehart and Brunner transformed Strange, bringing back Ditko's cosmic struggles, but with a far wiser, more introspective, and surprisingly spiritual Stephen Strange serving as protagonist. Under their guidance, Doctor Strange stories no longer needed to depend solely upon how easily a cosmic opponent can destroy the Earth. Instead, it's Doctor Strange's reactions that make the adventure worth experiencing. How does the good doctor react to having to kill his mentor in order to save the world? How does he react when confronting a time-traveling god that can reshape the very history of mankind? You'll just have to read volume 2 in order to find out.
Though some of the earlier stories in this volume will feel tiresome, The last few stories are the ones that truly make this volume worthwhile. Read Essential Doctor Strange volume 2 to experience the beginning of a new, bolder, and more character-intensive era for Stephen Strange. Essential Volume 1 may have shown you the beginning, but this is where the modern day Doctor Strange truly begins.
Graphic SF Reader September 2, 2007
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Fabulous and trippy. Some of Colan the master's best, work. Thomas was no slouch with the incantation, either! I love the magic, and his art and that whole vibe it had going. Almost wants to make you run away and study under the Ancient One. There is no doubt Colan is best in black and white, so this is fabulous.
|
|
|
Wildlife, nature and the Environment
Sponsored Links
Learn how to get your own Amazon Book shop | |
