The WONDROUS WORLD Of DOCTOR STRANGE SPINS MAD...

Copyright MARVEL COMICS

So where were we...?  Ah, yes, the Tricorn Centre in Portsmouth, sometime in 1981, which is where I associate two books in particular.  Namely, the Simon & Schuster (Fireside) volumes The Amazing Spider-Man (which we saw in a previous post) and Doctor Strange Master Of The Mystic Arts (above), both originally published in 1979.  I think I was already aware of these books, having seen them in a shop in Glasgow (possibly Second Foundation in Candleriggs or/and the Virgin Megastore in Union Street), but my association is stronger with Portsmouth as I actually leafed through them when I spotted them on, I think, a spinner-rack in a shop in The Tricorn.  I likely saw them again later back home, but I decided to take the plunge and buy them only recently, though there's a story behind the Doctor Strange softcover, with which I may regale you at a future date.

Like its Spider-Man, Captain America, and Fantastic Four companion volumes (the latter two already in my possession when I saw Spidey and the Doc publications), this is a relatively slim book, though it has some nice stories contained within.  My favourite one is probably 'The Wondrous World(s) Of Doctor Strange', which I saw for the first time in the 1968 (Pow! Smash!) Fantastic Summer Special given to me by a classmate around 1969.  The Special presented the tale in a resized b&w format more appropriate to its larger dimensions, so the book was the first time I'd seen the story in colour.  It had been newly coloured and didn't reproduce the original pallette (apart from the main two protagonists' costumes, obviously) and it looked very atmospheric.  Unfortunately, I can't open the book wide enough to scan without risk of damage, so you'll have to settle for the original King Size Annual pages.

The Annual cover wasn't included in the S&S book - I threw it in as a bonus

I later mildly regretted not buying the books in 1981, but the Spider-Man and Doctor Strange team-up reappeared in an issue of Marvel Tales around the mid-'80s, so I obtained the story that way.  Then there were Marvel Masterworks and Omnibus editions, etc., which also reprinted it over the years, so I've got it several times over now.  The other story that's worth having is the Barry Smith illustrated 'While The World Spins Mad!', though it never particularly impressed me at the time.  Like the other one, I now have various reprints of that tale too, one at least in an individual issue (Marvel Milestones) and also in various collected editions.  At that time (1972) it was the last Doctor Strange story ever scripted by Stan Lee (plot was by Smith) and what follows after the pics is what he had to say about it in his introduction.

Neither was the above cover in the book, but I like to spoil you Crivs

'It marks the very last Dr. Strange story that I ever wrote.  As a matter of fact, I had already stopped writing the awesome adventures of our peerless prestidigitator a few years earlier, but for some reason, I very much wanted to script this particular yarn.'  In 2006, Stan returned to Doctor Strange for an issue of a limited series called Stan Lee Meets, wherein he met several Marvel superheroes, each new tale scripted by Stan himself, with a reprint of an earlier tale by Stan as a back-up.  The Smith-plotted and illustrated tale was the back-up in the Strange issue, so if you want the last two Doctor Strange stories scripted by Stan (in one issue too), that's the one you need to seek out on eBay if you don't already own it.  The new Stan Lee Meets stories were reprinted in a collected edition, though not the back-up tales.

Anyway, Crivs, I rabbited on longer than I intended so I'll shut up now.  As ever, don't forget where the comments section is if you have something interesting to say (and even if you don't.)