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Uncollected Classics: Doctor Strange by P. Craig Russell

Uncollected Classics is a series of posts focusing on worthy issues or story arcs that haven’t been reprinted in any meaningful way. There’s been a push towards collections of great (and not-so-great) comic work in the last decade, but there’s still a lot out there that remains uncollected.

Dr. Strange
by Marv Wolfman (coplotter, scripter, Annual #1), Marc Andreyko (scripter, What Is It?), P. Craig Russell (coplotter, penciler, inker, colorist, Annual #1; plotter, penciler, inker, What Is It?), Lovern Kindzierski (colorist, What Is It?), John Costanza (letterer, Annual #1,) and Galen Showman (letterer, What Is It?)

Marvel Comics. 2 issues ( Dr. Strange Annual #1; Dr Strange: What Is It That Disturbs You, Stephen?) (1976; October 1997)

Like anyone that’s been reading comics for more than five minutes, I’m a huge fan of Phillip Craig Russell, also known as P. Craig Russell, or by the acronym he often signs under: PCR. His line is smooth and incredibly confident, and draws openly from the Art Nouveau and Romantic fine art traditions. His storytelling is unique but clear, dynamic but never needlessly flashy. He’s often referred to as the most literate of comic book artists, and his body of work bears that out. He’s adapted works by Mozart, Oscar Wilde, H.P. Lovecraft, and, arguably most spectacularly, Richard Wagner, which he did in adapting the Ring of the Nibelung (a massive undertaking consisting of 14 issues across four separate miniseries). He’s also occasionally dipped his foot into the more alternative end of the mainstream comic world, as well as classic super-heroics.

These two stories, one an annual released in the mid ’70s and the other a special that came out in the mid ’90s, show Russell both early on in his career and then later after he’d fully matured. Both stories focus on Dr. Strange, Marvel’s Sorcerer Supreme (Meaning he’s basically responsible for magic. All of it. Tough job.) and on his journey into strange, haunting dimensions, where he fights with an evil sorceress and her demons, solves mysteries, and watches cities crumble only to come back, a little worse for the wear. If it sounds to you like these two stories have a lot in common, you’d be right. In fact, they have more in common than they don’t. Intrigued?

These two comics share a great backstory. I tend to really love a good comic story that has a back history to it, and Dr. Strange Annual #1 and What Is It have definitely got that going for them.

Here it goes. A Dr. Strange story was originally conceived, albeit in a much different form than either of these two, by Russell in 1973. It was envisioned by its creator as a 60-page story, and he drew up the first 20 or so pages. It was accepted by then-editor Roy Thomas…and then promptly sat in a drawer for three years. It was eventually released in a much shortened form (scripted by Marv Wolfman) as Dr. Strange Annual #1. Now fast-forward 20 years to 1996. Writer Marc Andreyko suggested that PCR resubmit it, in a form closer to the original 60-page opus. Russell did, and it was (again) accepted. Russell realized that he’d need to redraw and rethink the whole thing, seeing as two decades had passed. Which he did. And thus was born Dr. Strange: What Is It That Disturbs You Stephen.

Comics, everyone!

The books are enjoyable without all that backstory of course, and I’d recommend giving them a read-through or two just for the great comic stories that they are. However, for me, part of the enduring fun of these books is sitting down with the original annual on one side, the ’97 special on the other, and comparing the two side-by-side to see how a master comic artist grows and changes across two decades. Let’s focus on the stories first and then we’ll get around to the fun of juxtaposing the two, and comparing the differences two decades of time and experience give us.

Dr. Strange Annual #1 is a very 1970s Marvel Comic, and your enjoyment of the issue will depend on your general feelings on that era. As we know, Marv Wolfman scripted it from a plot by him and Russell, and the plot follows a witch-slash-sorceress named Lectra as she manipulates, battles, and argues with Stephen Strange in an attempt to join his power to hers in a mysterious realm called Phaseworld. We also meet Lectra’s sister Phaedra, her lover Tempus, and get appearances by Clea (Dr. Strange’s sometime lover and one-time disciple) and a giant sea monster. The dialogue is very 1970s Marvel, and by that I mean overwrought, expository, and a helluva lot of fun. Wolfman can be hit-or-miss for me, but I enjoy his work in this. We get a hesitant, self-doubting Strange, the most evil of evils in Lectra, and a seamless continuation of the then-current continuity of Dr. Strange’s monthly adventures. A great story full of twists, turns, and surreal imagery.

We join Dr. Strange: What Is It That Disturbs You Stephen? 20 years later, and the shifts in both Russell’s art and in general tones of storytelling and scripting are immediately apparent. The heavy mystical-noir tone of the exposition is gone, replaced by something closer to fantasy realism, and the dialogue (to my more contemporary ears) comes off as less mannered and wrought. Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing can depend on your mood. Russell’s art has also evolved into something more contemporary. Many readers will recognize this iteration of P. Craig Russell from his work on Sandman #50, the rightly-acclaimed Ramadan, done with writer Neil Gaiman. This book is roughly contemporaneous, and the line choices, storytelling and acting of the characters are all very similar. Whereas artistically the Dr. Strange Annual of 20 years ago was an unholy mix of Steve Ditko and Barry Windsor-Smith (and yes, that is a compliment), this book is much more uniquely PCR, albeit with Art Nouveau flourishes and an illustrative approach to design. The story, similar as it is, still bears summarizing: Dr. Strange is once again tricked, manipulated, and battled by a sorceress named Electra (this time she’s added an “e”) and encounters her sister and her sister’s lover (Celeste and Galtus, respectively, this time). We lose Clea in this story, but get Wong instead. (And the name of the surreal realm has morphed from Phaseworld to Ditkopolis, a nice nod to Dr. Strange cocreator Steve Ditko)

It’s really impossible for me to choose one of these over the other, and I honestly wouldn’t want to. They both work independently as great stories, and they compliment each other in very interesting ways. Choosing one P. Craig Russell over the other is equally as daunting. My sweet spot for PCR is roughly the decade between 1982 and 1992; these books fall outside that parameter in either direction, and I find I like very different things about the works. There’s a beauty and a confidence that comes through in the later work, and his storytelling and use of models to get specific emotions and nuances is phenomenal; but there is also something about the much younger PCR finding his artistic voice, integrating his influence, and taking some mean, sometimes brutal cuts at the inks. Watching a master artist become a master artist is a fascinating process, but watching a master artist be a master artist is just as rewarding. Luckily, we’re fortunate enough in this case to not have to choose!

I can’t recommend these books enough. Bizarrely, neither has been reprinted, but you can get them incredibly cheap. They are worth it, if I haven’t made that clear already. I’ll leave you now with some of my favorite pages of P. Craig Russell’s Dr. Strange, with their companions. Join me back here in six years, by which time Mr. Russell will have done a third. (We can only hope.)