Halloween Hospital Horrors DOCTOR STRANGE "The Coming of...Dr Strange!" Conclusion

When Last We Left the Sorcerer Supreme...

...Doctor Strange, recovering from recent conflicts, re-lives how he went from being one of the world's foremost surgeons to a homeless hobo due to an auto accident that damaged his hands, rendering them useless.

Hearing of a mysterious figure called the Ancient One who might be able to restore his hands, Stephen Strange journeys to the Himalayas...

We detailed what became of Stephen Strange when we presented his original origin HERE!

BTW, we'll clue you in as to what we're doing next Halloween...

...a month-long extravaganza featuring all of Marvel's currently-operating MDs (super-powered or not) teamed-up in a two-part saga!
And before you ask where's Mighty Thor and Doctor Druid, Thor's no longer Don Blake MD, and Doctor Druid is dead (for now, at least)!

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Volume 3
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Halloween Hospital Horrors DOCTOR STRANGE "The Coming of...Dr Strange!" Part 1

One of the things about comics is a tendency to modify or rewrite the past!

...as Marvel did when the Sorcerer Supreme finally got his own book, the long-running anthology title Strange Tales which he had been sharing with Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., now retitled Doctor Strange: Master of the Mystic Arts!)

Writer Roy Thomas decided to retell and enhance the origin story we showed HERE to introduce new plot elements he would utilize down the road, plus give any new readers a chance to catch up!

So lets get down to business...

What awaits Stephen Strange in what looks like a set from the movie Lost Horizon?

(If you read the original origin, you'd know this ain't no Shangri-La!)

And why is he smoking like a chimney?

Because, before the early 2000s, almost all adult Marvel characters (heroic or villainous) smoked cigarettes/cigars/pipes...but no marijuana!

To Be Concluded...

Friday!

(Just in time for Halloween!)

The art style is quite different from the renderings of the character's creator, Steve Ditko!
Illustrator Dan Adkins trained under Wally Wood and was a big fan of classical comics illustrators like Alex (Flash Gordon) Raymond and Hal (Prince Valiant) Foster, which certainly shows in his work here!
Problem was that Dan, though a proficient penciler, was slow.
As a result, he had to drop penciling and inking the monthly title, and moved to inking other artists.
Since his amazingly-clean inking style enhanced almost everybody's work, and he was fast when he was embellishing others, Adkins switched to inking full-time, doing the occasional full pencil/ink assignment.

BTW, Nick Fury got his own book, Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., making him the only heroic Marvel character with two series being published at the same time (S.H.I.E.L.D. and Sgt Fury and His Howling Commandos) during the Silver Age of Comics!

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Doctor Strange
Volume 3
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Halloween Hospital Horrors EERIE ADVENTURES "From Beyond the Grave"

This week's entry is short and sweet...

...courtesy of artist Bob McCarty and an unknown writer (possibly the comic publisher's editor, Jerry (Superman) Siegel!

At any rate, this never-reprinted short from Ziff-Davis' Eerie Adventures #1 (1951) is in black and white because it was used on the inside back cover of the comic, which most publishers did as one or two-color material to keep costs down!

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Halloween Hospital Horrors DR MERCY "Monster of Medicine"

No, not the hot (in many ways) dermatologist currently appearing on The Learning Channel and Discovery+...

...but a Golden Age of Comics MD fighting evil in any form!

(BTW, he's not disabled.

He's just using the wheelchair to sneak up on the baddies!)

Despite the opening paragraph's proclamation of "many errands of mercy" and "many eternal enemies", Dr Mercy (yes, "Mercy" is the character's last name) only appeared three times before being regulated to the Home for Retired Comics Characters without even a single reprint since!

This tale from Rural House's one-shot Merry Comics (1945) shows off his attributes to best effect.

No costume, no gimmicks, no unique weaponry.

Just medical knowledge and an extreme sense of outrage against evil.

Y'know, we could use a few more doctors like him...for example, Dr Pat! whose complete series is available HERE!

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Halloween Hospital Horrors ADVENTURES INTO THE UNKNOWN "Man Who Met His Own Ghost"

Here's a guy who can truly say he's "beside himself"...

...due to something that happens a lot more than you think...actually "dying", then being resurrected!

Written by editor Richard E Hughes and illustrated by Al Camy, this never-reprinted tale from ACG's Adventures into the Unknown #20 (1951) posits a fascinating question...if there are ghosts, when does one form...at the moment of death or some point afterwards?
And what happens if you experience "death" more than once?

Next Friday...

Meet a Golden Age Super-Hero Doctor Who Shares a Name with a Current, Real-Life Physician with a  TV Series!

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Halloween Hospital Horrors DOCTOR HORMONE "The Doctor is In!"

You may laugh at this physician's name, but this isn't a comedy strip...

...and, BTW, he's a good guy, not an evil mad scientist, though at times he may act like one!

Talk about a cliffhanger!

Keep in mind, back in the 1940s, there was very little public information about hormones and what they could (and more importantly) couldn't do, so the creators were free to play fast-and-loose with the concept!
This premiere entry in the Doctor Hormone saga from Dell's Popular Comics #54 (1940) has everything...secret origin of a superhero, super-science run amok, espionage, and a full-scale war!

You'll note the good doctor doesn't indulge in hand-to-hand combat.

That'll change before the strip ends six issues later in #60!
Also, though he calls it a "youth" hormone, the treatment has the same effect on young and old subjects alike...aging or de-aging them to roughly the physical age of 25!

Though the writer is unknown, the artist is Robert "Bob" Bugg, who became a comic book artist in 1940, fresh out of high school.

He was drafted in 1942 and saw front-line duty, experiencing in real-life what he had drawn in tales like this (minus the super-science).

When he returned from the war, the comic book industry was in decline, and he switched to illustrating "slick" magazines like Colliers, doing advertising art and ghost-illustrating existing syndicated newspaper strips.

He eventually got his own one-panel daily cartoon, The New Neighbors, which ran from 1973 to 1976.

Next Week:

Anther Halloween Hospital Horror!

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M.D.

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