Marvel Premiere #5 (Fox/Wesley, Nov 1972). They really don’t seem to know what to do with Strange. The third creative team in three issues teases the coming of Shuma-Gorath, but the art seems almost defiantly silly when the stakes are this dire.
Marvel Premiere #4 (Goodwin/Smith & Brunner, Sept 1972). Doctor Strange is lured to a small town enthralled by a cult that worships a demon-serpent. Creepy!
Marvel Premiere #3 (Lee/Smith, July 1972). Relegated to a showcase title, Doctor Strange retains the full page count. And Barry Smith turns out to be a clever choice for the art — his pencil work grounds the sorcery in the psychological, rather than psychedelic.
What I really like about Doctor Strange is exactly this: It made us think, just like Civil War did. But unlike Civil War, where so much was going on that I didn’t know anymore what was up and what was down, Doctor Strange left room for the thought it begged me to put into it.
It left me a lesson.
Is it that I can’t trust my teachers? Perhaps. Is it that I can only trust myself? No, certainly not. That was what led Stephen to his downfall at the beginning, after all. He was so lost in his own desires that he could see no one else. So lost in his own ego.
Then what lesson? Once I zoomed in on the Ancient One, it became clear. Leave a little room for humanity. Leave a little room for kindness. She drew from the dark dimension, but with it, she rescued countless others. Was what she did right? Was it wrong? Was she the one that led Kaecilius, and in the end, Mordo astray? Or were they themselves responsible, as autonomous people?
I don’t know. It’s as simple as that. The whole movie is filled with things I cannot understand, or do not understand enough.Stephen Strange didn’t understand the Ancient One. ‘’It’s complicated,’’ he told Mordo about her using the Dark Dimension. And it was.
And still, I was touched by her final moments. Her sheer desire to live, while accepting the fact that she was going to die… Her humanity touched me deeply. She was not an elevated being in the end, but a woman, who did not want to die even if she knew it was inevitable.
Does that mean I should excuse her actions? No. But I can leave a little room to breathe. I can leave a little room for kindness. But no more than that- as the other female character of import in this story taught me.
Christine is clear. Whether she is kind or not, I do not know, but she cared about Stephen and tried to help him. Was she wrong to walk out on him? The movie clearly shows she wasn’t. Stephen was the one at fault, and I support this.
Leave a little room for humanity, but those who do not want help, who won’t let themselves be reached… You can’t help them. Not if the cost is too high to yourself. Christine couldn’t help Stephen, not before he would help himself.
This movie is, as it says itself, complicated. But that doesn’t mean it’s lesson was lost on me. Or at least, the lesson it taught me.
