The Comic Books
Doctor Strange is Stephen Vincent Strange, and he was created by Steve Ditko in 1963. His first appearance was in Strange Tales #110 – which was an anthology series at the time. Arriving in the early 1960s – with all his surrealism and intriguing incantations – Doctor Strange captured the imaginations of a generation caught up in both psychedelic experiences, and mind-opening shifts in the global political landscape.
Due to the nature of his stories – dealing with movement through space and time, as well as magic and mysticism – Doctor Strange became synonymous with Steve Ditko’s distinctive artistic renderings of dimensional shifts. As a character, he provided an accessible intersection between mainstream, traditional superhero fare, and an alternative perspective – and this drew a great many new readers to Marvel by filling this specific niche.
As a comic book series, Strange Tales served as a launch-pad for a number of other characters, including Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four and Nick Fury. In time, however, it would be re-titled as Doctor Strange, providing the character with his own, solo series – after having his stories featured in a ‘split-book’ alongside Cloak And Dagger.
In addition to having led his own solo series, Doctor Strange has also appeared regularly in The Amazing Spider-Man and The New Avengers, among others.
