What Dr. Strange really said to creep out Red She-Hulk [25 January 02012]

Defenders #4 preview; Dr. Strange story [25 January 02012]

Stan Lee letter to fan reveals Ditko credit; it was almost Mr. Strange [9 January 01963 Lee letter to Dr. Jerry Bails posted online; they were going to call Dr. Strange Mr. Strange instead; "just a 5-page filler"; is this the source of infamous "'twas Steve's idea" credit to Ditko that appeared as a Lee interview/letter in Bails fanzine The Comic Reader #6 (June 01963)?] [Marvel Age of Comics] [25 January 02012]

Defenders #2 preview; out tomorrow [3 January 02012]

Marvel drawing internet ire and boycotts after being spotted on that list of organizations supporting the very troubling Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) [call your Congresscritter] [2 January 02012]

'Doctor Strange: Season One' Coming in 02012 from Greg Pak and Emma Rios [1 January 02012]

In great incongruity to the stories in the comic books, in real-life Marvel lawyers argue that mutants are not humans [toys that don't represent humans are taxed less than dolls (action figures, ahem) that do represent humans] [31 December 02011]

Daniel Clowes' excellent The Death-Ray of Eightball #23 was released this year as a graphic novel ["Holden Caulfield with his phaser set on kill"; among Time Magazine's Top 10 Fiction Books of 02011] [collected news items] [Bill K.: "Based on the effective critique articulated by The Death-Ray, there may not be a need for any more [superhero comics]."] [TCJ discussion; Ditko in The Death-Ray; interview: Clowes did not think of The Death-Ray as a critique of superhero comics or their readers] [Drawn & Quarterly] [Amazon.com] [29 December 02011]

Happy 89th Birthday today to Stan Lee! [28 December 02011]

Defenders #1 reviews as found: ["Big, Bold, Crazy and Awesome"] [showing two one-night stands in 15 pages is unnecessary] [quintessential first issue stuff] [too much blown characterization; why not just use Valkyrie and Nighthawk instead of She-Hulk and Iron Fist] ["Protecting humanity from the impossible!" is a great tag-line] [18 December 02011]

Jerry Robinson, comics pioneer and legendary creator, the second artist ever of Batman, creator of The Joker, comics ambassador and champion of creator rights, has died [and, as an early faculty member at the School of Visual Arts in New York, art teacher of Steve Ditko] [17 December 02011]

"How long are we going to have suffer this screw-up version of Doctor Strange?" [inept Doc repels Kree-invasion spacecraft into a building in Fantastic Four #600, apparently killing hundreds] [16 December 02011]

"Perchance To Dream": Dr. Strange by Walt Simonson and Dave Gibbons from Marvel Fanfare #41 [4 December 02011]

When Jim Shooter met Gary Gygax [the TSR execs played Dungeons & Dragons; the Marvel execs were ashamed of comic books] [3 December 02011]

Thorough refutation of the Dr. Strange that Matt Fraction apparently has in mind for his upcoming Defenders series [further criticism by Doc uber-fan Sanctum Sanctorum Comix of the Point One teaser story] [30 November 02011]

Animated classic comic covers by Kerry Callen [29 November 02011]

Comparing P. Craig Russell's art on similar Doctor Strange stories 20 years apart [in Doctor Strange Annual #1 (01976) and the graphic novel What Is It That Disturbs You Stephen? (01997)] [20 November 02011]

The Tragic Tale of Bill Mantlo [and the failings of the US healthcare system and its reform re: long-term care] [via CR] [14 November 02011]

Ditko at Valiant and Defiant [Part 1; Part 2, Part 3] [Jim Shooter relating Ditko stories; tons of comments] [13 November 02011]

Doctor Strange art: [Bully gallery of Doc two-page spreads] [Kevin Nowlan] [Gerald Parel] [Robert Wilson IV] [Monty redesign] [Doc with Janelle Monae and Ronnie James Dio] [Doc category at Covered] [12 November 02011]

The Vengeance miniseries, Joe Casey's teen-evil romp through the Marvel Universe, includes Doctor Strange goodies, a child embodiment of the In-Betweener, Loki using the Tiboro Screaming Idol [interview: the broken Direct Market at least provides the freedom and opportunity of no-expectations no-sales] [11 November 02011]

Matt Fraction Defenders interview at Comics Alliance [infectious enthusiasm for new Defenders and a cool-sounding Marvel Universe Grand-Unification story nuked for Neilalien because it will also apparently include an atrocious creepy-asshole James-Spader "he would sleep with Kitty Pryde!?" interpretation of Dr. Strange and more sad self-loathing damaged non-heroes; expect all the tragedy and feet-of-clay and weirdness that makes Marvel heroes and Defenders tick, but none of the dignity and morality/heroism?] [Loikamania podcast Fraction interview: Defenders #4 will be a Doc issue] [10 November 02011]

Defenders #1 preview [U-Decide: Dr. Strange hooks up old-school-Clea-style- or a huge WTF of unrecognizably bad characterization: taking advantage of a young woman, drinking alcohol, mistfully worrying about dying alone?] [update: we can still hope it's an effect of Nul's 'entirely-wrong presence'] [update: Defenders #1 Immonen variant cover] [update: another preview with all variant covers; looks like variant covers are back, sigh] [9 November 02011]

Happy Birthday to Steve Ditko! [2 November 02011]

Bookstores Drop Comics After Amazon Deal With DC [Barnes & Noble to pull DC graphic novels in digital spat] [19 October 02011]

Who Is Doctor Strange? [long wonderful essay by Doc uber-fan Sanctum Sanctorum Comix, answering new-fan questions] [9 October 02011]

Disney Music Group's recent domain name purchases include variations of doctorstrangesoundtrack.com [8 October 02011]

The Birth Of The Marvel Universe [massive text by 20th Century Danny Boy piecing together Stan Lee v. Jack Kirby (including from Lee's 02010 depositions, under oath), showing that (1) we may never know the true history, and (2) in the best comic team-ups, the heroes always battle each other too] [7 October 02011]

Spotlight on Doctor Strange with Michael Golden and Frank Miller [gallery of Golden covers] [another sad anecdote of fan disillusionment with the talented Golden] [6 October 02011]

Pinkberry frozen yogurt shop shows that Dr. Strange is always changing and updating the illusion at 177A Bleecker Street [Neilalien photo from 02003] [many Doc fans have made the pilgrimmage] [5 October 02011]

Kieron Gillen's excellent Journey Into Mystery #627 last month is a must-read for all fans of Doctor Strange and Marvel cosmology; filled with strong characterization, wit, Mephisto, Nightmare, Cyttorak, Living Tribunal references, etc. [and Richard Elson art] [despite no explodo, and being only a side interlude to the Fear Itself main narrative (if you're following it)] [some approved reviews: JonesDeini; IGN; Comics Bulletin] [Gillen just keeps piling up excellence, from Phonogram, to his stuff at Marvel, including "The Cure" in The Mystic Hands of Doctor Strange and his stunningly refreshing non-doofy Batroc Ze Leaper in the fun Captain America and Batroc one-shot earlier this year; good-readin' piece about Gillen and Batroc] [4 October 02011]

It's tough being a Dr. Strange fan: Guardians of the Galaxy and The Inhumans might be made into movies first [3 October 02011]

Marvel Comics solicitations for December 02011 include Defenders #1 by Matt Fraction and Terry Dodson with Doctor Strange in new black and red costume [at least it's some kind of costume and not boring street clothes; clothes make the man] [also: Doc in The Coming of the Defenders (Marvel Feature #1-3 collected again); an OHOTMU Defenders update (curious to hear how they describe Doc's recent non-exploits); the kiddie Super Heroes #21; an Untold Tales of Spider-Man Omnibus hardcover that includes Strange Encounter; and Doctor Strange #53 in a West Coast Avengers collection (the original Fantastic Four #19 Rama-Tut tale that kept getting add-ons)] [2 October 02011]

Tony Isabella's Ant-Man five-pager with Steve Ditko from The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #24 (01990) [Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6] [Comics Reporter did the heavy lifting re: collecting the links] [1 October 02011]

The Immortality of Doctor Strange [30 September 02011]

Game of Thrones' George R.R. Martin was a Marvel Zombie letterhack [his letter in Avengers #12 01964] [29 September 02011]

The Asgardian-boosted, Tron-caduceused Mighty Doctor Strange revealed [tiny preview of The Mighty in Fear Itself #7 finale, out 19 October] ["How is this not a complete ripoff of Blackest Night (hammers instead of rings)?"] [28 September 02011]

"You may not realize this, but Dr. Strange and the Man-Thing have have something in common: murderous Christians hate them." [27 September 02011]

Stan Lee's "How I Invented Spider-Man" 01977 Quest article [Related: Steve Bissette explores "co-creation": "Writing alone- sans any character sketches- is not by any stretch of the imagination the full creation of a character in comic books."] [4 September 02011]

His own hero's journey was already over: The Lee/Ditko Doctor Strange was very different from other Marvel heroes at the time, and Marvel's heroes of today, and the Doctor Strange of today [20 Feb 02011]

The Avenging Page (In Excelsis Ditko): massive missive re: Ditko's self-published work of recent years, by Jog, at Comics Comics [15 Feb 02011]