THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT DOCTOR STRANGE.
1.) He is polite. Not just because he routinely deals with impossibly powerful forces whom he does not want to offend (although that is certainly part of it); Stephen Strange is polite because at his core he is a man who has been humbled. He was an arrogant misanthrope who realized exactly what he was and decided he didn’t like that, and did his best to change. Someone like that is polite because not being polite is exactly the opposite of the person they want to be.
2.) But he’s still a doctor. He tends to think he knows best. This is because usually (although not always, not by any stretch) he does know best, and he gets irritated when people don’t do as he tells them to do (which is often). Because he’s polite, he tries not to get angry about it. Usually he succeeds. But none of this changes the fact that he decides courses of action based on knowledge and observation first and foremost, and he doesn’t like being contradicted or shown up, and he’s really, really quick to issue orders whenever he needs something done. He might apologize later, but he’ll issue them.
3.) He likes people. He didn’t always, but nowadays meeting somebody new is always a pleasant experience for him, especially when they are not trying to blow up his face with magic. He genuinely enjoys the experience of a new personality, because people are the only things in this universe that are still capable of surprising him on a regular basis, and because Sorcerer Supremes, for all that they are guardians of stability and order, like to be surprised. It makes the job a lot more bearable.
4.) But he’s not really comfortable with them. How could he be? He can stop somebody’s heart just by thinking hard, for crissake; he’s a step above most of humanity (or, really, a few flights of stairs above) and he knows it. He’s not comfortable with that fact, not in the least; he doesn’t like the idea that he’s not just a normal man, especially after the Ancient One only really got him to start learning by forcing him to accept that he was precisely that very thing. His power is vast enough that he’s on par with most demigods; it’s hard to look people in the eye when you realize that fact and aren’t quite happy with it.
5.) He’s urbane and blase. Not in the way of a jaded hipster, but – not a whole lot surprises or shocks him. He’s been exposed to so many alien cultures (dimensionally alien, spatially alien, or any other sort of alien) that dealing with a species of incestuous cannibals wouldn’t faze him in the least. (Or, if you prefer: everybody is a bastard in their own way.) Tack on the combat with otherworldly horrors, and you have a very cool customer. When other superheroes wince or gag at a brutal murder, Doc is looking over it calmly and utterly unfazed. He’s what writers wish Wolverine actually was, except Doc has to deal with the actual alienating consequences of being that sort of person.
6.) He’s a bit eccentric. He puts peanut butter on his spaghetti because that’s how they do it on Earth-2991 and when he visited he got used to it. He prefers to read crosslegged sitting on the ceiling because “you don’t get that glare you get sitting on the floor in the sun, I hate that.” He asks seemingly rhetorical questions without answering them (something that annoys the hell out of Wong, not that Wong would ever complain). He enjoys listening to reggae as performed on the harpsichord. The downside of thinking as everything as “usual” is that everything else you might like is likely not that usual.
7.) He looks at the bigger picture. Sure, he doesn’t want Earth to be conquered by Skrulls, but if it’s a choice between Skrulls and Dormammu – Skrulls. If it’s a choice between Skrulls and Nightmare – Skrulls. He knows it’s important to keep humanity alive and healthy for a number of very important reasons, but “alive and healthy” doesn’t mean “dominant civilization on the planet.” Most other superheroes get angry over this. That’s fine – most other superheroes only have to fight idiots wearing tights who rob the occasional bank, as opposed to, say, an organ-eating Prince of the Frankensteins from an alternate Earth seeking to conquer under the guise of a trading mission. Strange’s enemies are, on the whole, a lot more competent and a lot more dangerous than average. So he has to consider his duties from that standpoint first.
Top comment: At first I winced at Peanut-Butter spaghetti but upon thinking, if it was a peanut sauce then it wouldn’t be *too* far from Thai peanut sauce, which all the universe loves, and it’s an easy step to grill chicken in it and then put it over cooked noodles, which would be very tasty.
I think MGK just created a new fusion dish. — The Whelk
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Right. Now I want a Prince of Frankensteins….make it so!
That all scans for me.
Also, organ-eating Prince of the Frankensteins.
Now I kind of wonder what the Stephen Strange version of the Gettysburg Address would be…
I, for one, welcome our new organ eating Frankenstein overlord!
I have also forgotten anything else that I have heard about this Dr. Strange fellow when confronted by the many advantages of Frankenstein as our ruler!
I’d be intrigued to see what series of events would make alien domination of the planet a preferred option for Dr. Strange. I mean, other than dumping a whole metric ton of extra-terrestrial guns and ammo on the planet, there doesn’t seem to be much to dissuade Dormammu or Nightmare from showing up and wrecking shop.
Well, Skrulls are the race second best suited, after the knights of Galidor, to fighting off Dire Wraiths.
And Dire Wraiths? Unpleasant.
I’m curious who the organ grinder is, too.
This will be discussed in a later installment of this series, I assume.
“an organ-eating Prince of the Frankensteins”
Isn’t that the Frankenstein card from Magic: the Gathering’s The Dark?
Ah, this is what would happen if April had 5 weeks instead of four, I see.
Do they have preferred organs? Like, if you’d had your gall bladder removed, would you be safe? (I am sincerely regretting being able to hold on to all the original manufacturer’s parts right now…)
You know what? Screw writing the comics. You should be writing for a Doctor Strange animated series.
Oh, Strange has definitely done his share of midnight toking. Didn’t Steve Englehart establish that?
And the ladies will tell you that he most assuredly speaks of the pompatus of love.
I think it’s kind of uncharitable to throw other superheroes under the bus like that.
Maybe your next “I Should write..” series should be Doctor Who. Because this sounds a lot like the Doctor.
1.) He is polite. As long as your not some intergalactic concurred it’s pretty easy to get on the Doctor’s good side.
2.) But he’s still a doctor. He’s always trying to help people. Even those trying to kill him.
3.) He likes people. Who the Doctor do what he does if he didn’t? He gets frustrated with humanity, but I think a lot of that comes from seeing things 99% of humans never have and never will combined with living over 100 times longer.
4.) But he’s not really comfortable with them. Again, he likes people, but seeing so much of the Universe, good and bad, way to much bad it fact, he sometimes gets bitter and frustrated when people can’t see how their choices are going to hurt others.
5.) He’s urbane and blase. This is the one place were the Doctor and Strange are the farthest apart. While the Doctor can be urbane, witty and energetic, I’ve never found him blase. Doesn’t matter what the incarnation is, there’s always something about that character that makes him pop, that makes, I even say needs, to make you pay attention to him.
6.) He’s a bit eccentric. The Doctor is VERY eccentric. This as more to do with him being an alien and coming from a culture not are own, whereas Strange came from are culture and has been way from it for so long and in such a unique way that he can’t relate to how things are now.
7.) He looks at the bigger picture. For me, this is were they are the closest. They are both thinking in the biggest terms. Strange has to think about “How do I keep this reality, if not the whole multiverse, from falling down around me.” The Doctor is concentrating on “How to I stop the vicious alien invaders from concurring or blowing up Earth or the solar system or the entire Universe?” The best example I can think of for the Doctor is Genesis of the Daleks: given the opportunity to completely and utterly destroying the Daleks, he hesitate, the reason “What of the good the Daleks have done? What wars have been stopped or prevented because other aliens races put aside their differences and banded together due to their fear of the Daleks?” Granted, I bet if the 10th Doctor could go back he’d detonate the explosives the 4th didn’t. But as they say hindsight is 20/20.
So, in conclusion, I was think how awkward a Doctor Strange/Doctor Who crossover would be. A man of science and a man of magic would these men be able to really function together and make the comic work? Well now I’m sure that you could do the comic and that the differences between the men would just turn into interesting interplay between them. And after stopping the Lovecraftien horror and saving all reality past, present and future they’d go out for pizza and margarita shooters.
So, thanks MGK for solving my dilemma.
Also, “reggae as performed on the harpsichord”: I want to hear this.
Andrew W.: While Thanos is a huge threat, which often takes the combined efforts of 75% of Earth’s superheroes to stop from turning reality into a cosmic wide Hell; he’s a puppy compared to some of the unbelievably powerful and wicked gods and demigods Strange has encountered. And I love Thanos. The Infinity Gauntlet, for me, is one of the all time best “event” stories. But Thanos has a weakness which he can never overcome; himself. I don’t see Shuma Gorath or Nyarlathotep consciously or unconsciously stopping themselves from turning all of reality to the universal equivalent of a smoking crater.
Other superheros find a skinned and eviscerated bum and react in horror and disgust. Dr Strange gives a tired and disappointed sigh*, then goes and updates the filtering rules on the universe’s anti-eldritch firewall.
* “Time to make the doughnuts…”
Here’s hoping that #29 tells us more about this so-called Prince of the Frankensteins. Are they anything like the Bizarros? Is there a whole Frankstein peerage?
This is a good toolbox for relationships and dialogue. It leads me to wonder how you’d break down his approach to cosmic embodiments (which I suspect are coming):
-Eternity (does it encompass the parallel worlds, or is their one Eternity per? Or is that the role of Infinity?)
-the Living Tribunal, and Lords Order, Chaos, & The In-Betweener (does the Tribunal simply adjudicate the clash of Chaos and Order, or does it represent some sort of narrative righteousness unifying the two? And what is the ‘Tweener’s *real* role?)
-Eon (as the nuturer of sentience, how does his role relate to the Sorcerer Supreme’s?)
On the other hand I think that Strange’s genuine liking for people might in some ways make dealing with a brutal murder worse for him — just not in the same “ick factor” way that others might have. He might sadly lament the loss of the street bum worse (having pretty much been one, too, for a while) than the average person, while being disturbed less than average at how he was mystically turned inside-out, and being focused more on stopping it from happening again.
It’s sad that I find this an entirely fitting description of Byron Orpheus, but for entirely different reasons.
It is worth noting, Dr. Strange has to protect the universe itself, which includes the Humans and the Skrulls and the Kree and the Negative Zone… So I imagine his attitude towards why he doesn’t get involved in conflicts between them is the same reason most planet-level supers don’t get involved in conflicts between countries.
Oooh. . .Dire Wraiths. There’s a challenge Strange could face in the future. What’s worse than the usual cabals and cults trying to kill you. Cults whose members are shapeshifting monsters with dark magic on their side.
I agree with all of your points MGK, though I think whenever Strange encounters something completely new it excites him. He’s been around the block so many times that anything new or inventive in terms of magic (which given its function as a series of rulebound rituals, incantations, and gestures meant to harness and regulate the raw chaotic power of the multiverse, it doesn’t lend itself much to innovation. After all, if your tongue hits your teeth the wrong way in the middle of a recitation to the Vishanti, a simple teleportation spell across town could get you there. . .and also about 3 miles above town) stokes him right up. Of course, sometimes his companions look at him a bit askew when he’s admiring the latest conjuration by some powermad necromanctic lich lord from Earth-5251, but to him its no different than admiring a fine work of craftsmanship. Even a stealth bomber has a certain beauty to it after all.
Stac
what Lister said… the way you write him sounds like House had somehow became Dr Who (House with a British accent? impossible!) which makes lots of sense
At first I winced at Peanut-Butter spaghetti but upon thinking, if it was a peanut sauce then it wouldn’t be *too* far from Thai peanut sauce, which all the universe loves, and it’s an easy step to grill chicken in it and then put it over cooked noodles, which would be very tasty.
I think MGK just created a new fusion dish.
The characterization of Dr. Strange as “If Dr. House became Dr. Who” seems very apt and a good reading of the character.
I have the idea that all the “worst possible time ever” points in these posts are the same time. In this story, everything awful happens at once and Stephen ends up using all magical and intellectual powers fighting them. At the end, he’s barely sentient, let alone human.
Of course he’ll get over it, eventually, but at what cost? Leading us to the next Sorcerer Supreme?Or maybe, as hinting by having a bunch of “interns” many Sorcerer Supremes? It’s a big job for one mortal.
Sudden Stupid Character Idea: The Inconstant Creator. He’s actually the finest, most natural Magician on Earth. It’s like how birds fly, he can shape the various forces and powers as easy as looking at them. It’s so easy he never thinks about it, and in the back of his mind, he doesn’t think it’s all that great. He’s had long talks with the Gods and Demi-Gods, he doesn’t think he’s all that great, but he once changed a fundamental rule of magic as a joke. Normally that would be a straight ticket into service or cults or making a bid to be Sorcerer Supreme. At the very least you start fucking with the Astral Plane, right? Wrong. The Inconstant Creator has never had real interaction with the *ahem* Magical Community. He lives in a pretty remote place, he works for the DMV, he’s pretty content, aside from his occasional listening-in on the Supremenet and doing some spells. It’s so easy for him that he doesn’t even think it’s worth mentioning. Everyone knows about him, of course, but a combination of fear and awe keep everyone at bay. Until, of course, the good Doctor needs help, and he’s now the most powerful mage on Earth. And while the Inconstant Creator knows about the problem, he’s not inclined to help, it’s so far away, and he had real bad night, and he doesn’t even LIKE magic anymore, and he’s really annoyed. And kinda stupid and provincial.
And he’s also 19.
And just got his heart broke.
Since nachos were brought up, I submit my recipe
1 box of Velveeta, cubed (or that cheese-flavored pudding they have at Sam’s Club)
1/4 cup of milk
1 bag of tortilla chips
1 pound of ground turkey
1/2 cup water
1 packet of taco seasoning
1 roma tomato, diced
1 cup baby spinach, chopped
1 bottle of taco sauce
1 tub of sour cream
1 jar sliced jalapeños
1 pepperoncini
Brown ground turkey in a pan and add water and seasoning. In a separate pan heat cheese and milk together until melted – stirring regularly. Add seasoned turkey to melted cheese and place on low heat.
Layer chips and cheese on a plate until you have a nice mound of chips. Sprinkle chips and cheese with tomato pieces and spinach. Add dollops of sour cream and add jalapeño slices. Drizzle nachos with taco sauce. Add one final dollop of sour cream on top and place 1 whole pepperoncini on top.
The Prince of Frankensteins comment reminded me that Marvel can do a lot with the current batch of Frankenstein decendents. One is the head of an international crimanal organazation and another lives in the ancestral castle with the leftovers of the failures of past Frankensteins. The monster is not horribly interesting, the family is ripe with stories
“I don’t see Shuma Gorath or Nyarlathotep consciously or unconsciously stopping themselves from turning all of reality to the universal equivalent of a smoking crater.”
They must, because one or the other under Bird only makes mistakes when he wants to, or else we’d be a smoking crater.
But seriously, though, with the exception of Spider-Man (and he sold his marriage to someone more badass than a dude in Liberace’s old clothes out to rob a bank), most heroes deal with shit a little more serious than some jacktard in a bad costume who sometimes robs a bank. You don’t even need to get into Galactus, the Celestial Host, Kang, Set, or any of the heavies who want to rewrite history and reality, really. The Red Skull is a bigger fish than some jackass Captain Ultra’s going to face down. Hell, the fucking zombie invasion Aaron Stack squared off against was a bigger deal. Or Hulk back from his exile (Strange did that the first time, if we may recall).
And Thor’s swung his hammer at some pretty scary shit. Hercules has no doubt punched ineffable horrors in parts that are comprehensible enough to be punched.
Seriously. Strange isn’t worth burying everyone else. Do you want to Hudlin Strange? Because that’s how this seems to be going.
I don’t want to bury other heroes to pump up Dr. Strange, but let’s be clear about what Hudlin did: Hudlin took a character who was already well-situated in the MU as being resourceful, intelligent and dangerous and did his best to turn the Black Panther into the MU’s equivalent of Batman, frequently making other characters look bad in the process.
The last few years in the Marvel Universe, in comparison, Strange has been made to look like a damn pussy. Because so many writers have been unable to deal with the fact that Strange is one of the 800-pound gorillas, powerwise, in the MU, he’s been shoved down the power scale in ways that are absolutely ridiculous – claiming there are things his magic can’t do that we’ve expressly seen him do before was the worst, but his treatment in Planet Hulk wasn’t much better.
He needs to be reinforced. The Panther didn’t.
And what was extra-sad about that was that he effectively already was that, when Priest was writing him, but without continuously making other characters look bad or having BP/Wakanda pulling dick moves like having a cure for cancer and withholding it from the world.
Andrew W., sure, there are other cosmic-level problems out there the other heroes deal with. (I’d love to hear Strange’s take on Galactus and the like.) But the good Doctor is also aware his fellow heroes are capable of handling these, well, not-as-magical problems. And he can step in when he needs to.
The difference here is that Strange can take on these other cosmic creeps, but a lot of Strange’s enemies can really, only, be taken on by the Sorcerer Supreme.
(And the Red Skull? Once in a while, he gets his hand on a Cosmic Cube, and could almost be a contender, but the rest of his life, he’s just a glorified bank robber to Dr. Strange.)
Dammit MGK! I was just thinking while reading the Odey thing ‘you know, he should really give us an idea of how he’ll actually write the Doc himself” and then BAM you post this. GET OUT OF MY HEAD (or at least keep your feet off the furniture)!!
On the BP thing, Strange should be a true top tier not a ‘even the Doc can’t stop it! only Kitty Pryde can save us!’ push over. So as long as you don’t have the Doc joint lock the Surfer, arm wrestle th Hulk or out-Science Richaaaards I think you’re safe.
I thought all the other heroes were under an illusion in Giant-Sized Astonishing X-Men? Which isn’t to say that no one else could stop the ten-mile hollow-point, just that they didn’t know they were not doing so.
@Kyle: thing is… Reed Richards (don’t get me wrong i love Reed Richards) falling for a complex magical and unquantifieble illusion, i’ll buy. The Sentry being under a mind game that messes with his troubled psyche, i’ll buy. But Doctor Strange the motherfucking Sorcerer Supreme falling for a spell by a not-really-that-into-magic alien race? I’m calling BULLSHIT
Huh, i just realized i criticized Whedon on the internet… better look for a place to hide from crazy people with long coats
Al: Oh, I’m with you on Whedon. People need to grow the fuck up and get off his cock.
You lost me with #1 and #3 (and I think #7, while true, counters those two as well). The guy made his house invisible (or, more recently, abandoned-Starbucks-like) to people that he doesn’t absolutely NEED to talk to because he apparently sees everyone else as a waste of time at best and a potential danger at worst. He’s the Dick Cheney of magic*.
*Though, in all fairness, he never made Doctor Druid apologize for getting hit in the face by friendly fire.
Al, I see your point, and now wonder why he had the good Doctor involved at all.