Modern Marvels: Dr. Strange and Comic Books
Ben Cozic, staff writer
“Excelsior!” It is the well-known catchphrase of one of the greatest comic book writers in history, Stan Lee. Throughout his career, Lee created a wide variety of superheroes that have become household names in the comic book world, such as Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, and the Hulk. Today, they have become even more famous due to the many film adaptations featuring these heroes, including The Avengers. But not many people know that Marvel and their team of comic book writers also created one of the most bizarre and trippy characters to ever come out in comics and that he has his own film out in theaters right now. And that character is called Doctor Strange.
First appearing in 1963, Doctor Strange was established as Marvel’s central, if not popular, character in all things magical and otherworldly. His superhero job was to protect the world from evil beings from other dimensions, and Strange would often go to these other dimensions and fight against them. Strange was created by artist Steve Ditko who, surprisingly, created another, more popular Marvel character: Spider-Man. Ditko’s artwork truly stood out with Doctor Strange though as his imagery was regarded as something similar to that of an LSD drug trip with wild colors, multiple perspectives, and twisting shapes and forms. This would become central to the character as the dimensions Strange would travel to had these kinds of visuals constantly. Despite his earlier successes, Doctor Strange, even though he had his fans, had become not as successful in recent times, with the character becoming quite obscure. That changed, however, with the release of Marvel’s next big hit, Doctor Strange.
Doctor Strange is the most recent in a long series of superhero movies called the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Marvel comics, and superhero comics in general, were usually known for having their characters interact with each other in the same universe so it would make sense for this franchise if their film characters to interact with each other as well. But what makes the appearance of Doctor Strange special is how magic was shown in the franchise as previous characters were not as skilled in the mystic arts as Strange was.
Starring as the doctor himself is Benedict Cumberbatch, an actor with a wide range of roles in film and television, including Sherlock Holmes in Sherlock and the dragon Smaug from The Hobbit films. Along with Cumberbatch, the film also stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, Mads Mikkelsen and Tilda Swinton featuring as magical characters like Baron Mordo, Kaecilius, and the Ancient One respectively. The film cleverly tells its own story with bits of humor and plenty of drama as well as hinting that he may not be the only superhero in his world. The film also delivers its trippy imagery as the visual effects were created both with modern technology as well as being an homage to Ditko’s previous work.
Doctor Strange is out in theaters now, presented in normal and IMAX 3D viewings.
