Why was DR.STRANGE not on the cover of STRANGE TALES #110? 2 2

[APDallas]

Did Stan Lee actually create Dr. Strange? I am beginning to feel that he had very little to do with the creation of the character and this was strictly a Ditko affair.

[shadroch]

Classic covers are becoming a much bigger thing but I see little to support first cover appearences taking off.   I do believe the hobby is moving towards rewarding classic covers and getting away from collecting runs.  I have multiple copies of ST 101 and 107- the only two early ST books I think have great covers. I started hoarding ST 107 in the late 90s. Just a great cover.  

[shadroch]

On 5/26/2022 at 4:45 AM, APDallas said:

Did Stan Lee actually create Dr. Strange? I am beginning to feel that he had very little to do with the creation of the character and this was strictly a Ditko affair.

Of all the SA Marvel creations, I think Dr Strange is the one Stan had the least imput in.  Ditko may have come with the character but the writing in ST is so far from anything else Ditko did that it's obvious that Stan had a big part in the ongoing series.

[KirbyJack]

My favorite early Strange Tales cover is 103. 

The laughing henchmen in the lower right would be my avatar if I had to change.

[KirbyJack]

On 5/26/2022 at 9:04 AM, shadroch said:

the writing in ST is so far from anything else Ditko did that it's obvious that Stan had a big part in the ongoing series.

Agree 100%!

[Jaylam]

On 5/26/2022 at 9:56 AM, shadroch said:

Classic covers are becoming a much bigger thing but I see little to support first cover appearences taking off.   I do believe the hobby is moving towards rewarding classic covers and getting away from collecting runs.  I have multiple copies of ST 101 and 107- the only two early ST books I think have great covers. I started hoarding ST 107 in the late 90s. Just a great cover.  

Sadly, I think a lot of early Marvel covers had poor composition with a few exceptions. 

[APDallas]

On 5/26/2022 at 9:31 AM, KirbyJack said:

My favorite early Strange Tales cover is 103. 

The laughing henchmen in the lower right would be my avatar if I had to change.

Interesting that Johnny is not wearing his Fantastic Four costume. I guess his regular clothes are also unstable molecules.

[APDallas]

On 5/26/2022 at 11:08 AM, Jaylam said:

Sadly, I think a lot of early Marvel covers had poor composition with a few exceptions. 

I think that comics back then were to attract the kid reader and it was designed to catch the eye immediately. Artists back then had to do the best they could on a tight deadline.

[GAMBIT]

If they had used the cover of DS169 for ST110,   this book's value doubles.   

[APDallas]

There must have been some ill feelings toward Dr.Strange at Marvel. Out of all the major new characters it took him 59 issues in Strange Tales for him to finally get his own solo series. Antman never got a solo series but he was featured on the cover for quite some time until Hulk began to share his covers and eventually took over.

[namisgr]

On 5/28/2022 at 8:13 AM, APDallas said:

There must have been some ill feelings toward Dr.Strange at Marvel. Out of all the major new characters it took him 59 issues in Strange Tales for him to finally get his own solo series. Antman never got a solo series but he was featured on the cover for quite some time until Hulk began to share his covers and eventually took over.

Dr. Strange went solo at the same time that Hulk, Ironman, Cap, Subby, and Nick Fury did.  You seem to be going very far out of your way to suggest ill will toward Dr. Strange.  But by the mid-60s, when the character was getting attention and reads from college kids and those interested in the mystical and occult realm, Dr. Strange got plenty of mentions in Stan's Soapbox.

[KirbyJack]

Yep. Doc was a big hit with college kids, and Stan knew it. Stan was quite proud of Marvel’s status with more advanced readers, and he specifically targeted those readers when teaming up with Steve Ditko. He did it before with Amazing Adult Fantasy, which was ALL Lee/Ditko. 

Edited May 29, 2022 by KirbyJack

[bronze johnny]

Doctor Strange’s intro in Strange Tales along with his “hidden” stories until the first mention of him on the cover of issue 117 is consistent with the mystery about and around him. Try and imagine going to the newsstand back in ‘62-‘63 with a few dimes and pennies (a lot of money for a kid in those days) and having to decide on the limited number of books to get. What would we know about Doctor Strange during the month Strange Tales 110 came out and the issues that immediately followed especially if the decision were to buy FF, Spidey, TTA with Ant-Man, JIM with Thor, or TOS with Iron Man? They were all on the covers when Doctor Strange made his first appearance. It would be a difficult decision for a kid with limited coins to pass up on these books for the Torch if they could also catch Johnny in FF. There were in house ads but covers could make a difference for many of us growing up. The good doctor would make his first house call to a cover with ST 118 and at that point would a kid begin to take him more seriously as a character. It’s that month when Doctor Strange appears on the newsstand along side this for the first time ever:

Seeing Doctor Strange would motivate kids have to run back home and find a few more pennies! I would have done so back in December of ‘63 had my entrance in this world been a lot earlier.

[Garystar]

Doctor Strange’s non appearance on cover may have been because Stan lacked confidence in the first story. Here he describes the story as a filler so perhaps Kirby had already done the cover before it was decided to include the strip in #110.
Extract of letter from Stan Lee to Jerry Bails printed in Comic Reader #16 February 1963 and reprinted in “Steve Ditko in his own words”

[Zonker]

On 5/29/2022 at 1:41 PM, Garystar said:

Doctor Strange’s non appearance on cover may have been because Stan lacked confidence in the first story. Here he describes the story as a filler so perhaps Kirby had already done the cover before it was decided to include the strip in #110.
Extract of letter from Stan Lee to Jerry Bails printed in Comic Reader #16 February 1963 and reprinted in “Steve Ditko in his own words”

Exactly.  Where else in the 1960s do you find Stan saying "twas Steve's idea"  or "twas Jack's idea"?  I think the answer as to why not feature Dr. Strange on the cover to #110 is spelled out above: "The first story is nothing great" (in Stan's estimation).  It is curious why then it took so long after #110 to feature the character on a cover of Strange Tales, and some of the thoughts expressed earlier in this thread may shed some light on that.

[bronze johnny]

Perhaps Stan initially not putting Doctor Strange on the cover had more to do with the success of the Fantastic Four with Torch joined by Ben guaranteeing better sales. Marvel arrangement with DC limited the number of comic book titles Stan and company could distribute at that time so it would have been a safer bet to go with an established winning formula. 

[shadroch]

Did Goodman pay double for the split covers? Somehow, I doubt it.

Ditko was doing Spiderman and Dr. Strange. Perhaps he couldn't handle another cover, or Stan thought the Torch was the stronger character. He had already revived the Torch twice at this point.

[APDallas]

Ok. So now there was a character before the hero Dr. Strange that was a villain? How did the process begin to turn a villain into a hero? Wouldn’t that have caused confusion? I know that the hulk (renamed titan) proceeded the hero hulk so there may have been precedence.

[shadroch]

Doc Strange was a Golden Age strongman. I have a bunch of his books because Schomburg did the covers but I've never read any of them.  On the covers, he reminds me of Lil Abner.  Atlas era books had no continuity so I don't think a one shot bad guy would have been an issue.

[Rosland]

Stan was probably referring to Tales of Suspense #41 (5/63), featuring a villain named Dr. Strange