Cory Sedlmeier

The issues of Strange Tales that furnish the contents of this reprint volume were published in 1966-1968. They begin with Steve Ditko art, which -- alas! -- soon vanishes. I am not a fan of the corny style of Bill Everett, although Marie Severin's work on the title was passable.

The writing throughout is mostly from Stan Lee, and it is bombastic and ridiculous. I rather liked the multi-issue Roy Thomas / Stan Lee plot line that might have been titled "There Was an Old Woman Who Swallowed a show more Fly." The world is imperiled by some mystic menace, so Doctor Strange must unleash an even greater one to keep it at bay: rinse, cycle, and repeat. Also good for laughs are the later numbers written by Jim Lawrence. They feature Strange's unmotivated quasi-romantic championing of the miscellaneous Victoria Bentley, to say nothing of her being arbitrarily chosen for extraterrestrial ravishment by Yandroth, Lord of Technology!

Reading back over this early material leaves me impressed with just how far the comic book representations of occultism have come in my lifetime. Granted, Doctor Strange is nowhere near the leading edge of them these days, but he was then! show less

Marvel Masterworks: Spider-Woman, Volume 1 contains Marvel Spotlight no. 32 (Spider-Woman's first appearance), Marvel Two-In-One nos. 29-33, and Spider-Woman nos. 1-8. In the original story, writer Archie Goodwin and illustrators Sal Buscema and Jim Mooney introduce the character, here named Arachne and working for HYDRA against the forces of SHIELD. She learns the secret of her origin and rethinks her alliegences. Though a brief origin, Marvel primarily created her to pre-empt Filmation's show more plan to create an animated Spider-Woman who would capitalize on Spider-Man's fame. Despite these motives, the character was a hit and writer Marv Wolfman and illustrator Carmine Infantino further explored her possibilities in a series of stories with the Thing from the Fantastic Four in Marvel Two-In-One before developing a stand-alone series. This reprints all of Wolfman's stories as he added details to Spider-Woman's origin and tried for a tone between action and horror to define the character. Many of the stories draw upon classic fantasy, including the Arthurian legends. Though Wolfman alternates between these more traditional superhero elements and something with more atmosphere, the creativity and ideas he explores are great fun. This hardcover volume reprints the story in their original size with retouched color for a crisp, clear image. show less