Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Doctor Graves: Master of the Obvious
In "Baron Weirwulf's Haunted Library" #50 (Charlton, July 1980), Doctor Graves -- who is totally not Ditko ripping off his own "Doctor Strange" character -- must battle a giant "evil entity" who is bent on conquering Earth! Luckily, his astral form is capable of ballooning to enormous size. Which is kind of a rip-off of the Spectre, but what the hell.
With his white temples and painstakingly-trimmed facial hair, the natty Doctor chills in a New York home crammed with scrolls and grotesque objets d'art; fires goopy, Tinker Toy-shaped mystic blasts from his arthritically-contorted hands; traverses surreal (yet familiar) dimensions; and sends his pallid astral body flitting all over the goddamn place.
But he's not Doctor Strange--!
No sirree Bob.
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8 comments:
And of course the shape of the portal is not symbollic. Not symbollic at all...
About as symbolic as the beaver coats in the Narnia books? ;-)
Wow--I knew Ditko pulled something similar with Mr. A. and the Question, but I didn't know about this one. Ditko was a pretty creative guy--did he really have to keep repeating himself?
Well, considering that anymore Ditko's idea of creative is a patronizing and didactic screed on why I'm an idiot for not believing Ayn Rand, well, a Dr. Strange ripoff is looking mighty good.
"Baron Weirwulf's Haunted Library" sounds like something Count Floyd would present on Monster Chiller Horror Theater. Maybe as a double feature with "Dr. Tongue's 3-D House of Books".
You say he's a Dr Strange knockoff, but he looks like J Jonah Jameson to me.
I'd call it the Dimension of Suck
Gustavo and Sea of Green: You two are positively filthy! Don't ever change.
Justin: I'm sure Ditko has some kind of curmudgeonly answer for you, presumably involving a "free-market economy".
Bill S.: BWAH! Beautifully put. And you're right; the title is pure SCTV.
Jon: *rubs eyes* What the--? Jameson only wishes he were as fly as Doctor Graves.
Captain Koma: *Prince of Space voice* "Your link is useless against me!" (Because it's broken. Sorry, dude.) I like the name, though! In fact, I think I visited there on "dollar shots night." Helluva cover charge, though. That's how they get ya.
Nope, not Doc Strange. At all.
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