Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Doctor Graves: Master of the Obvious

bwhl50voids


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.

8 comments:

Gus Casals said...

And of course the shape of the portal is not symbollic. Not symbollic at all...

Sea-of-Green said...

About as symbolic as the beaver coats in the Narnia books? ;-)

Anonymous said...

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?

Bill S. said...

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".

Jon the Intergalactic Gladiator said...

You say he's a Dr Strange knockoff, but he looks like J Jonah Jameson to me.

captain koma said...

I'd call it the Dimension of Suck

Jeremy Rizza said...

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.

MaGnUs said...

Nope, not Doc Strange. At all.