Steve Ditko's hometown- Johnstown, Pennsylvania- has put up a mural commemorating the artist!
Mural is by Matt Lamb and The Bottle Works Ethnic Arts Center. Mural shows Spider-Man and Doctor Strange. Two other murals honoring Ditko are planned.
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PURPLE GEMSSteve Ditko's hometown- Johnstown, Pennsylvania- has put up a mural commemorating the artist!
Mural is by Matt Lamb and The Bottle Works Ethnic Arts Center. Mural shows Spider-Man and Doctor Strange. Two other murals honoring Ditko are planned.
What Ever Happened To The Sales Charts? Killed by the recent distribution wars: the era of Diamond being able to tell us how everything sold because they distributed everything is long gone. Do we have a modern-world industry that has this information- or are we trying to hide the death of the periodical? Neilalien needs his wonky data back!
Brain Hibbs: Tilting At Windmills #293: What's Wrong With The Periodical???
> Too many monthly titles.
Brian Hibbs shop report: Comix Experience Best-Sellers: [0]2022
Strange #10 was out 18 Jan! Series finale ends with Doctor Strange among the living; leads into new ongoing series Comic Book Round Up collected reviews Variant cover regime via Midtown Comics Clea Resurrects Doctor Strange With A Kiss, Disney Style
Doctor Strange's Next Epic Role: Magical Wife Guy [includes preview images/covers for Doctor Strange #1 in March]
Tradd Moore's Doctor Strange: Fall Sunrise #3 was out 25 Jan! Comic Book Round Up collected reviews Variant cover regime via Midtown Comics
Also out 18 Jan: Punisher #9: Frank Castle has killed and replaced Ares, the God of War; Doc in ending cameo assembling a hero confab about what to be done Also out 25 Jan: Midnight Suns #5 miniseries finale: Agatha Harkness gives herself a Kathryn-Hahn MCU younger makeover Alex Ross cover for upcoming Doctor Strange #1 used as cover for "Marvel Free Previews Volume 6 #16 January For March 2023 Shipping Product"
Megacorporation Acquires Good Thing, Destroys It Digital Comics Platform Comixology Hit By Amazon Layoffs [Popverse] Amazon Ran Comixology Straight Into The Ground, And Now It's Laying Off Staff [Android Police]
Amazon's Huge Layoffs Are Gutting Comixology [Gizmodo/io9]
Comic Book Folk React To ComiXology Layoffs [Bleeding Cool] Jonathan H. Gray: "Still thinking about Comixology & how Amazon bought a thing that worked, gutted it, shat in its bed, and then threw it away because they didn't want to play with it any more. Jobs lost, livelihoods upended, & a fresh digital horizon that was opened up is now gone on a whim."
More/General info about the Amazon layoffs: Amazon CEO Says Company Will Lay Off More Than 18,000 Workers [NPR]
About that "disastrous Amazon integration and redesign last year": Opinion: Comixology's New Update Takes All The Fun Out Of Reading Digital Comics [IGN, February 02022] With Comixology, Amazon Acquires A Piece Of The Comic-Based Media Empire [TechCrunch, April 02014] ["Amazon has purchased Comixology, and that's a huge deal, because it means the largest bookseller in the world now owns the company that brought digital comics distribution to the masses, and essentially forced big publishers like DC and Marvel to get with it and start distributing titles on the same day in print and via digital channels. It's hard to understate Comixology's role in digital comics and the transition of the medium from print to online..."] Amazon Buys Digital Comics Company ComiXology [Wired, April 02014] ["Well, there goes the digital neighborhood [Graeme being prescient lol]. ComiXology, the leading digital comics platform responsible for the sale of more than 4 billion pages of comics in [0]2013 alone, has been purchased by Amazon."] Amazon.com To Acquire comiXology [Press release, April 02014] ["Amazon.com today announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire comiXology, the company that revolutionized the digital comics reading experience with their immersive Guided View technology and makes discovering, buying, and reading comic books and graphic novels easier and more fun than ever before... There is no better home for comiXology than Amazon to see this vision through. Working together, we look to accelerate a new age for comic books and graphic novels... Amazon and comiXology share a passion for reinventing reading in a digital world... Founded in [0]2007, comiXology offers a broad library of digital comic book content from over 75 of the top publishers as well as top independent creators."] ComiXology [Wikipedia] Comixology [Amazon.com]
The massive Howard Hallis Doctor Strange collection has been posted online! Strange Multiverse Collectibles All 6,660 items have been photographed and categorized! Auction coming in July: buy the entire lot for $110,000! Update: Strange Multiverse Collectibles YouTube Channel
Tradd Moore's Doctor Strange: Fall Sunrise #2 was out last week 28 Dec! Comic Book Round Up collected reviews Also out:
Stan Lee would have had his 100th birthday today! [Wikipedia]
Strange #9 is out! Comic Book Round Up collected reviews Full of catnip for Doc fans: Doc/Clea pillow talk, and the War of the Seven Spheres/Trinity of Ashes!
Inside The AfterShock Comics Bankruptcy- $10m+ Owed, Staff Departures, More [Popverse] [news tag] AfterShock Comics Files For Bankruptcy, Owes Creators Five Figure Sums [Bleeding Cool] [news tag] Aftershock Comics Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy [The Beat] [news tag] AfterShock Comics Files Chapter 11 Bankruptcy [CBR] [news tag] Updating links as found...
Marvel's March 02023 solicitations include new Doctor Strange ongoing series
DOCTOR STRANGE #1
Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness won "The Movie Of [0]2022" at the People's Choice Awards [Hollywood Reporter] [Wikipedia: 48th People's Choice Awards]
Neil Gaiman And Guillermo Del Toro Wanted To Make A [0]1920s-Set Doctor Strange Movie Neil Gaiman full interview with Josh Horowitz for Happy Sad Confused on YouTube Link to Dr. Strange part of the interview; "back in 02007, having minimalist conversations with Kevin Feige" Josh Horowitz tweet with interview snippet: "Wait, @neilhimself & @RealGDT pitched @Kevfeige a 1920s set DOCTOR STRANGE film?" Blog redux: Neilalien blogged it in November 02015: When Marvel Wasn't Interested In A Neil Gaiman/Guillermo Del Toro Doctor Strange Movie... [Bleeding Cool] Neil Gaiman tweet November 02015: "I still wish Marvel had been interested in a @RealGDT & me Dr Strange movie, because I wanted to write Clea so badly after 1602." Wonder what Gaiman thinks of Clea in the recent Strange? The new piece of information is it being set in the 01920's.
New Doctor Strange ongoing series in March! Writer Jed MacKay continuing; artist Pasqual Ferry; Alex Ross covers The Master Of The Mystic Arts Returns To Reshape Your Reality In New 'Doctor Strange' Series [Marvel.com] Marvel Resurrects Doctor Strange For A New Ongoing Series Doctor Strange Is Back From The Dead And The Sorcerer Supreme Again In A New Ongoing Title
Marvel's January 02023 and February 02023 solicits include:
STRANGE #10 No Strange #11 solicit for February...
DOCTOR STRANGE: FALL SUNRISE #3 (OF 4)
DOCTOR STRANGE: FALL SUNRISE #4 (OF 4)
MIDNIGHT SUNS #5 (OF 5)
Dr. Strange May Have 'Lived' For Over 30,000 Years According To This Theory Redditor TheCloakOfLevitation: "If Doctor Strange spent 1 day in each of the 14,000,605 possible futures and 20 second in each Dormammu Loop (assuming he did it 1000 times) that would make him an additional 38,331 Years 207 Days and 11 Hours years old mentally"; with discussion Doctor Strange Spent A Ridiculous Amount Of Time Looking Through Time In Avengers: Infinity War: Thousands of Years [not the first time it's been discussed; another Redditor CleverDevil estimating Doc spent three hours each in 14 million timelines] Doctor Strange's Glimpses Into The Future Were Probably Excruciating, According To The Russos ["He has to physically live them and then die in each of them... and take copious notes each time"] Doc sitting there on Titan with his head zipping around (for how long? an hour? five minutes until Mantis notices?) suggests he is simply scanning timelines at an accelerated rate. His actual movie line was "view" "outcomes"- so not living entire timelines, just taking peeks at the ends? But how much time actually passed for Doc, and what did he experience, and how did he experience it? The Time Stone is omnipotent so it could have been anything. Did he scan all the timelines fast-forwarding videos one after the other? Or did he observe all the timelines all at the same time- like watching a wall of TVs in The Matrix movies- until one screen remained on? Or did he have to fully live them all out- not just scan/observe- in his mind- in real time- one after the other? Did he experience death 14 million times- over thousands of years? Math says he died with the Thanos Snap half of the time, and lived longer for half (if Thanos doesn't kill him before the Snap). How long did he experience each future before confirming Thanos won and moving on to the next? Did it only take spending a few milliseconds per timeline, three hours, a day, years, to confirm Thanos won? How many timelines had five-year Blips and how were they experienced and handled?- you can't just move on to the next timeline after reaching a Snap if some will later become Blips and undone. How does his brain remember all that time- or he took "copious notes" as he lived each life- or he only needs to deep-dive into a winning timeline once it's found and remember how that one happened? And how long was that Dormammu Loop anyway, and how many times did Doc die in that? Add in overcoming Death/the forehead-ankh thing. Add in 5,000 years for the War of Seven Spheres. How much time has Dr. Strange experienced? And how many of his own deaths?
Strange #8 out today! Comic Book Round Up collected reviews Liking the Greg Land variant cover
Tradd Moore's Doctor Strange: Fall Sunrise #1 out last week 23 Nov! Comic Book Round Up collected reviews The art might be a bit too "Beatles/Yellow Submarine" for Neilalien's tastes, but definitely appreciating the creativity, and sticking around to see where it leads...
Also out recently:
Defenders: Beyond #5 finale
Update: Avengers #62 [out 9 Nov], with a story focusing on that 1,000,000 BC version of Agamotto, very much just a re-skinned Doctor Strange; "to be continued in Avengers Assemble Alpha #1" [out 30 Nov]; Avengers vs. the 1,000,000 BC Avengers in the distant past (as any Marvel team-up must properly start, with the heroes fighting each other); against the Multiversal Masters of Evil and Mephisto, plotting to end Earth-616 in its crib, but the Earths are merely the fruit and the devil wants the whole garden; "the capstone to Jason Aaron's era on Avengers"; interesting item re: Doom Supreme has maimed countless Sorcerer Supreme versions: if a Strange he takes their Ditko hands, if a Clea he takes their Doc-lovin' hearts, and if an Agamotto he takes their eyes, naturally--
You Aren't Ready For How Good Marvel's New Doctor Strange Comic Looks [preview and lovenote re: Tradd Moore's Doctor Strange: Fall Sunrise #1, out 23 Nov]
Kevin Conroy, The Voice Of Batman, Dies At 66 [CBR obit] Kevin Conroy, Who Gave Batman A Definitive Voice In Animated Projects, Dead At 66 [Rolling Stone obit] Batman: The Animated Series' Kevin Conroy Remains The Definitive Batman Wikipedia: [Kevin Conroy] [Batman: The Animated Series]
How The Writers Of Dr. Strange And Dracula Agreed To Kill Off Each Other's Characters [Comic Book Legends Revealed]
Steve Ditko would have had his 95th birthday today! [Wikipedia]
Strange #7 was out 26 October! Comic Book Round Up collected reviews Variant cover regime; liking the Luciano Vecchio A lovenote to the love of Stephen and Clea. But they can't touch [insert eyes welling up emoji here]!... They battle a revenant Goliath. More info is revealed about the Blasphemy Cartel- and how Clea is a wild card for them, while their files on Doc are measured in tons. The path back to the living for Doc is elucidated- if he ends the revenant disrespect for Death. Also out: Midnight Suns #1-2 (Didn't it used to be "Sons"?) Magik is on the team, along with Blade, Wolverine, Spirit Rider (a time-tossed Ghost Rider and previous Sorcerer Supreme), Runaway Nico Minoru/Sister Grimm (but without her Staff), Zoe Laveau (undead Strange Academy student and a descendant of Doc foe Marie), and Agatha Harkness (the elderly comics one; not the MCU one; although we do see a younger version in a flashback to 1428). A world-wide mystical vision shows Zombie Zoe bringing on the apocalypse- which brings them together- along with a Dr. Doom attack to deal with the girl his own way. More bad-ass Clea appears- and deals with the girl her own way- banishing the Suns to the Dark Dimension. Doctor Strange's Successor Proves She's Basically Already A Supervillain Warrior-mage Sorcerer Supreme Clea has been a bad-ass, has alienated the X-Men, banished the Midnight Suns, even Death can't tell her what to do, etc. How will it resolve? Our culture's track record of writing strong women characters without the heel turn, without them "going insane" can be spotty (thinking of Dany in Game of Thrones, Scarlet Witch in the MCU, etc.)? We shall see...
Marvel Comics December 02022 solicits include:
STRANGE #9
DOCTOR STRANGE: FALL SUNRISE #2 (OF 4)
STRANGE ACADEMY: FINALS #3
Strange #6 was out 21 September! Comic Book Round Up collected reviews A good month for Wong. He's getting "Everybody loves Wong!" props in the She-Hulk TV series this month (and possibly getting laid), and now this love-note solo story in Strange #6 where he gets help from Bats, Black Widow, Jean Grey, the Bar With No Doors, etc. Wong's memory page includes:
It is revealed that the Blasphemy Cartel is a remnant of W.A.N.D. after S.H.I.E.L.D. fell. Who the fuck, right? You'll need to go deep into your Doctor Strange long boxes for this one: a Thunderbolts Annual with a Doc cover/appearance that wasn't even really Doc. The Fandom Wiki is a comicblogger's best friend, for both info discovery and not needing to write everything ourselves: Jed MacKay is bringing it with both creative new ideas, and easter eggs for the long-time fans. Great stuff. But for Neilalien, there is still some meta-bummitude that this good stuff is being used in service of the 'Doc is dead' trope. The toys are being used without Doc present. When do we simply get a run of great Doc stories again, like Roger Stern's run, without Doc absent, dying, getting depowered, getting deconstructed, getting blasted into space, etc.?
New York Comic-Con is 6-9 October 02022! [Panels] [Exhibitors] [Artist Alley] [Health & Safety: face coverings indoors required; vaccination/negative test proof not required] [Reddit NYCC Party Thread] [Some NYCC parties via who is using Eventbrite for their tickets] Update: Artist Alley Etiquette: "As long as you are not the guy with the rolling luggage case filled with comics to sign, you should be good."
Iconic Avengers, X-Men Artist Tom Palmer Dies At 80 Marvel Wiki: [Tom Palmer] [791 comics inked by Tom Palmer] I walk in the door and pencil [an] issue of Doctor Strange - first job I ever penciled. At the time, I thought I did a good job, but really it was a stinker. It wasn't up to par. I went back two weeks later to get the next issue, and they said, "No, we're getting someone else to pencil it; would you like to ink it?" Doctor Strange #171 was the issue he drew. A bit stiff, but doesn't seem like a total stinker. "Palmer is widely considered the definitive inker for Gene Colan, whose use of grey textures made his pencils notoriously difficult to ink in a way that did them justice." Palmer inked many Colan issues of Doctor Strange.
Marvel Comics November 02022 solicits include Tradd Moore's Fall Sunrise
DOCTOR STRANGE: FALL SUNRISE #1 (OF 4)
STRANGE #8
STRANGE ACADEMY: FINALS #2
MARVEL STUDIOS' DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS: THE ART OF THE MOVIE HC
Also: SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME: THE ART OF THE MOVIE HC
Strange #5 out 17 Aug Comic Book Round Up collected reviews Spoiler time is up: Harvestman is wonderfully big-revealed to be our favorite ne'er-do-well Stephen Strange! As predicted by some all along: in issue #1 page 1 Harvestman is shown with blue eyes; he "doth protests too much" to Clea not to resurrect Doc. It's a relief to see Doc "active"- in Death's "employ" as her Sorcerer Supreme and charged with ending the revenant threat- but the toys are not yet back in the status-quo box of Doc back among the living and free. We shall see. 'Strange' Writer Jed MacKay Breaks Down Doctor Strange's Return
Clea crashes the Hellfire Gala [X-Men: Hellfire Gala #1; out 13 Jul] to get Stephen resurrected, but Emma Frost informs her Krakoan resurrection only works for mutants and blows her off. The X-Cellent [#3; out 18 May; Doc on cover] break into the Sanctum Sanctorum and take a photo of a spell from the Book of Vishanti with their cellphone, while Dr. Strange is off for one panel "trying to contain the Nameless One's servant, Morgan Le Fey." The Strange Academy series ends with #18 [out 6 Jul] with most of the students rebelling and hiding out in the Sanctum Sanctorum (that place needs a serious security upgrade!) until things get... Dark... "Finals" series coming next. Other recent appearances updating here...
Marvel Phase 5: Every Movie And TV Series Explained Every MCU Movie And Series Confirmed For Phase 5 And 6 Wikipedia: [Phase 5] [Phase 6] Phase 6: Multiverse Saga continues, Fantastic Four, Avengers movies, Secret Wars. Kang is the main villain (no Doctor Doom yet?). An open slot for a Doctor Strange 3?
San Diego Comic-Con 02022: Marvel Announces 'Doctor Strange: Fall Sunrise' Four-Issue Limited Series Starting In November Written And Drawn By Tradd Moore [AIPT] [Marvel.com] [Bleeding Cool] [Popverse] Tradd Moore [Wikipedia] [Tumblr]
San Diego Comic-Con 02022: Strange Academy: Finals "Earlier this month, Strange Academy #18 ended the series' first era with a student rebellion, a daring journey to the Dark Dimension, and the realization that some of the school's brightest stars have dark futures..."
Catching up with Doctor-Strange-related solicits, which seem a bit messed up; books delayed? Marvel.com has #5 coming out 17 August
STRANGE #5
NEW FANTASTIC FOUR #3 (OF 5) DEFENDERS: BEYOND #2 (OF 5) Marvel's September 02022 solicits has many repeats from August Marvel.com has #6 coming out 21 September
STRANGE #6
MIDNIGHT SUNS #1 (OF 5) DEFENDERS: BEYOND #3 (OF 5) FANTASTIC FOUR #47's cover has Mindless Ones Marvel's October 02022 solicits
STRANGE #7
MIDNIGHT SUNS #2 (OF 5) DEFENDERS: BEYOND #4 (OF 5)
Strange #4 is out today Comic Book Round Up collected reviews Lovely Umar variant cover by Logan Lubera "[A]n interesting series, but sadly one with a ticking clock on how long it can continue." Harrumph: Surgeon Supreme #6 was Legacy #416. Strange #1 was Legacy #417. While past miniseries like Flight Of Bones haven't been included in the Dr. Strange legacy issue numbering, Neilalien is perturbed that huge Doc event The Death Of Doctor Strange miniseries was not part of the legacy numbering, but this Strange series is, that Doc isn't even in (so far). Also: Neilalien was having a small internal debate about if/how to include Strange in The Doctor Strange Story List if they are Clea stories without Doc. But if Strange is part of the Doc legacy numbering, then that debate ends: he must include this entire Clea series.
Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness on DVD/Blu-Ray/4K Ultra HD out today Walmart (pin), Target (art/prints), and Best Buy (steelbook) each have exclusive forms ScreenRant press w/Best Buy steelbook Digital platform release (Amazon Video, iTunes, Disney+) was 22 June
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