Comic Art Want List - Item Acquired!

Some time ago I wrote about my comic art want list, the items I was hoping to acquire and add to my collection. Number 8 on that list was more pages from Dr. Strange 170 by Dan Adkins and I am happy to have acquired another page from this issue. I now have 4 pages from the issue - that may be enough for now. Well, maybe one more.

So here it is - Dr. Strange and Nightmare battle in Dr. Strange 170 (1968), courtesy of Dan Adkins.

Dr. Strange 170 page 14 Dan Adkins pencils/inks...I must admit I touched it up a bit to remove some staining

These pages are a blast to own. I loved these early sixties comics when I read them in the 1980s. They have a trippy, psychedelic quality that really appealed to me in my pre-Deadhead life. It is funny how you see the dots connect looking back. It is no wonder I am in the profession of Sigmund Freud, Richard Alpert and Timothy Leary.

Look at that page. Two tremendous images, camera angle reversed from the first panel to the second. That menacing hand in the second panel that is assaulting Dr. Strange with such devastating fury is the tiny tiny hand in the upper left corner of the first panel. And don't tell me that hand isn't moving in the second panel, gesturing and contracting to cause Doc to writhe in such pain!  And that first panel, with Nightmare on his steed rearing up to attack our good doctor. And the magical force and the other-worldliness of the Nightmare dimension are rendered so effectively as well.

And you can't talk about this page without talking about the talking, the dialogue. Alliteration and assonance indeed. "Impudent Upstart!" "humble Hamir" And I am lucky enough to get an early "By the Shades of The Seraphim!", not to mention a "puny human" mention from someone other than The Hulk! That is pretty cool as well.

I figured I would show the other pages I have from this issue as well. Here is page 19.

Dr. Strange 170 page 19 Dan Adkins art

And I also have an earlier sequence, pages 10 and 11.

Dr. Strange 170 page 10 Dan Adkins art

Dr. Strange 170 page 11 Dan Adkins art

These pages are among my favorites for so many reasons. I mean, look at that page above and the astral Doc in Nightmare's realm. As Stan would say, 'nuff said!