Today, we look at the secretive REAL first team-up of Spider-Man and Doctor Strange!
This is "Foundationed Deep," a feature where we look at particular odd/strange/interesting instances of retroactively connecting different comic book characters (for instance, Uncanny X-Men #268 retroactively established that Wolverine knew both Captain America and the Black Widow from World War II).
Last week, in honor of the Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer prominently featuring the team-up between Spider-Man and Doctor Strange, I discussed the first time that Spider-Man and Doctor Strange teamed up in the comics. However, my pal Tom A. noted that there was actually a retcon that revealed that the two had actually had a SECRET team-up BEFORE that first team-up! So let's take a look at that team-up this time around.
First off, though, we'll revisit the original team-up, especially as this new team-up actually ties into the original a little bit.
In Amazing Spider-Man Annual #2, the villainous Xandu has one half of the powerful Wand of Watoomb. He hypnotizes two thugs and gives them super-strength and has them beat up Doctor Strange, knock him out cold and then steal Strange's half of the wand. Spider-Man sees them leaving Strange's home and he tails them, thinking that they are burglars. When he arrives at Xandu's home, Xandu has combined the wand and now had a great deal of power. Spider-Man, knocked the wand out of his hand and when Xandu sent Spider-Man into another dimension, Spidey took the wand with him, allowing Ditko to draw the wonderfully psychedelic magical landscapes that he is so beloved for...
Since Xandu was now without the wand, a now awake Doctor Strange went to go take him down. Strange was winning the fight handedly when Xandu then brought Spider-Man back from the other dimension just in time, distracting Strange and getting a hold of the wand again. Strange was forced to give up his own body and work as an astral figure. Strange then used his astral form to enlist Spider-Man's help again and when Strange got back into his body, the two heroes took Xandu down together. In the end, Strange vowed that Spider-Man had made a powerful friendship that day and the two have been close superhero friends ever since.
Interestingly, though, Doctor Strange DID appear in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 (one of the shticks of the issue is that Ditko worked all of the comic book heroes who were appearing in their own comic books at the time into the story, but all in the background of the tale), but he and Spider-Man do not meet. Flash Thompson just runs through Strange's Astral form...
So let's see how this was all tied together into Spidey and Doc's REAL first meeting!
Untold Tales of Spider-Man was a brilliant series by Kurt Busiek, Pat Olliffe, Al Vey and Pam Eklund that told, well, you know, untold Spider-Man stories. Busiek cleverly weaved these new adventures of the webcrawler into the original Stan Lee and Steve Ditko stories so that they could work on their own, but they could also work as supplements to the original stories. The amount of detail that Busiek put into the series was amazing. The series was part of a line of 99 cent comic books that Marvel tried, and what's quite amusing in retrospect is to see the difference of care between Untold Tales and the other 99 cent comic books, which weren't exactly BAD, per se, but...well...okay, they were pretty bad.
Anyhow, after the series ended, Busiek did a graphic novel also set between issues called Untold Tales of Spider-Man: Strange Encounters, with co-writer Roger Stern and artists Neil Vokes, Jay Geldhof and Matt Hollingsworth.
Set before Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1, Spider-Man encounters two thugs who had been magically empowered by a mysterious lantern. The sort of magical "scent" of the lantern drew Doctor Strange to Spider-Man, who he asks for help, in that basically he wants Spider-Man to call to him when he sees the lantern next and Strange will come a running...
Well, as it turns out, the next time that Spider-Man saw the lantern was while he was in his secret identity and his school "friends" and also his work colleagues (including his love interest at the time, Betty Brant, as well as his high school classmate, Liz Allan, who was developing a crush on him at the time, much to Betty's chagrin) were there. All of them found themselves transported to a dark dimension...
Strange, naturally, DID show up when Spider-Man called to him, although he had to do so in his astral form. Strange used his powers to allow the others there to see his astral form so that he could properly communicate with them. The whole thing was a plot by Baron Mordo, in concert with the Dread Dormammu, and Spider-Man and Doctor Strange had their hands full, especially when the two thugs were transformed into demons...
In the end, though, when the day was saved, a funny thing happened - things were SO clear cut there in the dark dimension that J. Jonah Jameson really couldn't argue that Spider-Man wasn't clearly a heroic figure in the situation, so Flash Thompson actually got Jameson to admit that Spider-Man WAS a hero. Great news, right?
But here's the problem, the whole trip to a, you know, DARK DIMENSION, really did a number on the high school kids and Betty and even Jameson, so Spider-Man asked Strange if he could make them all forget what they had just been through. Strange agreed, but he told Spidey that that meant that they would also forget about his heroism and Spidey, being a good guy, said to still do it...
Presumably (it is a bit unclear), Spidey's memory was also wiped in the process, which is why he doesn't mention this team-up when he "first" teams up with Doc in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #2. Amusingly, though, Doctor Strange notes that in all of the chaos, he forgot to get rid of the spell that allowed them all to see his astral form. It would fade over time, but THAT is how Flash was able to see Strange's astral form in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1! Clever, Busiek, clever!
Thanks to my pal Tom for suggesting this one. If anyone has a suggestion for a Foundationed Deep (retroactive connections between characters), feel free to drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com.
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