December 2023 – In My Not So Humble Opinion

It Came from the 1990s: Doctor Strange by Geof Isherwood

One of the frustrating aspects of discussing comic books from the 1990s is certain people have this idea in their head that because there were a handful of flashy, red-hot superstar artists on mainstream superhero books during that decade, and numerous other artists who imitated them, often with lackluster results, that consequently all comic book artwork from the 1990s was awful.

The reality is much different. There were a number of very good, talented artists working in comic books during the 1990s. One of the reasons I have for doing these It Came from the 1990s features is to spotlight the work of these individuals.

Geof Isherwood is among the artists from that decade whose work I enjoy. Isherwood had actually been working in comics since the early 1980s. However, it was his art on Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme for Marvel Comics in the early 1990s that first caught my attention and instantly made me a fan.

12/23 Update: Isherwood read this post and was kind enough to offer a few comments which I’ve added.

Isherwood had drawn several “The Book of the Vishanti” back-up stories in Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme in 1990 and 1991. In those features writers Roy Thomas & J.M. Lofficier explored various elements of the magical history of the Marvel universe.

I’m guessing that it was on the strength of these back-ups that Mike Rockwitz, who became the series editor with issue #31, asked Isherwood to become the book’s regular penciler. Isherwood’s first full issue of Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme was #37, cover-dated January 1992.

I already blogged about issue #37 years ago, but I’m going to share another page from “Frankensurfer” here, because Isherwood’s work is just so stunning. His depiction of the conflict between Frank von Frankenstein and Vlad Tepes (the future vampire lord Dracula) really demonstrates his affinity for rendering historical and fantasy elements.

Written by Roy Thomas & J.M. Lofficier, drawn by Geof Isherwood, lettered by Pat Brosseau and colored by George Roussos

Next, we have the splash page of Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #43 (July 1992) which was a crossover with the Infinity War event. We see Strange with the Silver Surfer, Nova and the world-devourer Galactus. Isherwood shows a real affinity for rendering the Kirby-created cosmic concepts of the Marvel universe.

In an interview Isherwood discussed the difficulty in positioning normal-sized figures like Strange with an immense being such as Galactus, especially with that towering helmet, of framing figures of such different scales in the same panels and actually making it work. It’s the sort of storytelling challenge that I now realize doesn’t typically occur to readers such as myself. I feel like we only notice it when it DOESN’T work, and the perspectives are off. When id does work, we have an unfortunate tendency to take the artist’s skill at pulling it off for granted.

Written by Roy Thomas, drawn by Geof Isherwood, lettered by Pat Brosseau and colored by George Roussos

Issue #45 (Sept 1992) is another Infinity War crossover. In short, Doctor Strange dies, because that sort of thing happens with alarming frequency in mainstream superhero comic books. Of course, he soon gets better. But in the meantime he is confronted by the physical personification of Death itself, who is attempting to convince Strange to give up the ghost, so to speak, and succumb to oblivion.

Isherwood’s double page spread is very effective, with his use of three smaller close-up panels of Strange’s face on the left, which lead us right to his striking encounter with Death.

Isherwood comments:

“Issue #45 was the story Scott Derrickson used in the Dr Strange movie. He raised some scenes, like the car crash and how Strange goes on a hot date and ignores his brother who’s sick (or something, gotta read the comic again). Thus I was in the Special Thanks.”

Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #49 (Jan 1993) is part of the storyline wherein the various mystical entities who Strange has been invoking for years forcibly attempt to recruit him to fight for them in the millennia-long cosmic War of the Seven Spheres. Instead, Strange refuses, and invokes the Law of Emancipation, freeing him from his obligations to the Vishanti and other entities, but also leaving him seriously de-powered, no longer able to call on his former magical patrons. Isherwood does a good job drawing the various bizarre entities in this sequence.

This is one of several issues from Isherwood’s run where he only does penciling. In this case, inks are by Bob Petrecca & Don Hudson. The issues on which Isherwood just did pencils really make you realize how much of his distinctive style is in his inking. Not to disparage Petrecca, Hudson, or any of the other embellishers who were paired with Isherwood, but I usually prefer his full artwork. This is a good demonstration of the role inking plays on the look of finished artwork.

Written by Len Kaminski, penciled by Geof Isherwood, inked by Bob Petrecca & Don Hudson, lettered by Pat Brosseau and colored by George Roussos

No sooner does the weakened Strange return to Earth than he discovers his bitter enemy Dormammu has returned, now more powerful than ever. So in issue #50 (Feb 1993) Strange is forced to assemble a team of Secret Defenders for the first time, in this case the Hulk, Silver Surfer and Ghost Rider.

This two-page spread of the Defenders entering Dormammu’s bizarre realm is incredibly striking. It’s a good example of Isherwood’s aptitude at rendering unearthly Ditko-esque realms.

Written by Len Kaminski, drawn by Geof Isherwood, lettered by Pat Brosseau and colored by George Roussos

Also from issue #50, here’s a page of Strange confronting the now-titanic, multi-limbed Dormammu. I really like Isherwood’s unconventional storytelling & panel shapes in this sequence. Really gives the battle a lot of energy & excitement.

Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #53 (May 1993) sees another old foe of Strange, the dream demon Nightmare, actually take over Strange’s body. Nightmare is opposed by the tortured anti-hero Morbius the Living Vampire.

Isherwood does another good job with the storytelling here, the long vertical panels and positioning of the figures really making this feel like an intense confrontation. The lurid green coloring by George Roussos and distinctive lettering by Pat Brosseau definitely enhance the mood & action. A good reminder of the roles both color and lettering play in the finished product.

Geof comments:

“I always felt George’s coloring was a bit bizarre, but since it was Dr. Strange he must have felt bizarre was the way to go.”

Co-plotted by Roy Thomas & Geof Isherwood, scripted by Thomas, drawn by Isherwood, lettered by Pat Brosseau and colored by George Roussos

The 1993 Marvel annuals all introduced brand-new characters, the company’s attempt, in the wake of the formation of Image Comics, to attempt to show that they didn’t need the superstar artists who had made their exodus from Marvel. DC Comics did the same thing in their 1993 annuals. The results for both companies were decidedly mixed, to say the least!

Possibly one of the more effective creations on the Marvel side was Kyllian, who made his debut in Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme Annual #3. Kyllian was a young, angry man who became invested with the powers of the Celtic gods. A reluctant Strange took Kyllian on as his new apprentice. Due to Kyllian being created by Isherwood, who both wrote & penciled the Annual, Kyllian was quickly integrated into the monthly series, meaning that he wasn’t instantly forgotten like many of the other new characters.

On the main story in Annual #3 Isherwood’s pencil breakdowns were finished by the very talented Dave Simons. In this case, I actually liked the collaboration, as I feel the artwork was a lovely synthesis of their two styles.

Written & pencil breakdowns by Geof Isherwood, finishes by Dave Simons, letters by Diana Albers and colors by Ovi Hondru

The art on Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #54 (June 1993) is a bit of an oddity. Frank Lopez, who was mostly known for his work as a colorist, provided breakdowns, with Isherwood contributing finishes. This crossover with the Infinity Crusade event has Strange seeking out the cosmic entity Eternity in an effort to discover the truth of the mysterious Goddess who is promising to bring about universal peace.

This page has Strange pitted against his time-displaced mentor the Ancient One, framed around the stellar visage of Eternity in a way that helps convey the immensity of that entity. Lopez utilized a lot of multi-panel layouts on this story. Isherwood’s finishes give the work a real punch.

Isherwood comments:

“Issue #54: I was on vacation with my first (now late) wife Sonja. For once I decided to do a real vacation and not take work with me. So Rockwitz hired Frank, who did a very nice job, and I inked it after we came home, to maintain the overall look.”

Written by Roy Thomas, layouts by Frank Lopez, finishes by Geof Isherwood, lettered by Pat Brosseau and colored by George Roussos

Issue #58 (Oct 1993) sees our hero once again encountering alien sorcerer Urthona, who unlike Strange has become embroiled in the sprawling War of the Seven Spheres, a conflict the tentacle-faced being seeks to utilize for his own personal benefit. Drawn to the planet Gevaltu, Strange uses the Eye of Agamotto to discover exactly what sort of back-dealing his foe has been involved in and expose that duplicity to Urthona’s subjects.

Once again, Isherwood does a fine job with the storytelling, and with depicting the non-human beings and alien landscapes in this story.

Written & drawn by Geof Isherwood, lettered by Pat Brosseau and colored by George Roussos

Isherwood’s Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme run ended with issue #59 (Nov 1993). Incoming editor Evan Skolnick brought on the new creative team of writer David Quinn & penciler Melvin Rubi, a run that I’ve blogged about previously. Isherwood drew a short Doctor Strange story in Marvel Comics Presents that tied into Quinn’s ongoing storyline, and then that was it for his involvement with the character.

Fortunately, Rockwitz became the editor on Namor the Sub-Mariner, and he brought Isherwood over with him to that series. I’m still glad that, at a time when the industry was starting to experience a major implosion, Isherwood was able to continue working regularly for another couple of years. He certainly did great work on Namor the Sub-Mariner, a title that was as suited to his rich, illustrative artwork and fantasy sensibilities.

In recent years Isherwood has worked as a movie storyboard artist. As he explained:

“The film industry was just picking up steam at the end of the 90s in Montreal, so I transitioned in good time. Drawing comics, and superheroes when commissioned to do so, is like riding a bicycle to me, easy to jump back into even if the work takes a lot of focus.”

Isherwood still does the occasional independent comic book series and has a few projects in the works. I certainly look forward to seeing what he does next, and I hope to promote his new work either here or on First Comic News.

Isherwood is in my personal Top Five Favorite Doctor Strange Artists. For the record, the other four are Steve Ditko, Gene Colan, Frank Brunner and Mark Buckingham.

The full run of Geof Isherwood’s Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme is reprinted in two Marvel Epic Collections, Volume 10: Infinity War and Volume 11: Nightmare on Bleeker Street. I definitely recommend picking them up.

Doctor Who reviews: The Giggle

The third and final Doctor Who 60th anniversary special, “The Giggle” written by Russell T Davies, was a genuinely surprising story.

The regeneration of David Tennant’s Doctor into Ncuti Gatwa was something we all knew was coming, but Davies really threw us a curveball, with “bi-generation” taking place, and the Doctor splitting into two separate beings. After I got over my shock, I have to admit, I pretty quickly found myself liking the idea. This was especially because we got to see the old Doctor and the new Doctor working side by side against the Toymaker. It was a lot of fun watching Tennant and Gatwa play off each other in the later part of the episode, and to see the baton getting passed in a way it never had been before on this series.

This also feels like Davies rather cheekily responding to certain fans’ demands for a multi-Doctor anniversary story in a way they never could have imagined.

It’s still too soon to tell exactly what sort of Doctor Gatwa is going to be. But at least we got to see the 15th Doctor in action for a fairly good amount of time, rather than the usual 60 seconds or so of the new actor popping in just to act confused and spout off some comedic nonsense. And we only have to wait a couple of weeks for Gatwa’s first full story when this year’s Christmas special is broadcast. Now I’m glad Davies and the Doctor Who production team filmed all of these episodes over a year in advance and held them in reserve, since we won’t have an excruciatingly long wait to see the new guy take center stage.

So, now there’s two Doctors and two TARDISes bouncing around. The important thing is how Davies handles this going forward. I expect that the 14th Doctor is going to be in the background, enjoying a well-deserved quiet life with his new family… and that was such a beautifully written moment that Tennant played with genuine emotion.

Tennant is now free to go off and do other projects, but there’s always the possibility that he could come back again for more appearances on Doctor Who if he really wants to. It’s implied the 14th Doctor is still making the occasional trip in his TARDIS, something that sounds like the perfect sort of thing for the Big Finish Doctor Who audio adventures to eventually tackle.

Donna Noble was once again played very well by Catherine Tate. Donna was a character that I initially found grating, but she very quickly grew on me, and fairly soon Tennant and Tate became one of my favorite TARDIS teams ever. Donna’s departure from the show was genuinely heartbreaking, so it’s been great to have her come back, regain her memories, and be reunited with her Doctor for more adventures in these three anniversary specials.

Speaking of grating, I never thought I would be glad to see Bonnie Langford return as Melanie Bush, but here we are. I realize now that Mel was the victim of some poor writing during her short tenure on the show in the mid-1980s. She got dropped in literally out of nowhere in the middle of the season-long “Trial of a Time Lord” with no explanation of who she was or how she met the Doctor, she appeared in a handful of rather poorly written stories during one of the most turbulent behind-the-scenes periods in the show’s history, she was written as the girl who screams hysterically at monsters, and then she abruptly goes off to travel the galaxy with notorious space pirate & con artist Sabalom Glitz. Like, what the hell?

I haven’t gotten around to listening to any of the Big Finish audio adventures in which Langford has reprised the role of Mel, but I’ve heard from others her character was given much better material. And seeing Mel return in “The Giggle” makes me realize what a fantastic companion for the Doctor she could have been. She’s warm, funny and intelligent. At first I was wondering how Mel came to be working for UNIT, but then I remembered that a part of her background was that she’s supposed to be a computer programmer, something that I don’t think actually ever made it onto the screen back in 1986. Which is another example of just how poorly she was utilized.

Whatever the case, Langford was great as a middle-aged Mel. I really like the idea that she’s now a part of the Doctor’s adopted family on Earth. I hope she appears on the show again soon.

I was glad to see Jemma Redgrave return as Kate Lethbridge-Stewart. She’s another character who I feel was not written as well as she could have been in the past. When we first meet her in “The Power of Three” she’s supposed to be a scientist who is guiding UNIT in a less-militaristic direction, but in subsequent appearances she was depicted to be as stubborn & belligerent as her father was. I’m glad we see her in “The Giggle” as a more cerebral figure, working with the Doctor and UNIT’s other scientists to determine the source of the madness that is infecting Earth’s population.

I also appreciated that Kate is shown to be genuinely concerned for the people under her command, and that when they get killed it affects her. Back in the early 1970s when UNIT was a regular fixture, the show unfortunately never stopped to mourn the soldiers who got killed by the various weird menaces that were attacking humanity.

Although, honestly, pitting UNIT against the Toymaker is the equivalent of trying to take down an elephant with a fly swatter! Those poor guys never stood a chance!

It was nice to have Ruth Madeley return so soon as UNIT scientist Shirley Bingham. There are rumors circulating of a possible UNIT spin-off series. If that ever comes to pass, I hope Madeley appears in it. And, once again, there’s always Big Finish.

I really wanted to discuss Yasmin Finney as Rose Noble, as she returns for this episode’s epilogue. When I watched “The Star Beast” two weeks ago, somehow it went completely over my head that Rose, as well as the actress playing her, is transgender. In the fortnight since, though, I’ve seen a bunch of online trolls screeching about how much the character sucks, and complaining that Doctor Who is now “woke” and the show is more concerned with “virtue signaling” than it is making longtime fans happy.

I’ve been a Doctor Who fan since the early 1980s. I’ve watched nearly every surviving story from the show’s original 26-year run. And, let me tell you, Doctor Who has always been political.

The Doctor has been fighting alien Space Nazis obsessed with racial purity since 1964. During the first half of the 1970s Malcolm Hulke, a card-carrying member of the Communist party, was one of the show’s main writers, and the series regularly tackled topics such as xenophobia, colonialism, fascism & environmental degradation. One story from the late 1970s was about a society that is literally being taxed to death by bloodsucking capitalist oppressors. The mid-1980s featured an alien penal colony where the population was kept pacified by a steady diet of violent television programing. A villain from the late 1980s was a blatant stand-in for Margaret Thatcher.

But, sure, go ahead, tell me that now Doctor Who is suddenly “woke” or “preachy” or whatever the hell bullshit term you want to try to call it.

I feel that Rose is a great character. I’m not sure why, but I initially got the impression that she was going to be traveling in the TARDIS with Gatwa’s Doctor in the upcoming new season. That’s obviously not the case, but if it had been I would have been perfectly happy with it. I’m glad to hear Davies say that we’ll be seeing Rose again.

Finally, I wanted to touch on the villain from “The Giggle,” the Toymaker, or as he was originally known, the Celestial Toymaker. The Toymaker is a villain whose popularity has waxed & waned over the decades… which is ironic, considering he only ever appeared in a single four-episode Doctor Who serial back in April 1966. “The Celestial Toymaker,” which featured William Hartnell as the original Doctor, was only ever broadcast that one time, but over the next couple of decades it acquired a mythic reputation as the fans who watched it as little kids recounted their memories of it.

And, I mean, on paper, “The Celestial Toymaker” sounds like an amazing story. The TARDIS materializes in a strange other-dimensional realm where the Doctor and his companions are forced to play nightmarish games against the mysterious, godlike Toymaker, and if they lose they will be transformed into living toys for all eternity.

In practice, though, it’s difficult to tell just how good “The Celestial Toymaker” actually was. The first three episodes are missing & presumed lost, leaving just the audio track that fans captured with tape recorders (no home VCRs in 1966, obviously) and various still photographs of the characters & sets. Many of those who have watched a reconstruction made with that audio track & photographs have come away rather unimpressed.

The fourth episode does exist, I watched it when it was released as part of the Doctor Who: Lost in Time – Collection of Rare Episodes two disk DVD set in 2004 and it’s, well, fine. It’s a fairly decent episode, but it didn’t live up its reputation as an all-time great story.

I feel like the serial’s biggest selling point must have been that the Toymaker was portrayed by the very talented Michael Gough. Watching the surviving fourth episode, Gough imbues the villain with genuine cunning, intelligence & menace. I can certainly understand why the Toymaker himself made such an impression on young viewers back in 1966.

It’s also worth noting that in recent decades “The Celestial Toymaker” has been dogged by allegations of racism and cultural appropriation. The fact that one character actually drops the N-bomb certainly doesn’t help matters!

The Toymaker was supposed to return to Doctor Who in the 1986 serial “The Nightmare Fair,” but the BBC’s 18-month hiatus of the show resulted in an entire season of stories getting scrapped. “The Nightmare Fair” was eventually made as an enjoyable audio adventure by Big Finish in 2009, now with David Bailie playing the Toymaker. The character has been the antagonist in several other Big Finish stories, as well as Doctor Who novels and comic book stories. But “The Giggle” is the Toymaker’s first actual television appearance in 57 years.

How well did Neil Patrick Harris do in assuming the role of the Toymaker? Fine, I guess. I thought he was a little too over the top, and that stereotypical German accent he kept adopting very quickly became irritating. That crazy dance number to the Spice Girls that he did in UNIT headquarters was ridiculous. But Harris was very good at the parts where the Toymaker rapidly veers back & forth from comically weird to icy menace, coming across as a genuinely threatening figure.

I also feel like the show, five and a half decades later, now had the budget & technology to really bring to life the sort of surrealist nightmare fuel that the original 1966 serial probably could only allude to. There should have been just a bit more screen time given to the Doctor and Donna fighting for their lives & sanity in the Toymaker’s freakish realm.

“The Giggle” wasn’t perfect, but it was very good, exciting, heartfelt, and a lot of fun. It definitely leaves me anticipating the new season featuring Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor.

Doctor Who reviews: Wild Blue Yonder

The second of the Doctor Who 60th anniversary specials starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate, “Wild Blue Yonder” is once again written by Russell T Davies. This time the director is Tom Kingsley.

As I mentioned in my write-up of “The Star Beast” last week, while I definitely enjoyed that episode, I did feel it played things more than a bit on the safe side. Perfectly understandable since it was clearly intended to recapture the attention of viewers who had drifted away from the series over the previous few years. That said, I indicated that Doctor Who is usually at its best when it tries new things, when it goes in different directions. So, I was pleased that “Wild Blue Yonder” was such an offbeat episode.

One of the qualities about Doctor Who since the show’s return in 2005 that I’ve appreciated is its willingness to really play with the formula of the series. Episodes such as “Blink” and “Turn Left” were decidedly unconventional, and as a result became some of the most memorable in the show’s history. “Wild Blue Yonder” is effectively a two-hander for Tennant and Tate, with the two of them carrying the entire story, except for the opening and closing moments of the episode. It brings to mind “Heaven Sent” which was another great atypical Doctor Who entry, one which had Peter Capaldi’s Doctor as basically the only character in the entire episode.

I mentioned last week that Tennant and Tate had effortlessly stepped back into the roles of the Doctor and Donna Noble, and that continues here, with the two of them having some wonderful chemistry as they play off each other, both in dramatic and comedic fashion. I sometimes feel that Davies is better at writing characters than he is plots, but when you have two strong actors like Tennant and Tate playing the material, that definitely helps make up for any weaknesses that may exist in the narrative flow or the story resolutions. As always, Tate did a great job transitioning from her comedic banter with Tennant to showing Donna’s grave concern that she will never see her family again.

Tennant and Tate also play the sinister doppelgangers who seek to replace the Doctor and Donna, to escape their imprisonment at the literal edge of existence and wreak havoc across the universe.

Back in the days (as in, like, the 1960s and 70s) it was said that Doctor Who had an abundance of “behind the sofa” moments, with scary monsters that would send the young children of Great Britain scampering to hide behind household furniture. I don’t know if “Wild Blue Yonder” had that effect on any younger viewers, but I’m 47 years old and even I found the duplicates of the Doctor and Donna to be quite chilling. Part of that is down to Tennant and Tate turning in some genuinely sinister performances. The other is Davies’ script evoking the existential dread of some nameless horror supplanting your very identity & existence.

The effects on “Wild Blue Yonder” looked amazing. The enormous alien spaceship was probably a mixture of physical sets and CGI. It definitely looked great, and really gave a massive scale to a story that was otherwise very intimate and character driven. I also liked the weird body-morphing effects on the aliens as they struggled to mimic the Doctor and Donna (“My arms are too long.”) as it provided brief moments of comedy in an otherwise intense story.

I’m still very much catching up on the Doctor Who episodes I missed (I’m now about a third of the way through Capaldi’s final season) but I nevertheless found it interesting that this episode references “The Flux,” something that I vaguely understand took place during Jodie Whittaker’s time as the Doctor. From everything I’ve heard, Chris Chibnall’s era as showrunner was very divisive. I’m looking forward to watching those episodes so I can make up my own mind. But whatever the case, there is something reassuring about Davies not simply sweeping the period of the show from immediately before his return under the rug.

I’ve seen that sort of radical deck-clearing in comic books too often. I’m of the opinion that, unless something is genuinely awful and universally reviled, creators on a series or property should resist blatantly erasing or retconning away their predecessors’ works.

(Of course, it’s entirely possible I’ll feel differently once I actually get to watch the episodes featuring Whittaker’s Doctor! I’ll just have to wait and see.)

At times “Wild Blue Yonder” did drag just a bit. But overall, I found it to be a satisfying, compelling, atmospheric episode.

“Wild Blue Yonder” ends with the Doctor and Donna safely returning to present-day Earth, just in time for the latest world-threatening emergency to begin rearing its head, setting the stage for the third 60th anniversary special last week. In a very lovely scene, Donna’s grandfather, the now-infirm Wilfred Mott (Bernard Cribbins) is the one waiting for the TARDIS to return, and we get a wonderfully touching reunion between him, Donna and the Doctor.

I was definitely looking forward to seeing more of Wilf in next week’s episode. So, it was genuinely heartbreaking to then read on the Radio Times website that this was the only scene the 93-year-old Cribbins was able to shoot before he passed away in July 2022. Despite his poor health, though, Cribbins once again brought all the warmth & joy of Wilf to life. And at least Cribbins, Tennant and Tate did get to do that one last scene together.