I really like what Stan and Steve did here. So far Dr Strange has faced a lot of nobodies (with the exception of Mordo and perhaps Nightmare, but he's not so well developed yet), but now he has Dormammu, who's almost god-like, but also like a force of nature, i.e. "beyond good and evil". His nature is to conquer, but he also protects his own dimension and its people from the Mindless Ones. Great stuff!

Dr Strange sorta wins by a fluke, but he utilises the suprising advantage to the fullest, which is of course a mark of a good politician/sorcerer supreme. Most of life (perhaps magic as well?) consists of reacting to the choices presented to us, and if you're able to use the opportunity given... More power to you! It's interesting that Dr Strange is, in fact, ready to let the Mindless Ones invade Dormammu's realm, because his duty is to protect our plane of existence, or at least Earth. That's pretty ruthless Realpolitik, when you think about it. But you can't make an omelette without scrambling a few eggs!

Ditko's art is really great, of course. Dormammu's realm is suitably surreal, and I like the way Ditko is able to concentrate on the most important things in the foreground, abstracting everything else away, like on page 6. The Mindless Ones look brutish and threatening, I wonder if there was something in a movie or somewhere that served as an inspiration?

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Comicsdad