What Is It That Disturbs You, Stephen?
"Let Your All Seeing Eye Guide You."
Despite the success Doctor Strange has seen in his MCU appearances, may of the Master of the Mystic Arts’ stories are still somewhat hard to come by without digging through back issue bins. One such tale is What Is It That Disturbs You, Stephen?, a self-contained story from the mind of P. Craig Russell.
The story has an interesting background. Artist P. Craig Russell originally wrote the story what would become What Is It… in 1973, submitting it to then Marvel editor Roy Thomas. Thomas liked the story and bought the scrip, only to do nothing with it. Three years later, new editor Marv Wolfman decided to use the story for the Doctor Strange Annual, but due to space constraints the story had to be re-written with several scenes removed. Another 20 years later, in 1996, finding himself with a some free time, Russell decided to re-visit the story and try to have it re-printed. New-new Marvel editor Bob Harris agreed, but after going over the original publication to see how to flesh it out a little for a full graph novel, Russell decided the whole thing needed to be re-drawn. Thus, we received the graphic novel we have today.
The story, which has been fleshed out by writer Marc Andreyko, reads like something of a Greek tragedy. Strange, who has found himself with some rare downtime, has treated himself to dinner at a fancy Chinese restaurant. When, at the end of the meal, he breaks open the traditional fortune cookie, he finds inside the titular question, “What is it that disturbs you, Stephen?”
Confused as to the meaning of this question, and who it may be that is posing it to him, Strange returns home only to receive a message from the Ancient One that his friend Wong has been kidnapped by mystical forces. Thus begins Strange's adventure to the mystical plane of Ditkopolis, named after - as I’m sure many will have realised - Strange’s creator, Steve Ditko.
The true star of What Is It… is far and away Russell’s art. Although in a style of comic book “realism” that many are familiar with, there is a a command of line work here that elevates more emotion than one way at first realise. The lines are subtle, but made in such a way that a feeling other other-worldliness is ever present. Be it the subtle arc of an eyebrow, the masterful use of hatching or the intricately detailed backgrounds, Russel’s work is the perfect fit for the character and world of Doctor Strange.
Russell’s imagery is greatly enhanced by the beautiful colours provided by Lovern Kindzierski. The beginning of the story, while Strange remains on Earth, is coated in mostly primary colours. The closer to Ditkopolis, and the deeper into the weird of the story Strange gets, the more the page is bathed in a heady mix of secondary colours. All manner of greens bathe the scenes of Ditkopolis, with purples and violets highlighting those who have been captured within the far flung realm. It all amounts to a very real sense of otherness, perfect for just such a tale.
Unfortunately, where What Is It… falls down is its script. I’m not sure which parts were Russell and which parts were Andreyko, but the story is quite thin and everything is resolved rather easily. When Strange arrives in Ditkopolis we learn that the two rulers of the realm, Electra (not that one) and Celeste, are barley holding things together. Electra has kidnapped Wong in the hopes of forcing Strange to transfer the magic power Celeste holds to herslef. This, Electra says, is the only way to save Ditkopolis as Celeste is mute and small minded.
“The power is wasted upon her. She is a void…a vacuum containing my city’s salvation.”
It is revealed not long after that Celeste is in the state she is as Electra cast a spell upon her. Also, she trapped the soul of Celeste’s beloved, whom Electra also desired, in a stone swan. All that is required of Strange is to trick Electra into attacking Celeste. Due to “the power of love” (not said in as many words in the story) the attack is reflected back at her, Celeste’s spell broken and her beloved freed. There is a bit more to the fight, but it does not last long.
Ultimately, despite Strange’s efforts, Ditkopolis is destroyed. It is something of a bittersweet ending, but the drama of it is lost somewhat due to the relative ease at which it was arrived. We do see Electra’s final decent into madness depicted terrifically by Russell, but again this is more a credit to the artist’s skill than due to any quality found in the script.
What Is It That Disturbs You, Stephen? is an incredible visual showcase of Doctor Strange and his world. In the hands of an artist as skilled as Russell (and this is not to take anything away from previous Strange artists, such as Ditko himself,) the worlds of Doctor Strange can be hauntingly beautiful, terrifyingly twisted and gloriously weird. They are quite unlike anything else in mainstream comics, which goes a long way to explain why the character has remained as popular as he has for the last 61 years.
As for the book’s lingering question, we never do find out what has disturbed Stephen. Is it the evils he witnesses while performing his duties as Earth’s Sorcerer Supreme? Is it the knowledge that, despite all his powers, he can not always save everyone? Or is it that despite one of the best artists in comics working on this book, it is sadly let down by a weak script?