*Marvel: This week’s Good Doctor selections! In the early Marvel Age – when, you must recall, the halcyon days of the Golden Age were a mere 10-15 years in the past – Marvel received a lot of requests to revive their 1940s stars. They tested the waters with the Human Torch’s solo story in Strange Tales #114, wherein Johnny Storm appeared to meet and battle Captain America, legendary hero of World War II! Needless to say – oh, don’t give me ‘Spoilers’, it was more than half a century ago – it turned out to be a villain appropriating Cap’s costume, but the issue sold so well that it triggered the revival of the actual Captain America in Avengers #4, and the rest is history. In the following issue, #115, although Marvel’s Master of the Mystic Arts had premiered some issues earlier, it was here which explained how dissolute and egotistical surgeon Stephen Strange had sought help from mystical sources and been drawn on to the path of heroism following a life-altering accident. This, however, was a secret well-kept by Marvel, who were still plugging the Human Torch as a solo star at this point, and as such gave his match-up with Spidey foe the Sandman all the cover space, without even mentioning the Doctor was In! Nevertheless, this is the first telling of Strange’s origin, as greatly expanded upon in the widely-acclaimed cinematic blockbuster.
PICTURED: STRANGE TALES
#114 VG/FN p £210 Nice glossy, solid, pence-printed copy with bright colours and staples firm at spine and centrefold. Soft central crease and small crease across bottom right, neither of which break colour. A few spine ticks. Supple white to off-white pages. 
#115 VG p £215 Good colour and gloss. pence printed. Some soft cover creasing which does not break colour, one long colour breaking (but not hard) crease along the Sandman’s body. Minor spine and top edge wear. Staples firm at spine and centrefold. Supple white to off-white pages.