Initially called
"Doctor Strange" scientist
Hugo Strange became a superhero in
Nedor's Thrilling Comics
#1 by ingesting a substance he created called Alosun, obtained by
distilling the atoms of the Sun, which gave him super-strength and
near-invulnerability.
He couldn't actually fly, but could leap great distances like
the Hulk and the Golden Age
Superman.
Like his inspiration, pulp hero
Doc Savage, he initially wore a standard business suit, which would become shredded during the course of that issue's adventure,
But
within several months, this became dark jodhpurs, riding boots, and a
red safari shirt, which quickly became a faster-to-draw red t-shirt.
Again, like
Doc Savage, he didn't have a secret identity, so there was no need for a mask, but
Strange did have an unusually-large pompadour to give him obvious visual distinction.
When kid sidekicks became a trend,
Doc introduced
Mike, who wore a similar outfit.
While he never received his own title,
Doc not only ran in
Thrilling Comics, but as one of the features in the anthology
America's Best Comics, where the covers showed him interacting with other
Nedor Comics heroes like
The Black Terror and
Fighting Yank. (Though inside, the heroes all had separate strips and
didn't appear together!)
Doc retained the
Thrilling Comics cover spot for most of his run, only losing it for two months to the patriotic
American Crusader, before regaining it until #60, when a jungle heroine named
Princess Pantha replaced him.
Ironically, his final cover on issue #59 showed him rescuing a jungle girl, but
not, as reported,
Princess Pantha!
Doc stayed as a backup until #65, when he disappeared from comics.
But you can't keep a good hero down.
In the 1990s, Alan Moore (Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Swamp Thing) revived Doc as one of the Terra Obscura heroes in his Tom Strong series. (He had already used Doc as the visual template for the Tom Strong character.)
Working off the Earth-One/Earth-Two alternate-Earth concept made popular at DC Comics, Alan remade
Doc Strange into
Tom Strange (changing his name from "
Hugo Strange" to
"Thomas Hugo Strange" and making him into a Golden Age variation of
Tom Strong!)
The concept proved popular enough that a spin-off book entitled Terra Obscura, starring Tom Strange and his new crime-fighting companion/wife, Princess Pantha (who had replaced Doc in Thrilling Comics!) ran for 12 issues!
Doc has also appeared in Alex Ross'
Project SuperPowers series, though simply called "Doc", to avoid confusion (and potential trademark conflict) with Marvel's
Doctor Strange.
We at
Atomic Kommie Comics™ have also revived Doc as part of our
Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™ line!
There
are four classic covers (including his FIRST appearance) on a variety
of collectibles including t-shirt, mugs, messenger bags, and other cool
stuff as well as a
Classic Doc Strange 2016 12-Month Calendar with a dozen different covers including his first
and last!
Any of them would make great Christmas gifts, especially in conjunction with the trade paperbacks of the
Project SuperPowers Golden Age revival series or
Terra Obscura! (Hint, hint!)
The Doctor is
in, and he's ready for action!
