Obsessively putting our comics in chronological order since 1985.
| 1984-09-01 02:08:07 |
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Marvel Fanfare #49
Issue(s): Marvel Fanfare #49
Cover Date: Feb 90
Title: "Strange on the range"
Credits:
Alan Weiss - Writer
Alan Weiss - Penciler
Alan Weiss - Inker
Al Milgrom - Editor
Review/plot:
Coming back from his time traveling adventure in Doctor Strange #50, where he met the Howling Commandos, Dr. Strange noticed a rift in the timestream.
He made note of it and decided to check it out "at his earliest opportunity".
But when he did go to check it out, he got into trouble, so a magical failsafe spell calls Nick Fury and Dum Dum Dugan to help him.
They arrive in a Wild West Saloon just as Dr. Strange is getting into a fight over a game of cards.
After the bar fight, Dr. Strange makes a weird comment about Dugan sounding Irish. Even if that word balloon was meant to be coming from Nick Fury, i don't understand it.
Anyway, the three then go off and take care of an uppity injun that was trying too hard to stop the white men from taking his land.
Strange and his friends put the injun in his place...
...and tell the others not to bother fighting any more.
The fact that this story is entirely done by a single guy, Alan Weiss, makes me feel a little more favorable to it than the average inventory issue of Marvel Fanfare. But it's still a not so good and kinda offensive story. I do like the astral buffalo, though.
There's also a Two-Gun Kid story in this issue, and it starts with a page directly across from the final page of the Dr. Strange story with no splash opening, and since it's also a western it took me a minute to realize it was a different story.
Quality Rating: C-
Historical Significance Rating: 1
Chronological Placement Considerations: This presumably takes place while SHIELD is operative and while Dr. Strange is in a normal status quo. It's not as easy to line that up as you may think, so i've pushed this all the way back to 1985. I originally wanted to push it to 1982, soon after the Doctor Strange #50 issue that is referenced, with the idea that that recent event is what causes Strange to consider Nick and Dum Dum as people to call on for help. It was also while coming back from that adventure that he noticed the rift in the timestream that he's investigating here, so we wouldn't want to wait too long for him to address that. But as Michael notes, in ROM #54 Nick Fury doesn't talk like he's all that familiar with Dr. Strange, so i've pushed this to 1984 after the ROM issue.
References:
- Doctor Strange had his time travel adventure and met the Howlers in Doctor Strange #50.
- Strange mentions having worked with Nick and Dum Dum "on many occasions since that first time" which he notes that for himself was a time traveling mission, so he's talking from their perspective. But i can't really think of a lot of examples of them working together unless they teamed up behind the scenes at stuff like Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Girl's wedding in Fantastic Four annual #3 and ROM #54-55.
Crossover: N/A
Continuity Insert? N
My Reprint: N/A
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Comments
I have to wonder if this is supposed to take place after ROM 54-55, since Fury doesn't even recognize Strange's voice in that issue (and might not even recognize Strange).
Fnord, I don't think this story was meant to be offensive- I think the idea was that if Redblade had succeeded, the past would have changed for the worse and more Indians would have died. The problem is Strange's speech to the Indians- since he can't tell them "altering history is dangerous", he basically has to tell them "What will happen to you sucks but you'll just have to endure it."
Fury's first time travel costume is better known as Jonah Hex's outfit.
Michael, looking at ROM #54 Fury does recognize Dr. Strange, although you're right that he only mentions meeting him at the Richardses wedding and from conversations with the Avengers. That seems to ignore Doctor Strange #50 although that was a long time ago from Fury's perspective and who knows if Strange messed with his mind or not. In any event, i agree with pushing this after ROM #54.
And of course the story wasn't *meant* to be offensive, but whenever you have as the villain of your story someone that is trying to prevent a historical tragedy, you're on shaky ground, and i don't think the writing here or art here has the right level of sensitivity to handle that with the right level of nuance.
In that Dum-Dum "Irish" panel, Dugan also appears to be sharing a few word balloons with Fury.
I do agree the art is pretty high-quality for an unknown, though this should never have seen print.
Also this reminds me of the Silver Age 'Origin of the Batcave' which also features heroes traveling back in time to be on the wrong side of history: http://comicsalliance.com/bizarro-back-issues-batman-in-the-worst-thanksgiving-ever/
