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Fred Hembeck and Terry Austion not only
supplied those brilliant pre-inked pencils for the Captain America story,
but they also gave us a highly bizarre item. It appears to be a rather
poor photocopy of a very stat of the Ancient One and Dr. Strange.
Trouble is, I can't find the image anywhere! It's not an official pin-up.
In STRANGE TALES #127 (Dec '64), Dr. Strange is given a new cloak of
levitation by the Ancient One. In this image, he is wearing the new cloak,
so the piece has to be not much earlier than this time frame. What is really
appears to be is some kind of "study" or "reference" page - something Ditko showed
to Lee, or preliminary drawings for new costumes. Also, one must note
the Ancient One's freaky head-dress. It looks like some bizarre Spider creature
has fallen on his head. Nowhere around STRANGE TALES #127 does the Ancient One
wear something this convoluted. Perhaps that is the key. Perhaps Ditko whipped up
some new costumes for Dr. Strange and the Ancient One, and then either he and/or
Stan said "let's keep the Doc's new outfit, but that head-dress on the Ancient
One has to go!" The placement of both figures also suggest it was a study guide.
There are pinned so close together, and yet are oblivious to each other, that
it would definitely seem right to assume they are only there for reference.
Could this be the first document of Dr. Strange's costume that he would
keep for 35+ years? If so, it is a pretty important document and we thank
Fred Hembeck for sending it to us, and for Terry for storing it. Anyone with
any opinions can e-mail from my address below.
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