Doc Strange

Doc Strange is a Golden Age comic book superhero who originally appeared in Thrilling Comics #1 (Better Publications, also called Nedor Comics) in February 1940. The character continued in Thrilling Comics until issue #64 (Feb 1948). He also appeared in America's Best Comics #1-23 and 27. Circa 2000, the character was revived and renamed 'Tom Strange' in Tom Strong #11 (published by America's Best Comics). Hugo Strange ("Dr. Strange", later "Doc Strange") is an American scientist who develops a serum called Alosun — described as a "distillate of sun atoms" — which when ingested gives him superhuman strength, the ability to fly, and invulnerability. Doc Strange is assisted by his girlfriend Virginia Thompson. In Thrilling Comics #24, he gains a teen sidekick, wealthy young wastrel Mike Ellis, who wears a costume identical to Strange's, along with a green cape. Though non-powered during the earlier adventures, Mike later gains the same powers as Doc Strange. The character's name was "Doctor Strange" at first; his moniker changed to "Doc Strange" in issue #11 (Dec 1940). According to Jess Nevins' Encyclopedia of Golden Age Superheroes, they confront villains like the Faceless Phantom (and his "delta ray gun"), the Yellow Peril Emperor (and his flame apes), and the black magic-empowered Mephisto. Doc Strange was briefly revived in the pages of Femforce as part of the Vault Heroes, a group of Golden Age superheroes who volunteered to have themselves cryogenically frozen following World War II, so that they could be revived should the world need them. He died shortly after being unfrozen, making the heroes realize that the cryogenic process did not work perfectly on everyone. AC Comics went on to reprint many of his Golden Age adventures in various anthologies. Doc Strange, along with other heroes from Nedor Comics, were revived by Alan Moore in his series Tom Strong. This revival set the characters on a parallel world called Terra Obscura, which was also the title of the resulting mini-series.