Doctor Strange Doesn't Mind Controlling The Hulk

It's 1974 again.

Chris Claremont had been in the business for a little under 5 years at this point, working on Marvel's editorial staff while taking every chance to moonlight as a writer. In this case, he got to write 'Doomball', a one off job on Defenders # 19.

And, contrary to what the title might suggest, no, Doomball doesn't involve either one of Victor von Doom's testicles.

"The Gamma Bomb! It's gone!"

Working off a plot by Len Wein, Chris got to write the Defenders and the Wrecking Crew (in their third appearance ever!) as they opened up the prize they had been fighting over in the previous issue: a miniature gamma bomb. But when they opened the casing, they were shocked to find... Well, you heard what Thunderball said, right?

Actually, Thunderball's the whole reason there even is a pocket gamma bomb to begin with. Before he became a supervillain after touching the Wrecker's magic crowbar, he was a nuclear physicist nicknamed 'the black Bruce Banner'. With good reason, he used Banner's original gamma bomb designs to create this handy dandy version of the WMD.

Unfortunately, when the company he was working for claimed the rights to his creation (always read the fine print in your contract, kids) he got so mad he broke into the lab and took off with the bomb. Of course, that never quite works out...

"All I had to do was find the right building and knock it down!"

That explains why the Wrecking Crew had been destroying buildings in the previous two issues. The Crew thought they had recovered the device last issue and planned to hold New York hostage with it. But all they actually had was the bomb's empty adamantium casing.

Doctor Strange offers the Defenders' aid in tracking down the actual explosive, but the Wrecking Crew quickly turns on the team, knocking even the Hulk out before taking off. When Strange comes to, he's in no mood...

"Enough! In the name of the omnipotent Oshtur, I say you... Hold!"

Poor cops... Getting mind controlled while they were just trying to do their job. Heck, if you were called in to investigate why a perfectly good skyscraper just came tumbling down and you saw the Hulk lumbering around the scene, what conclusion would you draw?

Hard to believe as it is, four supervillains dressed in primary colors can actually be be a bit difficult to trace. So the Defenders waste a little time trying to find the Wrecking Crew until the answer comes from the unlikeliest of sources...

"There was a brother with 'em... talked like he was on TV... he had a 'lectronic gizmo"

Yeah, guess it's safe to say Chris Claremont didn't have the voice of the innercity black youth down at that point. But more importantly, aren't baseballs supposed to be white? The one in the kid's glove almost looks like it's made of metal? Surely, that won't be a plot point or anything...

Well, of course it is.

After soundly trashing the Wrecking Crew (and the Harlem Boys Club in the process), the Defenders learn that the little boy who warned them actually had the bomb all along. And wouldn't ya know it... the second they laid eyes on it, the device started its countdown.

Now, what could the Defenders do? After all, they're only a team whose founding members are a behemoth powerhouse capable of throwing stuff into orbit and Earth's sorceror surpreme... A magician with more teleportation spells than spots up his sleeve.

"Hulk, look at me. Gaze deeply into the eye of Agomotto and relax"

If all else fails, try mind control... Also, Doc misspoke: it's the eye of 'AGA-motto', but considering the stress Strange was under, the mystical deity didn't seem to mind and turned a blind eye. 

"This is the device. Can you disarm it?"

Poor Banner, he only gets to come out during the lousy parts of the story these days. And now he has to disarm a device he's only done some extremely preliminary work on. With no shirt... and no tools. Well, that is until Doctor 'deus ex machina' Strange delivered...

"One air force nuclear disarming pack,fresh from a Hulkbuster Base supply locker..."

Sheesh Doc, if this whole 'sorceror supreme' gig doesn't work out, you could make a fortune in overnight delivery services. Also: if he's able to yank a similar sized object halfway across the country, opening up a dimensional rift to deposit the gamma device into a realm where radiation is a snack food would have been just as easy. But, it wouldn't have made for dramatic scenes like this...

C'mon Doc, less talk, more screwing... In an early example of a semi-verbose Claremontian style monologue, Banner fights off his nerves and the transformation long enough to disarm the bomb, collapsing after the effort.

"Did magician put Hulk to sleep?"

That Hulk... A hero at last. And all he had to do was fall asleep.

"... Oh..." indeed.

Kulan Gath's total mind control part II: Ye Olde Mind Control

When we last left Manhattan, the recently revived ancient devil priest Kulan Gath had used a master spell to turn the entire island into a Hyborean citystate. Quickly conquering his many super powered enemies, Gath seemed utterly unbeatable. 

Even the Hellfire Club's Selene, as ancient and malevolent as Gath himself, was the N'garai worshipping sorceror's help (and mouth)less prisoner. But Kulan Gath wasn't satisified with merely mentally controlling the Morlocks, a fair share of the New Mutants and most of the Avengers. No, he wanted more mindless pawns to control...

He got his wish when the Avengers Starfox and Wasp were presented to him after one of the various fights that make up this two parter. By showing them their greatest fears, Gath was able to sufficiently weaken their will so he could bend them to his control. For Starfox, its the understandable fear to turn out like his brother Thanos, the genocidal despot... Understandable, because they share the same genes and upbringing...

But Wasp's secret anxiety is losing her humanity and shifting into a more wasplike form. Sounds horrible, lets hope its just an illusion. I mean, what are the odds of something crazy like that actually happening, right?

Ah well, at least it was still a buck fifty.

But the Wasp in Gath's reality was actually a control leeching vampire that drained her victims of the will to live, while Starfox used his great beauty to control anyone invulnerable to her teammate's pretty boy charms. Like Colossus. 

Still, it wasn't just the bad guys who use mind control. In the approach to the final assault on Gath, Captain America had Rachel Summers resort to some mental nudging to enter Kulan's keep.

"These are not the black leather clad SM slavegirls you are looking for"

Barely covered Star Wars pastiches aside, this was hardly the final time Claremont relied on mind control to help the story get across. After Captain America managed to bring in Rachel and the New Mutant Magma as prisoners, the endgame against Gath quickly unfolded.

The wizard was rendered powerless by Storm who managed to snatch away the source of his power: the magic necklace he carried round his neck. But the battle wasn't quite over yet. Remember how easily Gath managed to overpowered Selene? Almost like she wasn't quite herself, right?

Either Amara suddenly developed telekinesis or something is very, very wrong... 

Proving once again that appearances CAN be deceiving, it turns out that Selene had secretly taken Magma's place, giving the girl her appearance so she would be taken as Gath's slave. Now in possession of Kulan's necklace, Selene was ready to take over the world...

That is, if only Storm hadn't reached out to the dying techno organic New Mutant Warlock who offered a solution...

"There are worse fates"

Say, you don't think Storm could have meant being written by Brian Michael Bendis, do you?

Anyhoo... After changing into a semi-techno organic creature, she attacked Selene... infecting her with the techmode virus that turned her into a techno organic creature herself.

Some beautiful Claremont commentary accompany this rather... interesting... piece of art by John Romita junior. But there are some nits to be picked.

First, there's Warlock/Storm draining Selene's lifeforce, basically killing her. Whatever happened to Storm's sacred vow to never take a life? Second... How can Warlock even exist within the limited reality of Kulan Gath's Hyborean revertion master spell? Its already odd the Avengers member Vision is still a robot, how does an alien techno organic mutant shapeshifter fit into ancient times?

Still, ignoring all logic and established continuity for a second... lets see what happens next...  

With Strange freed from his previous existence as a statue in Kulan Gath's throne room, the master of the mystic arts quickly came up with a way to deal with this whole mess. A bit of a shame Strange's way of dealing with it had about as much emotional maturity to it as a toddler closing its eyes and wishing real hard all the bad things never happened.

"What you just experienced was a temporalspacial claudication..."

An awfully fancy term for: we prevented Kulan's ascension from ever happening.

Sounds fancy and plausible enough, that is if you ignore the simple fact they were only able to achieve this by adapting Kulan's masterspell... A spell Gath  invoked áfter his initial ascension... So if Gath never arose, how could the spell have been there to stop him?

And... erm... My head hurts.

Skipping all that pesky temporal logic just like Claremont did, Strange caused the timeline to skip a beat so the original closing scene from Uncanny X-men # 189 had a rather different outcome...

Doctor Strange managed to prevent Gath's return by making his necklace disappear.

Not by invoking the flames of the Faltine and burning Kulan's presence from the amulet... Not even calling in the ruby ringed might of Raggador to pound it to dust. Alas, not even a single 'the power of Vishanti compells thee!' with complimentary pea soup spitting.

Nope, Strange does this.

Saving all mankind by yanking a mutant massacring Nimrod sentinel to the present, all the way from that far flung future of... 2014.

Yeah. Guess that's why they call the doctor... Strange.

Kulan Gath's total mind control part I: Looking For Collared Wenches (No Fatties)

The events of Uncanny X-men 190 & 191 have been referenced numerous times on this blog. But apart from peripheral mentions, the utter mind control craziness and borderline fetish goings on haven't been covered yet. So lets dig in.

First things first: the ancient wizard Kulan Gath has been able to revive himself thanks to events covered HERE and HERE. He used the blood of innocents to power a potent master spell that converted all of Manhattan into his personal playpen. Buildings, items and people were all transformed into a suitable ancient Hyborean counterpart, with no knowledge of their previous lives.

Storm was living the life of a pirate, who was chased by Callisto and her band of Morlocks who acted as Gath's mind controlled toadies. This scene on page 4 of # 190 shows the tendency of this twoparter to indulge in all the mind control, bondage and SM fetishes this side of Cimmeria.

The masterspell only reached as far as Manhattan. Once you crossed the barrier, you'd revert to your old self again. This happened during Storm and Callisto's fight. The two managed to get to dry land where Storm was contacted telepathically by one of Gath's ancient enemies: Selene, the Hellfire Club's Black Queen.  

Quickly filling them in about the situation, Selene asked Storm and Callisto's help in defeating Kulan Gath. The two didn't really trust Selene, but it wasn't as if there was any other real choice. They moved back to the island where Gath had been busy mind controlling people left and right.

"By the maker!"

The techno organic alien Warlock looked on in horror as Gath twisted and reshaped his fellow New Mutants into new shapes that reflected all the evil they feel within. Luckily, not everyone was as easily swayed by Gath's magic.

After taking over Manhattan, the demon sorceror sought a means of tracking all super powered beings so he could bring them under his control. Wary of technology, he didn't use Xavier's Cerebro mutant detection system but combined Charles Xavier and the mutant detecting Morlock Caliban into one being. The docile Caliban went along with it, but Xavier wasn't so easily dominated.

Oh, never mind...

On a sidenote: the grotesque Xavier/Caliban creature is possibly how the real Caliban might have turned out back in the Chris Claremont / John Byrne days. The duo had the idea that this barely human looking mutant called Caliban was able to sense other mutants but was shunned due to his horrifying mutation. He'd join the X-men as an organic Cerebro, living in a seperate wing of the mansion.

Anyways, back to the story at hand. Kulan's guards finally managed to bring in Selene, which meant it was high time for some old fashioned 'torture the chained up scantily clad prisoner wearing the hot black leather bikini.'

"There, much better. Wenches are better seen, but not heard." 

No mouth and 6 penis like tentacles?

Chris, Chris... How this ever got past the Comics Code Authority back in the day is a wonder indeed.

Next time: Kulan Gath's total mind control part II: Ye Olde Mind Control

The eyes have it... under (mind)control

Claremont's penchant for preferential treatment when it comes to his pet characters doesn't limit itself to strong females like Storm, Rogue, Ms. Marvel, Kitty Pryde or Sage... Sometimes, even bad guys get lucky... Even when seemingly nobody ever asked or wondered about them. Needless to say, there's mind control involved in today's entry about... The Eye Killers.

These ominously occular specific homicidal maniacs first appeared during Claremont's run on Doctor Strange, master of the mystic arts. In issue # 38 of his book, Stephen Strange and his disciple Clea encountered two siblings while investigating the murder of Douglas Royce, a friend of their associate Sara Wolfe.

"I must be getting paranoid... they're only students"

Well. Maybe yeah, maybe not.

The doctor and Clea soon learn they're dealing with the Eye Killers... Soul stealing demons from native American lore, cruel and ruthless in their pursuit of controlling and consuming mortal life essences.

Despite a catchy name and flashy eyes, the Eye Killers are no match for the master of the mystic arts... Even though his key to defeating them is about as impressive as waiting a few hours for the actual sun to come up. Still, Strange earned his keep by magically taking care of them permanently. Sort of...

"Perhaps, by the time they return...

 I'll better understand how to fight them"


As resolutions go, that's a corker. Maybe Stephen actually did figure out a way to better fight the soul stealing creatures that are scared by sunlight. But even if he did, he sure neglected to share this information with any of his allies in the superhero community. Check out what happened when the terrible twosome appeared next, this time in Uncanny X-men # 223.

 A little backstory, aka: Previously, on Uncanny X-men... Storm was accidentally shot by an experimental gun that seemingly removed her mutant ability to control the weather. Even though she'd proven herself capable of leading the X-men without super powers, she felt she'd be more of an asset  with her powers restored...

That's why she took a leave of absence to seek out Forge, the inventor of the power nullifier and her one time lover. She was joined on this quest by Nazé, the native american chieftain who had tried and failed to mentor Forge in the magical ways of his people.

Unfortunately, their search for Forge was interruped by the appearance of a scared, young woman and her assailant who proved to be a little more fearsome than they appeared.

And Eye Killers do enjoy the classics when it comes to beating their enemy... so, here goes...

Storm took care of the two demons and that was that... after only two appearances, the saga of the Eye Killers was over. Seems only fitting, because most of us have only two eyes anyway...*

*... ow, that joke killed me.

Doctor Strange doesn't mind... control

As we established previously, Chris Claremont has a certain appreciation for Doctor Strange.

By the time Marvel Fanfare rolled along in 1982, he got his chance to write the master of the mystic arts once more. This time, Claremont was paired up with the massively talented Paul Smith who would later join him on a short but memorable Uncanny X-men run.

Chris'  Strange tale appeared in Marvel Fanfare # 5 and featured a plethora of mind tampering and control. It all started with a little girl showing up at the doctor's sanctum sanctorum.

Leaving aside the obvious question how a little girl knows about the elusive sorceror supreme, let alone his place of residence... having a child show up at your door at four in the morning and entering like this is cause for concern.

A quick examination of the girl shows she's been drained of her magic potential, leaving her soul vulnerable to mind control. 

Strange decides to search the astral plane for the girl's mysterious assailant, but his apprentice/lover Clea already has a pretty good idea who it is... The villain to beat is, well, he just told you who he is. 

Nicodemus is a technomage that uses both science and sorcery to increase his somewhat limited magical powers. And who better to drain then Earth's master magician?

He robbed the little girl of her soul, in essence mind controlling her to enter Strange's home like a trojan horse. Once safely inside, a post hypnotic suggestion kicks in that forces the entranced girl to give Nicodemus entrance to the sanctorum.

And this is where the masterplan really kicks in... This rather ingenious move allows Necrodemus to surprise Strange and drain about half of his mystic might. 

Wait... wha? Did Strange actually shoot the girl? Sheesh, isn't that a little rough?

Have no fear true believer, this was back in the early 80s, before Watchmen, Dark Knight or all that other grim 'n gritty stuff Frank Miller did.. So, it was before good guys blasted innocent children... Well, not without a very good reason at least.

Watch what happens when Clea finally gets home and finds herself in deep doodah... 

So, Strange forces himself upon an already traumatised young girl, taking over her body and playing it like a puppet just to deliver a message? 

Talk about taking ''the doctor is in...' too literally.

The Doctor's Strange Mind Control

Oddly enough, despite his soft spot for all things magic, Chris Claremont never wrote that many Doctor Strange stories.

However, Claremont did use the sorceror supreme and his assistant Clea in two arcs he wrote during his run on Marvel Team Up. It goes without saying that this tale includes some form of magic inspired mind control.

The first one starts off in Marvel Team up # 77 and is actually rather mundane for Claremont mind control standards... Clea gets herself mind controlled by one of Strange's villains... The Silver Dagger.

By turning her love for Doctor Strange into hatred, Silver Dagger managed to mind control Clea into attacking... And she was actually winning for a while.

"She's not LISTENING to me."

Needless to say, it didn't take Doctor Strange to long to put his woman back in her place (for her own sake, of course... "You're you again? Great! Now get in that kitchen and let Wong show you how to make me a sandwich!)

To be fair, Claremont didn't waste time telling a tale in which the roles were clearly reversed. It all started with Spider-Man fighting a werewolf that looks remarkably like... Doctor Strange? Spidey manages to defeat his supernatural opponent and decides to bring him to the Greenwich Village abode of Stephen Strange.

Distraught as she may be, Clea still decides to use the all revealing eye of Agamotto to discover whether or not the werewolf truly is Doctor Strange. This is shown in an intricate and interesting composition of panels that belies the ostensibly simplistic and even crude Mike Vosberg art.

Yes... What DO we do now? Clea discovers the werewolf curse comes from a tribe of Tibetan monks, but before they can be advised, Werewolf By Strange breaks free and starts causing all sorts of mayhem. That is, until the daughter of Satan shows up to help. Satana is there to help free Strange from his lycantrophy or... well...

Back in the late 70s, Clea was often portrayed as Doctor Strange's insecure ingenue, his 'gal friday' that needed constant guidance and supervision because she wasn't (yet) ready to handle the burdens and choices a great magician was forced to face. 

Yet, when an unknown woman with demon skulls for boot ornaments shows up at her door to inform she's there to either save or kill her boyfriend... Clea doesn't blink and invites her in.

By next issue, Satana has apparently grown horns as she shares her plan of action with Clea.

Gotta love that Satana... "I will either save him, or if that doesn't work here's the gun that will kill him. Whatever...I'm covered." 

Long story short: during his mystical studies Doctor Strange came into contact with the Shiatra Book of the Damned that caused him to become susceptible to the Were Wolf curse... So, before long he became an agent of the demons on Earth.

But to break Strange free from his curse, a sacrifice was required... Guess who offered up her very life to help free Stephen?

 Strange is safe, so is Clea... but still the next issue blurb is right: "No way to treat a lady"

Diamonds are a man's best friend

"Yield me thy soul... so small a price for so great a gift..."

Owww brother... now even jewels do mind control.

In Uncanny X-men # 189, the Hyborean sorceror Kulan Gath was about to make a comeback.

Gath had been around to fight Conan the Barbarian. When his life seemed over, Gath used ancient magics to transfer his consciousness into a dark jewel of unspeakable evil. In recent times, the jewel came to New York City where a briefly revived Gath fought Spider-Man and Red Sonja (don't ask) in a very enjoyable Claremont/Byrne issue of Marvel Team Up. 

Now, Gath was about to claim a new host: Jaime Rodriguez, an honest, hard working Puerto Rican sailor who dregged the jewel from the bottom of the New York harbour. Pretty soon, Gath started to work Rodriguez, tempting him to give into his dark desires.

But he was getting nowhere, until this happened:

Gath quickly won over the already greedy crook and that led to all of Manhattan reverting into an Hyborean citystate ruled over by a revived Kulan Gath.

Sometimes, you just can't win...