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"

Spiders, viper and self inflicted mind control

Besides his obvious soft spot for mind control, Chris Claremont also has a well established penchant for writing strong women... Scratch that, strong women who preferably dress in black leather. This makes Chris a natural fit for writing......

"I crave excitement... suspense!" 

No worries Black Widow... you won't soon forget any of the thrill ride that is Marvel Team Up issues 82 through 85... Ow, wait, you don't know who you are to begin with? Ah, guess that explains issue 82 then.

The arc starts out routinely enough with Spider-Man stopping the mugging of a red haired woman. However, he's shocked to learn that she's a dead ringer for the Black Widow... Yet, that's not who this redhead claims to be. 

"Mmmmm-- this is good"

Know what isn't as good? Late 1970s Marvel coloring. Honestly, 'Nancy Rushman' either looks like an Asian lady wearing a red fright wig, or a low budget Tigra. Anyways, Spider-Man can't get over the fact that this supposed elementary school teacher looks so much like a certain ex Soviet super spy he knows.

He spends some time trying to figure out whether or not Nancy is the Widow, even getting her to dress in a spare Black Widow uniform. This brings up some rather painful memory flashes. 

Despite that ordeal, nothing substantial comes in to focus. Spider-Man decides to take 'Nancy' to SHIELD, the spy organisation Black Widow works for. But, it seems like the agency has already found them.

Why would SHIELD be attacking one of their own? That's so... out of character for them. Almost as if they were... Mind controlled? Ah yes, that would be this lady's doing:

The Viper had been secretly plotting to conquer the world using a hypnobeam (mind control by any other name) to take over the Helicarrier, SHIELD's massive flying fortress.

Her big plan: by crashing the SHIELD base on Washington DC just as then US president Jimmy Carter was giving a major policy speech, not only would she take out the president and most of America's leaders,  it would leave the entire planet shocked and vulnerable for her terrorist group Hydra to move in and make their move. 

Now, I'm no expert on world domination, let alone the logic of a terrorist supervillain who insists on wearing emerald lipstick...

But if you're crafty enough to come up with a mind controlling hypno ray so potent it turns an entire  Helicarrier full of superspies into your slaves... Wouldn't it be a lot easier to just walk into the White House and activate aforementioned device? Less of a mess, more mindless drones in high places to boss around. Just a thought...

Still, getting back to the mystery of Nancy Rushman and Natasha Romanova... The Widow had actually discovered Viper's scheme early on, but was captured and subjected to intense torture. So intense, in fact, that this happened:

So... If you were Viper and you have a mind control device lying around that turns anyone into a helpful slave with the flick of a switch... Would extreme torture to the point of self induced schizophrenia and multiple personality disorder really be the way to go?

Needless to say, by the time the trilogy ended in Marvel Team Up # 85, Viper was defeated and the Widow returned to normal, thereby condemning the Nancy Rushman aspect of her personality to 'die off' as well.

You might think ridding yourself of an unwanted alter ego would be a good thing, especially when it only came into existence because your mind couldn't handle the intense trauma it was being subjected to. But guess what...

Yes, Spider-Man is actually a little disappointed Black Widow was herself again... 

You see, in the last three issues, Spidey had developed more than a little crush on 'Nancy Rushman', the scared, wimpering school marm who hang on to him for dear life whenever anything remotely threatening happened.

So that's our hero: a guy who forces a scared, fragile woman to change into the woman *HE* knows she could be, even dressing her up in skintight black leather. And once he succeeds in his goal, he leaves heart broken once it becomes clear she isn't as subservient and pliable after all...

Bet you wish you had a miniature version of Viper's hypno ray in your beltbuckle now, eh, Spidey?

Mind control hyborean style: Kulan Gath's a bone to pick

Chris Claremont and John Byrne will probably always be identified with their fan favorite Uncanny X-men run. But they had actually cooperated on several books before taking on the merry mutants.

Today's entry in the annals of all things mind control hails from one of those early Claremont/Byrne collaborations: Marvel Team Up # 79, a delightful little tale of sweet talking, soul stealing jewelry and women warriors kicking butt in a thong made of prehistoric pennies.

A security guard in a museum falling under the spell of a mysterious necklace? Well, as far as generic openings go, this is about as bland as it gets... but its a perfectly serviceable way of kicking off the story. The guard gets mind controlled and tricked into putting on the necklace and all hell breaks loose as the entire museum is caught in a mystic blaze that can be seen from afar.

This curious fire also transforms the museum into an actual ancient Egyptian temple site, as Peter Parker discovers when he sneaks in dressed as Spider-Man to snap a few pictures for the Daily Bugle. Before long, he finds himself assaulted by the temple's legion of demonic guardians.

Right before he's about to get overrun, his ladyfriend Mary Jane Watson shows up. Never able to leave well enough alone, Mary Jane had followed him in and managed to get herself mind controlled by... a sword?

"And within that eldritch glow, Mary Jane Watson ceases to be"...
How right you are, Chris... because once she grabbed the sword, it was bye bye MJ and hello Comics Code approved slice of ginger cheesecake:

Penny for your thoughts, sailor... And no, you can't borrow them from her bra.

Mary Jane's body got transformed into Red Sonja, a character from Robert E. Howard's Conan: the barbarian mythos that Marvel had recently gained the publishing rights to. After the licensing deal ended, Marvel lost the rights to reprinting this tale for years, until  it appeared as a back up in the hard cover edition of 2007's Spider-Man/Red Sonja miniseries.

Be that as it may, Sonja the She-Devil was there and ready to help out Spider-Man.
Sidenote: in a nice little bit of added realism, neither one knew what the other was saying, since Sonja only spoke in an ancient Hyborean dialect.

No matter, all language barriers were torn down once the baddie of the book showed up, sporting that overly familiar necklace from page 1...

As far as origins go, this one's a doozy. Kulan Gath was an ancient devil priest who escaped death by transferring his essence into a dark jewel that in turn got mounted on a gold necklace. Anyone who willingly put it on was instantly taken over by Gath, whose magics also transformed their bodies to resemble his. 

Ah, do forgive that overly wordy piece of plot exposition... Kulan is far more eloquent in explaining this sort of shtick. 

Ah, do forgive that overly wordy piece of plot explanation just now... Kulan is far more eloquent in explaining this sort of shtick. 

Despite his somewhat goofy looks, he almost succeeded in killing Sonja and Spider-Man (who he kept referring to as Man-Spider for some unknown reason)... but during the fight, he was knocked out of the museum and on to the busy streets of modern day New York. 

"By the great python!" 

One can never be too sure if Kulan is calling on the elder god Set for help, or is trying to find comfort in the size of his manhood. Either way, the sudden change of scenery catches Gath off guard as he struggles to grasp just how how much the world has changed.

Imagine for a second how this scene might appear to the crowd gathered outside the museum, let alone to people at home watching the footage that newscrew is shooting. They have no idea what's been going on at the museum, the first thing they see is Spider-Man and a half naked woman knocking around an obviously frightened, elderly man.

Having him yell "And one more thing, bozo! Its not 'Man-Spider'... It's SPIDER-MAN!" ... as he knocks Gath out isn't the best move either. What does the crowd get from this? They just witnessed Spider-Man punch out an old timer because, by the wallcrawler's own admission, he didn't get his name right?

Good job Spidey... If that doesn't put to bed all those nasty rumours the Daily Bugle's been spreading about you being a menace... NOTHING will.

Still, Spidey's punch did more than just further wreck his public image. It knocked out Gath as well, which caused everything and everyone to revert back to normal.

After this particular caper, Peter realised the necklace was too powerful to simply leave on display at the museum and he decided to dispose of it.

"The wizard almost had my soul. But his amulet's at the bottom of the Atlantic now (...) It'll never harm anyone again."

Ah. Yeah. About that...

A few years later, in Uncanny X-men # 189, the Gath Gem popped up again when it was found by a construction worker called Jaime Rodriguez. He was able to withstand its demonic temptations. Unfortunately, on his way home, this happened...

Jaime's mugger was considerably weaker willed and Kulan Gath rose again. Unopposed, he was able to weave a spell that transformed Manhattan into his private Hyborean age island kingdom. Fortunately for Spider-Man, Kulan's not the type to carry grudges, thank the great Python....

... Oops.

Trouble taming Tigra? Try mind control!

The previous entry dealt with the events of 1981's Avengers Annual # 10, in which Chris Claremont railed against the use of mind control by fellow writer David Michelinie.

Michelinie wrote Avengers # 200 which saw the superheroine Ms. Marvel get taken, mind controlled and impregnated by her captor Marcus Immortus. Claremont felt this course of action was very much like rape.

Claremont, through Ms. Marvel, gave the Avengers a stern talking to and accused them of (emotional) negligence. A point well made, something as traumatic as being enslaved and forced to perform unspeakable acts against your will isn't something you just gloss over.

Yet... its exactly what Chris Claremont did three years earlier in an issue of Marvel Team Up. In this story, Claremont pitted Spider-Man against his old foe Kraven the Hunter and his new pet...

Take a look...

Gotta love that vintage John Byrne artwork. Yep, that's Tigra the Were Woman, captured by Kraven to be his mindless pet. Kraven had a bone to pick with Tigra because she had him arrested for murder. So, the master of jungle fever and skintight leopard pants swore revenge... He had taken her as his personal slave, plaything and attack dog.

'Oboy!' is right, Spidey... De-humanising a woman, regressing her to the mere animal whose name she uses is debasing enough, but lets find out how Kraven managed to get her to comply...

Ah, why, thank you exposition heavy flashback... That clears it right up. Kraven forced a collar on Tigra that scrambled her higher brain functions, basically turning her into his mindless slave. In this state of mind, she would have been unable to defend herself from even the most vulgar of his whims.

Mind you, the word 'rape' is never used, but dialogue like "You will be my willing slave, cat-thing, forever" certainly hints at the fact that this goes far beyond your traditional, non-sexual, super villain revenge scheme.

Still, Spider-Man was a bit too busy to take all this into full consideration... Sometimes trying to stay alive takes precedence so I suppose that oversight can be overlooked. And hey, he *DID* figure out what made the lady so feral and unwelcoming.

"I wonder if this little gizmo has something to do with the tiger-lady's anti-social behavior!" Nah, probably not, maybe she's just suffering from that certain 'curse' that comes once a month and gives you cramps and a bad mood. Sigh... Spider-Man broke the collar and set Tigra free.

"She couldn't care less about me. She wants..." 

Ow, yeah... way to make it about you, Spider-Man. You just freed a proud, strong woman from what must have seemed like an eternity of demeaning servitude to a man who made her do God knows what... And you automatically assume YOU are her first concern?

Tigra goes after Kraven in an attempt to get revenge and, preferably, her pound of flesh. But Kraven is a master of conquering animals, wild or otherwise, and soon gains the upper hand again...

"Pain more than I can bear...I...I...I...can't..."

No worries Greer, that's Spider-Man in the background there, coming to rescue you from a man with a lion face for a jacket... Don't you worry, little woman, Spidey will keep you safe from the bad man. And he did, actually. He knocked down Kraven and helped Tigra regain her senses a little. And then, this happened on the very last page..

After all that humiliation she had to bear as Kraven's slave, after all the unvoiced trauma she most likely suffered through, Tigra had no part at all in defeating her tormentor.

As he lunges at them, Kraven gets knocked out by Spider-Man with a single punch. One could argue his spider-sense clued him in before Tigra even noticed Kraven coming at them, but don't forget Tigra has supremely enhanced senses as well.

In addition to that, she must have been intimately familiar with Kraven's scent after all that time in his presence, so there's no reason she couldn't have been the first to respond. At the very least, it would have gotten her a small measure of regained self respect.

Truth be told, while it would have made more sense storywise to have Tigra deliver the coup de grace, Marvel Team Up is still a Spider-Man book, so its half expected that the main star gets to save the day.

That's usually all well and good, but in this story it sticks out like a sore thumb, considering the message it sends:  After 22 pages, Tigra is still the assaulted, battered female who needs a man to stand up for her.

By comparison, this single issue of Marvel Team Up is worse than the entire Ms. Marvel storyline Chris Claremont took offense to over in Avengers. 

At least Ms. Marvel managed to break free on her own and took the chance to protest and even defend herself... Whereas Tigra, well... she had to be rescued not once but twice in a single issue and wasn't even allowed to assist in helping to bring her bully down.