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Amazing Spider-Man Annual #2

Sep 1965
Stan Lee, Steve Ditko

Amazing Spider-Man Annual #2 cover

Story Name:

The Wondrous World of Dr. Strange!


Synopsis

Amazing Spider-Man Annual #2 synopsis by Anthony Silvestro
Rating: 4 stars

Our story begins with Spider-Man swinging through the city, utterly bored, unable to find any crime to stop. We then cut to a mysterious man, as he enters a bar, to find it in the middle of a barroom brawl. The mysterious man spots two very large and strong men laying waste to everyone else, and decides that they will suit his purposes. The man, revealing his name as Xandu, tells the two ruffians that they now work for him, as he casts a hypnotic spell over them. He imbues the two with great strength and immunity to pain and has them follow him back to his lair. There, he reveals that he has one half of the Wand of Watoomb, a powerful mystical artifact, and that he plans to get the other half from none other than Doctor Strange, in order to become the complete Master of the Mystic Arts!

Xandu guides his two stooges to the Sanctum Sanctorum of Doctor Strange and they easily break in. Strange attempts to cast his own hypnotic spell on the two but finds that he cannot, as they are already under Xandu’s control! Doctor Strange then casts an illusion of several duplicates of himself, in order to confuse his opponents. It is all for naught however, as Xandu is able to guide his helpers to the real Doctor Strange, as their strength quickly overwhelms him. The two then search through the Sanctum, eventually finding the other half of the wand. Just as they exit through the skylight, Spider-Man happens to be swinging by and swoops down to intercept them.

Spidey engages with two magically imbued men, being surprised by their immense strength. As Spidey begins to get overwhelmed himself, he tries webbing up the two, but finds that they can tear right through his webbing, before stunning him. As the goons start to make their way back to Xandu’s lair, Spidey makes sure to throw his spider-tracer onto one of the goons, so that he can track them again once he’s recuperated. Back at his lair, Xandu joins the two halves of the Wand of Watoomb and revels in his newfound power, being able to open portals to other dimensions and mystically view anyone he wishes! He uses the wand to gaze upon Doctor Strange, finding him still unconscious, as he plans to destroy all of his enemies, beginning with Doctor Strange!

However, just then, Spider-Man reappears to challenge Xandu. Xandu fires mystical bolts at Spidey, which he dodges, shooting some webbing into Xandu’s eyes, blinding him. This causes Xandu to drop the wand and blindly cast a spell to send Spidey to another dimension! As Spidey is disappearing, he snags the wand, taking it with him, forcing Xandu to send his two goons to get it back for him. They appear in the dimension Spidey is trapped in, as Spidey and the two do battle once more. At that moment, back at his Sanctum, Doctor Strange reawakens and uses his Eye of Agamotto amulet to mystically track the ones who took the wand. His amulet leads Strange to Xandu’s lair, where the two commence in battle. Xandu quickly finds that he’s no match for Strange, and so transports Spidey and his accomplices back from the other dimension, with the wand. Xandu retrieves the wand once more and uses its power to send Strange flying out of his lair.

Strange then releases his astral form from his body, in order to go assist Spider-Man with the two goons. He finds Spidey still fruitlessly battling the empowered thugs and psychically plants a thought in Spidey’s mind. Spidey obliges and shocks the two men with a nearby electrical wire, shocking them back to their senses and breaking Xandu’s hold over them! Strange returns to his body, as he and Spidey team up against Xandu. As Strange keeps Xandu occupied with a magical assault, Spidey is able to trip him with his webs, allowing Strange to knock the wand from his grasp! Spidey then webs up his hands as well, incapacitating the mage. Strange then drains the power from the Wand of Watoomb, realizing it’s too dangerous to be left as is. He then wipes Xandu’s memory, so as to end his evil threat forever. Our story ends with Spidey and Strange parting on friendly terms, as Spidey can hardly believe what he just went through!

Reprinted Stories:

"Spider-Man" from Amazing Spider-Man #1

"The Uncanny Threat of the Terrible Tinkerer!" from Amazing Spider-Man #2

"Marked for Destruction by Dr. Doom!" from Amazing Spider-Man #5


 

Review / Commentaries


Amazing Spider-Man Annual #2 Review by (February 14, 2024)

Review: Here we have the second Spidey annual, where Spidey meets Doctor Strange for the first time! As the splash page attests, this was a big appreciation issue for Steve Ditko, being the main artist at this time for both Spider-Man and Doctor Strange, so it was pretty natural to bring the two together. As much as I love Ditko’s Spidey art, I’ve always felt that his style fits Doctor Strange even better, as is evidenced by this amazingly drawn story! The crazy dimensions and flashy spells just lend themselves so well to Ditko’s strengths as an artist! It reminds me how engaging the Strange stories from this time were, from a visual standpoint alone.

The actual story is pretty indicative of a typical Doctor Strange story around this time as well, with a magical enemy wanting power and Strange stopping him. Here we have that same basic setup, just with some Spider-Man injected! This story shows a pretty cool mashup of Strange and Spidey’s differing skill sets, with the two working together very well against Xandu at the end!  I find it interesting that while the first annual had tons and tons of characters, this story has just Spidey, Strange, Xandu, and the two unnamed goons. No supporting characters whatsoever. It is also worth noting though, that this story is only 20 pages, the same as a normal issue, and most of the annual consists of reprints of older stories, so that’s definitely a factor. Still, overall a solid, fun story teaming up Spidey and Strange and laying the groundwork for many more team ups in the future!

Comments: First meeting between Spider-Man and Doctor Strange. First appearance of Xandu and first battle with both Doctor Strange and Spider-Man. Issue contains pinups of recent villains.




> Amazing Spider-Man Annual comic book info and issue index

Elektra

This comic is in the following collection:
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Collecting AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (1963) #20-28 and AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL (1964) #2.

Excelsioring your collection:
Diamond Select Toys Marvel Gallery: Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness PVC Statue
Holy smokes, Batman!
(The Boy Wonder)

Steve Ditko
Steve Ditko
Stan Goldberg
Steve Ditko (Cover Penciler)
Steve Ditko (Cover Inker)
Stan Goldberg (Cover Colorist)
Additional Credits
Letterer: Sam Rosen.

Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Doctor Strange
Doctor Strange

(Stephen Strange)
Spider-Man
Spider-Man

(Peter Parker)

Plus: Xandu.

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