Friday, April 24, 2020

Reflections


It came as something of a surprise to witness the departure from the pages of Doctor Strange of the character we know as Clea--the lover and disciple who had become a fixture in the sorcerer's life since 1964, after he liberated her from the Dark Dimension of the Dread Dormammu. Perhaps equally surprising were her reasons: feeling that she was ill-suited to be a disciple to Earth's Sorcerer Supreme, and also having become convinced that another woman harbored even greater love for Strange than herself. A presence in both of Strange's series (as well as, to some degree, in The Defenders), Clea's exit created a void in his life as depicted by writer Roger Stern, shattering his resolve and leaving him vulnerable to despair. Only after prevailing in a life-or-death struggle was Strange able to put the episode behind him--effectively reclaiming his book's solo status after over seventeen years of having Clea featured in it.

But would her absence create a void in Doctor Strange? While I feel obliged to raise the point, I can't bring myself to argue in its favor, since I've admittedly never warmed to Clea as a compelling character in her own right. Once the "disciple" trigger was pulled by Steve Englehart, it would have been difficult to sever Clea's status with Strange or with the book, short of the character's death; but I still felt that her position as Strange's disciple should not have been the reason for her becoming a mainstay in the book and factoring her into all of its plots. Eventually, you wind up with covers like this one, carrying a caption which virtually grants her co-star status:



Can you say you were shelling out 50¢ to read the adventures of "Doctor Strange and Clea"? Looking back, I can see the wisdom of locating Strange, himself a disciple at the time, half a world away from the Ancient One and having Strange be the one to take point on whatever threat needed dealing with.

Curiously, it was a story in this very issue--taking place just seven issues before Clea would depart--which had me wondering if Stern might have been thinking out loud (through Strange) about Clea's viability in both the book and at Strange's side. I wouldn't go so far as to say it was the story's focus--mostly a one-shot which supplements the issue's main tale--but it adds some interesting perspective to a situation which wouldn't be long in coming. This could of course just be me reading between the lines here... but feel free to weigh in with your own thoughts on the subject, and on Clea in general.










6 comments:

  1. How is Clea actually pronounced? I've always rhymed it with tea. I'm too old to change if I've been saying it wrong :)

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  2. Having some sort of co-star in Dr Strange made sense Comicsfan - teaching a disciple would be helpful for keeping the reader informed about what was going on, without the writer having to resort to lengthy narrative captions, overly contrived soliloquies or whatever.
    But Clea didn't really fill that function, partly because she was a magical being herself, and no-one - except maybe Englehart in the later part of his Doc run - seemed to have put much thought into her as a character.

    Stern saw the main issue though, and clearly laid it out here - they were lovers as well as teacher and student. Besides the somewhat dubious conflict of interest, that was always going to complicate things for any writer.
    Its an unusual - and really good - use of a short back-up feature to set up for an extended run going in a new direction.
    Although it might have been nice to see a few more pages from the Golden/Russell combo...

    -sean

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  3. My goodness, Colin, how quickly we forget! Have a look at the comments section from a previous post for your answer. ;)

    Yes, quite a conflict of interest, sean--how does one scold one's disciple for conjuring the Lime Green Bands of Cytorrak in the middle of a life or death battle with the N'Garai, and yet expect her to be receptive to romantic overtures later that evening (hopefully without having to resort to a Spell of Seduction)? Pull out an ancient tome from your shelf to help you with that one, Doctor.

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  4. Never mind the Lime Green Bands of Cytorrak CF, whats a Sorceror Supreme supposed to do when he's in the eighteenth century and has to leave his hot disciple alone with Benjamin Franklin around?

    -sean

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  5. I was just thinking of that! Whilst time traveling, you should never leave your girlfriend alone with Ben Franklin.
    "Have some more ale, thou comely wench. Would you like to hear about the time I discovered electricity?"

    M.P.

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  6. Oops, I do apologise for my embarrassing loss of memory on the Clea pronunciation issue. I blame my advancing years.

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