{"id":19699,"date":"2024-01-12T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-12T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/?p=19699"},"modified":"2022-07-06T14:21:27","modified_gmt":"2022-07-06T18:21:27","slug":"uts-strange-encounter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/2024\/01\/12\/uts-strange-encounter\/","title":{"rendered":"UTS: Strange Encounter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Almost a year after the publication of UTS 25, this was released, a squarebound one-off teaming Spider-Man and Dr. Strange. Maybe for the first time? I have no idea where it\u2019s meant to fall in the timeline. I think the idea was to occasionally do some more Untold stuff, and I guess this was the pilot for that idea. But it\u2019s also the only one, so I guess it wasn\u2019t deemed a success, or maybe the writers just moved on. Whatever the case, here we are. One last weird 90s flashback, and then it\u2019s all 60s material for the rest of the block. It\u2019s a Busiek plot with a Stern script, penciled by Neil Vokes, inked by Jay Geldhof and colored by the great Matt Hollingsworth, in a credit earlier than I realized he had at Marvel. He\u2019s got a ton of great work to his name, but before 2000, I thought it was mostly at Dark Horse, DC and Veritgo. Like Busiek, he\u2019s still doing cool stuff today. Ok, finally, let\u2019s get on with the show, which begins with 2 goons robbing the Chicago Museum of Antiquities. One of them is fascinated by some kind of evil lookin\u2019 idol thing, and as his partner tells him to forget it, he appears to become possessed by it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Doc Strange sends his astral form to check in with his mentor, The Ancient One, who\u2019s also felt a great disturbance in The Force, er, uh, magic or whatever, naming the stolen artifact as the Lantern of Lantarr, but who\u2019s behind it is hidden even to him. He tells his former student that, in his quest to retrieve it, he won\u2019t be alone. And that smash cuts to Spider-Man punching a guy out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Spidey takes the opportunity to recount his origin (Never passes up the chance!), then mentions many of the people he\u2019s fought since, mixing classic ASM villains and UTS adventures as Peter Parker arrives to school late for class. His teacher gives him a pass, and all the other kids are mean about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a weird distinction to make, but in an era where mainstream comics were more cartoony than they\u2019d been at any time since the 40s, it\u2019s not that Neil Vokes\u2019 stuff is cartoony, it\u2019s that he\u2019s a cartoonist. He\u2019s not just doing the open style and exaggeration that\u2019s so common in this period, he\u2019s on his own wave. Even a guy like Mike Weiringo has his best stuff ahead of him in this period, as he continues to get rid of the big feet and big faces from his style, but here, the exaggeration feels natural. Anyway, Peter goes home and has a nice page with Aunt May, and then we skip to the next morning, as he\u2019s at The Bugle looking for work and being given the cold shoulder by Betty for no reason whatsoever. JJJ says he\u2019s not a charity case and is looking for his professional photogs to cover \u201cthe Park Avenue kidnappings story,\u201d but his staff photographers are out. He\u2019s ready to give the gig to Peter, but Peter\u2019s already become Spider-Man and is headed to Park Avenue. And when he gets there, he sees 2 goons dragging a lady into an alley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Soon, we\u2019re back to The Bugle, where JJJ is thrilled with the photos. Betty wants to meet Peter for lunch tomorrow, but he says he has plans, and she does her usual. Then he thinks that he wants to be looking for those kidnappers, but he couldn\u2019t tell her that. He couldn\u2019t spare a lunch break?? Then we jump ahead to the evening, where Spider-Man\u2019s no closer to figuring things out, but feels like he\u2019s being pulled toward The East Village, and the reason for that soon presents itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t see why these 2 needed a new, earlier first meeting, but here it is. In fairness, I\u2019ve never read their first meeting, so maybe they act like they\u2019ve met or something. We\u2019ll find out not too long from now. For now, we find out the 2 goons with the lantern are working with Doc Strange\u2019s foe, Baron Mordo. Mordo is weakened from a previous battle with Strange, and thinks the lantern chose the goons, so he has no choice but to keep working with them. He sends them back out to kidnap more people or whatever, and then promises an offering to his patron, Enigma, who\u2019s like a demon or something (I know precious little about Dr. Strange and related characters). The next morning, Aunt May wakes Peter up, saying he can\u2019t waste his vacation, and after breakfast, he heads out. He thinks about how he couldn\u2019t find the goons, and wonders if Dr. Strange is for real.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A lot to take in there. The MJ & Anna cameo was pretty wacky. Peter has accidentally stumbled on the goons mid-kidnapping in his civilian clothes. I\u2019m not\u2026 totally sure why. Then everyone else catches up to him, and the goons teleport everyone to\u2026 a Ditko dimension, of course. Accept no substitutes. Sending JJJ, Betty and the kids to a bizarre parallel dimension seems kind of nuts. Peter is thinking Strange said he\u2019s appear when he found the lantern, but nothing\u2019s happening. He makes a big show of running away yelling about how this is crazy so he can become Spider-Man, while the goons tell the cast he\u2019ll be lost forever. Even Flash seems to feel bad about that. Spider-Man catches up with everyone just as the cast is being herded into place with all the previous victims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mordo begins a spell to sacrifice the people to his boss or whatever, but of course, Spider-Man ruins it, with some typically great Roger Stern quipping, and then it\u2019s fightin\u2019 time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Spidey fights the beastie boys for another page, and just when I\u2019m starting to think Dr. Strange isn\u2019t doing much in this story, he appears in his astral form. He & Mordo have a chat, and then he tells Spider-Man to keep fighting the monsters while he fights Mordo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I guess that shouldn\u2019t be a surprise, Dr. Strange only has 2 villains. Dormammu, furious with Mordo for still not providing his sacrifice, banishes him to another dimension or something. And then\u2026 Strange just heads back. Weird. Spider-Man beats up the monsters for 2 more pages, until one of them is thrown onto and smashes the lantern. Spidey assumes they\u2019re trapped without it, but Strange reappears, and begins showing them a path back to the real world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Everyone\u2019s pretty messed up from their experience, and so Spider-Man asks Strange if he can make them forget all this happened. But, of course, Strange points out that would also mean making them forget his heroics. But, come on\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And that\u2019s that for that. A wacky ride. Rrrrather inessential, tho. I\u2019m not sure that just jamming stories into the past just to do them is really worthwhile. Especially for $6 a pop. The original series felt a lot more intentional. But, it was fun, at least. The front cover is by Steve Leialoha, but Vokes gets the back cover for himself:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Very Mike Mignola-eqsue. And with that, Untold Tales really comes to an end.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Almost a year after the publication of UTS 25, this was released, a squarebound one-off teaming Spider-Man and Dr. Strange. Maybe for the first time? I have no idea where it\u2019s meant…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19716,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[410],"tags":[36,35,1713,11,49,1714,12,20,13,1298,1716,1003,172,21,1717,1715,117,2,1288,1300,1287,187],"class_list":["post-19699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-1990s","tag-aunt-anna","tag-aunt-may","tag-baron-mordo","tag-betty-brant","tag-doctor-strange","tag-dormammu","tag-flash-thompson","tag-george-stacy","tag-j-jonah-jameson","tag-jason-ionello","tag-jay-geldhof","tag-kurt-busiek","tag-liz-allen","tag-mary-jane-watson","tag-matt-hollingsworth","tag-neil-vokes","tag-roger-stern","tag-spider-man","tag-steve-mattson","tag-tiny-mckeever","tag-untold-tales-of-spider-man","tag-wong"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19699"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19724,"href":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19699\/revisions\/19724"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}