This volume collects the earliest Doctor Strange stories, from the two-in-one comic Strange Tales. I had read a few of them in earlier reprints, but most were new to me. Reading this collection was at first a wondrous experience of sixties psychedelia. Artist Steve Ditko, though never a favorite of mine, was at the top of his game, and one has to appreciate his original renderings of other-dimensional realms and magical effects. As the book wore on, though, Stan Lee's voluminous verbiage--and let me be clear here, I adore Stan and often refer to him as "my real dad"--began to wear on my brain. It probably would have been better to read a few issues at a time and then put it down for a while--except that I didn't want to put it down. They start to feel samey after a while, especially as the eeeevil Baron Mordo (never forget that he is evil) keeps returning time and time again to destroy Doctor Strange. So by the second half of the book (it may not seem like a large volume, but each episode is only about eight pages on average, with a lot of writing packed into each page) I was enjoying myself a bit less. Recommend you take 2-3 chapters and then call on the Doctor again the next evening. ( )