What's the Deal with Deacon's Den?

 

Every now and then I like to shine a light on some of the more obscure MC2 characters. In that tradition, today’s post we will be taking a look at the mysterious and magical mentor of Doc Magus, the man known only as Deacon.

 

First appearing alongside the young Sorcerer Supreme, Doc Magus in A-Next #3, Deacon is the one to suggest Doc Magus aka Dormagus recruits the recently reassembled new team of Avengers to counter Doctor Strange and his Defenders team comprised of the Incredible Hulk aka Bruce Banner and Namor the Sub-Mariner. While it’s not identified in this issue, we can presume this location is Dormagus’ ‘Sanctum Sanctorum’.

 

The following month over in the pages of J2’s own title, we learn that Deacon too possesses magical ability when he aids Doc Magus by casting Zane Yama aka J2’s astral form into a strange nightmare dimension. He is relieved when the pair of heroes return unscathed, having seen their unconscious bodies spasm while they were in peril (J2 #4).

 

It’s not until J2 #12 we learn that the Doc Magus operates out of his ‘Sanctum Sanctorum’ which is really just the back room of Deacon’s Den, a comic book store owned and operated by Deacon. When J2 and Doc Magus ignore Doctor Stange’s warning and journey into a pocket dimension via the Crossroads of Infinity to rescue Cain Marko aka The Juggernaut they discover it’s a trap too late and become trapped when their gateway back to Earth is destroyed by Nemesus. Notably, the energy backlash from this is shown to surround Deacon and his eyes glow red as he senses what has happened.

 

Found and assisted by Zane’s curious school associates, Deacon reveals he instinctively raised a protective shield around the gateway. With the help of the highschooler’s they manage to create a trail for the heroes to follow home…using Dormagus’ comic book collection. The bizarre events are explained away by Cain Marko as a temporal anomaly, and we learn via Zane’s closing monologue that Deacon’s Den closed down within a week and was replaced by a dry cleaner business (J2 #12).

 

While Zane believes Deacon’s Den to have closed down, it’s possible it makes an off-panel appearance as a target of Mr. Abnormal’s crime-spree. The super stretchy criminal notably steals a complete collection of Police Comics from a comic shop, so perhaps it was Deacon’s Den? Either way, Mr. Abnormal is defeated by the combined efforts of Speedball and Spider-Girl (Spider-Girl #15).

 

Deacon’s Den is definitely open and running again by the time the events of Spider-Girl #71 take place, with a ‘New’ sign and different appearance. Deacon is seen working the counter when J2 and Spider-Girl come seeking Doc Magus, who is once again using the store’s back room as his Sanctum Sanctorum. The three heroes thwart an invasion of invisible Darklings sent by Nemesus, though Deacon, sadly, isn’t an active participant in events this time around.

 

A little while later, during the events of Last Hero Standing, we get a confirmation that Deacon’s Den is located in Manhattan when Doctor Strange unsuccessfully attempts to recruit his son Doc Magus to his Defenders team so they can find the growing number of missing heroes. Deacon tells Dormagus he shouldn’t have turned down the assistance but gives up when the young Sorcerer Supreme brushes him off too. Shortly afterwards, Doc Magus is captured by the mastermind behind the plot, the Asgardian god of mischief Loki, leaving behind nothing but a smoking crater in the ground for the intestinally distressed Deacon to discover (Last Hero Standing #2).

 

When up and coming comic creators Jimmy Yama and Reynard ‘Wes’ Westin approach Deacon in the hope he’ll stock their Spider-Girl comic in his store, he initially declines but is convinced when Jimmy promises an appearance from the super heroine (Amazing Spider-Girl #4).

 

Of course, Jimmy asks his girlfriend Heather Noble to dress up as the fictional version of Spider-Girl from the comic he and Wes developed together. The promotional event at Deacon’s Den is advertised in the newspaper which draws the attention of the villainous Hobgoblin (Amazing Spider-Girl #5).

 

Sure enough, with Heather in costume as Spider-Girl, the Hobgoblin descends on Deacon’s Den (which also stocks MC2 comics, dontcha know) and kidnaps her. The Hobgoblin uses Heather as bait to draw out the one, true Spider-Girl. While the promotion had a good turn out, Deacon picks the perfect moment to ask if Jimmy and Wes obtained Spider-Girl’s permission to use her in their comic which, of course, they did not. Spider-Girl manages to save Heather and fight off the Hobgoblin with some unexpected assistance (Amazing Spider-Girl #6).

 

This next one isn’t an appearance of either Deacon or his Den but I’ve included it for the sake of completeness. Wes is seen with a newly bought comic (complete with carry bag) heading for a bus stop before a surprise encounter with April Parker. Does Wes frequent Deacon’s Den and why does he fold his precious comics? (Spectacular Spider-Girl vol. 1 #4/Amazing Spider-Man Family #8).

 

We get our last glimpse of Deacon in a fleeting cameo many overlooked in the MC2 story published as a back-up feature in the Secret Wars: Spider-Island mini-series. Yes, that’s Deacon carrying a sign decrying this Battleworld of Doctor Doom’s as a lie. So, once again, Deacon can see things beyond those of normal men. Thanks to Ron Frenz for confirming this appearance! (Secret Wars: Spider-Island #1)

 

Deacon is something of an enigma, he appears to live a mundane existence as a lowly comic book store owner, while displaying mystic abilities and being involved with events that are far more bizarre. Perhaps we’ll learn more about him someday? Thank you to arias-98105 for help with this post!

 

Until I buy a comic book store rather than buy from them, I remain

 

frogoat

Doc Magus: Who's Your Mama?!

If you haven’t already grown tired of my recent batch of Doc Magus related posts, here’s another! Today I’m going to pick up where the last one left off. Knowing who the MC2’s current Sorcerer Supreme’s father is, now let’s work out the identity of Dormagus’ mother!

 

There are a few clues scattered throughout Doc Magus’ appearances which we should take a look at before the big reveal. Aside from the aforementioned personal connections to Doctor Stephen Strange, there’s a few clues in Doc Magus’ early appearances. In A-Next #3 we not only get his real name Dormagus, and our first brief glimpse of him unmasked (I previously misattributed this to J2 #4) but also this throwaway reference from Deacon: ‘You can start by pulling your head outta the Dark Dimension, kiddo…’

 

 First appearing in Strange Tales #126, the Dark Dimension is actually the name attributed to the largest, most aggressive conquering splinter realm of the original whole Dark Dimension. It has often been visited in various adventures by Doctor Stephen Strange and is most notable as being ruled by the Faltine-originating energy-entities Dormammu (who debuted in Strange Tales #126) and his sister Umar (who first appeared in Strange Tales #150).

 

Looking at Dormagus’ unmasked appearance, it’s worth pointing out he still has white streaks through his hair despite his youthful appearance and demeanour. This is noteworthy because there is another character closely associated with both Doctor Strange and the Dark Dimension who wields great magical power and also has white hair: Clea, daughter of Umar, the sometimes ruler of the Dark Dimension and wife (via extradimensional ceremony) to Stephen Strange (as established in Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #3).

 

Clea also first appeared in Strange Tales #126 but has yet to make any appearance in the MC2 to date. In fact, the closest we’ve even come to an interaction between Dormagus and Clea might just be the collective gathering of various Sorcerers Supreme from across time and space briefly seen in Doctor Strange and the Sorcerers Supreme #12.

 

So, is there any real reason to suspect that Clea is the mother of Dormagus? Why, yes there is! Courtesy of a wonderful interview on Chris Chapman’s Comic Shenanigans podcast episode #744 we have this snippet from MC2 co-creator Ron Frenz:

 

‘What’s funny is when you try to establish things, people are slow on the uptake, like with Doc Magus. We wanted to do this second-generation mystic and everything. Tom in the first issue has Doctor Strange call him Dormagus which is the same prefix as Dormammu and there are other suggestions made about who this kid might be and we had a lot of people writing in and guessing who they are and Tom thought it was so obvious he actually said at one point ‘when you add 2 and 2 do you always get 22?’ That kind of thing. At this point, I guess we can say it, I don’t know how much it was ever established, because I know Dormagus appeared in J2 a few times. But he is the son of Doctor Strange and Clea. Because Clea was from the Dark Dimension. She was from the same place Dormammu was, so that’s why her son has the same prefix on the name. Tom also wanted something that sounded like ‘magus’ so he could go to Doc Magus, that kind of thing. That’s why his hairstyle looked a little like his mum’s. He was given the responsibility of being the Sorcerer Supreme at such a young age because of his bloodline. We thought it was pretty obvious but there were a few fans that didn’t feel it was quite that obvious.’

 

I’m sure the informed and knowledgeable among you had already made the connection but now you have it all spelt out from the co-creator himself. What do you make of this reveal? Do you agree with it or disagree? Do you have an alternative suggestion, given that this isn’t set in stone on the comic page?

 

Until I reveal the heavily-guarded secret of the mysterious entity known only as Deacon, I remain

 

frogoat 

Doc Magus: Sorcerer Supreme of the MC2

 

As I recently covered the MC2’s resident Sorcerer Supreme, the youthful Dormagus aka Doc Magus, in his cameo appearance alongside various other Sorcerers Supreme from throughout time and across the multiverse in Doctor Strange and the Sorcerers Supreme, I thought now might be a great time to take a proper look at the character. So, today’s post is all about Doc Magus.

 

Dormagus makes his debut in the pages of A-Next #3, when he sends his astral form to former Sorcerer Supreme Doctor Stephen Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum home. A lot of interesting pieces of information come to light in this introduction: for starters Doc Magus’s real name, the fact that he is the current Sorcerer Supreme and that there is evidently a lot of unspoken resentment, familiarity and history between Doctor Strange. More on their dynamic in another post someday soon.

 

Having foreseen a world-threatening tragedy that will unfold in the near future, Doctor Strange takes matters into his own hands and recruits his former Defenders teammates Namor the Sub-Mariner and the Incredible Hulk in an apparent attempt to save the day using extreme measures. Doc Magus attempts to warn off Strange and when this fails, he takes his mentor Deacon’s advice and approaches the newly formed Avengers team for help. Soon enough the two teams clash in Arizona until Dormagus uses the Eye of Agamotto to uncover Doctor Strange’s true motives were three-fold: to make Namor proactive once more, ensure the Hulk is able to fulfill his destiny and provide the new Avengers team a ‘baptism of fire’.

 

Doc Magus also briefly appears in J2 #3 which retells the same events from the titular character’s own perspective, but he makes a far more substantial appearance in the very next issue. We see Dormagus unmasked for the first time here when J2 aka Zane Yama recruits the mystic’s help seeking his father, the original Juggernaut who was lost in a strange dimension on a mission with the X-Men. Following Zane into his recurring nightmare in his astral form, Dormagus finds himself alone in an unknown dimension confronting Darklings until Deacon manages to send J2 to aid the sorcerer. The two heroes discover the Darklings master is the dark lord Nemesus who reveals he plans to use Doc Magus’ point of entry into his dimension as a gateway to their plane of reality. While J2 battles a Darkling posing as his father, Nemesus drops hints about the real Juggernaut’s fate and taunts Dormagus’ about his strained relationship with his own father before retreating when temporarily thwarted. Doc Magus promises Zane they will eventually find his missing father (J2 #4).

 

True to his word, Doc Magus later summons Zane and informs him he has found his father being held in a small, unexplored pocket dimension for years. Ignoring a warning from Doctor Strange to wait for reinforcements, Dormagus and Zane make their way to the pocket dimension to rescue Cain Marko aka Juggernaut. Despite reuniting Zane with his father, Nemesus appears and reveals Doc Magus had fallen into his trap and closed the heroes gateway home, trapping them. Fortunately, Doctor Strange appears alongside his fellow Defenders the Hulk and the Sub-Mariner and aid in escaping from Nemesus’ dimension before they are all swarmed by legions of Darklings (J2 #12).

 

We don’t see the Sorcerer Supreme for quite some time, with only a brief appearance in Spider-Girl #58 before he makes a full-fledged return in Spider-Girl #71, once again teaming up with his buddy J2 alongside Spider-Girl for a trip to the nightmare dimension of Nemesus to close a rift Earth. While the magic of Dormagus and the helmet of J2 permit them to see through Nemesus’ invisibility spell, Spider-Girl was forced to rely entirely on her spider-sense as the trio sabotage the villain’s invisibility machine and ruin his plan with Doc Magus turning Nemesus’ magicks against him and his Darklings and folding the rift in upon itself. Sadly, the trio’s efforts go unappreciated.

 

 

When the demonically empowered vigilante Darkdevil is stabbed through the chest by the Venom Symbiote bonded with Normie Osborn, Doc Magus is called upon to save him. Struggling to save the hero, Dormagus admits he is out of his depth and accepts the help of Doctor Strange just as the demon Zarathos appears and warns the two mystics to leave Darkdevil’s body as he claimed it as his own. Unable to perform a conventional exorcism, the two are forced to journey into Darkdevil’s mindscape and restore the balance between the three vying avatars within the hero: the spirit of vengeance Zarathos, the ghostly spirt of the costumed hero Daredevil and the boy Reilly Tyne (Spider-Girl #83-#84).

 

Now that he’d been firmly reintroduced, Dormagus returns for the events of the Last Hero Standing mini-series. With a string of superheroes going missing, Doc Magus sets out to find them on his own, once again rejecting the aid of Doctor Strange, only to wind up defeated in his astral form by a disguised Loki and fall under the villain’s thrall immediately afterwards when reunited with his mortal form and abducted (Last Hero Standing #2).  

 

Returned to Earth alongside the other abducted heroes, Doc Magus is unable to recall who kidnapped him and compelled by Loki’s spell to become more violent leading to a clash with other heroes.Believing he knows who kidnapped him, Doc Magus falsely leads the other heroes to Doctor Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum only to be confronted by a Loki-controlled and enraged Hulk who makes short work of the assembled heroes indiscriminately. Upon finding Doctor Strange in a coma, Dormagus is unable to detect Loki’s handiwork thanks to the dark spell’s effect (Last Hero Standing #3-#4)

Thanks to the arrival of Thor and a small team of heroes led by Captain America, as well as the Grand Vizier of Asgard Eternal, Loki’s bewitchment is revealed and the day is saved, albeit at the cost of Captain America’s life. Doc Magus is among those who witness the hero’s passing and his spirit’s transformation into a new star by Thor (Last Hero Standing #5).

 

While not actually appearing on-panel himself, Doc Magus is among those who’s energy matrix duplicate (created by the magic of the Asgardian Sylene) makes an appearance in Avengers Next #4-#5, indicating that Dormagus fell victim to this spell before the Avengers managed to save the day.

 

Doc Magus briefly encounters Spider-Girl while trying to find the source of enormous discharges of psychic energy which are tampering with the astral plane. While he senses a connection to Spider-Girl’s search for a kidnapper, she fails to see how it’s possible. Later, Doc Magus is among the massive assembly of heroes who show up to aid Spider-Girl in her endeavour (Amazing Spider-Girl #15).

Finally, we have the cameo in Doctor Strange and the Sorcerers Supreme #12 mentioned at the start of this post, which brings us full circle for appearances of the young Dormagus. Doc Magus is a very fun and often arrogant character who tends to get himself into more trouble as a result of his hubris. As I mentioned above, I will likely delve into other aspects related to Dormagus in future posts.

 

Until I suddenly win the favour of the Vishanti and become the new Sorcerer Supreme, I remain

 

frogoat