Above: Ditko (inked by Steve Leialoha) and Englehart from the first chapter of "The Djinn": Fantasy Illustrated #1, Spr/82. Reprinted in color in Coyote #7, Jul/84.

Englehart: Ditko's DR STRANGE, like his SPIDER-MAN, was the work of a man with both vision and intelligence. Intelligence is intelligence, so let's talk about the vision.

As far as I can tell, when Marvel began there were three visions: Stan's, Jack's, and Steve's. Stan and Jack did not immediately mesh, but fairly soon they found a common ground, and it grew to become the Marvel vision. Stan and Steve already had a vision, from those classic 5-page Amazing Fantasy stories they'd done before the superheroes started, and their attempt to move it in a superhero direction made for some very interesting material.

But as Marvel took off, the Stan & Jack vision began to override the Stan & Steve vision, and Stan began to let Steve take the lead on his books. This led to (a) even better material (usually) because Steve didn't need Stan to tell a story, and (b) Steve becoming marginalized, outside the Marvel orbit.

This was compounded by Steve's art style, which did not fit the new Marvel style - and which, to be frank, was anachronistic for clothing styles and black people, in an era that was rapidly becoming hip to both. (Note that DR STRANGE did not require either modern clothing styles or a varied cast.) But Steve was and is Steve, so he wasn't going to change because times were changing - his vision didn't include that - and so he and Marvel parted ways. (Whereupon he applied the vision to the BLUE BEETLE and THE CREEPER.)

That said, I loved his vision and his intelligence, so when I got a chance to do a story with Steve, I designed THE DJINN to play to all his strengths: mystery, darkness, conspiracy - and human interest. I have met Steve a couple of times over the years, but did not meet him then; I crafted THE DJINN entirely on what I'd gleaned from his previous work, and was pleased to hear how much he enjoyed it.