So which one was published first? The Floyd cover or Dr. Strange number?

“Dr. Strange” & “A Saucerful of Secrets”: Storm Thorgerson’s Clever Cover

By Bryan Thomas on April 2, 2015

Just a few years after Dr. Strange first appeared on the scene, in 1967, the late Storm Thorgerson used an image of Dr. Strange — taken from Marvel’s Strange Tales #158, illustrated by Marie Severin and published the year before — for the cover of Pink Floyd’s second album.

Dr Strange shows up on the right side of the front cover — additionally, you can also see the character Living Tribunal, who are facing off over the future of the Earth. Here’s the same cover, altered a bit so you can see the hidden image: (see below)

Thorgerson, who died in 2013, spoke about the design in this 2010 interview:

“…The cover is an attempt to represent things that the band was interested in, collectively and individually, presented in a manner that was commensurate with the music. Swirly, blurred edges into red astrology/Dr. Strange images merging into images, a million miles away from certain pharmaceutical experiences. Beginning with Saucerful, they were beginning to experiment with more extended pieces and the music would cascade and change from thing into thing.”

Hypgnosis was the working name for creative designers Storm Thorgerson and Aubury Powell, who did nearly all of Pink Floyd’s album covers and inner sleeve artwork, and also did the artwork for albums released in the 70s by Led Zeppelin, Peter Gabriel, Paul McCartney, 10cc, and many, many more.

Additionally, Pink Floyd also made another reference to Dr. Stephen Strange in their song “Cymbaline,” on the soundtrack to the movie More, with these lyrics “…and Doctor Strange is always changing size.”