4 issue Test #17 - Doctor Strange

Note: if you’re wondering why I delayed this review a week, the answer is simple. I received this issue later than I’d planned so didn’t know if the review would be done in time.

Doctor Strange, sorcerer supreme of the Marvel Universe and getting his own film in the latter half of the year starring Benedict Cumberbatch. I loved the Doctor Strange animated movie, probably one of the best of Marvel’s animation and on par with a good DC one.

But I’m not reviewing either of those, I’m here to review the comic, written by Jason Aaron, who handles the Star Wars book, so he’s set a reasonably high bar, can he surpass it, let’s take a look.

This cover is OK, I kinda dislike the yellow filter put over what might be a nice looking background, but it's at least relevent

Issue one opens with a brief overview of Doctor Strange’s origins, even using old comic panels to illustrate the story. I’ll summarise. Stephen Strange was an egotistical doctor whose hands were crushed in a car accident. He went across the globe to find a surgeon that could heal him, he came across the Ancient One, who trained him instead to be the Sorcerer Supreme, the mystical champion of the realm.

In present we see him in the presence of some demons of some sort, he casts a spell of translation and tells them to move on when they’re interrupted by…. I have no idea. She’s some kind of snake woman but also a parasite given what they tell us later on. Oh and she has a thing for Doctor Strange. She tells him that they’re trying to keep ahead of the coming slaughter but Doctor Strange says she can’t stay here

Accepting this as a challenge, she brings forth her champion, Spurrgog the Hell-breather. Strange tries to cast a spell to stop it but seems to have trouble remembering how many moons Munnopor has (it’s magic, just go with it) as he comments in narration about how his hands are still crushed he summons a sword and begins slashing into Spurrgog.

In the physical world, we see that Doctor Strange has made a house call. The child has been infected with something. The parents get worried hearing Doctor Strange making kissing sounds but he soon confirms that the entities that had invaded his son had been persuaded to relocated. (He says in caption he’d sent them to Ryker’s prison where the murderers lie.) The child wakes up to some very grateful parents. His scars should heal quickly.

The father asks Doctor Strange how he can be repaid. Strange responds that he can hear their neighbour dreading the thought of spending his birthday alone. He asks them to celebrate it with him and consider their debt paid.

He takes a walk along the street narrating about how he sees the world very differently to most humans, the human being is a breeding ground for various bacteria. He sees something which doesn’t belong and tries to shoo it away but it eats him. He carves his way out with an axe, creating quite a mess which he promises to clear up later. For now, he enters the bar with no doors, a bar in which only magicians can access.

He sits with 3 magician friends, Doctor Voodoo, Shaman and the Scarlet Witch. They catch each other up on current events, with another mention of ‘the coming slaughter.’ We see Monako, the Prince of Magic. He talks about how cosmic balance requires a life taken for every life they save so he spends his evenings drowning rabbits. With Doctor Strange being as busy as he has been, Monako asks if he’s paid his debts.

Steven replies that he doesn’t sleep well, has bad ulcers, coughing problems and the fact that his way with the women means that if he’s murdered tomorrow it may be hard to tell whether it’s his enemies or his former love interests.

At the sanctum sanctorum, the house of Doctor Strange a young woman waits. She’s a bit perplexed, the door doesn’t even have a doorknob. She begins to walk away but it’s just as Steven himself is coming back home. Whilst pretending not to be himself for some reason he persuades her to enter. Her name is Zelma Stanton and she has a rash that ended up growing teeth. Steven is not happy with what he sees.

Meanwhile, in the 13^th dimension a badly injured Sorcerer Supreme, Szandor Zoso, heads through his sanctum into a room. He chains the door shut with his magic. He says he feels his spells are dying. He takes out his Eye of Thelma and tasks it with sending his words across dimensions. Everyone’s in danger, all his friends are dead and his magic is useless. The Epirikul are coming for them all.

The chains are broken and witchfinder wolves come, followed by their handlers. Their leader, the Imperator arrives and destroys the entities the Eye of Thelma was using to send the message, claiming they’ll deliver that themselves. He orders that Szandor is purified with holy acid.

A nice cover showing the dangers of Doctor Strange's Fridge, the people who worked on it being on the fridge is a nice touch too.

Issue 2 opens with Doctor Strange attempting to fend off the parasites from Zelma’s head, he tries a spell to summon the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak but it doesn’t work, much to his confusion. The parasites appear to have left her but there are still mouths on Zelma’s head. Strange asks his assistant, Wong to secure the house. He tells Zelma he can’t allow her to leave yet. He needs to know what the creatures are and what connection they have to her. He hands her a sword, saying that whatever danger those parasites are, they’re nothing compared to the dangers in the house.

They head through the house with Doctor Strange warning her that a wrong move could easily unleash hell on earth. They enter his bathhouse and found a few of the creatures have drowned, meaning they can die. They head up a staircase which is upside down in one panel but the one thing that Zelma is truly afraid of… Books in piles. She’s a librarian and not happy to see that.

But anyway, it seems the parasites have entered the library, something that should be impossible. It grabs one of the books, the Grimboire of Watoomb and opens it, Doctor Strange and Zelma are separated as Zelma falls into another area. She spots an open door and peaks behind it to see a desolate realm with creatures that want to eat her, her mouths take the worst of any punishment as she manages to shut the door again.

She enters the kitchen and spots some of the parasites going at the fridge, the dangerous fridge Doctor Strange had warned her about earlier. They’re all stopped by Wong and his frying pan, who begins cooking up a fricassee with what looks like poison to me. He takes her back to Doctor Strange who has freed the library from the parasites and is attempting to read up on them.

The creatures are called mind maggots and Doctor Strange can see that Zelma is still connected to them. She can lure them back before they reach the cellar and unleash the horrors within. To do this she needs to reveal her secrets, and she does so. If any of them were particularly interesting, I’d list them. They mind maggots return but Doctor Strange stands and takes them into his body.

With his mental defences his creatures will starve. Doctor Strange offers Zelma the chance to help him clean up the library. She says she’s free on Saturdays and leaves. Wong reminds Steven that Mind Maggots are unheard of in our dimension. Steven remarks that his spell from earlier, one he’s used many times before, didn’t work. He says they have quite a lot of work to do.

Szandor attempts to come through another partially open door but he’s dragged back by green spirits. They say they’ll have to burn sorcery out of them all.

Another good cover, normally I'd complain about the whitespace but it's supposed to mirror Strange's astral form so it gets a pass

Issue 3 opens with Doctor Strange waking up in astral form, naked in Central Park. The Park is being infested with Eengawori slugs, which feed on magic, so they’re aiming for Doctor Strange even though he can’t cast in this form.

He spots the ‘Axe of Angarruumus’ conveniently and begins slicing their way through it whilst feeling sorry for them as they’re not monsters, just hungry. He remembers he was last in the sanctum opening a door and then notices the Eengawori slugs have infested the entire city. Knowing that the ecosystem could be upset with catastrophic consequences, he summons the last of the magic he has and throws it for the creatures like a grenade.

The aftershock of the spell makes most of New York throw up but it was successful, all the slugs are now coming after him. He now has to find his way back to the sanctum, but without any teleportation of flying. Noticing the smaller slugs (relatively speaking) could fly, he manages to catch hold of one of them and fly towards the sanctum.

Now at the sanctum, the slugs try to eat the house, a great source of magic. But with the house on lockdown, Steven has to break in. He finds a skylight and freefalls through the window into the library. Wong is fending off the slugs, protecting Steven’s body. He warns that whatever strange is doing, he’s making them angrier, well hungrier.

Strange enters his body and gives them a massive dose of magic which puts the slugs in food comas. They begin to flash back, he opened to dour to Fandazar Foom, and a shockwave came out that knocked Strange’s astral form out of his body, the slugs were pouring out as if they were starving, which should be impossible with Fandazar Foom is brimmed with magic, it’s like Palm Springs for Wizards. He’d intended to travel there for advice given recent events but then everything happened

He looks inside now and finds the pace barren, all the magic has been burned away. Wong points toward a body of someone Strange recognises as a Sorcerer Supreme. Whatever did this needs to be found before it finds them. One of the witchfinder wolves witness this conversation and heads back to its handler.

Two handlers talk about Doctor Strange has been mentioned in the confessions of other Sorcerers Supreme as we see undergoing torture in the background. They meet the Imperator, who orders that their giant whale beast be released. And he does so by torturing it with green laser eyes.

Another decent cover, the blank backgrounds there to give a sense of mystery, which it does pretty well

Issue 4 opens with a lesson from the Ancient One, he tells Strange to punch him and reluctantly, he does so, injuring his already fragile hands. The lesson is simple. There is a reaction to every blow you strike upon yourself. Steven then throws up from all the magic he’s been using. In the present day, he’s being sick again, but inside the bar with no door.

Tonight, all the magicians have come for news about what’s coming and what has happened. Strange informs them that he’s buried seventeen Sorcerers Supreme since yesterday. They were all burned alive after enduring many hours of torture. Their home dimensions are now cut off from Doctor Strange, restricting his magic. All he knows is that they’re still out there, and they’re coming.

One of them asks about contacting the remaining Sorcerers Supreme, Strange said he had using a call that hasn’t been used in 5000 years but no-one responded. A character called Professor Xu suggests linking their auras to alert each other when there’s danger, another character called Mahatma Doom, probably of Latverian descent agrees.

Monako, being the annoying d*ckweed that he is continues to comment about Strange not paying his mystical tab. Strange gets a call saying there’s been another death.

We cut back to the Sanctum Sanctorum where the death is of Grimoire of Watoomb, the book that separated the pair back in issue 2. Its pages are now empty. The book is dead. Strange falls week with Wong saying he needs to eat something. Zelma marvels (haha) at the food he’s eating, Wong responds that he doesn’t really have a choice, his body has been changed by his use of magic to the point that normal food would likely kill him.

After having had lunch, Strange finds a doorway to what looks like an underwater world or something. He enters it. Wong watches from above, putting on a fur coat and entering an ice realm, whilst apologising for not revealing the truth. Stephen finds the temple of Watoomb, underneath the Indian Ocean. None of its defences are active, it’s as if it’s been drained of magic.

He is attacked by some tentacles, which he recognises as Mechanical. He’s contacted by Zelma who tells him more of his books are dying as some creatures approach the Sanctum Sanctorum. Strange destroys the machines with a sword. He contacts everyone says the forces aren’t coming, they’re already here.

So that was issues #1-4 of Doctor Strange, not too many jokes in this one, but does that mean it was a good read? Let’s take a closer look.

First thing I can say is I love some of the ideas of this story. The idea that the use of magic for the forces of good has a price. The idea of a villain faction that hates magic and wants to see it completely wiped out. The idea of various magical creatures fleeing their homes to get free of them. It was a great setup that made for some great drama and some is useful for having some decent standalone stories whilst also having an arc to them

That being said, the problem with Doctor Strange being cut off from magic does limit their possibilities with the character. And I suppose it prevents them going down the whole ‘it’s magic – we don’t have to explain it rule’ but it means he rarely uses magic to solve his problems, and it’s all down to physical force. Even when magic rules the day in #3, it’s not very well handled in my opinion

Jason Arron has decent character voice work. I think each of the leads has a unique voice and even some of the side characters shine through. I don’t feel like Zelma contributes a lot in the overall narrative aside being a patient for one issue and a possible love interest. I don’t know about you, but when I think of a sorcerer who battles extra-dimensional creatures, I don’t care about his love life.

The art is… is… It’s ok. I do like the like the use of white space to identify the extra-dimensional vision that Doctor Strange seems to have. I quite like the design of the monsters and I like the design of the Epirikul. What I’m not so fond of, strangely enough, is the design of Strange himself. I could chalk some of it down to the writing. It is not easy to provide dignity to a scene where Doctor Strange is naked in Central park, but I felt he needed to look a little more regal. I don’t know, I’ve never read Doctor Strange before but this is not how I’d picture him.

It also succumbs to Marvel bullsh*t as once again we have a $4.99 first issue. Stop trying to squeeze cash out of your customers, Marvel!

Rating

#1 7.5/10

#2 7/10

#3 7.5/10

#4 7/10

Overall 7.25/10

Recommendation: I’m not 100% sold on this title yet. I’ll give it till the end of this first arc to convince me, but it’s a solid series and I have no reason not to recommend it to people, most of the issues are down to personal taste

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Images/clips used in this review are from Doctor Strange and belong to their respective owners. All images/clips in this review are subject to fair use