Marvel's Doctor Strange Prelude

 Description: The Doctor will see you now! Ahead of the Master of the Mystic Arts' major motion picture, meet the cinematic Stephen Strange -the man who will one day be Earth's Sorcerer Supreme - in this prelude adventure! Plus, magical stories from Doctor Strange's comic book history, from his sensational origin to his entry into the modern Marvel era! The mysterious Ancient One may have much to teach the wounded surgeon Strange - unless the malevolent Mordo has his way! The Doctor faces the nefarious Nightmare and takes an incredible journey back to the very dawn of time. But when he gets shot, can the Night Nurse save his life?

Collects: Marvel's Doctor Strange Prelude 1-2; Marvel's Doctor Strange Infinite Comic 1; Doctor Strange : The Oath 1; Doctor Strange (2015) 1; Strange Tales 110, 115 (Doctor Strange Stories); Marvel Premiere 14
Authors: Will Corona Pilgrim, Brian K. Vaughan, Jason Aaron, Stan Lee, more
Artists: Jorge Fornès, Marcos Martin, Chris Bachalo, Steve Ditko, more
Published By: Marvel
Published When: Oct. 11 2016
Parental Rating: PG

Review:

The Doctor Strange movie is my favorite of the Marvel Cinematic Universe to date. Which surprised me, as he was not a character I paid any attention to prior to the film. So adding this movie-prelude TPB to my collection was a no-brainer.

But, true to my overall impression of the character, the stories collected here are a mixed bag. I found the more recent stories to be engrossing and entertaining, while the old tales, even by comics legends Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, the team who created the character, left me cold.

Will Corona Pilgrim's prelude story leads the collection, and it an interesting blend of plot lines unfolding in Europe and China. Masters of the Mystic Arts battle alongside the Ancient One, the Sorcerer Supreme, for control of powerful artifacts and the knowledge to use them.

Corona Pilgrim draws some of the central characters of the film closer to the events in the movie, with a smoothly paced and elegant narrative.

The art of Jorge Fornès really shines in these prelude stories. There is a fluidity in his forms, making the reader feel the graceful, precise and dance-like movements involved in the mystic incantations these masters are performing. And I love the evocative choice of glowing, almost glittering swirls of color surrounding the manifestations of mystical power.

The collection also includes "Doctor Strange: The Oath" #1, by the incomparable Brian K. Vaughan. As Doctor Strange battles for his life on an operating table, we learn that his predicament comes from his efforts to cure his faithful servant Wong of his cancer, and the very human efforts to steal a healing elixir from him. Artist Marcos Martin demonstrates an impressive range of styles in these few pages, from the simple cartoon style of the intro in the waiting room to the Night Nurse and her medical practice for superheroes, to the gritty realism of an operating room and Wong's hand-to-hand combat to protect Doctor Strange, to the twisted grotesqueries of the mystical realms. The writing and art left me wanting to track down the rest of this compelling series.

The first issue of the 2015 Doctor Strange series is also in this TPB. It starts with a bang, jumping from a one-page nod to the past, in desaturated colors and linear panels, straight into a 2-page spread of the modern Doctor, dynamically leaping at the reader, hand set and surrounded by lightning, as he battles a platoon of jagged-toothed monsters amid vines of flowers and teddy bears. He concludes the confrontation in a passionate embrace of the leader of the monsters, a creature with a serpent's body, spider-like legs or tentacles out the back, and a decidedly female torso, barely covered chest, and beautiful woman's head and hair. All of which turns out to be other-dimensional soul-eaters infesting a child's head.

With an intro like that, you know writer Jason Aaron and artist Chris Bachalo have some interesting tales in store. The rest of this story continues to play with the idea that, even as his body walks among us in our ordinary world, Doctor Strange's mystic vision (literally a third eye in some panels) gives him a whole different view of multiple levels of reality. A promising beginning with a fun opening story and dynamic, striking art.

And that's where my enjoyment of this book hit the wall.

The rest of the book was filled with Doctor Strange stories from decades past. I found them as dull as I remembered from my youth. The narrative is pretentious and I lost interest quickly. The art is saturated with color and linear in structure, as were many of the comics of the day, but that works against the sense of awe and mystery we should feel in these magical realms. And the mind-bending plot twists were either contrived or obvious – for example the big revelation that the evil Sise-neg goes back in time to the beginning and becomes Genesis – yeah, not so shocking, I saw that coming the first time I read the name "Sise-neg"

Without those B-stories from the Doctor's history, I'd add a cape. But overall I have to give this collection 3 out of 5 capes.

ISBN-10:
ISBN-13: 9781302901097
Language: English
Pages: 152 pages