Description:
In
the aftermath of THE LAST DAYS OF MAGIC, journey back to the first
days of Doctor Strange! How did Stephen Strange become the Sorcerer
Supreme — and how has he lost it all? In the present, Strange is on
the brink of death, his magic nearly depleted. Sensing the Master of
the Mystic Arts is at his weakest, his greatest foes will return from
the shadows, ready to strike — starting with one of his oldest
rivals, Baron Mordo! But as a parade of bad guys line up to take
their shot, one of Strange's newest enemies may be the deadliest of
all. During ORIGINAL SIN, one of the slain Watcher's eyes fell into
the hands of the Orb — and with that immense power, he has set his
sights on Doctor Strange!
Collects: Doctor Strange (2015)
#11-16
Authors: Jason Aaron
Artists: Chris
Bachalo , Kevin Nowlan, Leonardo Romero
Published By:
Marvel
Published When: March 7
2017
Parental Rating: Teen
Review:
In celebration of this weekend's release of the newest Marvel
Universe feature film, "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of
Madness", I'm revisiting Doctor Strange graphic novels.
See here for my review of the graphic novel tie-in to the first Doctor Strange film.
If the feature film owes some of its stylings to the works and
influence of H.P. Lovecraft, this collection, and really the whole
fourth volume of Doctor Strange comics, layers in elements from the
organic side of H.R. Giger, with a dash of Neil Gaiman's Sandman. All
overlaid with a heavy dose of humor.
This collection, "Blood in the Aether", shows the
aftermath of THE LAST DAYS OF MAGIC storyline. The magic is largely
gone from this realm, and Stephen Strange finds himself battling with
enchanted weapons, intelligence and physical stamina instead of
spells and mysticism.
And battle he must. In a hellish week, Strange faces a procession
of some of his greatest enemies. Baron Mordo. Misery. Nightmare.
Satana. The Orb. Dormammu. Wave after wave of barely-survived battles
leaves Doctor Strange tumbling from one confrontation to another,
each opponent claiming the right to be the one to finally kill the
Sorcerer Supreme.
Jason Aaron's story clips along at a break-neck pace, making this
collection impossible to put down. Definitely a case where the
after-publication collection beats the waiting that came with the
original monthly publication schedule of the comics. The momentum of
this story reads much better end to end than separated by weeks-long
intermissions.
Kevin Nowlan and Leonardo Romero handle the art of issue #11,
which has a much cleaner, more concise style than the rest of the
book. They then yield to Chris Bachalo and an army of ten other
pencillers and inkers who assist with #12-16. In these chapters,
which tell the "Blood in the Aether" story proper, facial
features are coarser with stronger expressions, especially in the
eyes, and the monstrous entities are more gruesome, twisted and
disgusting. They invest so much time and effort into the little
details - the spines and protrusions on the creatures, even the tread
pattern of Doctor Strange's Doc Marten footwear.
Especially enjoyable are the chapters with Nightmare and the at
times hilarious dream in which Strange is trapped, and Satana with
her how-does-everything-stay-in-place red latex outfit and demonic
bacon.
As I have said in other reviews, I was never much of a Doctor
Strange fan. But the movies and the 2015 comic series from which this
collection comes have taken the character and revealed the fun side.
Give this collection 4 capes out of 5 for its creative use of limited
power, and for showing Doctor Strange doing, as he says more than
once in these pages, "what I was born to do."
ISBN-10: 9781302902995
ISBN-13:
978-1302902995
Language: English
Pages:
136 pages
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