Dr. Strange by Mark Waid
This volume collects the first eleven issues of the series that began in 2018.
This was an impulse buy for me. I saw it in the shop a few weeks ago and I picked it up. after looking through the first few pages. The art was nice enough and with Waid at the writing helm, what could go wrong? Doctor Strange can be really a hit-and-miss for creative teams. If you get the wrong team on the title … especially the writer … the good doctor just doesn’t seem like himself. I’d say that Strange is a true Marvel original. Where mages in other books could just do anything, Strange’s mystical powers and backstory were much more rich and well-defined over time.
The stories begin with an ailing Stephen Strange. His magic is deserting him slowly over a period of days. At first, it hits his mystical senses. Then, his talismans … the cloak of levitation and the eye of Agamotto .. fail to work for him. His ability to perceive spells from his mystical books also fails. After a discussion with Tony Stark, Strange decides to pursue non-Earthly magic to revitalize himself. After all, what would the Earth do without its sorcerer supreme? With Stark’s help, he embarks on a mission to find new magical practitioners and magical items on the spaceways.
His first effort lands him in a prison. His cellmate, Kanna, is an “arcanologist” and technomancer; she builds magical items with scientific underpinnings. The two escape and continue on the spaceways in Kanna’s craft. Strange’s magic slowly starts to return to him as they continue. One adventure leads to one of the Infinity Stones … the Time Stone. Unfortunately for them, a Marvel rogue from another superhero title is forcing an alien mage to try to coax power out of it.
They encounter one of the dwarves who forges weapons for Asgard. In a conversation with Strange who indicates that he’s searching for magical artifacts, the dwarf asks the question “why don’t you make your own?” This is a question that I’d never thought of. I mean someone had to have made the cloak of levitation and the amulet with the eye of Agamotto, yes? Strange uses the dwarf’s workshop to build another tool for himself … a sword that can cleave open teleportation gateways.
As all of this transpires in space “Bats” … the ghost dog who inhabits Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum ( I’ve never heard of him ) has conversations with an intruder who lies waiting for Strange’s return.
The revitalized Strange does indeed return to Earth with Kanna to face this stranger and some other old foes as well as being reunited with a very old friend.
I went into this kind of cold … not really familiar with the ways that Strange’s persona has been contorted over the last few decades. But, I really enjoyed this book. I was quite happy that while Waid attempted to change some things about the character, I felt that he was evolving him … not just making instant changes for a new take on the character.
I will say that I’d recommend that you don’t look at any of the covers for these eleven issues. It was nice to get a surprise when the guest-villains arrived in each chapter.
Recommendation: I’d recommend this to Doctor Strange fans, but I can see how others might not enjoy this take on the character.
There appears to be another volume with more Waid stories. I’ll have to look into that in the near future.