MadCap's Comic Reviews - "Doctor Strange #3"

The last time we saw Stephen Strange, serious matters were afoot. While he tried to assuage the fears of young Zelma Stanton about the Mind Maggots had had rooted their way into her...the truth was something far worse. Not just for Zelma, but for the world entire - magic was seeing a very dangerous shift. A fairly common spell cast by Strange...produced no effect, almost as though that magic had simply stopped existing entirely. It was definitely troublesome, and Stephen sought to discern just what it was that had happened, unaware that the Sanctum was being visited by an allied force...who was then dragged back through the portal that he had come through by the insidious forces of the Empirikul, who were determined to destroy all magic.

I've mentioned in a few of my reviews since now that the first three issues of the run of a comic tend to set up the status quo for the run so that it can be shaken up by the events to come. I've also said that Doctor Strange didn't really need that, since the characters of Stephen and Wong were very firmly established within the mythos of the Marvel Universe. By this point, the movie hadn't come out yet, so I really couldn't make a crack about how the common man would know as well, but the point is that he was a known figure in-universe, so the first issue of this run really only served as a re-introduction to the character and his world. This was much the same with Issue #2 and continues into Issue #3.
From the cover, you might think that this is going to be a humorous romp of Stephen trying to deal with mystical threats while in his knickers. For the first half of it, you are absolutely right. The artwork of Chris Bachalo and the inking by Tim Townsend really shines here as we get to see a zany environment that is the magical world, going unseen by most of the people in the Marvel universe. Seriously, these are some trippy visuals that are very much in the spirit of Doctor Strange - full of life and color while the "normal" world around it appears in black and white by comparison. It's some great stuff and I'm sure that Steve Ditko would be proud of it.

Damn, son! Dat axe!!!

Stephen, it seems, woke up naked this morning in his Astral Form while in the middle of Central Park, the last thing he remembered happening was opening a door to the Sanctum...and is on the run from a group of slugs who are trying to eat him for his magic. Luckily, with the help of the Axe from the cover of Issue #1 (which, oddly, did not appear in Issue #1), Stephen is able to fight them off long enough to high-tail it out of there...and into a group of mystical creatures that had infested the entire city.

He manages to work out a little magic to get a temporary reprieve, and eventually commandeers one of the creatures to take him back to Bleecker Street. The remaining creatures follow it, and Wong has been protecting Stephen's body and fighting off the creatures as they arrive. Stephen promises Wong a vacation before amplifying the Sanctum's power to give the creatures an all-you-can-eat buffet...and putting them into a food coma.

Apparently slugs have the same weakness as 20-somethings.

Then, we come full-circle. Stephen remembers what caused him to be ejected into his Astral Form - opening the door to a dimension called Fandazar Foo. A place, Stephen says, has even more magic than Manhattan...so he wonders why the creatures that feed on magic would have been starving if they had just come from there. A helpful set of boxes and the picture of an idyllic, Tolkien-esque setting paints the picture of Fandazar Foo, a nexus point between dimensions. It overflows with magic, basically serving as a vacation spot for magicians. Stephen had wanted to go there to seek advice about what was happening, and everything that had happened in this issue up until this point happened.

When Stephen and Wong open the door again...they find snow falling upon a husk of a landscape. There is no sign of life anywhere, and indeed, death all about as they move through the snow. Stephen picks up the snow and there's a terrible realization...it's ash. Moments later, Wong finds bodies on pikes. Stephen recognizes them all as Sorcerer Supremes, even namedropping a few of them as he wonders who or what has the power to kill off so many Sorcerer Supremes.

They must find it, he says, before it finds them...

Unfortunately for Stephen and Wong, a "Witchfinder Wolf" was left behind and reports in on what it heard. As the Empirikul's robots torture a magician, one reports to the Imperator that they now know the name of Doctor Stephen Strange, and apparently his reputation proceeds him as a "dark priest of the vilest arts". The Imperator declares that they will seek out Doctor Strange's world and purify it in the name of their crusade against evil.

Praise the Empirikul...and death to magic.

Again, I have to praise the artwork here in particular. The cover and the first half of the comic make you think this is going to be a comedic issue. There's bright colors, interesting character designs, and humor about Cleveland all through it (it makes sense in context). Then the door opens to Fandazar Foo...and things that a decidedly dark turn. Instead of bright and colorful, the world has become dull and flat and gray. The physical embodiment of a realm that was overflowing with magic having it burned out of it. It is chilling and I absolutely love it.

I don't have a joke here, this is really just haunting...

More so when we get to the last three pages with the Empirikul - where the primary colors are white, gray, and black. Emphasizing the clinical, scientific feel to them that will carry on into the arc to come. And this has been some great set up for the arc to come, "The Last Days of Magic".

And let me tell you, having read through it, it is one hell of a good arc. Maybe the best thing that Jason Aaron has ever written. Next Sunday, though, we'll get into that. The "Next issue page" promises us that "Death Has Teeth".

Until then!

Doctor Strange #3 is brought to us by Marvel Comics. Written by Jason Aaron, Pencil'd and Color'd by Chris Bachalo, Inked by Tim Townsend, Al Vey, and Mark Irwin, and letter by Cory Petit. Fantastic work, guys!

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