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This has been quite the month for monumental comics issues. Among my current reads are "Birthright" from Image and both DC's Batman and Superman. They're all hovering in at issue No. 25, and while "Birthright" is a solo title, much of DC's stable of issues is hitting the mark this month.
"Doctor Strange," however, straddles that line of major publisher with an interesting solo twist. While he's had his first foray into the Marvel Cinematic Universe this past year, the good Doctor has kept his head down. While both movie and comic are set in the general Marvel Universe, both seem to have a strong core so as not to need major cameos from other heroes to buoy sales.
In just 20 issues, writer Jason Aaron and artist Chris Bachalo have created a stand-alone character with serious repercussions throughout the world of magic. Not that there's much left.
Since the first issue, Aaron and Bachalo have instilled an interesting take on Marvel's magical realms -- that of the price magic has to pay for one to use it. Simply put: life can get pretty sticky if you don't pay your dues. And the loveable Doctor Strange has quite the bill.
I'll be honest here: I didn't jump on the train until issue six with the Last Days of Magic storyline (really, how can a magically-driven title not have any magic?) but backtracked quickly to snatch up the issues that I needed to fill things in. Marvel has an interesting side hustle with their Timely Comics reprints: first three issues for three dollars. Great move to get folks interesting in your comics, even better than your dollar first issue reprints, in this reviewer's opinion.
And with magic failing, so do the magic users amid the Marvel Universe. What's nice about the Last Days of Magic one-shot in particular, various practitioners of the magical arts are showcased here and you get a genuine sense of Aaron's study as to what makes the magic really sizzle. No two magic users are the same, and in the issues that follow, the Empirikul are really putting the smackdown on magic across all planes of existence.
It's a deeply moving series when your heroes are at odds with that which has given them life all these years. It's especially harrowing to see various mundane characters lose their ability to use magic, even in such miniscule doses.
There's a great couple of nods here to assuage both Disney and Harry Potter fans.
Doctor Strange has dealt with the baddies, albeit without the magic that he's used to, in some fun ways. And frankly, he's still coming to terms with just what it means to be a practitioner of the arts. Twenty issues has not slowed the wit and wisdom of this series.
My favorite part (by far) happened just this last week with issue 20. I had no idea that Aaron and Bachalo's run was coming to an end, but in an oversized issue that wrapped up a few loose ends from their take on the character the most striking conversation was a letter to the readers thanking them/us for reading.
Will I continue to read after Aaron and Bachalo depart? A little Strange not to, eh?
"Doctor Strange" can be purchased in single issues and currently three trades collecting issues 1-16 (and the Last Days of Magic one-shot,) with the fourth trade arriving in stores in October.