Ding-dong, the Sorcerer’s dead in The Death of Doctor Strange #1! Written by Jed MacKay; Drawn by Lee Garbett; Colored by Antonio Fabela; Lettered by Cory Petit.
What is the measure of a person?
Is it the sweat of their brow? Their contributions to the world?
What is the measure of a MAGICIAN?
Is it his best illusion? His position in the magical community? The skill of his hands?
The Death of Doctor Strange #1 attempts to get to the bottom of these questions and more. And takes more than a few entertaining paths to get there, all wrapped in solidly fun and expressive artwork. Helmed by one of Marvel’s most sure bets nowadays, Jed McKay, the opening of this mortally deadly crossover provides a wonderful inroad to what makes Strange so fun on the page.
Literally hounded by ghostly companion Bats, the Ghost Dog, into activity, we open on a “normal” day for a guy named Strange. Both in and out of costume. Adroitly narrated in a wonderfully folksy take on Strange, Jed McKay spends a lot of time showing and telling us just how much Strange matters to the world. As the realm’s Sorcerer Supreme and newly returned surgeon. All compacted in wry, but genuinely endearing vignettes across the magical Marvel universe.
From Bleeker Street to the Strange Academy, the creative team makes a very strong case as to why Strange is so compelling. Pinging him across splashy little mini-adventures with fun co-stars like Wong, Magik, and even old enemies Baron Mordo and Mr. Rasputin. And in doing so, more than likely, they also reorient new readers as to Strange’s whole deal. Which is great, since, ya know, he also dies at the end of this first issue. And promptly the magical world goes gonzo in reaction, kicking off the whole impetus for an end-of-the-year event!
But the real question you should be asking is WHY! That’s a reveal I will leave to the people at Marvel, but I am fully struck at how fun and breezy of a kick-off The Death of Doctor Strange #1 is. Much of that is due to McKay’s consistently fun voice in scripting and plotting. It seems like he’s one of those writers that can find the fun in any character and I am happy to report he’s done the same with stuffy old Strange. Openly mocking his former Gerberian minced oaths and making him far more charming than he has any right to be, McKay really impresses with the magical characters of Marvel’s weirder side.
That same fun extends too to the artwork of Lee Garbett and Antonio Fabela. Lead graciously by the pair’s reedy and classically costumed Strange, both of the artists take the vignettes presented and inject a real expressionist flair into them. Both in the pencils and colors. On the penciled front, Garbett too gets a great deal of unexpected warmth from Stange, in his body language and interactions with other characters. In particular, there is a very sweet scene between him and Doyle, the pumpkin-headed son of Dormammu, that I quite enjoyed. And on the coloring side, Fabela always gives the magic and mundane a novel pop of color. Almost as if they purposefully always chose the brightest shade of whatever colors were in the palette during that certain scene. It gives the whole issue a wonderful shine that you always love to see in weekly comics.
Its conclusion might be of the foregone variety, but there is still mirth and mayhem to be found in The Death of Doctor Strange #1. With its smirkingly heartfelt attitude, celebration of the weird, and consistently solid artwork, this event’s opening gambit feels and reads far better than it should. And that might be the ultimate measure of Doctor Stephen Strange, Sorcerer Supreme. A guy who occasionally stars in books that are better than you expect them to be. Now we can only hope that the rest of this event proves an adequate eulogy for the former Avenger, Defender, and Illuminati mage.
Zachary Jenkins co-hosts the podcast Battle of the Atom and is the former editor-in-chief of ComicsXF. Shocking everyone, he has a full and vibrant life outside all this.
