Doctor Strange #385 - Marvel Comics

DOCTOR STRANGE No. 385, April 2018

Considering that Donny Cates’ “Loki: Sorcerer Supreme” storyline significantly relies upon the presence of the Sentry in order for Stephen Strange to be able to match mystic arts with the God of Mischief, it probably came as little surprise to some of this comic’s 26,774 readers that the all-powerful evil imprisoned within the Sanctum Sanctorum is actually Robert Reynolds’ “dark opposite”, the Void. But whilst the presence of “the black and destructive counterforce” undeniably makes for a somewhat sense-shattering conclusion to the American author’s long-winded narrative, the simplistic ease with which Loki, the former “preeminent surgeon” and “arguably the most powerful of all heroes” defeats it smacks of this title’s writer mismanaging the plot’s pacing quite significantly.

For starters, having unleased a force supposedly “capable of destroying the Earth, if not the entire universe”, it disconcertingly takes this publication’s three heroes less time to batter the Void back inside its sealed room than it does Thor’s step-brother to later explain to Strange just why he duped the magic user into believing that the Vishanti had robbed him of his title. Indeed, the titular character appears to be in far more danger of being killed by a murderously enraged “Golden Guardian of the Good” than he does from the evil psyche of the Sentry, and probably would have been if not for Loki’s protective spells sparing the man from the bone-breaking fury of the angry New Avenger; “You told me we had to protect the world! I didn’t know we’d have to protect it from you. I trusted you, Stephen.”

Of course, all this pulse-pounding pugilism and carousel of theatrical spell-casting is soon disconcertingly diminished by Laufeyson’s revelation that “there… never was a tournament” for Doctor Strange to lose, and that he had apparently simply weaved the illusion so as to make the Master of the Mystic Arts better prepared for the War of the Realms, “Hell on Earth”, the gathering of the Infinity Stones and the Final Host.” This grand-sounding motivation momentarily appears disconcertingly credible, considering the Agent of Asgard has just “used the Exile of Singhsoon to consolidate Midgard’s magic into myself so I could jump-start the Dragon Lines." Yet such an explanation is soon disappointingly dispelled and clouded in doubt by a dubious Sorcerer Supreme and Loki’s abrupt departure...

Writer: Donny Cates, Artist: Gabriel Hernandez Walta, and Color Artist: Jordie Bellaire