Doctor Strange #389 - Marvel Comics

DOCTOR STRANGE No. 389, June 2018

As far as cataclysmic culminations to a multi-title, limited series tie-in comic book go, Donny Cates’ script to Issue Three Hundred and Eighty Nine of “Doctor Strange” must surely have had the vast majority of its 24,877 readers wringing their hands in despair at a plot which literally depicts the Sorcerer Supreme summarising his battle against the combined forces of Mephisto, Shuma-Gorath, Dormammu and Nightmare whilst sipping a hot beverage in a New York teahouse with Clea. Indeed, incredulously “Marvel Comics’ new wunderkind” even goes so far as to have the Master of the Mystic Arts simply encapsulate the entire sense-shattering conclusion to his “Damnation” crossover event within the space of a couple of word bubbles rather than provide the titular character’s accommodating audience with any sort of visual exposition whatsoever; “Well, Johnny Blaze went to hell and became its new king…. It was quite the spectacle, really.”

Such a shockingly abrupt and lack-lustre ending to this comic’s long-running “Bleeding Neon” storyline really proves monumentally disappointing, especially when mere moments before the book’s focus frustratingly shifts to the former preeminent surgeon dinning with his one-time disciple, he had “betrayed Dormammu, abandoned my friends in hell, and escaped Mephisto’s necrotic soul prison” so as to allow him “the chance to put things right on Earth.” Of course, it’s somewhat understandable that the majority of Strange’s subsequent shenanigans in Las Vegas would probably be covered within Cates’ separately published collaboration with Nick Spencer. But even so it is difficult to swallow that the Garland-born writer couldn’t have penned a pulse-pounding piece pitching Stephen against some villainous “unleashed horror” from the “recently-created Hotel Inferno” in the magic-user’s very own title rather than just present an idyllic depiction of domestic bliss in an idyllic coffee bar.

Disconcertingly, this all-too apparent reluctance to satisfactorily end the Sorcerer Supreme’s battle against Mephisto “in an immaterial sub-realm of Hell” also seeps into this twenty-page periodical’s storyboarding, with Niko Henrichon’s artwork appearing to increasingly suffer as the so-called script progresses. Initially packed full of ‘vim and vigour’ as Nightmare drives his demonic steed through a horde of nightmarish, bug-eyed monstrosities, the Canadian artist’s pencilling sadly closes with some lamentably lack-lustre drawings of a haggardly-sketched Doctor forlornly following the advice of his Faltine/Mhuruuk hybrid friend by phoning up his protégé Zelma…

Writer: Donny Cates, Artist: Niko Henrichon, and Letterer: VC's Cory Petit

Doctor Strange #388 - Marvel Comics

DOCTOR STRANGE No. 388, June 2018

Considering that Issue Three Hundred and Eighty Eight of “Doctor Strange” seemingly promised its readers a truly mouth-watering confrontation between the likes of Man-Thing, Moon Knight, Elsa Bloodstone, Doctor Voodoo, Wong, the Ghost Rider, Iron Fist and Blade with the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, there must have been many within its 30,155 strong audience in April 2018 who were bitterly disappointed by Donny Cates’ bizarre decision to instead have this twenty-page periodical’s narrative almost exclusively focus upon its titular character conducting a lengthy conversation with the ghost of his dead basset hound. True, this bemusing plot twist involving the Sorcerer Supreme’s dog does apparently result in the Master of the Mystic Arts finally regaining his sanity after previously believing Mephisto’s glamour upon his disembodied soul that he was being rescued from Hotel inferno by the likes of Wanda, Loki and Clea. But this dialogue-driven, incredibly sedentary and sleep-inducing solution to his precarious demonically-possessed predicament hardly compares to the sense-shattering shenanigans a blow-by-blow battle between the Midnight Sons and Avengers would have produced.

In fact, this particular instalment to the Texas-born writer’s “Bleeding Neon” storyline is arguably absolutely packed full of head-scratching decisions which genuinely seem to be at odds with the notion that a “Damnation” Event tie-in edition should provide an entertaining, or at very least eminently sensible, experience. For starters, if all it takes for Strange to shake-off his devilish opponent’s deception is his pet pooch's presence, why doesn’t “Stephen’s old magic buddy” Wong simply instruct the animal to “bail him out” straight away, rather than wait until his “team of weirdos… vampire slayers… and… uh, Spider-Man in a hoodie” are beaten within an inch of their lives..?

Equally as bemusing is just how Shuma-Gorath suddenly appears from amidst a casino packed full of lost souls, when the All-Killer of the Dawn and Devourer-God of the Eternal Ever-Was doesn’t, as even the titular character pointedly exclaims, belong in Hell..? Disappointingly, such an utterly bizarre inclusion of the Many-Angled One would debatably seem to only have been made just to provide a worthy opponent for Jane Foster’s Thor to arbitrarily clobber into tomorrow when the female physician’s super-strong alter-ego gobsmackingly appears completely out of the blue so as to supposedly save the sorcerer at this comic’s conclusion; “Yes, by all means, the mighty Thor shall handle this monstrosity for as long as it takes for you all to have a wonderfully casual and lengthy conversation!”

The regular cover art of "DOCTOR STRANGE" No. 388 by Mike Del Mundo

Doctor Strange #387 - Marvel Comics

DOCTOR STRANGE No. 387, May 2018

Perhaps somewhat surprisingly shifting 25,918 copies in March 2018, a rise in sales of over a thousand books according to “Diamond Comic Distributors”, Donny Cates’ narrative for Issue Three Hundred and Eighty Seven of “Doctor Strange” must surely have still disappointed some with its truly depressing depiction of the “once again” Sorcerer Supreme as a thoroughly broken man. Indeed, it is hard to imagine the Master of the Mystic Arts at more of a low point in his life than that at the start of this second instalment to the American author’s “Bleeding Neon” storyline, where he lies immobile on the stone floor of “Mephisto’s Hellish Hotel Inferno”, his useless legs shattered into pieces by “a demonic Thor… with a burning hammer” and his left bloodshot eye trickling tears of despair at his utter failure to defeat the demon’s power.

Fortunately however, the former preeminent surgeon does not languish in the doldrums for the entirety of this twenty-page periodical, and after some significant soul-searching, as well as numerous speech-balloon riddled panels, is eventually rescued by the unlikely trio of Clea, Loki and the Scarlet Witch. This sequence is undoubtedly the highlight of the “Damnation” tie-in publication, with a seemingly physically-restored Strange trading spiteful barbs with the God of Mischief over the bearded magic user’s dead dog, Bats, and a genuinely pulse-pounding action scene prodigiously pencilled by Niko Henrichon, which promptly places the entire quartet amidst a veritable sea of heavily-horned, terrifically-tentacled devils; “If we weren’t all in mortal danger, I’d quip something about a Highway to Hell, or going from the Pan to the Fire. As it stands, all I can think of is -- Dammit, Loki!”

Disappointingly though, this brutal battle is disconcertingly short-lived and abruptly over in a supercharged flash just as soon as “the daughter of Umar and the niece of the demonic tyrant Dormammu” is quickly captured and then spirited away to the side of a tuxedo-wearing Mephisto. Of course, this Clea's situation is later perturbingly revealed to be little more than another macabre machination manufactured by the cosmic hero’s “perennial foe”, but, for a brief while at least, “Marvel Comics' new wunderkind” finally appears to have penned this comic’s titular character as something akin to the magical powerhouse Stephen Strange is supposed to be…

Writer: Donny Cates, Artist: Niko Henrichon, and Colour Assistant: Laurent Grossat

Doctor Strange #386 - Marvel Comics

DOCTOR STRANGE No. 386, April 2018

Containing little more than a skimpy summary of the titular character’s unsuccessful attempt to restore Las Vegas “back in[to] fighting shape” following the city’s total destruction at the hands of a squadron of Hydra Helicarriers in “Marvel Comics” 2017 crossover event “Secret Empire”, it is difficult to believe that many within this book’s 24,864-strong audience were particularly pleased with Donny Cates’ narrative for Issue Three Hundred and Eighty Six of “Doctor Strange”. True, the American author’s script does a reasonably good job of explaining the Master Of The Mystic Arts’ pivotal role during the proceedings of his “Damnation” mini-series, yet that arguably doesn’t help resolve the frustration surrounding just why so momentous a magical act as the Sorcerer Supreme trying to resurrect “the poor people who had passed away in the attack back from the dead” wasn’t depicted in detail within the the primary protector of Earth’s own ongoing series as opposed to a separately published “shocking misfire from the top-downwards” (“Bleeding Cool” 2018).

Instead, regular readers of Steve Ditko’s co-creation are forced to endure an incredibly word-heavy discourse between the Ancient One’s former protégé and Mephisto whilst the pair play a disturbing round of Brimstone Blackjack at one of Hotel Inferno’s gambling tables. This debatably sedentary sequence does contain a few fleeting moments of entertainment, predominantly in the form of Strange first being smacked in the mouth by a muscle-bound demon for uttering the words “hit me”, and secondly for depicting the beleaguered Illuminati momentarily besting his aghast opponent courtesy of a spell which causes the extra-dimensional devil to be (mis)dealt the losing card; “I wasn’t supposed to be next in the deck and then I got this weird magic key tingle all along my tongue and Boom! Here I am! I’m tellin’ ya boss. This guy’s a lousy card cheat!” However, these ‘laughs’ are few and far between amidst a storyline that generally seems to have been penned simply to pad out an entire edition which is disappointingly just ‘treading water’ alongside a dated “central premise [which] is [already] based on an event that occurred a year earlier.”

Questionably therefore, this twenty-page periodical’s sole success can only be found within some of Niko Henrichon’s well-pencilled panels, and dishearteningly, even these are not as many as some bibliophiles would have hoped due to the Canadian illustrator’s far too satanically smiley interpretation of Strange’s red-skinned, fang-toothed nemesis. The former member of the Six-Fingered Hand has always been portrayed as an arrogant, overly confident manipulator of men, and in many ways a Machiavellian match for Loki, the God of Mischief. But during this opening instalment to “Bleeding Neon” the demon seems to be enjoying himself far more than one might have expected for so sinisterly serious a "perennial villain in the Marvel Universe."

Writer: Donny Cates, Artist: Niko Henrichon, and Colour Assistant: Laurent Grossat