Sunday, May 1, 2016

Doctor Strange #7

   This is such a tricky series to manage.

   I'm always nervous when a new creative team takes a run at Doctor Strange - sometimes they succeed wildly (Lee and Ditko, Thomas and Colan, Englehart and Brunner, Stern and Rogers) and other times, not so much.

   Writer Jason Aaron and artist Chris Bachalo (with six inkers on this issue!) now have seven issues under their belt, and while some of their choices have been a bit... odd? Disgusting? Creepy? (Yes to all those.) ... it's also been very entertaining.

   The story ramping up now promises to be a big one, as a new enemy appears in our reality, promising to destroy all magic (and the practitioners thereof).

   The forces known as Empirikul have been sweeping across realities, leaving behind death and devastation - and now their leader, Lord Imperator, has arrived on Earth.

   Doctor Strange took his most potent shot at stopping the invaders - and failed completely.

   We learn the story behind the big bad in this issue, and you may note some similarities to a certain other visitor from a distant planet.

    But minor quibbles aside, this is a tense, rip-snorting story that challenges the magic at the heart of the Marvel universe, and it promises big things.

   So far, I'm impressed! But will Aaron and Bachalo earn a spot with the legendary creators listed above? We'll see!

Grade: A

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