JCC [Image heavy]A thread for art: See note on page 776

Starfire by MonoriRogue on DeviantArt

Sweden have some notable oak plantations that were planed to be used for fleet timber. They got ready last centery so it was a bit late, but it is good for the kind of microecosystem that like oak forests.

 

Mando Squad by FoxyTomcat on DeviantArt

 

Tales Of The Sorcerer Supreme by devilkais on DeviantArt

Spoiler

WARNING: The following content involves stuff few people know and fewer even care about. Be triggered, you might be warned !


Hey kids, wanna talk about something nobody gives an actual damn about ? Well you are in luck because that's what we'll be doing in this here place!
You know, saying that whatever character is a classic or what not is hardly a guarantee said character or his world will be respected. In fact, said character can have a whole lore developped over the years with some hits or misses but always something to add to or to explore later... and then one ****ing **** of a hack appears all of a sudden and has the brave decision of flushing everything down the tube cus "**** you I got a story to tell !". Said behavior can also be the byproduct of editors who hardly give a ****. And it can happen to even popular franchises (consider the following pile of **** upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia… ...).

WITH THAT SAID, there is still some good stuff out there associated with today's subject; one Stephen Vincent Strange... and after savoring his best comics, and by that I obviously mean the ones that caught my attention and earned my appreciation, I would say that the Movie we've had back in 2016 is ****ing pussified and borderline toothless.
No, seriously, compared to the best comics the Strange lore had to offer to be put and set on-screen, the MCU flick is a pussified toothless wee runt... hell, it lazily took stuff from both a mini-series and that former animated movie and toned those things even more down !
You wanna know what the aura and armosphere of a proper (animated) Strange adaptation should be like ? THIS www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNNSLU…
Each season should ideally explore a different facet of sorcery and developments his best arcs had to offer. THERE IS indeed a progression ! For all his powers, you will note that the situation is constantly in flux for the good doctor. He has to adapt to new threats, constantly study new techniques or spells and even safeguard powerful talismans and relics. Yet, he is diminished to be the Marvel earth babysitter or some bargain bin plot device. Hell, few ****ing read him actually and would only enjoy concepts at most like whatever MGK wrote in his blog back in the day I found him worth reading. Revisting that blog now, I realize that some of those ideas would find room in a Strange maxi-series or an animated adaptation. The current Marvel Universe state ? HA, fat chance !

Before we get into the matter at hand, a fair warning to seasoned Doctor Strange fans who might read this essay: chances are you will NOT like what follows. I have my own preferences and they tend to compell me to throw away whatever the **** the "geek creed" considers good or not. I only follow my insight and mine alone. So you might react to my retrospective like X-men or Spidey fans would...
With that said, on with the show !


I EARLY DAYS OF MAGIC:

I-1 LEE'S STRANGE TALES:

The team of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko are considered the perennial Dr Strange team. To the point people stick to this initial run and boo whatever follows. While I do not support that sentiment, I'd say it's easily Steve Ditko's best work...or at least the best protagonist he had a hand in creating and developping (yeah, I already explained that I am not fond of the initial Spider-Man as a character per say...).
Stephen Strange himself has a pretty neat and transformative origin (that does get detailed with later runs BUT the crux in and on itself remains intact. Also I wish they STOP bringing it up !). See, the good Doctor, back when he was an extremely skilled neuro-surgeon who looks like Vincent Price, was to put it simply, an utter prick. And I mean UTTER PRICK !
He's everything wrong you could find in a skilled doctor, much closer to a medical mercenary rather than someone who made an oath to give a damn about his patients' health or dedicated to save human lives.
And before anyone says "oh it's like Tony Stark then", forget it. Classic Tony Stark, even before his heart got hit with a shrapnel, has a certain charm to him and could even empathize with others. While some of the flashbacks showed Tony as somewhat jaded and with some jerkass moments, he would still listen to others and even sympathize with them.
Strange on the other hand REALLY needed to hit rock bottom and then start digging even deeper to start acknowledging how much of an utter douche he has been and eating his humble pie.
After an accident cost him a few nerves in his hands, Stephen would search desperately for a cure. And he'll go to a secluded monastery and encouter the Ancient One, who's like Master Splinter except humaner and tibetaner. Initially disappointed that the magic cure for nerves does not exist (and if it did, there would be grave consequences, mark my words !), Strange would discover that the Ancient One's disciple, Baron Mordo was conspiring against the old man. While a spell would be cast on Strange to stop him from speaking of this matter, he accepts to become a disciple of the ancient one himself and eventually would change. How changed would he be you ask ? Well, see Dr Byron Orpheus From Venture Bros. ? THAT guy is basically Stephen Strange's qualities and virtues cranked to 11.
Stephen is now a likable and theatrical person (the Vincent Price resemblance also helps !) who will help others whenever than have mystical or occult problems !

The main elements of the initial adventures ?
* Nightmare is first met and already claims that entering other dimensions is always risky ! Though he does not do much until later to be honest...
* Baron Mordo is a cave-troll/Rip Torn looking mofo who, as it is custom for Stan Lee villains, dresses in a green janitor jumpsuit. Quite troubling that the vast majority of Sten Lee's villains dress in green janitor jumpsuits. You think he was trying to tell us something ? NOW, in all fairness, Karl Mordo is the one who will benefit most of the lore expansion that comes with my favorite Strange run... he was inspired by Pendragon from "Jack the Giant Slayer" looks wise apparantly !
* Filler goes on and then the dread Dormammu HAPPENS ! You know the guy, head in mystical fire, no indoor voice, lord of the Dark Dimension and dressed like a green banana because, AGAIN, Stan Lee's best villains dress like janitors. I have to commend them because the Dread one, for all his lust for conquest, has some code of honor and even displays some respect toward Stephen who shows some resistance when he fights him. In fact, when Strange helps Dormammu fend off the Mindless ones from his kingdom, Dormy accepts to spare earth... for the time being because loopholes are a thing...also Clea is introduced in this 2-parter except she's not named yet.
* The major storyline of the Lee-Ditko contribution though is all about the big villains team-up ! The 2 biggest ones the series has yet that is. Basically, Baron Mordo is powered by the Dread Dormammu who of course wants to conquer earth through a legal loophole so all he has to do is to kill Strange. And what follows is quite the manhunt where Stephen has to use all the tricks in his book (and a bit of Clea's help) to surivive , culminating in a tekken fight against Dormammu who will be so pissed that this plan failed that he'll end up finding the embodiment of the universe itself, Infinity ! Thus concluding the most-talked about Dr Strange run...

Then Ditko leaves but Stan stays... and adds quite the adventures. The Ancient One (real name Yao, esquire) is far more involved and active in the following storyline as his powerful ancient rival and black magic afficionado, Kaluu, pops up. Now, to put things into context, both Yao and Kaluu hail from Kamar-Taj. Both men wanted to protect their nation but Kaluu ended up making it belligerent rather than peaceful and after conquest and power grinding, it fell into decadence and ruin (like... any civilization ever. Even we will crumble eventually...give it a century...). Kaluu came back after centuries to steal the Book of The Vishanti from the Ancient One and learn its content (yeah he memorized the whole thing...lucky bastard !) and take down Yao and Steve. Needless to say it does not work because they use "reflect" on him. Woops ! Next opponent on the list is Umar The Unrelenting and honestly, Dormammu's sister is in her initial appearance more bloodthirsty than her brother. Initially, she plays it cool and tricks Dr Strange, she had the high ground BUT then she is reminded of her actual nature and is driven MAD (more on that later...). Her assault against the 2 earthly sorcerers forced to desperately free a more powerful entity to deal with her. Good news, Umar run away back to her dimension scared ****less. Bad news, the entity named ZOM is after them and the whole damn world ! Stephen manages to touch the one "weak" point of Zom and he summons the even more powerful Living tribunal who dispatches the creature and then sends Strange on an errand to fix stuff or else it blows up the Earth... yeah at this point, Stan was really going the Shonen manga route of upping the stake but keeping the hero relatively underpowered. Needless to say, Stephen succeeds meeting Veronica Bentley, a lady who has latent mystical power and was targetted by Mordo...

So yeah, it is campy and enjoyable even it has a "throw stuff and the kitchen sink to see what sticks" vibe to it. But hey, it is better to try than not !


Now there is a short run courtesy of Roy Thomas. This one is a bit of a warm-up for the Apex Age to the Doc's adventures. He does have a nice handle on the character. There is a a battle with Nightmare to start things off, the inclusion of the cult of Satannish (who we won't see in his glory until much later...), a fight against Ymir and Surtur and then a rather weird attack form Nightmare and the Juggernaut (???) occurs...
Overall a decent warm-up but just a warm-up nonetheless. Mr Thomas will return down the line though...



I-2 BECOME THE SORCERER SUPREME:

Another attempt at relaunching the comics occurs thus Stephen gets an adventure through the Marvel Premiere anthology. And this here tale of woes, strange demons and other-dimensional beings pop up in a quasi-adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos. I say quasi because I actually give a **** about the characters, there is less hilarious racism and the monsters are honestly not a letdown. And the final boss of this whole gauntlet is familiar to gamers because Capcom made the fantastic decision to implement him in a fighting game. YES, your favorite Eldritch Cosmic abomibnation makes his debut here; I give you Shuma-Gorath ! www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RJ7k_…
While he really appears as the final boss of the story and only for a handful of panels, he will cost Stephen dearly. See, the Ancient One had to trick good old Shumie by making his soul both the barrier and the gateway which our darling tentacled eye would use to penetrate earth's reality. This will lead Doctor Strange is forced to kill Yao to foil Shuma's scheme. THIS was vital because Shuma-Gorath is INSANELY dangerous ! He is a dimensional cancer as well as a malicious elder god and the more he stays on Earth, the more he infects it with his essence ! And he's racked a sizeable count of worlds...
Following this, Stephen becomes the Sorcerer Supreme , a title he will surely constantly keep....
ANYWAY, Englehart brings back Baron Mordo and both he and Stephen are thrust in a crazy adventure with the sorcerer from the future Sise-Neg. And by crazy, I mean we scratch the surface of Moorcockian madness with a time travel so epic it goes to the damn dawn of the universe ! And also K.O.ing Shuma-Gorath in prehistoric time because Sise-Neg wants to flex on him bro ! It ends with a babbling insane Mordo and a content Strange that acknowledges that there is always something to learn.
Then Stephen becomes Clea's mystical arts teacher and lover. No, it's not creepy (no joke or sarcasm here) because she looks 20 and is actually centuries old. Being sapient magical energy does that. She learns terrifying spells such as this berkeleyplacecomics.files.word…
However, the couple is attacked by a disgraced man-of-the-cloth, Isaiah Curwen, dubbing himself the Silver Dagger. Honestly, he is a cool villain, he rocks the mustache and the crazy fanatic shtick BUT I feel he would be vastly improved if he was written more like father Alexander Anderson. This leads to an epic struggle where Strange fights Death (here dubbed a "he"...then again, maybe Thanos knew...), and even encounter the best of the Vishanti trio; Agamotto the all-seeing, looking like a cartoon caterpillar and smoking a hookah. And like all cartoon-looking critters, he'd be unsettling as hell if portrayed correctly on-screen. Now you ask; What are the Vishanti ?
The Vishanti are a trio of supernatural entities who act as patrons for the Sorcerer Supreme and defenders of the Earth realm. See, Magic does not exist in a vacuum so a lot of spells used by Strange require him summoning the might or assistance of various mystical beings whenever the situation forces his hand. Bear in mind that while those spells are powerful, they contribute to give the assisting beings more clout and influence in your own plane of existence. While the Vishanti are usually benevolent, there is ALWAYS a price to pay. We'll be back to that eventually.

The latter part of Englehart tenure though was not much to my taste. There is another confrontation with Eternity (yeah the embodiment of the universe is an aloof dick... that's scarily realistic !), a hobo named James Mandarin (no wonder the Mandarin does not really talk about his family much...) and Clea banging Benjamin Franklin.
Thankfully, the last one was quickly course-corrected by Marv Wolfman and it turns out they were simply on friendly terms. Speaking of Marv Wolfman, I must confess that his storyline involving an amnesiac Clea defending herself against rude people had me in stitches but it also reminds us of the fact that she's not human per say. One should tread carefully with kind Clea.


-> Those stories ? They mostly set the stage. Far as I am concerned, they are bit the hors-d'oeuvres, the initial stage. How about we kick things up a notch ?!




II THE DOCTOR'S GLORIOUS APEX !

II-1 STERN'S BLESSING:

Here's an interesting similarity Dr Strange shares with Spider-man; the versions/runs of both characters I really enjoy got started by one Roger Stern ! And considering that Mr Stern was one of the main architects of MY Superman , the dude deserves huge kudos ! Amusingly though, his run was supposed to be drawn by Frank Miller (I'll admit a Sin City style Dr Strange would be sweet !). However this was not meant to be, therefore Frank was replaced with Marshall Rogers. Rogers is a damn good artist so quality won't be lost. I would like to point out the presence of Dr Strange's secretary , Sara Wolfe, a fine lady who's been introduced prior to this run by Chris Claremont. And bear in mind that Dr Strange is one of THOSE series that has a lot of gals as supporting characters.... but I'll get back to that.

Roger Stern's run can be divided in 3 main arcs :

* Meet Morgana Blessing ! This lady possesses a degree of untapped supernatural potential. Intrigued by Strange, she attempts to get closer, only to find herself in the middle of a scheme involving the return of Baron Mordo (who murders her cat to take his likeness ! That prick !), and their travels through time to stop Dormammu's time dilated plan to escape the Dark Dimension with the help of Mordo's grandfather (Featuring Nick Fury and his Howling Commandos). This will lead to a travel into Ancient Egypt where we see the Fantastic Four's first battle with Rama-Tut from Stephen's perspective (in the meanwhile, En Sabah Nur was being heartbroken...). The story also brings to a head developments with Clea, caught in the dilemma of being both Strange's disciple and lover because Roger Stern in fact ships Morgana with Stephen. It also seems that Good Old Dormy is shaping up to be back to his boss status but more on that later... plus he kinda ends up dimensionally dispersed here.

* The Montesi Formula is one of those arcs that led me to track ANOTHER series; Tomb Of Dracula. I have heard about it at first while reading Gerry Conway's excellent Carnage Maxi-Series as both were structured similarily ! I've got to admit, the way THIS Dracula is depicted opened my eyes: The Tomb's version of the count is actually formidable and interesting ! That's right, Marvel's Dracula is now redeemed in my eyes due to this arc and what I could get from Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan series. Which makes it all the sadder to see how lame his depiction is whenever they use him in the 00's.
This arc serves is the epilogue to the Tomb of Dracula series, with Stephen teaming up with the Avengers, Blade, Frank Drake and Hannibal King to defeat the count once and for all. The object of Drac's desire ? Chtohn's book, the Darkhold. He wants to use its dark powers to his advantage while Stephen is after a passage inside, called the Montesi Formula. Said formula contains the secret to ending the vampire threat once and for all. That is if a genius does not have the bright idea to kickstart a new vampiric infestation...

* "Unto The Dark Dimension" is a vital tale for Clea's character. Sure , Stern was into writing her as Stephen's lover, but MAN was he fine with offering a much-deserved expansion ! This is where Clea discovers that Umar is her mother and leads a rebellion to take both of her parents down. Just that XD !
There is more about the origin of Umar and Dormammu, therefore it's time to properly explain that. My good fellows, you do remember what Dormammu looked like on the movie ? That is close to his initial shape as a Faltine. See, Faltines, or Faltinians, are pure magical energy beings living in their own dimension, merrily collecting energy. One day, a Faltine named Sinifer spawned twin beings Dormammu and Umar. usually when a Faltine spawn, the new beings are exact copies of the previous, but in this instance, the kids were different and distinct.
Unlike their energy-seeking peers, Umar and Dormammu craved physical matter. When Sinifer tried to stop them, they accidentally transmuted him from energy into matter thus killing him. Much like a way less retarded Adam and Eve, Dormammu and Umar were exiled from their world to the Dark Dimension. Assuming human shapes, they met the sorcerous inhabitants of the Dark Dimension, the Mhuruuks. The Mhuruuk ruler Olnar dreamed of returning to the days of warfare and conquest thus an alliance was made the Faltine siblings. They showed Olnar how to make conquest of other dimensions and bond them with his own. Olnar greedily subjugated several dimensions and added them to his own domain, as one does.
And of course, catastrophe needed to happen, the Faltine twins led Olnar to shatter the barrier between his dimension and that of the Mindless Ones. Various Mhuruuks casualties were to be had including Olnar. Dormammu and Umar jumped on the occasion to slay or exile any wizard that might oppose them and protect their new kingdom, banishing the Mindless Ones behind a great mystical barrier. Dormammu ascended the throne as regent and ruler of the Dark Dimension. He re-assumed his Faltinian visage while Umar chose to remain in her humane form cus she's sexy and she knows it.
One of the surviving Mhuruuks was prince Orini, son of Olnar, who was just an untrained boy. In time he aged, while the Faltine twins remained the same. Eventually Orini became the chief disciple and boot licker of Dormammu. In time, Umar noticed the adult Orini and was curious to try this fornication thing. Both evidently were virgins (and I have no idea how they found a manual explaining intercourses), and Umar was initially disgusted with the experience and with Orini himself (well, first times are rarely fulfilling...). But due to not using contraceptives, after 6 cycles of the Dark Dimension, Umar gave birth to Clea, the first and last Mhuruuk/Faltine hybrid. Giving birth changed Umar's biology, as she lost the faculty to resume her Faltine form. This loss angered her and led her to even attack Dormammu. Since, he has low tolerance for post-coital and post-natal tomfooleries, Dormammu banished her to one of the subjugated pocket dimensions of the Dark Dimension. Orini raised Clea on his own, despite being a douchey Santa Claus lookalike, and the rest is history !

Now there are shorter arcs here, one involving the Black Knight and dear Veronica Bentley with her unfulfilled sentiments for Dr Strange, and they are quite fun. So you can start the show from here as this is where we begin getting the whole Strange package (kind of like how Bill Mantlo's Iron Man run started the Tony Stark Apex !).

* Triumph and Torment chronologically comes later, at the beginning of Roy and Dann Thomas tenure, but I feel it is important to discuss it here... It's a team-up with Dr Doom to free Cynthia Von Doom's soul from the clutches of Mephisto. And it simply RULES !




II-2 GILLIS' BLACK MAGIC CLASS:

The first unfairly maligned run in my list is this scrumptious tale of black magic absorption and Moorcockian adventure heaped upon Doctor Strange. I've heard bad things about it, but I choose to silence these voices as they are of the dull and foolish. One can divide the Gillis run in 3 storylines (I guess it's the magic number !).

* The set-up starts with the final issues of Master of the Mystic Arts. We meet Topaz, a sexy blonde whose sould has been partially robbed and in dire need of the good doctor's help. Stephen himself has something of mild crisis, feeling that something is lacking in his life. said doubts will be exploited by dark feline demon, a Khat the demon, causing and his cloak to get shredded.
To make the proper reparations, Strange had to visit Enithermon the Weaver, a purple protoceratops who is really into occult reparations. However, a far nastier threat is looming: an alien sorcerer named Urthona literally steals all of Strange's artifacts, talimans and his whole mansion to become an unstoppable force and start conquering dimensions. Of course, being a thorough thief and jerk, Urthona leaves one underling behing to deal with Stephen , leading to the good Doctor putting his soul within Morgana's body and lending her his powers to retaliate. Then he does the same to Sara Wolfe so that she can operate on him cus there's some more rescuing to do.
Thus we meet Rintrah, a friendly green minotaur and Enithermon's student, whio wants to help Stephen confront Urthona.... Doesn't go so well and Strange is forced to destroy his artefacts so that the alien warlock does not profit from their possession. Left with the Darkhold alone, Urthona flees declaring that Strange has broken the bonds of a hundred darknesses by this victory. AND HOW !

* And we get the Strange tales maxi-series with Gillis' seminal "Dark Magic Saga" ! THIS is easily among my favorite Dr Strange stories and could easily make for a video game à la "Chrono Trigger". There are systems of magic explained and detailed , freaky demonic villains( The Khats, their master Erlik Khan, the IT-like Ghaszaszh Nyirh and frigging Lord Arioch of all creatures !), an unexpected ally and a certain returning final boss in his absolute best appearance yet.
As it's been stated, Strange getting rid of his talismans to sabotage Urthona's plans was pretty much an open invitation for the lord of chaos to unleash their evil upon this earth. Usually, Strange relies on more benevolent white magic of the Vishanti and avoids the dark arts per say. Here ? Yeah, no choice, it's time to embrace black magic and more or less become a receptacle for it. Of course this means many people will DIE through this quest as Peter Gillis seems to really love him some Michael Moorcock.
We also get the return of once exiled Kalu, and you know how I love it when Z-listers get some due and deserved spotlight ! Once the rival and foe of the ancient one, Kaluu here becomes Stephen's black magic teacher and guide as to how necessary it is to fight fire with fire in this specific situation.
This will result in a Dr Strange at his absolutely most potent in terms of raw power... even his soul/ego/personality erodes little by little. This is however a necessity to take on the final boss of this happy tale... fitting theme please www.youtube.com/watch?v=43OJZY…
Yup, the one behind the apparitions of all these evil-worshipping cults is no other that Shuma-Gorath ! And we get to know him better this time around since Stephen has to fight him instead of merely stop his manifestation on Earth. I have to say, as a a character, Shuma is loquacious, ungodly arrogant and very well-versed in our human achievments. He is even aware of Strange's black magic related absorption technique, but he could not care less as the sorcerer supreme can only hope for a pyrrhic victory at most. See, this fight occurs in Shuma-Gorath's stage...err..home dimension and when Strange seemingly killed him (in a DBZ-esque way no less !), he started becoming Shuma-Gorath and had to attempt suicide to end this process. Stephen is left a soul-broken and it took the efforts and caution of Kaluu, Rintrah and Enithermon to put him back together and expulse all the demonic and eldritch energies he absorbed (had they brought him back on Earth as is, well, let's say everyone would be ****ed). Stephen being restored also means that Shuma-Gorath eventually regenerated anyway. Yikes...

* The remaining arcs are not half bad. While the world is mourning the seeming death of Doctor Strange, Stephen returns to his sanctum with an eye missing but with an eyepatch. And who returned from his dimensional travels along with him than the mother****ing dread Dormammu ! Yup, in this era of Strange comics, Dormy definitely upped his game and saw an opportunity to invade Stephen's eyepatch after the duel with Shuma-Gorath (though I must admit, Dormammu is fairly cordial. He does not attack Wong and Sara after revealing his true face to them. Proving that you can be egomaniacal BUT have good manners ! Old School villainy is the best kind...). To counter him and prevent the release of dark forces on Earth , Dr Strange has to enter the body of a rat to seek help from a band of frogs at the park, Topaz and finally Clea, who is now regent of the Dark Dimension. Hurray ! The last arc involving the Defenders is...okay, but considering I've had my favorite Strange characters in the former arcs as bosses, the other-dimensional dragon kinda feels like a mere appetizer. Oh well, still fun !

Now that the Doctor is starring in his LAST true ongoing series, so the good times can keep on rolling my dudes and gals !




II-3 THE THOMAS' FEATS:

Roy Thomas and his wife get to write about Strange's adventures and keep adding to the strengths of the series. In fact, this run also revisits several elements from thhe past and even features a sort of guide to the mythos of mystical arts. I gotta say, I really like the deadpan humor they add to the Doctor's personality. Stern's was a wise gentleman, Gillis' was an angsty Moorcockian (but for a reason), the Thomas' Strange makes due with the insanity around him mixing seriousness and wry sarcasm... and he's beautifully rendered by Jackson Guice for the majority of this run !
Now there are a series of arcs for the most part with the occasional filler-issue and crossover here and there, but they do not detract much from the focus on Dr Strange and his cast. Now among the arcs the Thomas couple wrote we have:


* "The Faust Gambit" is where we start this party gets started. This story is excellent on several accounts, it's fun, fast-paced and we get to learn a lot more about different characters.
In a desperate plan to finally defeat Dr Strange, the malevolent Baron Mordo sells his soul TWICE to heavy weights of the infernal world; to Mephisto, the Lord of Evil, and to Satannish the supreme, hoping that while Strange would stop the 2 Major demons, he would be there to pulverize Stephen. Mordo will even take Sara Wolfe's soul hostage in order to make sure Stephen will comply. Didn't really work out when Satannish arrives ahead of of schedule though.
We learn what Satannish TRULY looks like in all his might (bear in mind that he's been simply alluded to way back in Thomas' initial run). We learn that Mephisto has a daughter, Mephista, and that he's into favoritism since he treats his son Blackheart like **** while he dotes on Mephista (surprisingly, Mephisto is GENUINE in his paternal love here !). The way Strange "defeats" the 2 archdemons and prevents their battle from wrecking the Earth by threatening to recombine them into the being they were issued from kinda gives them a similar aspect with the prime evils from Diablo. Anyhoo, the 2 rivals give up on this duel as they cherish their individuality above all else, even their bitter rivalry.
But the actual standout is what we learn about Baron Karl Amadeus Mordo himself. See, up till this point, the Baron was really just some dude popping here and there to be the threat of the week before being upstaged.The Thomas' take flesh him a lot more, giving us his sordid background and even a pitiable dimension. Bear in mind that this dude is still a bastard, but he fully admits to Sara that vengeance against Strange is all he has; his mother and maternal Grandfather only saw him as a tool to spy on the Ancient One when they sent him as a student and never saw him as anything else. They even murdered his father and a young Karl swore to avenge him. As such, power is all he has sought to forget how empty and unwanted his existence truly is. He has bargained with entities such as Dormammu and here, this faustian scheme is all he had left to seal matters with Dr Strange. However, he does, for the first time in eons, save Sara's soul to prevent here from being taken by either demon. Sure, one good deed does not a boyscout make but hey, that is a start to give the Baron more charm and substance as a character !
I'd also add that Strange had his share of problems against Agamotto in the same arc as the Vishanti member proved to be seeking entertainment and as such made an already hard situation even tougher. Though Stephen gets his supposedly destroyed talismans, the stolen Darkhold book as well as his left eye back so it's all cool !

Following issues have Morgana Blessing, writes a tell-all article on the remarkable life of Strange (remember, she and pretty much everyone thought the guy was dead previously) and the service he provided the world in secret as a way to honor his memory. Does not really please Stephen and some tension builds between the 2 friends. Tension solved after a fight on a TV studio againt Demogoblin so it's all good.

* "The Vampiric Verses" is sort of a follow-up to the "Montesi Formula". Thankfully, Dracula does not come back (that ****up is for later and elsewhere unfortunately), it just involves a certain witch interested in vampire blood. And man is she giving Strange, Morbius, Brother Voodoo and Clea a run for their money ! Marie Laveau, Voodoo Queen of New Orleans really craves her some vampire blood (as it is the main ingredient to her youthful state) and is set on resurrecting the founder of Vampirekind itself, Lord Varnae. And if as a sorceress you can affect Clea, then your skills are nothing to scoff at.
With that said, how will Laveau bring Varnae ? Well using Morbius blood as sustenance did not work out since he's no occult creature but a victim of mad science.
So she 's set her eyes on Stephen's younger brother, Victor Strange. Yup, Stephen Strange has 2 younger siblings, Donna and Victor. Not much in speaking terms because, hey, I refer you to the intro.
How did Victor become a vampire though ?! See, 2 years after their mother's death, Strange's father, Eugene also fell ill. Stephen refused to visit Eugene's deathbed as he was both avoiding thinking about that loss and prefered the hedonism his high class life provided. A few days later, an outraged Victor confronted Stephen in his apartment over his absence and negligence. Following the confrontation, Victor fell victim to a car accident, and a guilt-wracked Stephen placed Victor's body in cold storage, half-hoping that future breakthroughs could revive him. After becoming a sorcerer, Stephen would try to bring his brother back while desperatingly use any formula that might help from the book of Vishanti, turns out one of those spells, in concert with the Darkhold's Montesi formula made Vic a genuine vampire. Steve's don goofed ! All in all, it's an enjoyable romp with rather bittersweet consequences (I mean Vic awakened from a coma only to find himself a vampire ! Imagine that !) and it's always good to see Morbius and Brother Voodoo.

* After a mystical amphora is broken, the supernatural remain of Zom is released ! The good news it is still in a larval stage so to speak. The bad, it feasts on magic and will eventually get back to the optimal stage it used to have but a vacuum cleaner solves this crisis... before the "Dark Wars" begin ! www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhrKNP…
Among all the Dormammu assaults Earth tales, THIS is easily my favorite as it builds upon his 2 former attempts. After Clea and Topaz exorcised him form Stephen's body, Dormammu was sent in the Mindless Ones zone from which he managed to convert dark energy into a new body for himself. He then struck Clea and dethroned her when she least expected it and brought back Umar from her exile, only to re-exile her as she attempts to betray.... though he actually did it to flex on his sister since he hardly trusts her.
Only Baron Mordo remains till Stephen and Clea are freed...
I won't say too much but I do love how despite his ego and brashness, his indulgence in mustache-twirling, Dormammu is actually rather responsible as a tyrant. Here, as the final fight reaches a stalemate (bear in mind he's one Versus Stephen, Karl, Clea and Umar ! Just to give you an idea of how souped up he is in this arc), he accepts a cessez-le-feu when he realizes that the continuous duel might wreck the dark dimension and would settle for a portion (for the time being) because "better a piece of a world than a world in pieces". And he gets the portion with the Mindless Ones ! OWNED...or is he ?
Anyway excellent arc and hey, everyone was in top form here !

* The following stories are fine one-offs and team-ups, my favorite being with Danny Ketch, the second Ghost Rider (non-demon possessed mind you, that was his brother...). Then Stephen has to solve some issues concerning his brother Victor, leading to their discovery that Mephista has been hiding within Topaz's soul and aiming to make Stephen her consort (must be the mustache). But then as she was dragging Stephen to hell by a secret dimensional path, it is revealed Satannish has been hiding within her shadow just to access Mephisto's kingdom and take him down. Yeah, there's really no lost love between those 2...

* Among the series that had the most tie-ins to the Infinity Gauntlet, Dr Strange has its own arcs to deal with and even build up to. We have the return of Silver Dagger, nuttier than ever. The confrontation with Adam Warlock after he scrammed with the Infinity Gems.
This leads to my favorite tale featuring Nightmare (aside from his own mini-series... YES, NIGHTMARE GOT A MINI-SERIES ! Will wonders ever cease ?!), "The Great Fear". Basically all the entities related to fear such as Nightmare, Dweller-In-Darkness, D'Spayre and the Straw Man (who are damn cool) and Lady Nox, the Lurking Unknown and Kkallakku (who kinda suck at their jobs...). The Fear Lords wants humanity to be thoroughly terrified to empower themselves ... at least, it's what the Dweller suggests to his fellows. But then again the Straw Man, being a benevolent fear entity, refuses to harm the innocent. WOuld you believe Daredevil plays a vital role in stopping the fear lords' scheme ? Cus he sure does !

* More tie-ins to Infinity War, though they happen to be even more entertaining than that particular story. I gotta admit, Strange does not seem to be hindered by these crossovers and more enhanced by them. This time around we have Galactus of all things confronting Agamotto, Strange confronting Lady Death (and we learn what happened to his sister), the Juggernaut and Cyttorak, and the return of the blue mask incarnation of Dr Strange who wants to reclaim his rightful place. And a fine team-up with Scarlet Witch, Agatha Harkness (they made her a villain in the TV show ? **** sake...) and Dr Druid. Still clean wholesome fun !

* And now we're within the last phase of the Thomas-era also courtesy of Geoff Isherwood (then new regular penciller) and Len Kaminski (what do you know ?!). It is also the darker part of this run as it braces us for the madness yet to come !
The most important element to take away from this ? Remember when I said that the Vishanti are mostly benevolent ? Well there IS a price to borrowing favors from them. They basically want to enroll Stephen to fight on their behalf among their other servants in the Seven Sphere Wars. This extremely violent extra-dimensional conflict will last 5 millenia ! Granted the Vishanti will stunt Stephen's aging in order to keep him able to fight, but the dude will be back on Earth after a lot of thingss would've moved on. Strange says **** that and his patrons pretty much deprive him of the spells he'd use by invoking their names. And by his patrons, pretty much ALL of them remove their services since he's not willing to serve them... yeah, it is like a Premium trial.*
Then Stephen, in his diminished state, will fight a Nightmare-possessed Morbius, a crazy cult (is there another kind ?), Urthona back to usurp the place of an alien deity and a Dormammu back in his most powerful state to date. On that last part, I am happy Ghost Rider, Silver Surfer and Pr Hulf are here and even happier that they don't defeat Dormammu so much as Stephen makes him change his mind... seriously, that was great stuff ! There is also Kyllian, the newfound druid and disciple, who reminds me why I would not be a good teacher as I'd be beating disrespectful students with a hammer...
However, losses mark these days for Strange: Rintrah is fatally wounded by magic and has to be placed in safety in another dimension to avoid dying and Victor decides to be put down, as the vampirism is finally making him rabid... canthings get worse from there ?




II-4 QUINN'S STRANGERS:

Well, there we are my fellows, the last card the good Doctor may play for his entire publication history.
One of those runs the internet seems to despise and never recommend. Then again, they can honestly eat **** because THIS is the very last tour-de-force for Stephen Strange! The David Quinn run is the next level and the last one that had the cojones to do something both innovative and fitting with the Strange mythos. And you know me, familiar yet different is my favorite type of comics ! There is only ONE site that gave this era of Strange the analysis it so properly deserves benjaminherman.wordpress.com/2…
The set-up ? it can be divided into 2 major arcs; "Strangers among us" and "Earthly Powers". And I really wish we got MORE... but I will get to that later. Quinn's Stephen Strange is more of a dedicated aloof warrior and with what befell him, it is easy to see why. In the secind phase, he does work hard to improve his nature, fix his personality flaws and do what he can to avoid manipulating others.
I'd note though that the art would've been cosmic had Kyle Hotz and Mel Rubi remained the main artists all the way throughout as Pete Gross is kinda sloppy at times...

With what transpired in the Kaminski-Isherwood "Fall from grace" arc, Dr Strange's powers are severely limited. Because bad timing is a stamp of life, the "Curse of Darkness" happens with Lilith unleashing her lilin children and teaming-up with goddamn Zarathos. YES, That same demon that used to power the Johnny Blaze version of Ghost Rider ! So Doc and his teammates are in deep ****. To make matters worse, Wong's fiancee Imei is killed by Sister Nil (who's kinda like Sadako from the Ring Movie except cuter and faster...) and the appearance of Zarathos helped various entities to come back from their long exile, namely Salomé, an ancient Sorceress Supreme. This needs a fitting musical theme : www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLLLYx…
Salomé is the main antagonist of this arc and while it is true Quinn does not explore her history in detail, making her character more in service of the plot, she is EASILY in my Top 10 Dr Strange villains. Clad in human skin leather and decorated with jewellery of human bones, Salomé is absolutely relentless in her pursuit of her old position. She curses Strange by her elemental dance forcing the Doctor to pull a desperate move for the entirety of this arc ! He is forced to hide in a pocket dimension, creating a magical forge to change his entire powerset and embrace Earth-based magic. You know your villains are good at their job when the hero has to pull a desperate move like that ! She also takes advantage of Wong's grief and has him turn against the now-elusive Stephen, promising to resurrect his beloved...
Not only do I love Salomé , but that Bitch-as 2016s movie would have been a 1000 times BETTER had Tilda Swinton played her. Not only Miss Swinton would look great as a cross between Storm and Demona, it would more than justify the Ancient One being played by a woman ! HELL, it would be fantastic and daring in a movie to have a student clinging to his redemption despite the dark and secretely vain nature of his mentor. THAT would be challenging ! That doing good is a CHOICE to make ! And they would not have wasted Baron Mordo and Dormammu in one flick goddammit !
Now, I said that Stephen was locked in a pocket dimension out of necessity (else Salomé's dance curse would have him disintegrate into thin air), so how will he collect the artifacts that will help him get a new power set and escape this calamity?
Well he created 2 avatars to help him, naturally. Named the Strangers, they both had different tasks; Vincent Stevens, to work as a psychiatric consultant (then he went to build a fortune to develop so-called technomagick... and unfortunately he has Stephen's pre-accident personality and mind-control powers. Dude even used them to freak Blade out !), and 'STRANGE', a Spawn looking badass to fight alongside the Midnight Sons against Zarathos and more importantly to gather objects of magical power (most of the time with the subtlety of a kick to the balls which led him to fight Namor and Vengeance at the same time). Things did not go too well however as both avatars clinge to free will and independence once Stephen will need to reintegrate them and you all know how that song and dance go...
In the meantime, the Seven Spheres War fallout does affect the Dark Dimension and things have fallen to utter chaos there as not only is Clea desperate to protect her world but so is Dormammu. And things really do not go well for its inhabitants.

The second phase of the run features the consequences of Dr Strange's victory over Salomé and his acquisition of his Earth-magicks as he takes over the company of now-defeated Vincent Stevens. I gotta say, I DIG the John Lennon look for Stephen ! Though I think they should've brought back the mustache down the line.
So Stephen now takes charge of his avatar's corporation in an effort to fix the chaos the Strangers have wrought. The Doctor also begins a slow, painful reconciliation with Wong, who is still resentful over the death of Imei. Modred the Mystic and Wildpride (who was Kyllian all along but now cooler) briefly resurface, but Strange bitchslaps the former by sending him on a trip and apologizes to the latter. Interestingly, Strange has hidden the fact that he has Sister Nil under his watch as she's not malevolent but childlike and innocent despite her lethal nature. And Nightmare has set eyes on her ! Other plotlines loom at the horizon like the elder god Chthon’s impending rebirth is on the horizon, Clea being helped by STRANGE in the conflict within her dimension, Dormammu's next course of action, the little kid who was passing by with weird ominous poems, whether Mordred will repower himself or not, how the old supporting cast since the Stern days will react upon seeing Lennon/mustacheless Dr Strange....
AND WE WILL NOT GET ANY ****ING ANSWER CUS THE RIDE IS OVER BOYS AND GIRLS ! Yeah, Quinn and his editor Evan Skolnick were very unfortunately booted off the book. Upon reaching the end of this run, I genuinely felt SAD. We will never get the next level of apex Stephen Strange as a character. It does not help that the ****ing fans also had a hand in it. Apparantly, one has written a whole article about why the Earthly-magicks system that Quinn developped for Strange was bad... MOTHER****ER, WHAT ?! WHY ?! THIS run gets booed despite clearly having researched and respected the character while **** like this upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia… gets praised to high heavens despite doing the exact opposite ?!
In fact here are the words of David Quinn to take both the character and the series…

“My focus at the end of Last Rites was to give a reunited Dr. Stephen Strange earth magick based powers of his own acquisition, versus tricks borrowed from the Vishanti. He would stand on his own for the first time, be much more powerful and confident — and future adventures planned some aggressive earth magick around the MU of the day. I thought it was about time he grew up, and stop just being the MU’s cosmic babysitter / plot device. Since we had also gradually empowered Clea, I thought a more adult relationship would be interesting to explore − if Strange could stand up on his own, he better be okay with a woman who does, too!”

But **** that, I guess ! Why the **** should I have the next step I relish ? Why should the Strange mythos be properly explored ?! Why should his supporting cast be acknowledged ?! Why should his villains get the spotlight and gravitas they so deserve ?! Why do the morons at TV Tropes call THIS run a Dork Age ?! New character ? This is totally a more mature Dr Strange ! Hell, he consistently acknowledges his past IN-STORY and is closer to the initial one than whatever we'll get in the 00's!



-> The next run my friends is Warren Ellis' and he manages to **** all over the progress we've made for 2 decades. He has Strange lose the Earth-magicks (thanks ******* !) and come back from the Seven Spheres War... so basically, nothing matters or will have an impact , right ? The old plotlines are flushed down the toilet and now we have "Catastrophe Magick" as the new system... and it goes away as Ellis leaves after 3 issues. Again, thanks for nothing *******.
Granted, the Doctor gets my favorites costume of his ever (a shame about losing the glasses though) and Mark Buckingham is a better artist than Peter Gross... but this is IT. Afterwards, J.M. DeMatteis gives a passable arc with Mordo's death (which would be better if he did not SUDDENLY introduce his never-mentionned before daughter ! Come on she was totally unneeded here !) and ends the Chtohn plotline without really ending it.... it's all a damn shame. And the Doctor will have to wait 19 years before getting a new ongoing. And it's not even on par with the ones that preceded it !


With all this said and done, the good Doctor is now a mere supporting character at best and a plot device/jobber at worst. And this trend really starts off with the Quesada regime...



III WITH MODERNITY COMES MISERY


It has been rumored that one of the reasons there has not been another Dr Strange ongoing series for a while is because Quesada dislikes/ does not give a damn about the character. It's quite probable. I mean unlike Peter and MJ or Jean and Scott, the relationship between Stephen and Clea was just ended ... LIKE THAT. No issue, no build-up, nothing. I believe that this speaks tons about Marvel's respect for the Master of Mystic arts eh ? For most of the 00's, Stephen is a joke and a not so funny one at that. Aside from Wong, no one even remembers his past supporting cast and his villains sporadically appear to job if they ever do appear at all !

I guess I will give what I thought about the 00's mini-series or Arcs he was featured in that I bothered to read.


"Strange"
A self-contained retelling of the origin and more or less the blueprint for the animated movie. While I find some design generic (Clea being some regular woman and Dormammu just a firelord ersatz being the biggest offenders), others could not be better (the Ancient One's golden tuxedo is GLORIOUS and Stephen's sorcerer attire is CLASS personnified) and the story on its own is decent. I just ****ing wish they stop with Strange's origin story being repeated ad nauseum because GOOD GOD, he has OTHER STORIES TO TELL ! Adopt those you numbnuts !

"Witches"
THIS mini is frustrating as ****. One the one hand, I am glad Lilith is the main villain and is appropriately threatening (even if she is NOT a vampire, she is a demoness and potent one at that !). On the other hand, Strange's depiction here is ridiculous, both as a character (he is a ****ing ******* in the end of this mini) and design (Deodato really needs to shorten the cape). The witches themselves are easily the sorriest team ever ! Why the hell would Stephen summon Satana to be part of the group ? Why is Jennifer Kale still a novice ? And why the **** is Topaz suddenly Indian and a pupil of Strange ?! Short answer, the editors really did not give a **** (sense a motif here ?). Nice Deodato art, cool villain , mediocre rest...

"Indefensible"
Yes, I've already talked about it. Yes, it is a comedy. But it is a damn good comedy at that ! The banter between Dormammu and Umar here might be parodic (compared to how they actually are in the Apex era) but they never fail to make me laugh. And at least, they acknowledge how powerful they actually are, so it's fairly well-balanced. The only downside is that we have Namor instead of Danny Ketch but at the time, Marvel forgot Ghost Riders were a thing...

"The Oath"
People keeps recommending this one as a modern classic. I've heard about how great it is. It ended up being a dud. The beginning was promising with Stephen discovering that Wong has a brain tumor, but the whole follow-up was ultimately limp and unnecessary and another reminder of the origin of Dr Strange (starting to believe Stephen has dementia...). This one just ended boring me. Maybe others will like it, I dunno, but I guess it could've been a one-shot or a 2-parter instead of 6 issues. Just blah...

"The Doctor Is Out"
This one happens after Bendis' retarded story (which one you ask ? I lost count) of having Strange lose his Sorcerer Supreme title (been there done that way better in Quinn's run). But it just so happens, that this a damn good story ! It even remembered that Silver Dagger ****ing exists ! What are the odds ?!
I believe Mark Waid wanted this to last longer since this particular take on Strange is one I'd love to see explored. He has to work with only the most rudimentary of spells and has to play the acquaintance and smooth-talking game to keep things under control or extricate himself from tricky situations. Among the underpowered takes on Strange, this happens to be my favorite.
And it helps that Casey Kinmont, the spitfire teen he meets here, is the last supporting character worth a damn in this mythos. A LOT of Strange fans care little for this story or outright despise it, I would have welcomed a 24-issues maxi-series with Stephen and Casey (if along the way we could see Sara or Sister Nil...whatever happend to them ?!) in their Nougami Neuro-esque adventures. But alas, it was not meant to be for we can't have anything nice...



I guess my consolation prize came in the form of Jason Aarons' 2015 Strange run. Errr, it is at best compelling in terms of concepts and at worst, undercooked and waaay too convenient in minimizing magic.


PROS:
+ While I am not the biggest Chris Bachalo fan, this type of series and the atmosphere they want to render is definitely fitting.
+ The Empirikul (and especially Imperator) are indeed terrifying. They take the concept of inquisition and give a semi-divine threat level. In fact, Imperator is a good example of how one that has been persecuted by zealotry (one in the service of a certain eldritch monster BTW) turns into a zealot and keeps that same wretched circus all over again !
+ The consequences of a "say without magic" are morbidly hilarious !
+ Shuma-Gorath is ACKNOWLEDGED AS A THREAT FOR THE FIRST TIME IN EONS ! Yeah, the Imperator's past is a Superman origin pastiche but as a world-building addition it is damn good.
+ Beating up invisible threats with a baseball bat is fun...
+ Mr Misery is properly creepy and unsettling for a suffering sponge.
+ The Dormammu/Baron Mordo team-up this time around is genuinely terrifying (though, I dunno why Karl is still alive... you'd think Aaron would've used and developped his daughter. That'd have annoyed less people than his take on Jane Foster...). And the final fight with them here is quite badass !
+ Chris Bachalo still draws the best Nightmare EVER ! And that duel was not half bad.

CONS:
- Zelma Stanton is boring as ****. Seriously, I tried to appreciate her but she really does Jack **** for me. Had this series followed on the set-up of the Casey Kinmont story, I'd have appreciated more.
- The use of magic forces Dr Strange to eat awful food... that is ungodly stupid. Maybe so Bachalo can add more to the bizarre artistry but, that was hardly needed.
- I remember that goddamn Illyana exists and is alive. **** that bitch...
- Why in hell isn't Silver Dagger the one to have summoned the Empirikul ? I mean, this seems so frigging obvious an association that it is baffling it has not been made. Maybe Aaron didn't know about Dagger...
- Shuma-Gorath has no speaking lines and does not have his blood monks cult or avatars participate in the battle against the Empirikul. And am I supposed to believe the Imperator can fight Shuma in his dimension and live to tell the tale ?! bull**** ! Why did not Aaron take this occasion to have Gorath's demons intervene ! If the Empirikul targetted Strange's talismans that is LITERALLY blood to Shuma-Gorath's shark !
- I am well aware that magic does not exist in a vacuum but Aaron really seems to think it is THAT scarce !
- Time to write some new rules in magic. What ?! AGAIN ? Can't anyone stick to a magick system for a while anymore ?!
- Satana the devil's daughter... weren't they allies during the Witches mini-series ? Wasn't she in Parker's Thunderbolts ? Doesn't Mephista exist anymore ? Is there any ****ing editor to keep track of that ? Actually being a Dr Strange editor seems to be a cushy gig since nobody gives a **** about the series' lore...
- Clea appears... for nothing. I mean, the Strange mythos has been so neglected and abused that she might as well not been there at all. Also, the once-regent of the Dark Dimension has issues againt Empirikul Foot Soldiers ? Get outta here...



That was fine for what it was, then after it I gave the much vaunted Donny Cates Strange run a shot. It sucks. I mean, hey, I vomit on the edgelord fanfic that is his take on Venom , but his Dr Strange is a fantastic exercice in POINTLESS ! Loki as the sorcerer supreme ? Thanks MCU, now we're stuck with the insufferable version of that guy. The Sentry is back ? **** you. Dormammu and Shuma-Gorath get punked by Mephisto ?! Even the classic powerful Mephisto (back when he was a threat to fear) would have real problems fighting against them, what makes me think the divorce punchline that current Mephisto is would be worthy of their notice ?! Then I tried Mark Waid's actual run and I was glad to see Casey back, he did not do much with here and Mephisto is used AGAIN as a divorce joke. Goddammit.
Then again, that is the truth of the matter; No one gives a **** about Dr Strange...

But if they did give a ****, there is room for a good Video Game. Seriously, it'd be a mix of Chrono Trigger with the atmosphere of Diablo (for the darker aspects) and "A Hat in Time" (for the more whimsical one) and there are enough variants in power system to give a tactical side (depending on the patron or talisman; Vishanti light magic, demonic black magic, Earth aura magic, Improvised lower magic...). Enough puzzles and villains to make the challenges and boss fights varied. And enough allies to accompany Strange and help make one's own party ;
The regular team: Wong, Clea, Topaz
The Defenders team: Valkyrie, Hulk, Silver Surfer
The Occult team: Scarlet Witch, Brother Voodoo, Kaluu
The Midnight team: Morbius, Ghost Rider (Ketch), Blade
And that's not even counting what one would be able to summon as an aide (though with a price in some cases); Zom, The Straw man, Sister Nil, Mr Misery,etc... Guys, I'll say what I said about Iron Man it's a GOLD MINE of creativity that waits to be explored. Or even a fighting game !
Food for thought, eh ?

 

Oy vey...that Strange post. @Gamiel how did you even have the patience to read through that?!?

I guess I’ll say I the classic DS runs, the Sorcerer Supreme series and some modern stories (Strange was

Spoiler

very well done

in Savage Avengers and I that one New Avengers annual Hickman did with Marco Rudy), but I also adore the MCU Strange and love where they are taking him. On that note, it’s always bummed me out that Stephen Strange rarely looks Strange (i.e. more like sorcerer and less like Vincent Price...bless him so much)...

Soooo....



I’m going to keep working on this concept, had a great time with it.

 

White Knight by devilkais on DeviantArt

Spoiler

Yo kids ! Do you like Elseworlds ? Well I do. And I should've talked about this 3 years ago...
In White Knight, the roles of Batman and the Joker are reversed with Batman being depicted as the villain of the story and Joker as the hero. Of course it had sequels ever since BUT my interest here is solely on the very first one.

For the most part, I DO really enjoy it ! Look, I mostly swore off Bat-Books for a long time and honestly stick to the old runs up until Hush. Granted the occasional mini-series, one-shot or story-arc handled by a favorite writer of mine might bring me back, but I just do not care about what they did with the franchise. Hell, I've claimed that they mostly lost me when they sucked out all the fun of the Joker and stick to the whole "muh chaos/ life ain't worth it, Morty" which made him Jeff the Killer and Batman into an incompetent emo dolt and a dichotomy that's utterly tedious when over-explained (remember when it used to just be about a selfish showy clown against a brooding altruistic boyscout ? I do and miss that...).

Sean Gordon Murphy's tale though is an odd beast. Despite the contrivance it starts with (shoving happy pills in the Joker's mouth turns him into Don Drapper ? Who knew ? Maybe the GCPD should throw those at him more often!), it has a lot of heart and felt sincere.

+ Jack Napier aka The Joker... I gotta say another fine addition to my Clown Prince collection. I really like that Murphy gives an affable, suave and incredibly charming personna while keeping an incredibly diabolical edge to him. I mean, check the methods he pulls to improve Gotham in the shadows and tell me there's nothing shady about the guy. You know how the road to hell is paved after all...

+ It has been a while since I've seen Mr Freeze in anything... This book reminded me that I love the character...

+ As something who can't ****ing stand the solo Harley series, this book reworks Harley Quinn as two individuals: her initial jester design is the original Harleen Quinzel, whereas her Suicide Squad design is an equally obsessed doppelgänger named Marian Drews who took her place in her absence as Puddin is too much of a self-centered jerk to notice the difference. And the last leg of the act is how they play an angel/devil dichotomy on the Joker's shoulders...

+ The whole situation with Alfred and how Bruce handles it...


So yeah, I enjoyed it. It was not my favorite series of the time (Now "Dark Prince Charming" ? THAT ONE WAS MY JAM all the way through !) but I am always game for a good Elseworlds and despite some contrivances, White Knight was a good read ! Guess I will check what they do with the sequels...

 

Okay…I want to know what bet Oliver lost. Dinah looks good in Ollie’s costume though.

By Green Arrow artist Otto Schmidt

 

David Finch Moon Knight homage

 

In Space by FerreusDemonArt

 

Secret Rendezvous by juliedillon on DeviantArt

 

Zarory: Bewitching Evelynn

https://www.deviantart.com/zarory/art/Bewitching-Evelynn-896365304

 

The Spider Club by liu-psypher on DeviantArt

 

wayleri: Naira

https://www.deviantart.com/wayleri/art/Naira-826925251

 

Hair color and style plus the green dress almost makes her look like Uma Thurman's Poison Ivy from Batman & Robin.

 

Squad by DjDontTouchTheTrim on DeviantArt

"My squad is so hard to capture.
My sisters, my ninjas.
This was us back in the day."

 

wayleri: Desta

https://www.deviantart.com/wayleri/art/Desta-790146400

 

Arcee by jollyjack on DeviantArt