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October 4, 2006
Vaughan Takes Care of Doctor Strange
I haven't read all the comics this week, but it's hard to imagine anything being better than Doctor Strange The Oath #1 by Brian K. Vaughan and Marcos Martin. While old-timers thrill to the classic tales by Lee, Ditko, Thomas, Colan, Englehart, Stern, Rogers, etc., the characters popularity has lapsed during the past decade. Numerous writers have tried to update the good Doctor in a variety of ways. Warren Ellis redesigned his costume, while Straczynski tried to reboot him in a mini series called Strange. Vaughan's sensible approach is to keep the classic ornaments (the costume, Wong, Ditko-like dimensions) while bringing other things into the modern era. "Oh shut up with that Zen crap," Strange says to Wong (after he learns about a secret that his servant has been keeping). Wong, who has long been a background character in Strange's life, has become an integral part of this storyline. If you've read the previews, you'll know that the opening pages has Doctor Strange arriving at Night Nurse's clinic with a bullet in his chest. While Night Nurse operates, Strange's astral form supervises. His mysterious relationship with Wong is never ignored: "I'm not sure anyone with his own personal slave boy should be talking about other people's fetishes." And Strange's personality has been given more thought-he's more of a type-A personality, more like the doctor he used to be before giving up the material world. This mini-series is off to a great start. Nuff said.
Check out my classic cover collection:
Doctor Strange @ Gallery Photon
