posted
No thread for [Dr. Strange: The Oath]? No Stephen Strange fans among the Legionati, besides me? I started reading Dr. Strange in some teeny-tiny paperback reprints of the original Lee/Ditko run. I love the character, just as I love his DC counterpart, Dr. Fate.
Having read most of what has been published for the Sorcerer Supreme, I think Vaughn and Martin's take is one of the best ever. Vaughn's Strange is arrogant but still heroic, and fiercely loyal to his friends, the way the character should be.
Playing off his past as a surgeon seems like a great idea, and so far not too deconstructionist for my taste. The character always had this duality in him -- the arrogant surgeon and the humble mystic -- that probably informed Lee's characterization, but was never exploited so explicitly.
And, the Night Nurse is an awesome character--her existence seems a perfectly logical extension of a Marvel Universe where outcast heroes actually bleed. Of course, I would expect that Spider-Man is waiting in the ER at Bellevue, because he can't use his health insurance without revealing his secret identity (Oops. I forgot.)
Marcos Martin's art style strikes me as a Marvel/Strange analog to Bruce Timm and Darwyn Cooke, taking the iconic art style and making it live for a contemporary world. Beautiful stuff. Easily the best take on Strange since Rogers and Austin.
This book is loads better than JMS's ponderous, wonderless and depressing retcon of the origin from a couple of years ago.
-------------------- ...but you don't have a moment where you're sitting there staring at a table full of twenty-five characters with little name signs that say, "Hi, my superpower is confusing you!"
From: Chicago, IL | Registered: Jul 2004
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posted
This is on my pull list but I haven't been to my CBS in a while, due to present buying so I am skint. I have heard lot's of good things about it.
Doublechinner, what did you think of "Strange" from a couple of years back? I quite liked it but Marvel seem to be a bit reticent about what continuity this follows. Was it a failed reboot or does the new series follow on from it (or does it stick to the established history)?
After so many thick volumes, I suspect someone at Marvel decided, instead of putting out ONE big book this year, HEY, let's put out FOUR skinny ones! More money to squeeze out of the SUCKERS...
Larkin did a lot of paperback books, including a run of DOC SAVAGE, and while this looks nice, it's far from his best work. Come to think of it, MOST of these S&S collections have DULL-as-dishwater covers, and BLAND-beyond-belief design.
I mean, if you're gonna do a a book collecting stories of ONE character, wouldn't it make more sense to use that character's LOGO? I've asked this before, and always, some SMARTASS will say (taking the side of some anonymous book publisher employee or design firm freelander), "Oh, they probably wanted it to appeal to general audiences". B***S***!!!
Listen, I went to art school for 2 years, and I had "typography" for 6 months. One of the main ideas that sunk in was, you come up with a logo for a product, and you use that logo-- EVERYWHERE. Look at the rock band CHICAGO. Same logo from their 2nd album all the way to today! That's called "product identification".
Compare the S&S Doc book's logo (or utter lack thereof) with the following...
Doc went thru multiple logos over the years, my own favorite is the one used when Roy Thomas & Gene Colan were on the book. It was quite noticeable when, a FEW issues into a revival of the title decades later, they brought back the "Roy" logo with the very issue HE got back on the book for a good long run.
When I did my "DR. WEIRD" cover for Gary Carlson (still unused), I did it as a tribute to the late-60's era, right down to the logo...
posted
Well, that saves me the trouble of looking them all up!
While the "70's" version sure lasted a long time, I have the feeling they came up with that mostly fit fit it under that stupid "MGC" BANNER that defaced every one of their books for about a decade.
Registered: Aug 2003
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Set
There's not a word yet, for old friends who've just met.
posted
I like Reboots choices as well, although the third down on the right is my total favorite.
Second or third down in the middle column are the ones I remember from my own collecting days.
Registered: Aug 2006
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