Comic Book Herald

A Comic Book Reading Order Guide For Beginners & Fans

Doctor Strange

The Best Comics To Read With Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness!

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Since his MCU origin in 2016, Dr. Stephen Strange has held one of the more consistent supporting roles in the Marvel Universe. Benedict Cumbermagic’s Strange plays key roles in Thor Ragnarok, Avengers Infinity War, and of course most recently, Spider-Man: No Way Home. Much like his cameo-laden Marvel Comics counterpart, stories related to multiverse-breaking magic have been held to the fire for *not* including the good Doctor (although certainly in the case of WandaVision, I’d argue it was for the right reasoning).

All of which is to say, Strange’s official movie sequel, Multiverse of Madness, directed by Spider-Man savant Sam Raimi, is central to the larger MCU and where Phase 4 will focus for the remainder through Fantastic Four. The events of Loki on Disney+ revealed the Multiverse is open for business, and there’s a multiverse of Kang the Conquerors going to war for control. “No Way Home’s” forgetting spell gone horribly wrong revealed to Strange this dangerous revelation, and now in Multiverse of Madness, the good Doctor gets to set out in the alternate realities and counter-earths of the MCU. [Read more…] about The Best Comics To Read With Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness!

Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness Pre-View!

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Last we saw Stephen Strange, he was de-supremed (the Sorcerer Supreme mantle passed to Wong during the 5 year Blip), sporting a rare hoodie-cape combo (would love to see more of this in the world), and engaging in casual magic malpractice with Peter Parker in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Saying the good Doctor handled Peter’s request to re-bottle the world’s knowledge of his secret identity badly is like saying Chris Rock’s jaw seems kinda strong. Doctor Strange didn’t ask the hormonal, emotional 17 year old ANY questions before diving into a multiverse-breaking spell, let Peter distract him to the point of implosion during the spell, and Chris Rock’s jaw is clearly made of adamantium.

Worse, throughout “No Way Home” Stevey took ZERO responsibility for his involvement in the multiversal Sinister Six incursion, and near breaking of all reality. He constantly blames Peter, and is only forced to acknowledge his significant role in the mess a single time, when MJ calls him out on it. Dr. Strange’s origin journey is about replacing his insufferable arrogance with enough humility to learn from the Ancient One, but here it’s clear that the arrogance has returned in force. Heading in to the second Dr. Strange movie in the MCU, it’s clearly time for Stephen to relearn what it means to be a hero. [Read more…] about Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness Pre-View!

The Death of Doctor Strange (#1-5) Review!

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This review contains light spoilers for the entirety of The Death of Doctor Strange

A both touchingly somber and by-the-numbers celebration of the life and death of the titular Sorcerer Supreme, the five-issue miniseries The Death of Doctor Strange by writer Jed MacKay, artist Lee Garbett, colorist Antonio Fabela, and letterer Cory Petit occupies a unique, challenging position as the end of one long and winding story and the beginning of another.

Starting with a touching introductory issue eerily similar to All-Star Superman, which sees Stephen Strange acting as an adept and newly grounded mentor, teacher, friend, and, well … only okay-ish pet owner, and ending in his untimely death (spoilers!), Death of Doctor Strange finds itself mostly preoccupied across the remaining four issues with investigating who perpetrated Strange’s death, along with inter-dimensional invasions setting a dire background. [Read more…] about The Death of Doctor Strange (#1-5) Review!

Clea Reading Order!

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Clea has come a long way since her introduction by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko in 1964. Starting out as an unnamed stock-standard damsel in distress for Doctor Strange to rescue in the Dark Dimension, she became Strange’s disciple and lover, before leading a rebellion in her native dimension and taking it over as ruler. Across her comic book history, she’s fought her uncle the Dread Dormammu and other mystical menaces, been a member of the Defenders, and now, in the aftermath of Marvel’s recent Death of Doctor Strange storyline, she is the new Sorcerer Supreme, taking up the mantle and legacy of Stephen Strange.

Having spent a lot of time as little more than a secondary character and love interest in Doctor Strange comics from the 60s to the 80s, it has taken until the 2000s to see her break away from the good doctor’s shadow and appear in titles away him, and until 2022 for her to be the main character of her own ongoing series, the upcoming Strange. So read ahead to get caught up on her comic history, as Clea takes her place in the spotlight ! [Read more…] about Clea Reading Order!

Omnibussin: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Mapping

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Doctor Strange (1974) #4’s iconic cover by Frank Brunner.

Whether you enjoy the Marvel Cinematic Universe or not, in one respect at least it has turned out to be of indisputable benefit to comic readers: if a character’s showing up in a movie, you can bet your bottom dollar Marvel Comics is gonna give them a title even if they haven’t had a regular one since 1983 (as was the case with Shang-Chi). And Marvel’s collections arm is also gonna devote the entire year their movie comes out to cranking out new or reprinted collections of their old material. Now, that’s the kind of comics-to-movies-back-to-comics synergy I can get behind! Thankfully, that was the case with one of my favorite characters in this universe: the top wizard; the chief magicman; the Sorcerer Supreme himself, Doctor Stephen Strange (M.D.). [Read more…] about Omnibussin: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Mapping