With some Marvel franchises like Daredevil, it’s always a challenge for each new creative team to establish a unique voice and stand out from the terrific work that’s been done in the past. This isn’t necessarily a problem with Doctor Strange. It’s been many, many years since Strange has had an ongoing series to call his own. The new series is instantly welcoming to all readers regardless of their familiarity with the character.
As such, there aren’t a lot of expectations with this new book apart from the simple idea that Jason Aaron + Chris Bachalo = good comic booking. It quickly becomes clear when reading Doctor Strange #1 that Marvel selected the right creative team to finally put Stephen Strange back on the map.
In this new series, Marvel has once more found a perfect match in Aaron and Bachalo. Though Bachalo’s energetic style, clean storytelling and dynamic page construction homages Steve Ditko and Gene Colan’s work with the character, it remains completely entrenched in the present. Bachalo never breaks style, and forges new ground, crafting new visual surprises – like carnivorous sunflowers and malebranchian psyche leeches. The variety of inking styles applied throughout the issue manages to avoid distraction, though there are noticeable differences in weight and line quality between Bachalo and his band of merry inkers, who include Tim Townsend, Al Vey and Mark Irwin.
Doctor Strange’s surreal world is perfectly depicted by Bachalo, who already has a certain degree of familiarity with the character – thanks to books like New Avengers and Uncanny X-Men – and that familiarity pays off nicely here. Bachalo’s creative monster designs alone make this issue worth reading.
He’s also really good at contrasting the supernatural realm with the normal world. At times the two even collide in one chaotic but visually dynamic. Strange travels between dimensions and battles foes that would drive most ordinary people insane, and Bachalo conveys all the weirdness of these adventures. Bachalo’s pages don’t have a lot of variety when it comes to facial work, but his body language makes up for that.
Overall, this ain’t your daddy’s Doctor Strange – this is an all-new, all-different Doctor Strange, and you should hop onboard and brace yourself for the coming storm. Stephen Strange will certainly guide you through it as an unseen, scarily-powerful menace make Doctor Strange #1 a perfect launching point for a bold new era.
