A Tale of Two Stranges In Doctor Strange #6
by Josh Davison
Doctor Strange and Kanna come to Earth and the Sanctum Santorum to find another Stephen Strange there waiting for them. This other Strange and Bats attack the Doctor Strange with Kanna. Before long, one of the Strange’s gets the upper hand and reveals the identity of the other. The resulting knowledge sends the victor down a strange path of forgotten memories.
Doctor Strange has come back to Earth with this issue, and the dilemma of two Doctor Strange’s is immediately confronted and, surprisingly, resolved, and that’s a good thing. While there could be some fun in keeping the reader guessing over who is the real Stephen Strange, it’s also refreshing to not go down the mistaken identity and liar-revealed rabbit hole.
The second half of the comic shows there will still be some of that kind of story but not as severe or tropey (hopefully) as usual.
Bats makes a welcome return to the centerstage in this comic, and everyone’s favorite ghost dog has some new abilities. Also, it’s really endearing watching the badass warrior and adventurer Kanna be somewhat amazed at Earth’s eccentricities.
As a forewarning, the book references a lot from a different Stephen Strange story from about a decade ago, but the book gets the reader up to speed quickly even if they have only been following since the Jason Aaron and Chris Bachalo days (like myself).
Javier Pina and Brian Reber take over for Jesus Saiz in this issue, but their work has a lot of similarities to Saiz’s style. Pina and Reber’s art looks great, and it’s impressively well-textured. You look like you could reach out and touch Stephen Strange in many of the panels. The color art of Reber is a nice balance often made of extreme contrast, making sure each page pops.
Doctor Strange #6 is another great issue of Mark Waid’s return to the Strange. We have a cool battle of sorcery, dopplegangers, a ghost dog, and good artwork. The comic is definitely worth a read and comes recommended from yours truly.
Doctor Strange #6 was made by writer Mark Waid, artist Javier Pina, color artist Brian Reber, letterer VC’s Cory Petit, cover artist Kevin Nowlan, and variant cover artists Keunwoo Lee and Chris Bachalo with Tim Townsend.
