Doctor Strange by Mark Waid vol. 2: Remittance

Vol. 1 of Waid’s run left off on an incredible cliffhanger which suggested that the Strange we had been following wasn’t actually the real one.  The writer wastes no time in resolving this setup for the first arc of this volume and it turns out I had it wrong. In fact, what’s really going on here has roots in Waid’s first encounter with the doctor in the quite good miniseries “The Doctor Is Out.”  It also leads to an encounter with one of his oldest foes and a reckoning with his new alien friend Kanna. This is a fast-paced storyline that zips through a lot of magical names and rules as it goes along, but Wait does a good job managing the twists and turns along the way.  Javier Pina also provides some solid art with all the magical craziness he has to offer while Andres Guinaldo delivers capable, if not quite as inspired, work as well.

The second arc in this volume also involves one of Strange’s longtime foes, as well as one of his oldest allies.  That would be the Ancient One, the mystic who taught the Doctor the magical arts, who has now come to him for instruction after his knowledge was stolen.  The person behind this not only has ties to what happened to the doctor in the first volume, but also represents Waid’s attempt at establishing rules for how Strange’s magic works.  It’s an interesting approach even if I get the feeling that this is a problem which will never be solved given all the talented writers which have taken a whack at it over the years.  Still, the arc is great to look at thanks to the return of Jesus Saiz for the majority of it with Pina providing some more than able back-up work in the final issue.

Vol. 2 also contains some stories from the anniversary issue (the Doctor’s 400th) written by Waid with art from Butch Guice, Kevin Nowlan, and Daniel Acuna.  The ones from Guice and Nowlan obviously look great, even if they’re a bit on the “too cute” side with the Doctor encountering a problem borne of bullying in the former and learning a lesson in humility from the Ancient one in the latter.  It’s the Acuna-illustrated one which is the real winner as the artist’s style works great in a psychedelic setting as we find out what gives Nightmare nightmares and allows this satisfying volume to go out on a high note.