Doctor Strange by Mark Waid vol. 1: Across the Universe

Much of this first volume went about as I’d expect from the writer.  Which means that it read like a solidly crafted superhero adventure from someone who knows the genre inside and out.  Not an exceptional one, mind you, as it started off by showing us a Doctor Strange who has lost his connection to magic.  I don’t think we needed another “loss of magic” story so soon after Jason Aaron did kind of the same thing in his run, but Waid does give us a fresh spin on it.  He has Strange head off into space to recover his magical mojo and get into all sorts of trouble along the way. Said trouble includes being imprisoned on an alien planet, teaming up with a feisty arcanologist named Kanna, facing off against a Skrull sorcerer and the Super Skrull, and trying to rescue a Nidavellirian dwarf from potential world-conqueror with designs on Earth.

All of this looks great thanks to the excellent art from Jesus Saiz.  All of the cosmic scenery has an appealingly slick look to it, with his art having this wonderful texture to it that’s accented by Saiz’s own coloring.  It’s absorbing to look at and elevates the stories early on. I wouldn’t say Waid is running on autopilot here, but the early stories follow a certain formula to them that will be familiar to anyone who has experience with sci-fi or superhero storytelling.  Credit where credit is due, shunting Strange off into space does put an appealing gloss on the formula.

It isn’t until the next-to-last issue that Waid hits upon something genuinely new regarding the character.  I won’t spoil it here, but it’s the kind of blindingly obvious thing that I’m honestly surprised no one has thought to do with the character yet.  This development is made even more interesting by the last-page-reveal of who’s back in his Greenwich Village home. It’s a revelation that puts a whole new spin on the story you’ve just read and one that made me go, “Oh god Stephen, what did you do THIS TIME?!”  This volume may be kind of a slow starter, but it’s one that promises very good things for the character and the reader by its end.