Doctor Strange vol. 3: Blood in the Aether

Magic in the Marvel Universe is on the mend after the Empirikul’s crusade in the previous volume, which leaves us with a greatly diminished Doctor Strange.  This is a fact which has not gone unnoticed by his rogues gallery who have descended to make his current week a living hell.  As well as an actual Hell thanks to the presence of Satanna the Devil’s Daughter.  In addition to her, Strange has to face off against foes both old, new, and the Orb.  Why him?  Well, Jason Aaron is still writing this title and there’s no way he wasn’t going to use his most favorite pet villain in the Marvel Universe and follow up on his new vocation as the Watcher (Who Likes to Interfere).

Though the good Doctor may not have the kind of magic he’s used to relying on to face these threats, that just means he has to get more creative about how he deals with these villains.  Which is generally good news for us as we get to see Aaron come up with some deviously, and in one case disgustingly, clever ways for his hero to get out of the situations he finds himself in.  The majority of these triumphs are pulled off well with Strange’s triumph against the Hell Bacon (yes, that’s a thing here) being a high point.  Unfortunately this cleverness isn’t quite sustained through the end of the volume with the final face-off being more of a brute-force showdown leading into a cliffhanger ending.

Former “Doctor Strange” artist Kevin Nowlan drops by to illustrate half an issue, a flashback tale to the time when Strange was just starting out on his journey into magic.  It’s great work as you’d expect from the man, but the most impressive thing about the issue is how its other artist, Leonardo Romero, actually comes off pretty well in comparison as he handles the present day sequences.  Chris Bachalo illustrates the majority of this volume and as usual he’s perfectly suited to the craziness that Aaron has him draw.  Also as usual, Bachalo is accompanied by his usual army of inkers and I’m only bringing this up because his work here is one of those times where it looks a little less consistent than usual within each issue.  We’ll see if he can pull it together for the next volume to close out what has been an entertaining run chronicling Strange’s adventures so far.