The Mystic Hands of Doctor Strange #1

Doctor Strange: One-Shots

by Kieron Gillen, Mike Carey, Ted McKeever

It's the Sorcerer Supreme versus the magical might of the political terrorist known as the Doktor! Stephen Strange struggles with a decision to help a man crippled by his worst memories! And the Master of the Mystic Arts battles a demon in the streets of New York! All this and more in this all-new, all-action, all-black-and-white one-shot in the spirit of the Mighty Marvel Magazines of yore, but ALL-NOW in style! The magical mayhem never lets up for a moment over these four stories by some of Marvel's hottest creators!

Genres: Comics, Superheroes

50 pages, Paperback

Published March 10, 2010

About the author

Kieron Gillen is a comic book writer and former media journalist.

Reviews

[Gianfranco Mancini · Rating 3 out of 5]

First story with Mefisto was a real blast! Sadly not liked much the other two.

[Sud666 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well this one had potential. However, like anything that is a collection of stories the book will be judged on the totality of the stories therein. This collection of four short Dr. Strange stories starts and ends well, but the stories in the middle aren't of the same quality.

This TPB has a very cool B&W art style. It works well with these short stories, though I am not a fan of all the artists. So let's quickly look at the stories:

The Cure- by Kieron Gillen (of Darth Vader comic fame). This was a really good story and is complemented by some really nice art. The Cure has a very interesting plot that puts Dr. Strange in a very odd situation. The moral dilemma of doing bad things to achieve an altruistic world is starkly envisioned by this story. I would say more but I will not spoil it. I've always been a fan of anytime Mephisto and Dr. Strange cross paths. This story is a 4/5.

Melancholia- by Peter Milligan. This was a pedestrian story. A man loses his wife after having a fight. He is bummed. He's been bummed for decades. What to do? smoke weed? MDMA? Nahhh let's try the Sorcerer Supreme. Dr. Strange decides to help. Yayyy. Nice art though. 2/5.

So This Is How It Feels- by Ted McKeever. So this is how it feels...to read a subpar story, with some painful prose and an artist refining his ninth-grade art style. Dr. Strange, a disembodied head and a rage demon meet in an alley for a drink and some anger issues. If that sounded like the start of a bad joke-it wasn't. No priest, rabbi or imam will walk into a bar and rescue this dreck. But it does come off as a joke. Did I mention the art was bad? I did? Good.. 1/5.

Duel in the Dark Dimension- by Mike Carey. Very nice story about a young Dr. Strange and some issues he has with one of Nightmare's knights. A short story with some rather cool illustrations. This one was enjoyable. Carey (Lucifer, Hellblazer, etc) really does supernatural stories very well. The illustrations are well done. This story gets a 5/5.

So what are we left with? A book that starts and ends well. The middle is not very good though. I was torn between giving this a 2 or a 3 star. However due to the positive feeling left by the cool Carey story and the fact that, for the most part, I enjoyed the B&W art and that nice opening story- I have relented and given it a three star rating.

Would I recommend this? Sure -the first and last stories. The middle? No. So if you are a big Dr. Strange fan- I think you will like this TPB for the same reasons I did. If you aren't- I don't know if you will like this at all. When dealing with a character that people are unfamiliar with, it is best if the writing is strong and interesting. That is not the case with the middle two stories. But if you are a Dr. Strange fan-you will enjoy this one.

[A M H · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of different stories, all of which are in black and white instead of color for some reason. Also strangely, the last of the four stories isn't a comic but an actual written out interesting little story instead, (though it also includes a small number of pictures occasionally thrown in.)

My opinions:
The Cure: A decent story with a good dilemma for the doc. 4/5
Melancholia: It's okay but it's ironically forgettable. 2/5
So This Is How It Feels: Didn't like this one. Unfortunately, this could have had decent concept potential, but instead, they made this and what they did create is buried under really terrible execution. The dialogue, the art, and the story conclusion were just all too wonky. 1/5
Duel in the Dark Dimension: Written well and a good little short story. 5/5

[Leandro Cassetta · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5/5

Me gustó pero no tenía idea de que estaba leyendo un One Shot tan autónomo.

[Derek · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've noticed that any comics that feature the Faustian demon Mephisto, whether DC or Marvel are always awesome. this is no exception. Dr Strange is more John Constantine than Strange, and it's a nice touch seeing him that cunning. it's refreshing. the black and white artwork too was a nice dire touch.