Doctor Strange, Vol. 2: City of Sin

Doctor Strange (2015) (Collected Editions) #7

by Donny Cates, Niko Henrichon (Illustrations), Frazer Irving (Illustrations)

The damnation of Doctor Strange! To restore Las Vegas to glory, the Master of the Mystic Arts bet big on his abilities - but his prize came with some satanic strings attached! Now he's going double or nothing to set things right. But how did Strange get back to full power? And will it be enough when he's gambling for his life? Held captive in Mephisto's Hotel Inferno, the odds aren't good -because, remember, the house always wins. Can Wong and the Midnight Sons help Doctor Strange fi nd a way to win? And, with the souls of the living and the dead on the line, is the Sorcerer Supreme actually willing to follow his former assistant's lead? Damnation transforms the magical landscape for Strange and the entire Marvel Universe!

COLLECTING: DOCTOR STRANGE 386-390

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book

112 pages, Paperback

First published October 16, 2018

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

This really needs to be read with Dr. Strange: Damnation to get the fullest enjoyment out of it. Dr. Strange brought back Las Vegas and Hell followed with it. (Las Vegas was destroyed in that Secret Empire nonsense.) Memphisto takes his soul and Strange has to team up with the Avengers to stop him. Niko Henrichon isn't really ready for the big time yet on art. He's got a less defined Michael Kaluta look to his art but uses WAY too much black ink and draws huge doe eyes on all his characters. Frasier Irving is much better on the last issue. The last issue with Spider-Man may be my favorite comic of the year. After reading this, I'd love to see Cates on a Spidey title. He definitely has an ear for dialogue. That conversation between Spider-Man and Dr. Strange is magical and then when Spider-Man talked to the spider, I nearly busted a gut.

[James DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of my review is in my damnation review. This volume is basically all of that. So it's about Mephisto bringing hell on earth and strange stopping it. So go read that review to see what I thought.

For the last issue, which is NOT in Damnation collection, this is the final issue Donny Cates writes and honestly it's his best one. It's a bitter sweet goodbye, giving us some great human moments with Strange. However, it's the Spider-man moments that make this issue fantastic. Peter and Strange's friendship is interesting, unique, and a lot of fun. This is both a funny issue and a sad one because you want Donny to stay on Strange once it's over. But for what it is, this two volume run was very solid and for that alone I'm pushing this to the same rating as volume 1. A 4 out of 5.

[Malum · Rating 5 out of 5]

Peter Parker's face when Strange asks him if he wants to be able to talk to spiders is worth all of the stars.

[RG · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably not the strongest of stories. I felt like the previous damnation novel was better in a way. Still good fun. Interesting to see where they take it next. Definitely smell a reboot coming on.

[Blindzider · Rating 4 out of 5]

The bad thing about this volume is it intertwines with another title (also written by Cates). The good thing is he did a nice job of filling you in if you haven't read it.

Love the tone of this. It reminds me of Fraction's Hawkeye mini-series. Strange clearly has his own issues, and like the best Marvel characters, he's human, and makes mistakes. There's a snarky attitude about the whole thing, so it's a little bit funny, usually at the expense of Stephen, which just makes him even more relatable and not this stoic, all-power and all-knowing super magician that never makes a mistake.

The art isn't bad, a little "scratchy" looking and sort of fits. It's David Aja-ish, again, like Fraction's Hawkeye. Hopefully the upcoming hardcover collection for Cates' run will have both series in reading order.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Why'd I read this before Vol. 1? No matter. Some really crummy artwork in this, courtesy of Niko Henrichon. Story was filling in gaps from the Damnation event (which I largely missed, other than its presence in Scarlet Spider) and didn't make a huge amount of sense on its own. I miss the Jason Aaron run...

[Benji Glaab · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 🌟

I think it is worth noting this should be read in tandem with the Doctor Strange Damnation volume. I'm going to read it next so hopefully it will add some more insight or a chance to see so e more of the action from a different perspective.

Some of this was boring, it was fast moving with fantastic dialogue. Cates can be quite humorous at times. But overall there doesn't feel like much is on the line cuz it seems like every other page Strange is in some life threatening predicament it has cheapend that risk factor. I really enjoyed the exchanges with Bats the talking ghost dog, and Peter Parker

The final issue was a really nice way to close out the arc. I will be reading the next Mark Waid volumes after I finish up damnation.

Overall series score since I started with Jason Aarons 2015 volume 1-to here vol 7 would be a 3.75🌟

[Lukas Holmes · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like there is a good story here but, and I hate to say this, the art is so bad I kept being confused as to what was happening.

[Rolando Marono · Rating 3 out of 5]

El problema de este arco es que es parte de un evento más grande llamado damnation. Si no fuera por eso, esto pudiera haber sido otra historia muy original de parte de Cates para refrescar a un personaje que Aaron traía atorado en lo mismo.
El planteamiento es bueno. Strange trata de resucitar una ciudad entera, Las Vegas para ser exacto, que se perdió en el evento de Secret Empire. Obviamente esto trae al diablo a la tierra y atrapa a los Vengadores y a Strange. Hay introspección, hay crecimiento del personaje, hay una conversación muy buena entre Bats y Strange, y es esa conversación donde finalmente el personaje para de ser un quejumbroso llorón a un hechicero nuevamente. Así es, de cierta manera, como Aaron lo había retratado, y con esa conversación, Cates reinventa al personaje.
Mi mayor problema es el enfoque de evento. Eso hace que la conclusión, ni siquiera sea mostrada realmente. Prácticamente se la salta y lo que vemos en este tomo es en realidad Strange relatando lo que sucedió. Pero la conclusión no la vemos realmente ¿Quiero comprar Damnation? No realmente, porque seguramente encontraré un montón de tie ins sin sentido y un poco de historia. Pero probablemente esperaré a que baje un poco de precio y si lo encuentro muy barato le daré una oportunidad.
Aquí concluye el corto pero significativo run de Cates en Strange. Ahora es turno de pasarle la batuta a Mark Waid que aunque tiene cómics muy buenos, últimamente, después de Daredevil, su trabajo ha dejado mucho que desear. Espero que refresque al personaje y nos permita ver una nueva faceta de Strange.
Lamento un poco.

[Renata · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started reading this and immediately felt like I'd missed a volume somehow EVEN THOUGH this is VOLUME 2 and I just read VOLUME 1 recently, but I guess this comes after Doctor Strange: Damnation because UGH WHY WOULDN'T IT, COMICS?!

Anyway so that was confusing but I just did a quick Wiki dive in the middle of my reading experience and got through it.

2 stars for general confusion, a BILLION stars for the final issue featuring Peter Parker and a literal spider. Average of 3 stars. It's mystic math, don't worry about it.

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Odd to have these issues without the rest of the Damnation storyline included. That happens quite often with this crossover events, the collections tend to offer piece meal bits without really giving you the full story. If you dare, check out the whole thing in Doctor Strange Damnation the Complete Collection, but be prepared for a rather uneven read. Still it will fill in some holes. Rounding out this collection is a kind of wrap-up, epilogue that tries really hard to be relevant but just feels trivial and seems to be little more than filling one last issue of a contract.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bet I’d review this better if I’d read it interspersed with the Damnation mini series. As a stand-alone book, whose editor didn’t do much to make it easy to know which issue of which series to read when, it was an overall letdown book compared to Cates’ previous volume.

The Spidey epilogue was damned fine. I’d read Cates on a Spidey book. Maybe that’s next?

[Dávid Novotný · Rating 4 out of 5]

Second book from Cates is more action packed, and has more funny scenes and crazy ideas than first one. Together with Damnation it creates exciting ride and brings fresh wind to series which kind of stagnated in last Aaron volumes. Non mainstream art suits crazy magic world well, and bring whole comics to another level.

[Marco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Donny Cates, you did this right.

[sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bats <3

[Guilherme Smee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Atenção meus caros leitores desavisados! Não façam que nem eu em cair nessa! Se você já comprou Doutor Estranho: Danação não precisa comprar este Doutor Estranho, Volume 2: Cidade do Pecado. Isso porque ele basicamente repete os mesmos acontecimentos do crossover, de uma maneira vergonhosa. Se Doutor Estranho: Danação já me deixava bastante em cima do muro para saber se ele estava tirando sarro ou se ele estava querendo ser levado à sério, com a leitura deste encadernado vi que a piada está no leitor que comprou essa porcaria. Não se compara com nenhum trabalho de Donny Cates, nem mesmo no próprio Estranho. É uma encheção de linguiça total, mesmo a última história que é co-estrelada pelo Homem-Aranha. Ou seja, o Senhor Donald que esta indo tão bem no meu conceito perdeu muuuuitos pontos. O que é de tirar o chapéu neste encadernado, é mais ou menos como no Danação: a arte. Nico Henrichon manda muito bem, com lindas cenas dos heróis lutando e das dimensões infernais. Eu que esperava tanto desse crossover pelas lindas artes que foram divulgadas, os roteiros e o planejamento não chegaram nem no dedinho do pé da arte. Lamentável. Mesmo.

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This serves as a tie in to Damnation and explains various things in the main series and when read along with the main one its more fun. Focusing on Stephen and the midnight sons vs Mephisto who has taken over hell and how its up to his allies to defeat him and restore Las Vegas back, its quick and amazing read and has cool moments like when he becomes Ghost rider or has all the powers of Avengers and like when all the hell lords including Dormammu, Shuma-Gorath and Nightmare are fighting in the Nether realm and has a good closing issue with Spidey and Strange and then Zelma and Clea too and Stephen moving on too the next stage in his life!!

[Albert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Niko Henrichon and Donny Cates... beautiful combo. I love Niko's work, and this is no exception.

[Ondra Král · Rating 4 out of 5]

4* spíš za Henrichona než Catese.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Volume runs parallel to the Damnation event, but it's still able to be understood, for the most part.
After the events of Secret Empire, Las Vegas is still a disaster area after the Hydra attacks. Strange, seemingly ignoring the cost of magic, but vigilant anyways, goes to the site, and thoroughly resurrects not only the entire city, but all the people who were in it. However, something else comes back with everything, something Strange did not want to see: Hotel Inferno, a demonically influenced hotel run by Mephisto. The devil is claiming that the souls were all his already, but with resurrection, he has lost them. Enter a high-stakes card game between the two of them. Winner takes all!
When Strange is caught cheating at the game, he is beaten and captured. Wong contacts him and tells him that the Midnight Sons (Blade, Doctor Voodoo, Elsa Bloodstone, Ghost Rider, Iron Fist, and Man-Thing) are on the way to rescue him. They can't get to him, so Clea, Loki and Scarlet Witch come to free him.
The city is being influenced by hell and people are turning demonic, including several of the Avengers, who appear to have a head much like Ghost Rider. The battle is heavy, and Strange loses his body to Mephisto as well. But all is not lost... all the possessed people's spirits are in the Realm Between. Strange gathers the team up, and through a double cross against Dormammu, Strange saves the day (though apparently, this scene is in the main Damnation title, which I need to read soon!)
The final issue in this Volume brings back Zelma and covers the two of them addressing the drama that has been building for a while. Do they end up together? No, but the friendship is at least rekindled.
This title will launch again with Volume 1 soon. What's next for the Sorcerer Supreme?
Recommend.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid read. A bit more supernatural than I like, but it's Doctor Strange, so what do I expect, right? I really liked watching Strange evolve--and finally really face all the problems he's had in the past year and move beyond them (at least, by this graphic novel's end). Bats (the ghost dog) was definitely my favorite part of this story. His straightforward attitude was the perfect foil for Doctor Strange's brooding. This story also had some solid twists and turns, and it's got me curious to read that whole "Damnation" story arc... which is saying something, since I'm generally more of a DC fan. The best issue, however, was definitely the last one: Spider-Man's cameo was beyond hilarious. I forget why I loved Spider-Man growing up until he sneaks his way into a different comic, and then I'm like, "That's right! He's hilarious, relatable, and awesome!" The mini comic where he talked to a spider... that was some dark humor. But, man, if I wasn't chuckling through the whole thing! I'm glad that we finally got some closure with Zelma, as well. I liked her character, but I think it's also time to move beyond the drama and venture toward something else. Doctor Strange deserves a fresh start, and that's what I'm looking forward to in future comics starring the Sorcerer Supreme. But these last two graphic novels, headed by Donny Cates, were spectacular reads: funny at times, but also undeniably grounded with enough magic to keep your imagination spinning. Thank you, Cates. I look forward to seeing what you do with other titles in the future.

[Ronan The Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

* I read this in conjunction with Damnation and I imagine that's the best way to read it, or else you're missing a lot of what's going on*

3.5, rounded up. I liked this better than the first volume, as it felt at least marginally more consequential. Cates incorporates a humor that I can appreciate, and the whole "City of Sin becomes Hell" idea was ripe for the picking. Stephen takes on Mephisto after resurrecting the entire city of Las Vegas, effectively ripping it from Hell. He gets backed up by fellow Avengers, the Midnight Sons, Wong, and Bats the ghost dog. While there aren't many surprises, the art is good throughout with only a couple of exceptions, and the book manages to stay fun.

I've yet to read a truly great Doctor Strange book, sad to say. Something just always feels missing, be it compelling emotional beats or truly meaningful stakes or some other third thing. A consistent problem with most magic-based books is that it's hard to know what's possible and what's not, or the relative power-levels of those involved. I think Jason Aaron tried to address that with his run, substantiating that "magic always has a cost", to some effect, but it continues to be something that gnaws at me. The last issue with Spider-Man was funny/cute. Overall, i enjoyed the read, but probably won't be running back to re-read anytime soon.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

You know what I love? I love when Marvel splits a single story among several series so that when you read a collected volume for one series, such as this one, you get - at best - half the story.

Donny Cates does his level best to bridge the gaps with lots of blatant callbacks to off-camera events, so City of Sin isn't the worst version of this Marvel trope, but it's still a tough read. Essentially, Mephisto took over Las Vegas in Doctor Strange: Damnation and now Strange and the Avengers are fighting their way through multiple dimensions to kick hell off Earth. Everything is going surprisingly smoothly until round about issue four when an Editor's Note reveals that the actual conclusion to the story appears in Damnation. So, uh, sorry for leaving you hanging I guess?

I like Cates' sense of humor - he does great things with Strange and Loki, as well as Strange and the ghost dog, Bats. And overall, this volume and the previous one are big and weird and pretty fun. I'll be sorry to see him leave the series. I mostly blame Marvel for the failures of this volume - why split a story into several series? Bad form.

[Ashe Catlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this simultaneous with Doctor Strange: Damnation, they both tell the story but from a different perspective.

This one is about saving Doctor Strange as he's been captured by Mephisto, Wong puts together a team of small time heroes to stop Mephisto from taking over Las Vegas. It's a decent read the main problem I had was this and Damnation told the same story so each had recap in them and it just got annoying, especially when it was doing it for more than one issue.

I think it was a weird choice when naming these two, as this one doesn't feature Doctor Strange that much but damnation does maybe switch it so the Doctor Strange on going actually has his story in, I don't quite understand what that choice was.

I did like reading this but I feel the other story was a lot better, the art was certainly much better. This one just felt clunky and with very little pay off, I liked the Zelma bit at the end but as it had bits with Clea as well the message got a little mixed.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this volume suffered a little because it was part of a crossover storyline. This meant that there was sometimes too much exposition explaining stuff that went on in the other series. It also meant that there were lots of Avengers characters wandering around in the story that didn't seem to belong there.

Donny Cates did a good job handling the restraints of being part of a crossover event. I like the way in particular he mixed humour with a sense of dread. It's sad that this marked the end of his all-too-brief run with Doctor Strange (10 issues plus the Damnation series). It'd be nice if Marvel and DC had a policy of giving their A-Team writers extended runs so they can really put their stamp on a character or characters.

Most of this volume was drawn by Niko Henrichon, and his artwork is amazing. I don't understand why he doesn't get more work drawing for the big two comic houses.

[Juan DeLeon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Donny Cates is what Dr. Strange book deserves. A daring and deep character driven book. I read the Damnation collection and it is amazing how the parts do not equal to a superior sum. The other strands weakened and bogged down what Cates can do to a book and those things are great humor, action and surprising heart. Henrichon’s art is a very good compliment to the wordsmith work.

I was so surprised at how I got to see what made Strange interesting and in Cates hands it was an enjoyable experience. Spiderman’s insight and presence made possible by Cates was such good gravy. Yes, the plot of City of Sin, sure it was an interesting foray into Marvel’s occult, but not too deep like DC’s Vertigo, but that’s a company line not a Cates’ one I suspect.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is just a fragment of a story, since it crosses over into the whole Damnation event, which is not here but should be. But Cates manages that problem entirely elegantly by giving us sideways and/or smart-ass synopses of what we're missing. It feels so organic that it took me a few issues to realize there was a larger story, and this wasn't just Cates engaging in some innovative storytelling.

As for the plot: raising Las Vegas and getting trapped in Hell as a result. It's pretty good. There's a lot of action-action-action, but Cates mixes it with great interactions with people like Clea and Dorammu.

Then there's the final issue ("#390"), where Cates reveals what he can do with an all-character issue, and that's hilarious and entirely spectacular.

[Ernest · Rating 2 out of 5]

This volume was…ok I guess? It directly ties into Doctor Strange: Damnation, so readers who go into it cold (like I did) will either have to just accept large swathes of assumed happenings or be thoroughly confused. Even accepting much of what had happened, I felt distinctly less interested in this Marvel volume that others (I’m prepared to accept that it is largely or entirely due to one��s impression of Doctor Strange: Damnation). I also felt that some of the art tried to be too atmospheric to the detriment of being impactful. It would be too far to say that I thought this was a bad read, more perhaps that I can’t see myself going back to it.

[Villain E · Rating 2 out of 5]

This takes place concurrent to the Damnation miniseries, which I have not read yet. Dr. Strange makes a lot of decisions which seem stupid or out of character.

During not-so-Secret Empire, Las Vegas was destroyed. In Damnation, Doctor Strange decides to use magic to restore it, including all of the people who died. But in doing so, he manages to raise literal Hell. That's covered in the first few pages here. I assume there's more detail in the other series.

This book deals with Doctor Strange getting tricked by Mephisto over and over again, and making poor decisions which dig him in deeper over and over again. Donny Cates writes a really terrible Doctor Strange.

[Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

Now with even more moping...

This is like a bad regeneration episode of Doctor Who. We basically have a retelling of 'Damnation'. Strange decides...once again...that he can fix things if he prepares well enough. He craps the bed in that regard and Mephisto takes Vegas.

We finally get resolution with his companion situation. Zelma makes her choice. Clea comes back, to once again slap Strange upside the head metaphorically. This feels like someone burning out their time on a book that they had no idea for.