Doctor Strange: Damnation - Complete Collection

Damnation (Reading Order) #1-15

by Donny Cates, Nick Spencer, Christopher Sebela

Collects Doctor Strange: Damnation #1-4, Damnation: Johnny Blaze — Ghost Rider #1, Doctor Strange (2015) #386-389, Iron Fist (2017) #78-80 and Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider #15-17.

The city of sin meets its biggest sinner yet. When Doctor Strange raises up Las Vegas from its destruction during SECRET EMPIRE, he inadvertently opens a door for the embodiment of evil: Mephisto! When the Lord of Hell claims the gambler's paradise for himself and sets his sights on the rest of the world, it will take a diverse group of heroes to beat the devil at his own game. Wong's makeshift band of Midnight Sons — Iron Fist, Blade, Moon Knight and Scarlet Spider — must face down a whole platoon of Ghost Riders…but where does Johnny Blaze stand? DAMNATION transforms the life of Doctor Strange — and the magical landscape of the Marvel Universe!

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Horror, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics

337 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 17, 2018

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok so the Damnation stuff is excellent.
Loved it.



It's got humor, heart, magic, and a ghost dog.
Honestly, you can't ask for more than that out of a comic, can you?



So Damnation is the result of Stephen deciding to resurrect Las Vegas (<--I must have missed it being destroyed somehow) and bringing back more than just the dead people and tourists hot spots.
He (because magic) ends up dragging a casino from Hell run by Mephisto right into the center of town. Demons start possessing Avengers, Clea makes an appearance, and Stephen plays a card game for the souls of everyone, and Wong puts together a ragtag group of heroes together to mount a rescue when it all goes sideways.



So far, so good.
Along with with the Damnation storyline, and the corresponding Doctor Strange issues, this collection gives you some extras.
The Ghost Rider issue? <--YAY!
Not only relevant to this story but it was cool enough to make me want to read this title.



The Iron Fist stuff? <--Ehhh.
It was ok at best. And to even sorta/kinda enjoy it I think you would have to be a big fan. I actually really like Iron Fist and I can't really say this was anything that you should go out of your way for unless you just happen to be into this title.



The Scarlet Spider issues? <--OMFG
I wanted to like these but...no. I will be avoiding this title like the plague from here on out. And ending with the worst character/comic out of the bunch just left me with a sour taste in my mouth for the whole thing. I honestly wish I hadn't read The Complete Collection and just stuck to the main title.



However, on reflection, it was just the last few random issues that spoiled it. This was actually a really cool Doctor Strange story.

[Khurram · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good mini series, the companions issues not so much. I have to agree with Elsa

"I am not seeing what a bunch of monsters, a psychopath, a Kung Fu guy and a frankly useless useless vampire slayer are going to do?"

This statement more of less sums up the use most of these characters were in this story. I mean he could have chosen any random heroes from the marvel universe, and they are would have been as good/bad a job as these guys.

The Damnation mini series and the Dr Strange regular issues I would have rated 5 stars. They were great. I quite like the like the price of magic despite the motives. Many saying like the "road to hell is paved with good intentions", or "no good deed goes unpunished" come to mind. I like the change that they made in Steven Strange's character his arrogance from is early pre-magical life is more apparent.

The Ghost Rider oneshot I though would have been a good ending (4 stars), but the other part like Iron Fist 78 - 80, when did this happen? I know there was a "time difference", but it added nothing to the main story, I might have done something for Iron Fist story but it was useless mini series.3 stars.

The Scarlet Spider 15 - 17. That was the point of this? I much prefered Kane as the Scarlet Spider and seeing this version of Ben Reilly in action just confirms my opinion. 2 Stars.

Another thing I did not like about this book is a the beginning the writers went to the trouble of writing a chronology of where each comic fits into the timeline. As this is the complete collection I do not thing it would have been such a big ask to format the book so the issues were in this chronological order with Ghost Rider at the end so the big plan was not given away, but no the lazy formatting was the issues 1-4 of Damnation, Dr Strange 386 - 389, Ghost Rider One shot, Iron Fist 7 - 80, and finally Scarlet Spider 15 -17. This is just a lack of effort and nothing else. It is a shame as the Mini series itself was very good the last two companions just let it down. The is a cover gallery with the variant covers of the Damnation mini series. If you are a Dr Strange or Ghost Rider fan this will be an enjoyable collection the other midnight sons are just useless. I still have no idea why the Scarlet Spider was included he has no connection to magic or the darkness. I would have rated this 3.5 stars but the strength of the main story along with Dr Strange and Ghost Rider rounded it up for me.

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dr. Strange gets his mojo back and decides to resurrect Las Vegas. The odd thing is that if you've been reading Scarlet Spider, the city hasn't actually been destroyed it is just in bad shape. This is where Marvel's editorial staff should have been working closer together. Anyway, when Dr. Strange casts his spell not only does he fix Vegas, he brings a piece of hell back with him in Hotel Inferno. Mephisto's running it and people start turning into demons. The 2 Dr. Strange books go hand and hand together and are best read going back and forth between the two. Out of the other crossover books, only the Johnny Blaze book is central to the story. Iron Fist and Scarlet Spider are off doing their own thing in their books. Iron Fist fights some demons in the ring to bring some people back from hell. Scarlet Spider is off being a douche and getting tempted by Mephisto. That book would be a LOT more interesting if they shifted the book's focus over to the Kaine Scarlet Spider instead. Ben Reilly really sucks in his own book.

[Malum · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was only going to read the four main issues of this event but I was having so much fun with it I decided to read the whole thing!

My notes:

First of all, we finally get a good version of Doctor Strange back. He has magic powers and his classic costume, and he isn't acting all emo and swinging an axe around everywhere.

Along with a new (old) Strange, this book also retains a lot of the humor of the previous run, which is a good thing. When your hero is running around slinging spells and fighting trippy monsters, a little humor fits with the sillyness of it all.

I am not complaiining or anything (because he was hilarious), but when did Moon Knight become discount Deadpool?

Wong is back!

Iron Fist and Ben Reilly's books didn't tie in to the main story very much. They were off kind of doing their own thing.

The ending set us up for an even cooler looking event.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad little crossover but, like most of these things, more than a little disjointed.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This review is only for the tie ins as I read everything else in the Doctor Strange by Cates deluxe edition.

Johnny Blaze: Ghost Rider - 3 stars
This was the weakest on these issues. Blaze has been separated from his Ghost Rider counterpart and is trying to convince him to help. We also get to see how Blaze became the king of hell like he was in Ed Brisson’s run.

Ben Riley: Scarlet Spider - 3.25 stars
Ben swings in on the scene, saves a gun store owner and straps up with all kinds of machine guns and pistols. The Midnight Sons task him with staying out side to stop and demons from going back into the hell casino to help Mephisto. Ben ends up foolishly making a deal with Mephisto and there are some other story threads that seem to tie back into some other Ben Riley series that I haven’t read. So I was little lost on some stuff.


Iron Fist - 4 stars
This was my favorite out of the bunch. I had read Brisson’s Iron Fist and enjoyed it. I noticed that there were 3 more issues that the 2 trades didn’t collect and they were here. Nice finish to his arc.

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Damnation is a corner event. What's that? It's a smaller event, doesn't alter major effects in the whole universe, but big enough that might be a couple of crossovers. I just made that up but that's what this feels like.

Okay so what's up? After a bunch of people died, and a whole city of Vegas was destroyed, Doctor Strange didn't want that shit to stand. So what's he do? Well brings back that motherfucking city. And as one of the Avengers says "You know you can't do that without a sacrifice" out comes the door of hell. Mephisto says "Strange, welcome to Damnation" and boom, he gets sucked in to face the demon. However, he ain't going alone on this adventure. We got Iron Fist, Blade, Ghost rider, and more to come to fight the demon of hell!

Good: The art, while changing due to different series, is always pretty solid. I thought the damnation issues and Strange issues were pretty great. Nick Spencer and Donny Cates make a solid team with a super fun storyline and believable dialog. I also thought Ghost Dog was the motherfuckin shiiiiit.

Bad: It's overstuffed, as most events, or mini-events are. The issues giving focus to Iron Fist or even Scarlet Spider aren't very fun or interesting. This is the down effect to not caring too much about their individual series and then pushing them into the main storyline here. Also, the pacing is a little sluggish at points.

So this event was a fun one. Sure it had issues, like any, but I enjoyed the core moments and some great "oh shit moments" with some hilarious dialog. Donny and team did a solid event, a 3 out of 5.

[Sud666 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dr. Strange Damnation could have been at least a three star story. Had it been left alone (as in not throwing in numerous other crossover stories) to tell the Dr. Strange story-then yeah, even with my reservations, it would have warranted a three star. But the story gets pulled into too many parts thus lessening its overall import.

My first major problem is in the concept of Strange doing something so stupid as to "resurrect" Las Vegas without there being a cost. The guy IS the Sorcerer Supreme, you'd think he'd know that. But he's forgotten. So as he brings back Vegas, he also brings back Mephisto. A huge mess occurs and Wong has to lead a motley band of weirdos to rescue him. Oh and the Avengers are possessed. Which also begs the question of if Thor is possessed by Mephisto, then how is he/she (since Thor is a female now) can not be "worthy" to lift the hammer. Oops. But umm at least Blade makes an appearance. Forgot he is part of the MCU.

The rest of it? With Ghost Rider taking over Hell *sigh* That was stupid as hell. No pun intended. Then some other Spiderdude (seriously, how many of these Spider assholes are out there? several dozen? who keeps track of these losers?) named Scarlet Spider also gets involved with fighting demons. Story ends.

Ummm okay then. So yeah a 2 star overall, though the Damnation series and the Dr. Strange issues were three star, but the rest wavers between one to a two stars at best.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

[Read as single issues]
Desparate to make up for his lack of magical power during Secret Empire, Doctor Strange resurrects the entire city of Las Vegas. But unfortunately, Mephisto's along for the ride. Now the new Midnight Sons must save the Avengers, and Doctor Strange, from Mephisto's machinations or all of their souls will be forfeit.

Damnation is a story of many parts; I'm not really sure why Damnation itself is separate to the Doctor Strange issues of the book, since the two stories are almost inseperable, and help give the full story of what's going on. The plot's fairly straight forward, but it's got some very good character moments for Stephen after all the Last Days Of Magic stuff has had him moping around for far too long, while the Doctor Strange issues are basically Bats and Wong stealing the show. Damnation itself is drawn by Rod Reis and Szymon Kudranski, who give the hell-infested Las Vegas a beautifully horrible visual, while the Doctor Strange issues are taken by Nico Henrichon, who gets to really let loose on madness - if you thought his Doctor Strange issues during Secret Empire were good, you ain't seen nothing yet.

Also included here are all of the other tie-in books. The most essential is the Ghost Rider one-shot that fills in a vitally important plot point between Damnation #3 and #4, with some beautiful Phil Noto art (who you wouldn't think would be a good fit for Hell but there you go) as well as upending Ghost Rider's status quo in a very interesting way.

Then there's also the Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider issues, which play nicely into the narrative of that series but aren't particularly important to the main plot. They examine Ben and Kaine's characters very well, and Peter David manages to use yet another event derailing his ongoing plotlines to his advantage. He's only really involved in this because Ben lives in Las Vegas at this point, but still. The art for these is Will Sliney, who's going from strength to strength.

And finally there's the Iron Fist issues, which again aren't mega-important, but a fun aside. I've not been reading the current Iron Fist series but these few issues did make me want to go back and take a look, since it's delving right into Iron Fist canon and bringing back a lot of characters I know and love.

Damnation's one of those mini-events that I expect won't be remembered in a few years time; it's great fun, but it's not really on par with the rest of Donny Cates' Marvel work. If you're a Strange fan, or you like a good magical brawl, check this one out, although you might want to wait for the smaller, individual trades later in the year.

[Frédéric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite good if you stick to the Doc titles.

Doc Strange uses magic to bring back Las Vegas, razed during the "Hail Hydra" event. But you know what they say: Hell is paved with good intentions.
As a matter of fact Hell pops up in Vegas, with Mephisto as director of the Hotel Inferno, before breaking loose in the streets. Doc will have to clean up his own mess but won't be able to do it alone.

As said above, if you stick to the "Damnation" and "Doctor Stange" series you'll get a quite a decent mini-event.
(You should probably include the Ghost Rider one-shot in the list. It's not particularly good but will explain one twist at the end that otherwise will totally come out of the blue.)

So there's well-paced action, humor, some high stakes. The main characters are well used and it's nice to see Wong above his usual butler role. The depressed, weary Doc feels real while Bats the ghost dog is excellent in his Droopy impersonation. The supporting cast is only here as cannon fodder but some interactions between them are funny.

But the two other series included (Iron fist and Scarlet Spider) are frankly as uninteresting as they are useless. They finally slow down the reading pace more than anything else.

I'd have rated this 3,5, gladly bumped up to 4* for the Doc stuff only. As it is, includind Iron Fist and Scarlet Spider, I'll settle for 3*

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

This picks up after the Secret Empire chaos (most of which I’ve deliberately avoided)—Las Vegas, NV was destroyed. Power-boosted Doctor Strange brought it back. But, unfortunately, he raised Mephisto’s realm of Hell along with it. Every little sin costs people their souls and/or transforms them into Mephisto’s soldiers—including Falcon, Hawkeye, Captain Marvel, Black Panther and Thor. Strange attempts to deal with Mephisto and fix everything by himself (feeling he’s alienated everyone, although it turns out he hasn’t); and things go terribly wrong.
Bats the ghost dog (so cute!) goes to Wong for help. Despite their rift, Wong decides he must help his friend; and he assembles a team to assist. I don’t quite follow the logic, but apparently all those he recruits are already somehow tainted to a degree that Mephisto’s power can’t affect them. This B-team (Bats calls them “a whole lotta ridiculous”) is mostly tasked with distracting the demons while Wong’s true plan unfolds.
The rescue team:
Johnny Blaze/Ghost Rider – I kind of got dragged to that first Nicolas Cage movie, and I didn’t enjoy it. A friend of mine says that “the penance stare” is that look your mom gives you when you’re a kid doing something you shouldn’t. Here, he’s quite amusing and plays a major part in the plan to set things right.
Danny Rand/Iron Fist – a character I’ve never read/seen before, wielder of mystic kung-fu power. He’s kind of blandly earnest and doesn’t interest me that much.
Blade/Eric Brooks – the part-vampire vampire/monster-hunter. I’ve never seen the movies or read anything else about him, but he’s fun. Too bad he isn’t featured more prominently.
Elsa Bloodstone – a monster hunter who’s sarcastic as can be. Her bickering with Blade and caustic nicknames for Ben are amusing.
Mr. Knight – the insane half of Moon Knight’s personality*. He gets a few cute lines in, but he seems less useful than many of the others.
Jericho Drumm/Dr. Voodoo – a magic-wielding character I’ve seen in other Doctor Strange stories. He’s pretty cool and should’ve been given more to do.
Man-Thing - Seriously?! A part-man, part-monster who needs Dr. Voodoo to communicate. I guess this is who you recruit when the Hulk or the Thing can’t come along.
Ben Reilly/Scarlet Spider – a “friendly neighbourhood spider-clone” who lives in Las Vegas and volunteers to help. He must’ve been in that insane “Spider-Verse” book I read, but he didn’t make an impression there. Here, he’s very Parker-esque in attitude—and therefore rather cute—although I don’t know why his soul is tainted.
Thanks to the editors for the very handy reading chronology in the front of the book, given the way the stories interlock!
The main plot is crazy (and I suppose that’s saying something, given some of the far-out things that have happened in the Doctor Strange volumes that led up to it). But I think the resolution of the plot is actually pretty cool and quite clever. I like the way the rift between Strange and Wong is healed, and they admit that they’ll always have each other’s backs. The dialogue’s especially good in the Doctor Strange and Scarlet Spider parts. The Ghost Rider part of the story is a fairly straightforward action sequence that’s essential to the resolution of the problem. The Scarlet Spider part, while rather cute and providing a bit of character arc for Ben, is somewhat confusing (who/what is that little girl?) and not entirely necessary. The Iron Fist part felt the least necessary of all, with its rather predictable story and its focus on Danny’s personal drama. The art varies in style, but I think it all works. I enjoyed some parts more than others; but overall, I liked the collection and didn’t feel ripped off.

*how his status is referred to in the book. No attempt is made in the story to deal with dissociative identity disorder in a serious way.

[David Sarkies · Rating 2 out of 5]

Summoning Hell
14 December 2018 – Perth

Sure, a lot of people seem to like these super hero comic books, and unfortunately I’m not one of them. So, why is it that every so often I end up writing a review on one? Well, when I am about and about, and discover a comic book store that I haven’t been to, I just have to go in and look around, and sure enough they never have anything that is at all vaguely interesting to me, so I inevitably purchase a comic book, usually a Marvel one, namely because it really comes down to a choice between Marvel and DC.

So, like many of these stories, this one begins after the Avengers have beat off an alien invasion of Las Vegas. Well, Doctor Strange, being this all so powerful magician, decides to use his magic to raise Las Vegas from the dead. Well, that was a big mistake, particularly since you simply can’t do something like that without there being any consequences. Well, consequences there are, and you can probably know where a place like Las Vegas goes when it dies – hell of course. So, when Doctor Strange raises Las Vegas from the dead, he brings Mephisto and all the denizens of hell with him.

That is basically it, though the catch is that because hell is now on Earth, anybody committing even a minor infraction, is turned into a hell fire minon (or whatever Ghost Rider happens to be). The thing is that it is spreading, and unfortunately the avengers have been caught up in this as well. So, Wong, Doctor Strange’s one time side kick, is urged to come to his aid, and as such raises a group of, well, somewhat darker, and second-tier, heros to come and sort it all out.

Mind you, these guys seem to do very little at all, with the exception of maybe Ghost Rider, who actually ends up having a major role in all of this. But I won’t go any further into this, just incase you want to read it, and don’t particularly appreciate any spoilers. As for the story, well, it was rather bland, and somewhat silly at times as well, though I guess this is what can be dished up when writers sort of start running out of ideas. The art was, well, pretty shocking. Once again, it really seemed to be rushed, but I probably shouldn’t be all that surprised, with the amount of output that is actually expected from these companies.

What I now wander is how many more movies, and stories, can the Marvel universe continue to dish up, though I do get this impression that a lot of these newer stories are now coming out from the movies as opposed to following on from the original series.

[Alan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I entered this expecting some sort of fun Midnight Sons revival.

What I got was a bit of slog thru Strange trying to rescue Las Vegas from Hell, a battle for the sovereignty of Hell, etc.

Look, I'm not always expecting originality, but if I'm not going to get that give me some fun.

This managed neither.

[Nicole Westen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really love that this included everything you need to know the entire Damnation story-line, not just the Doctor Strange issues. Reading order was also included, although it wasn't PRINTED in reading order. Which means a lot of flipping back and forth. That was the only drawback.

[Judah Radd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not bad. I liked the main arc (complete with the signature Donny surprises) as well as the Doctor Strange tie-ins. I was less enthused by the forgettable tie-ins like Ben Reilly and Iron Fist.

This is what drives me crazy about Marvel’s collection editors (short rant):

Good - includes main arc, tie-ins and one-shots

Good - includes a chronological key

Bad - DOESN’T COLLECT THE ISSUES IN CHRONOLOGICAL READING ORDER!!! Whyyyy?!!!

It’s frustrating to have to flip around, but oh well. Still an above average read.

[Shadowdenizen]

3.5 stars. Quick, fun (if somewhat forgettable) read.

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow. Ok, that’s kind of a mess. First off, this collection started off way better than I thought it would be. I mean Marvel has a tendency to really screw the pooch with these crossover thingies, not always, but unless it’s really, really laid out things kind of just run off the rails. So, my first concern was in what order to read this. Usually I’d just read front to back like a normal person, but sometimes I get a kind of ... tingle. And that’s kind of what happened here and I was halfway through the book before I found the “Reading Chronology” in the front.but I’m left wondering why they didn’t just print the book with the stories in something like that order to begin with. Sigh. Probably would have made way too much sense. And then there’s the whole calling this team the Midnight Sons. I mean, ok, yeah, it’s the whole throwback to that 90s imprint and all, but all things considered shouldn’t this really be ... The Defenders? As far as I’m concerned this is totally a Defenders story. But what do I know.
So, the core Damnation issues were pretty good, as were the Doctor Strange issues. Good stuff. Very enjoyable and entertaining. But the deeper I to the collection you go the less it holds together. The Ghost Rider and Iron Fist issues were fine, but the Scarlet Spider stuff was pretty much awful. And as that ended the collection, it leaves a really bad taste in the mouth. Mephisto is presented as both one of the biggest and baddest of the bad and something so pathetic that he’s not even worth making into a joke. So much for consistency.
Taken as a whole? Good, not great. Really poorly laid out. And horribly uneven. Shrug. That’s what I got.

[Nate Deprey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked this collection less and less as it went along. The Damnation mini series and collected Doctor Strange issues were good but not great but the Iron Fist issues left me flat and the Scarlet Spider issues just aren't that good. Nick Spencer and Donny Gates have a problem common with group books in that there are just too many characters and several to most of them get lost in the shuffle.

[Wadi Hisham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good. But for god's sake Marvel, make the layout of your crossover event collections better.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

The art in this comic is unreal

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book i even enjoyed all the tie in issues especially the Dr. strange ones I’m really loving Donny Cates. One thing i wish they would have put a little more focus on the characters they brought in like moon knight, iron fist and blade i feel like they were kind of forgotten in the back round.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

2-3 Stars - some is pretty good, some just readable

[Reni · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this one. I can't say I followed 100 % of what was going on, and I'm a bit iffy on the premise (people complain that it's hard enough to incorporate Doctor Strange into storylines because of his power level, which is why he got de-powered and demoted so often in recent years, so is giving him the power to raise an entire city from the dead really a good idea? Really?), but I was in the mood for some Doctor Strange action, and this one's a right spectacle, the art is great, and I do love it when some of the more magical Marvel characters get together to do their stuff.

Sadly, most of those characters felt a bit superfluous in this story. It's cool to see them all fight demons together, but that's literally all they do. They have a few nice quips, but the meat of the story, and all the emotional impact is with Doctor Strange and Wong, and to some extent, even Clea. Not that I'm complaining that they're getting some good scenes, given that these are the characters I wanted to see when I bought this book, but I'd have liked to see heavy-weight characters who have some interesting history with Doctor Strange like Doctor Voodoo do more than trade quips with Blade. Collections of cross-over events have a tendency to be mixed bags, and this one is not an exception. I liked the main action, and the issues from the Doctor Strange ongoing, and the Scarlet Spider and Ghost Rider issues were fun even though they felt like filler material. Did not care for the Iron Fist issues. I hope fans of his will have gotten more out of those than me.

Also, I am beginning to question why so many writers tend to write Doctor Strange so sad and lonely. It's as though modern Marvel feels like they can't get him involved in anything of interest unless he's moping over having lost a friend or another limb or his powers yet again. I swear, he had good stories even back when he was happily married and had a house full of people he loved and who loved him back.

That said, I do love his dog. As I'm not caught up on any on the ongoings I have no idea whether he sticks around, but I hope he does.

[Krzysztof Grabowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jedno z tych wydarzeń Marvela, na które w ogóle nie czekałem, a które to zaskakująco jest dobre w swojej prostocie. Aż się zdziwiłem. Niemniej składa się na to kilka elementów, w tym dobre dialogi, fajne interakcje postaci (pieseł!!!) czy humor, który zaskakująco "wchodzi" w moje gusta, dając nam mieszankę naprawdę dziwną, co i ciekawą.

W dodatku jest to też zbiór kompletny, który zawiera dodatkowe historie "towarzyszące", przez co od razu mamy wszystko w jednym miejscu, co na rynku polskim jest dużym unikatem. Dlatego też mamy tu dobre ponad trzysta stron wartkiej akcji, która przenosi nas do Las Vegas. Miasto po wydarzeniach z Tajnego Imperium zostało zniszczone, a wielu ludzi zabitych.

Strange zamierza jednak zmienić ten stan rzeczy. Miasto i mieszkańcy powstają, jest tylko jeden mały defekt. Szkopuł w tym, że wraz z mieściną do naszego świata przenosi się armia demonów z Mefisto na czele. Rogaci polubili miejsce, jakim jest mekka kasy i nie chcą tanio sprzedać skóry, jaką otrzymali w prezencie. Dr Strange podejmuje ryzykowną grę i... przegrywa.

Wraz z nim przegrywa grupa Avengers i teraz tylko Wong, w towarzystwie duszy uroczego psiaka, muszą zebrać ekipę szaleńców do stawienia czoła piekłu. Iron Fist, Blade, Moon Knight czy Ghost Rider. Ta ekipa nabroi tutaj mocno. Damnation ma naprawdę niezłe tempo, dobre twisty fabularne i satysfakcjonujący finał. Szkoda tylko, że nie wszystkie historie uzupełniające mają ten sam poziom.

Zeszyty Ghost Ridera są świetne, ale już Iron Fist czy Ben Reilly aka Scarlet Spider to przypadki co najwyżej leciwe, tylko nabijające liczbę stron w tej odsłonie Strange'a. Niemniej wizualnie całość też prezentuje dobry poziom, dlatego też to zwieńczenie przygód najpotężniejszego maga Ziemi trzeba uznać za warte uwagi.

[Hizonfire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun enjoyable story arc but...

...reading it as one book is a challenge as the compilation presents the main story arc first and the character arcs after it. As a result events seem to happen out of sequence or you have to loop back to the main story to find what happens next. The main Damnation arc is brisk and fun, with clean art and snappy writing. However, it could've used another issue or two as the events seem to resolve too quickly and comes off as shallow. Most of the context are in the separate issues of certain characters but a little more effort on the compilation would've been appreciated to make it more cohesive. For example, Johnny Blaze and Ghost Rider's story would've been perfect if it was slotted in between Damnation 3 & 4 instead of following 3 issues of Dr Strange. I know that Marvel has gone away from the cash grab crossovers in the 90s that forces you to get titles you don't follow just to make sense of the story, and has since adopted a self-contained approach. That's ok during its initial run but since this is already a compilation, story cohesion should take precedence (and would've been another reason to buy the book even if you read the individual issues). Lucky if your favorite character has a book of its own as I found Iron Fist and Scarlet Spider's stories surprisingly profound and resonant. The others without their own titles weren't given that much ink time in the main Damnation stories and would've been interesting to know about Blade, Bloodstone, Dr Voodoo and Moon Knight's context in this story. Enjoyable for a lazy afternoon read but a little editing or resequencing could've made it a classic.

[Bob Dawson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did they even read Dr Strange before writing this story?

Everything about this Dr Strange story is wrong. Let me amend that to: everything about this entire run of Dr Strange has been wrong. I understand wanting to reboot an old character, but they didn't even get the character right. This is NOT the Dr Strange I read as a teenager. He is all wrong. Everyone around him is wrong, especially Wong and Clea. It is painful to read. Dr Strange isn't the insightful, knowledgeable sorcerer who out plans and out thinks his enemies, despite being vastly underpowered compared to them. As a matter of fact, they make a point, for whatever insane reason, of pointing out that he is a poor planner. I swear, they never read Dr Strange before writing this.
Also, the entire premise makes no sense. Jaywalkers losing their souls, just because Mephisto is on earth? What? Let's just pull new rules out of... Well, every bodily orifice, and pretend they make sense to make the story work. No one will notice, right? Not to mention the inanity of the method of getting Mephisto to earth in the first place.
The only reason it got a second star is because some of the supporting story material is alright, and there is some good art. But seriously, that is no reason to waste your time or money on this wasteland of ideas. This volume is a shame to the entire Dr Strange franchise, and ought to be burned and forgotten.

[Rick Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

More of a "Midnight Sons" book than a Doctor Strange book, but solid overall. Following the events of Nick Spencer's Secret Empire, Strange seeks to undue the destruction of Las Vegas by returning it to what it was. However, Mephisto has already claimed Vegas as his own, and as the city is returned back to the earthly plane, he imposes his own designs upon the city. At the center of this revived Las Vegas is the Hotel Inferno, Mephisto's stronghold where he and his demons control the rest of the city. After Mephisto turns the responding Avengers into his thralls, Strange tries to gamble his way into beating the lord of hell. When Strange's play fails to pan out, Wong assembles a misfit crew consisting of Blade, Doctor Voodoo, Moon Knight, Elsa Bloodstone, Ghost Rider, Iron Fist, Scarlet Spider, and Man-Thing who form a new iteration of the Midnight Sons.

The main event issues are pretty solid. This is the kind of event that is relatively small in scale and thus doesn't whirlpool in every major title into addressing the situation. It works pretty well in this regard, and is a fairly satisfying story with great artwork from Rod Reis and Syzmon Kudranski. The tie-ins are mostly dull though, with a few exceptions like the Ghost Rider and Doctor Strange issues. I could have done without the meandering nonsense that was the Scarlet Spider and Iron Fist issues, both of which contribute very little to the main event.

[Peyton F · Rating 4 out of 5]

The mapping of this book is kind of wild. At the beginning, you're offered the "Chronology" of the book, which has everything that is in there listed in a family tree-looking order. When you read it, however, you're presented with "Damnation" first, followed by Doctor Strange, then the Johnny Blaze one shot, 3 issues of Iron Fist, and then 3 issues of Scarlet Spider. In reality, You're supposed to read the first issue of the Doctor Strange set that's presented here, two issues of "Damnation," followed by some of the other Doctor Strange stuff. I don't know -- reading it Event first followed by the tie in stuff made sense, but it also kind of took the wind out of my sails. I finish reading the main stuff and then everything else just was kind of hard to care about (although the Iron Fist and Scarlet Spider issues were really self contained in the context of the rest of the narrative).

For a first Doctor Strange comic, I really enjoyed everything I got to read. I love Bats and I love Wong. Strange himself feels like the least fun of the book. He reminds me of the "Straight man" that's also dealing with a ton of guilt all the time. Everyone else is just more interesting.

Personally, I really like Clea. She slays, and I think that I ought to read her stint as the sorceress supreme after Strange died for a bit.

There were a few moments in this book where I laughed out loud. It's a good read if you can get past the chronology mapping stuff here.

[Juan DeLeon · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is meat on this narrative, but pretty soon one is left with tough chewy grit. Stuff that gets in your teeth and you struggle to get it out. Dr. Strange is a like able character, but, for me he can be stretched too thinly, because he straddles the super hero realm and with this particular storyline he’ll on earth, but it all feels watered down. Marvel teases with the occult, hell and Mephisto, but with this DC’s Vertigo is far supreme. Marvel needs to really take their super hero line and put them through the wringer if they opt to go in the world of Strange.

When in hell, not in Vegas, the hordes of hell have pants, complete with belt loops and belt, can’t have demons running around naked. Then will the Ghost rider is trying to get to the throne of Mephisto, they lean on some Road Warrior motifs on the smooth landscape of hell. I understand wanting to get through this big collection, but not at the cost of the narrative and art.

So in Vegas, there is another visual scene lifted from Pulp Fiction locker room, and I love a good homage when not wasted. This is wasted.

The later chapters actually weaken what worked with Strange, the supporting cast just water logs the memory and never quite gets back to the story.

[Sleepseeker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't usually read these characters or their series of books but I liked this little event. I read it because it deals with the aftermath of when Las Vegas was destroyed back in Secret Empire event. This is Marvel's way of trying to "fix" some of the disasters that happened. I usually don't like restore comics but I did like what I read.

I don't know what struggles Strange has gone through that they talk about during this event, but it has me interested in picking up some Dr. Strange TPB's as I've never read any of his books, except if their part of some type of Event.

There were some characters and individual comic issues that I didn't care for, but that doesn't take away from the overall arc going on.

I have seen this in other TPB's, where they don't list the comics in the order of the story but by series, which I think takes away from reading, because if you like to read Events in chronological order, you need to flip through to find the next one on the list. It's a little annoying.