This is one of the first mini-series I can remember getting unexpectedly excited for after I started this blog. I didn't know Brian K. Vaughn from anybody as a writer. I'm sure I'd heard of Ex Machina, but I hadn't (and still haven't) read it. And I don't think I'd come across Marcos Martin's artwork yet, either.
And yet, the combination of an interesting first cover, and a slow week in terms of new releases I was interested in, got me to pick this up. And it worked out pretty well, so I can blame all those crappy Marvel mini-series I took chances on in subsequent years on my good fortune with this one.
(Not really. The blame for those is on my poor judgement as always.)
Vaughn's Strange is an interesting mixture of experience and the arrogance that comes with that. He is extremely skilled and has been through a lot, knows a lot. But there are blind spots that come with that all the same. He underestimates an opponent (and is later underestimated himself), overreaches against a powerful creature that's killed past Sorcerer Supremes, but is able to adjust and recover. He's knowledgeable, but not infallible. He can charge in rashly, and even be a bit cruel when his temper is up. And criticially to the story, he's still very much a doctor of medicine.
He's also a bit charming - which Vaughn plays up by adding Night Nurse to the supporting cast and eventually starting up a relationship between the two of them - and could be seen as a bit absent-minded at times. Or he's just confident that Wong has his back. He's seen a lot, and so he has a tendency to take a slightly know-it-all approach with people, psychoanalyzing them in a way that could get on someone's nerves.
Martin's version Strange is tall and wiry, more than a bit of Vincent Price to him, I think. He draws the Cloak of Levitation as a long, narrow thing that tends to close tightly around Stephen so that only his head is visible above. But Martin also changes the costume up slightly, in that Strange wears the blue shirt loose over a ordinary looking pair of slacks, rather than tucked under a belt but over a pair of leggings, as was typically the look. Maybe Strange is worried someone will call him on his "casual Friday" attire, and the Cloak wants to spare him the embarrassment.
Really, though, I think Martin, Lopez, and Rodriguez are trying to channel their best Ditko. Never a bad call when we're talking about Dr. Strange, I assume. The scenes where Stephen is in other dimensions, or the mindscape, definitely owe a lot to Ditko's Strange, and Martin's creativity in design is well-suited for it. Wish he'd had more opportunity to go experimental with panel layouts.
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