Master of the Mystic Arts: Doctor Strange Appreciation 2022

[DigiCom]

In the preview for the next (and final) issue of The Death of Doctor Strange, there is a panel with Wong showing the images of several other Marvel magic users. Does anyone know the identity of the character show wearing an eye patch? Most of these characters are well established, long time characters or from the 2016 book, "Last Days of Magic." I've seen inquiries about the character elsewhere in social media. I thought I was generally familiar with most of Marvel's magic users but I'm drawing a blank on this one.

https://aiptcomics.com/2022/01/21/ma...tor-strange-5/

My guess, considering who created her, and who is writing the book:

https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Auntie_Ante_(Earth-616)

[Clea]

My guess, considering who created her, and who is writing the book:

https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Auntie_Ante_(Earth-616)

Aha! I'll bet you're right. I still haven't read the Black Cat books yet. Serves me right for not reading all of the one-shot tie-ins to this mini series, tool. No wonder I didn't recognize her. Thank you.

[Clea]

Hmmm. I can't say that I do know her. Interesting that Doom is amongst that group. Considering how unhappy I was upon hearing the title of this book, yes. A welcome surprise. Really looking forward to Strange.

Pretty sure it is Mahatma Doom, from the Last Days of Magic. Many of the rest of the characters on this page are from that book.

[Clea]

Death of Doctor Strange #5 - Spoilers: Oh no! Doctor Strange is dead...again!

spoilers:

Well, that was unexpected. I thought that young Strange would simply take back the stolen hands of his contemporary self, leaving Kaecilius all stumpy and forlorn. I was not expecting young Strange to use those stolen hands to regenerate contemporary Strange from the fingertips on outward, using Kaecilius's body as fuel. LOL. That was nuts and I loved it. I was sad to see young Strange turn himself into a blue cloaked astral time bomb and blow up the Peregrine Child from the inside out, but that does seem like the sort of grand gesture that Strange would do to save the world. (Especially considering that his time was running out anyway and his mission had been accomplished.) And then - of course because Clea and Strange have the most tragically messed up relationship and Marvel never lets them just hang out and be happy together - the pair got one quick moment to vow their love for each other and then contemporary Strange was off to be dead again, leaving her with his cloak and the Eye of Agamotto and a new job as Sorcerer Supreme of Earth (along with a brand new sequel series!). The end!

end of spoilers

I think of all the times that Strange has been killed in Marvel before, this story may have been the most entertaining. We'll get a nice sequel series starring Clea, so she'll finally have a chance to take center stage for a while, but I can't help wondering how long before Doctor Strange returns. It seems so odd to me that he'll be dead in the comics just when the next MCU film featuring him will be released. That's such weird timing. Oh well! In the meantime, good-bye for now, Stephen Strange. Clea will take care of things (and hang out with Wong and Bats) until your inevitable return.

[DigiCom]

An okay story, I guess, but it felt a bit unearned. A lot of things happened because they happened, without much in the way of justification.

Mackay's a solid writer, though, so I'll likely give Strange a shot.

[Clea]

An okay story, I guess, but it felt a bit unearned. A lot of things happened because they happened, without much in the way of justification.

Mackay's a solid writer, though, so I'll likely give Strange a shot.

I agree. Things happened because the plot required them to happen. It seemed to me like Marvel editorial said, "Welp, time to kill Doctor Strange again while we shake up the board for 2022." And MacKay stepped up and declared that he could spin an entertaining story out of it, and so here we are. He wrote it as a whodunnit murder mystery (Marvel Clue!) and even had young Strange flat out say so in the story, so things happened just because that's how things unfold in a murder mystery. I don't know when Marvel plans to bring Stephen Strange back into the comics, but I suspect that Marvel marketing will spoil that event before MacKay has a chance to reveal it in the upcoming Strange series.

[SanityOrMadness]

An okay story, I guess, but it felt a bit unearned. A lot of things happened because they happened, without much in the way of justification.

Yeah, the series was going okay, but #5 really went off the rails...

spoilers:

I mean, bringing Present Day Strange back for half an issue only to kill him off again? REALLY? What was the actual point - it just dilutes the focus of the mini, which has been on Past Strange. I mean, yeah, star-crossed lovers ending, but they were already going that road in earlier issues with the Clea/Past Strange scene before they decamped to Castle Mordo. And Past Strange was always doomed to evaporate anyway.

end of spoilers

Nice art though. Lee Garbett was the MVP of the series.

We'll get a nice sequel series starring Clea, so she'll finally have a chance to take center stage for a while,...

The basic problem with Clea is that the way she was written out originally left no real way for her to return. Being dead in comics is one thing, as this series showed, but she gave herself the obligation of freeing the Dark Dimension from Dormammu & Umar- and later, when they were (temporarily) gone, ruling it as their rightful heir. In order to live life on Earth with Strange (or even without), she has to break her vows and abandon her people to Dormammu (who can never be truly defeated & dead cause, y'know, illusion of change and all that). Which is... less than heroic.

[Frontier]

Well, I can at least appreciate that the writing more or less respected the characters, especially Stephen and Clea, and we'll see Stephen back sooner rather than later, and the spotlight will be good for Clea.

Also just nice to see the pairs' romance back in focus again and not being torn to shreds for the umpteenth time.

[Clea]

Yeah, the series was going okay, but #5 really went off the rails...

spoilers:

I mean, bringing Present Day Strange back for half an issue only to kill him off again? REALLY? What was the actual point - it just dilutes the focus of the mini, which has been on Past Strange. I mean, yeah, star-crossed lovers ending, but they were already going that road in earlier issues with the Clea/Past Strange scene before they decamped to Castle Mordo. And Past Strange was always doomed to evaporate anyway.

end of spoilers

Nice art though. Lee Garbett was the MVP of the series.



The basic problem with Clea is that the way she was written out originally left no real way for her to return. Being dead in comics is one thing, as this series showed, but she gave herself the obligation of freeing the Dark Dimension from Dormammu & Umar- and later, when they were (temporarily) gone, ruling it as their rightful heir. In order to live life on Earth with Strange (or even without), she has to break her vows and abandon her people to Dormammu (who can never be truly defeated & dead cause, y'know, illusion of change and all that). Which is... less than heroic.

I don't know how they're going to justify having Clea on Earth while she's also the Sorcerer Supreme of the Dark Dimension. The fact that she was there fighting against Dormammu while Strange was on Earth fighting his various Earth dimension foes was one of the strains on their relationship before. I'm sure Jed MacKay will provide a decent justification. Right now, I have absolutely NO idea what Marvel is even doing regarding the Dark Dimension and its characters, so putting Clea on Earth may just be part of some over-arching Marvel plan to reboot/revamp Dormammu and the Dark Dimension. Or, you know, Marvel might just have dropped the ball completely when it comes to these characters and is now just letting writers do whatever they want with them from book to book. I don't know. These days, I take each story as it comes along. If I like it, yay. If I don't, I'll skip it. I caught up on the Strange Academy book the other day just to see what the heck they are doing with the new Dormammu kid character. It seems like they're positioning this inexplicable (and thus far unexplained) kid to be some major power player in the Dark Dimension in the future, so maybe moving Clea to Earth for a while will align with something they're doing over there. I don't know. I would hope that Marvel wouldn't sideline two major female characters (Clea and Umar) to set up some sort of 'boy who would be king' destiny story, though it wouldn't surprise me if they did.

As for this current story...I was pleased with Jed MacKay's writing and his interpretations of Strange and Clea. I'm looking forward to seeing him write Clea as a main character because he takes her seriously and seems to have some affection for her as a character. Marvel's use of her in the past has been extremely hit or miss (usually miss) so I'm happy to see a competent writer tell her story for a while.

[SanityOrMadness]

Right now, I have absolutely NO idea what Marvel is even doing regarding the Dark Dimension and its characters, so putting Clea on Earth may just be part of some over-arching Marvel plan to reboot/revamp Dormammu and the Dark Dimension. Or, you know, Marvel might just have dropped the ball completely when it comes to these characters and is now just letting writers do whatever they want with them from book to book. I don't know.

Eh, it would hardly be new. How did the Mindless Ones go from something Dormammu was terrified of (to the point that Strange's first "victory" over Dormammu was from helping him to lock them out of his realm again) to his standard minions?

[Shadowcat]

I agree. Things happened because the plot required them to happen. It seemed to me like Marvel editorial said, "Welp, time to kill Doctor Strange again while we shake up the board for 2022." And MacKay stepped up and declared that he could spin an entertaining story out of it, and so here we are. He wrote it as a whodunnit murder mystery (Marvel Clue!) and even had young Strange flat out say so in the story, so things happened just because that's how things unfold in a murder mystery. I don't know when Marvel plans to bring Stephen Strange back into the comics, but I suspect that Marvel marketing will spoil that event before MacKay has a chance to reveal it in the upcoming Strange series.

My review for this finale pretty much said exactly this. I do have confirmation from MacKay that there will be loads of Bats, so there is that to look forward to. I hope we’ll see more interaction between Clea & the Strange Academy as well.

[Clea]

Eh, it would hardly be new. How did the Mindless Ones go from something Dormammu was terrified of (to the point that Strange's first "victory" over Dormammu was from helping him to lock them out of his realm again) to his standard minions?

Likely it's because writers found minions to be more convenient to write than unstoppable, mindless cosmic horrors lurking between dimensions who are so out of our comprehension or control that even elder gods like Dormammu fear them. All of the Doctor Strange characters have morphed and changed over the decades since they were first introduced. That's to be expected and generally is okay (IMO).

[Clea]

My review for this finale pretty much said exactly this. I do have confirmation from MacKay that there will be loads of Bats, so there is that to look forward to. I hope we’ll see more interaction between Clea & the Strange Academy as well.

Perhaps Clea will spoil Bats SO MUCH that when Stephen Strange does eventually return, Bats will snub him and continue to hang out with Clea instead. LOL. Not sure I share your hope to see Clea interacting with the Strange Academy crowd but I suppose it's inevitable, all things considered.

[Shadowcat]

Perhaps Clea will spoil Bats SO MUCH that when Stephen Strange does eventually return, Bats will snub him and continue to hang out with Clea instead. LOL. Not sure I share your hope to see Clea interacting with the Strange Academy crowd but I suppose it's inevitable, all things considered.

I just want to see the kids more lol.

Also why can’t Asrar be the regular cover artist?
BFB19F4F-7352-4EED-A471-9B936E0E77FF.jpg

[Clea]

I just want to see the kids more lol.

Also why can’t Asrar be the regular cover artist?
BFB19F4F-7352-4EED-A471-9B936E0E77FF.jpg

I'm glad you are enjoying Strange Academy, even if only for the kids. I have nothing kind to say about that book so I am clearly not the intended audience and don't plan to read it again.

That Asrar cover is wonderful. I've been enjoying all of the main and variant covers I've seen lately.