New Avengers Annual comes out June 4, if Marvel.com is right. And I am SO looking forward to it. Gorgeous art! A whole issue about Dr. Strange! YESSSS!
Yep, count me doubly disappointed in this week's New Avengers, yet again. As you said, the previously posted art is all we got of Dr. Strange. And is one word balloon consisted of incomprehensible rune / magic speak. Here it is again.
Zero explanation or exploration or commentary of Strange selling his soul. And yes, we now have Bruce Banner (and I guess Maximus) on the team, so there's even less pages to go around. But forget him. I honestly think the Dr. Fate analog, the Norn, has gotten more dialog and accomplished more than Strange. It's beyond ridiculous, now. I'm seriously thinking of dropping this book.
I think we will get more than those two pages in the preview. Allegedly, this issue is supposed to make everyone want a Strange / Punisher buddy book. At least, I think it was this issue. Regardless, I'm somewhat skeptical of that, but I'm all for seeing more Deodato Strange, especially if he's actually doing something useful. And since it appears they are in a dark dimension, we should get Strange in his element.
What about the Mindless Ones? Do you think we'll see Dorammu or Umar as a murder victim? Will we get an appearance from Clea?
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I WILL drop this book if Hickman trashes Strange again and leaves him incapacitated for the rest of the story. Though, now that you mention it, the Norn had to draw on the power of other versions on himself and destroyed them, didn't he? And I honestly don't think Hickman is taking any side trips for any characters but T'challa -- I mean, Marvel has someone else writing the annual issue that will deal with Strange after his soul is sold. So I doubt there would be any rescue mission to save him in New Avengers. Yeah, not looking good.
I think it's more a theme with modern writers. There was some of that in the older stories, but most of it seemed to be about magical adventure and protecting the Earth, like a Sorcerer Supreme would.
Despite what Hickman says, I don't think New Avengers is his best Marvel work -- Fantastic Four is. Eventually, we'll get something with Strange, but it will be mostly plot motivated.
War of the Seven Spheres has plenty of story fodder, but I think he can also do that now, in the present. There's nothing preventing Strange from having adventures in other dimensions now. The plus of doing so, is that he can have more familiar guest stars, that might bring in more readers.
I was saying this earlier about Namor, that's is a sad situation at Marvel, that most characters have to have a movie / TV show to get any kind of comic book support or interest from editorial. Dr. Strange should be a major player in the MU, with an ongoing book to anchor the magical side of the MU. In a world that makes Harry Potter a cultural phenomena, and fantasy video games rooted in magic, how can you NOT have a successful Dr. Strange book?