After serving as the sheriff of Battleworld during ‘Secret Wars’, Stephen Strange will resume his role as the Sorcerer Supreme of the Marvel Universe when his first ongoing comic series since 1996 joins Tony Stark’s ‘Invincible Iron Man’ and Miles Morales’ ‘Spider-Man’ as one of the brand new books premiering as part of All-New All-Different Marvel.
In an exclusive interview with Entertainment Weekly, Marvel Comics announced that ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Thor’ writer Jason Aaron would join forces with ‘Uncanny X-Men’ artist Chris Bachalo for ‘Doctor Strange’, one of the around 60 new titles coming from the House of Ideas later this year. After being described as a reinvention of the classic character that goes deeper than ever before, Aaron starts by describing what sets this story apart from everything else:
“We wanted a Doctor Strange who was always having to work for what he gets, and to show that when he shows up and uses his powers, it’s not like Captain America throwing his shield or Thor throwing his hammer. Strange has to worry about repercussions that those other heroes don’t have to worry about, because he’s a Sorcerer Supreme. We’re talking about the forces of magic. So whatever he does has repressions. Any of this stuff with magic, there’s always a cost to it.”
Then, once he establishes that Strange will be much more relatable and will contain more humor than we’ve seen before, editor Nick Lowe continues by explaining in so many words that the good doctor is kind of like a Ghostbuster:
“Usually, when you pick up a Doctor Strange book, he’s going to another dimension to fight something. We really wanted to ground this one. And so for this one, this Doctor Strange makes house calls. He embraces the weird…and when something really weird happens to you and no doctor can do anything, the police can’t help you and you don’t know who to turn to, you call Doctor Strange. You find him, and it’s a constant thing—your cousin once knew somebody that said, ‘If you go to Doctor Strange, if it’s weird enough, he will help you.’ Like that sort of thing.”
And like Brian Michael Bendis’ ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ did recently to open up the cosmic side of the Marvel Universe to new True Believers (which also coincided with the massively popular Marvel Studios film), Aaron aims to expose a new audience to the magical elements of this world (and to likely prepare them for ‘Doctor Strange’ hitting theaters in 2016 as well). That’s why we’ll see Strange’s peer group that gets together “have some beers and talk shop”, other Sorcerer Supremes, and a number weapons (magical or otherwise) utilized by the doctor when he needs to get his hands dirty. As a preview for the upcoming series, check out the cover for issue one, followed by the synopsis of the book and more concept art:
A dark new power is rising. One that will have repercussions for all magic users. The threat is growing, and Strange knows he won’t be powerful enough to stop it. If he is to have any kind of hope, it will take a different kind of Sorcerer Supreme. Because all magic comes with a price, and it’s high time Stephen Strange balanced the scales.
What do you think about the all-new all-different ‘Doctor Strange’ from Jason Aaron and Chris Bachalo? Will you be adding it to your pull list this fall? Let us know in the comments below.
