Book Review: Doctor Strange The Last Days of Magic by J. Aaron et al.

Doctor Strange The Last Days of Magic written by Jason Aaron with art by Chris Bachalo and others

In this continuation of The Way of the Weird, Stephen Strange faces off against the Empirikul, a group of dimension-traveling warriors set on wiping out magic everywhere. The Empirikul is led by the Imperator, a being whose parents were killed to satisfy a false god. Now he is all about science and how great and powerful it is--powerful enough to destroy magic in every dimension he travels to. Now he's in Earth's dimension and is rapidly eliminating all magical items and people. Doctor Strange is in a fight where he has no mystic powers, how will he ever win?

The premise is interesting (science vs. magic) but the execution is not engaging. The storytellers give a sense of the epic scale by referencing other magic users who are killed or lose powers. But those people don't elicit my sympathy--their powers are used mostly for selfish aggrandizement and so the loss doesn't seem so bad (except when they are killed, of course). The Empirikul, on the other hand, are almost too sympathetic. Making science fundamentalists an enemy is interesting but they come off like a Monty Python Spanish Inquisition rip-off. I found it hard to take them seriously.

Not recommended.

Book Review: Avengers vs. X-Men by J. Aaron et al.

Avengers vs. X-Men written by Jason Aaron, Brian Michael Bendis, Ed Brubaker, Jonathan Hickman, Matt Fraction, and others; art by John Romita Jr., Olivier Coipel, Adam Kubert, and others

The comics industry is always looking for two things--a big epic storyline and an excuse for the heroes to fight each other. Fans are always debating who could beat whom if the heroes ever faced off against each other. Companies want a hook that keeps readers coming back for more. Have they pulled it off with this storyline?

The story starts with the discovery that the Phoenix entity (the one that drove Jean Grey crazy and to eventual death way back in the day) is coming to Earth. Presumably the entity is coming for Hope Summers (who apparently is no relations to Scott Summers a.k.a. Cyclopes). She's a mutant whose destiny for greatness has been predicted since her discovery. She was the first mutant born after Scarlet Witch did something to reduce the number of mutants on Earth below 200. The X-Men and a bunch of the mutants (including Hope) live on an island called Utopia off the United States west coast. Once everyone knows about the Phoenix entity, Captain America and the Avengers want to take Hope into protective custody; Scott Summers and his X-Men want hope to embrace the Phoenix entity in the hopes that she will bring back the mutants. As the entity approaches, battle lines are drawn and the mayhem begins.

So the set-up is a little convoluted but this book contains enough explanation that it works as a stand-alone story. Back story is explained to get readers ready for the epic battle of epic epicness that ensues. The writers shoe-horn in a lot of characters (clearly hoping to please the fans) and have lots of battles all over the globe with all sorts of match-ups that are interesting and handled well. The main story keeps moving forward at a good pace and comes to a satisfying conclusion.

The book also contains six issues of a companion series to the A vs. X main storyline. In the companion, various battles between individuals are given in detail, though with a lot of humor thrown in for good measure. The companion stories are clearly fan service, the more outlandish being the more fun (like the Cyclopes vs. Captain America verbal abuse battle where they argue about who is a lamer character, or the Toad vs. Jarvis battle where Toad (who acts as a butler in one of the mutant schools) comes into conflict with the Avengers' master butler). Unfortunately there is a "Spider-woman vs. X-Women" that confirms a sexist attitude toward the female characters. Deliberate pandering to adolescent male attitudes is not good.

Recommended, except for that one page.

Book Review: Doctor Strange: The Way of the Weird by J. Aaron et al.

Doctor Strange: The Way of the Weird written by Jason Aaron, penciled and colored by Chris Bachalo

After a brief (one page) review of Doctor Strange's back story, this book leaps into his life as Sorcerer Supreme living in New York City. He has plenty of odd psychic jobs to do. He helps out a librarian from the Bronx who has mind maggots coming out her skull; she is willing to repay him by organizing his (rather dangerous) library. Meanwhile, a big mission is looming, threatening both magicians and Sorcerers Supreme in many different dimension, and that threat is on its way to Earth.

The book has a good blend of comedy, drama, and magic. Stephen Strange is still somewhat full of himself, leading to comic dialogue. The big threat, magical death and destruction in other dimensions, is slowly revealed, building up the dramatic stakes. The depiction of the magical in our world (what Strange sees through his third eye) is well done and easy to understand--nothing too weird or incomprehensible ever happens. The story is enjoyably written and drawn.