Doctor Strange's entire rogue's gallery of three people come out and take turns capturing him before coming together to fight over him like a ragdoll. Chris Bachalo's art gets busier with each issue. He packs so much in a panel that I can't tell what anything is. It's just a cacophony of images layered atop one another until it looks like a half digested meal regurgitated on the page. Honestly, I expect more from this creative team.

Normally I am a huge Dr. Strange fan. I also happen to like most of Aaron's work. This was not up to that level. Some of that is likely due to the constraints set upon Aaron in this "new" setting. Apparently something/someone called the Empirikul has fundamentally changed magic.Now Dr. Strange tries all sorts of "new" magic, which he seems to be making up on the fly. For some reason we have yet another look at the "story" of Strange. So the usual cast of villains is introduced- from Nightmare to...

(Combined review for vols 3 and 4) Jason Aaron and Chris Bachalo seem to feed off each others' weirdness, and it shows throughout this fun run on Stephen Strange's mangled soul. As I'd predicted at the low point of volume 2, it's far more interesting to see your characters struggling against odds they aren't overpowered for, so Aaron tore Strange back down to a hero who works hard to claw his way out of the pits of insanity.Bachalo spent so much of this run drawing tentacles, teeth and goop that...

Holy shit this was super goddamn fun. I'm finally a strange fan. So Doctor Strange isn't having a very good week. In fact the magic is slowly coming back to earth but taking it's sweet time. In doing so every goddamn villain Strange has ever had decides to try to kill him. This week of hell is amazing as each villain gets to have the spotlight and try to kill the superior sorcerer. Hilarity is non-stop as these villains all hate him enough to fight each other to get a chance to kill Doctor Stran...

COME FOR THE HELL BACON, STAY FOR THE DREAD DORMAMMU!!!

Dr. Strange has had most of his magical juice sucked out of him by some evil magic hatin’ alien, so he’s pretty much an orange rind and a little pulp. That doesn’t stop some of his familiar foes from circling around him like 5 year olds angling for the last pizza bagel. What the hell is with the mixed food metaphors, Jeff? I’m hungry. Bottom Line : Aaron’s run on this title has been entertaining, and a nice counterpart to the fun acid trips of the sixties version of this character.I’m probably g...

2.5*Diminished after the attack on magic by the Empirikul in the previous volumes, Doc. Strange has to do his best against a series of various attacks by a bunch of villains for different reasons (M. Misery, Satanna, Mordo…). Lucky him, his bat-belt contains all kinds of magic gizmos that come handy.So, what was the point of this storyline?Beats me. It would honestly deserve a huge yawn if not for Aaron’s humour spread out throughout the book to lighten it up a bit.Sadly, it’s not an underperfor...

A tiny bit better than the previous volume of Doc Strange, but still not good.Plot-wise, this volume is a mess. Several evil guys show up throughout the book, being evil and all, making Doc go through a bunch of dream sequences, flashbacks, monster fights and exposition dumps all to save the world and himself yet again. Yawn.So, magic is dead, but this is a book about a sorcerer, so we have to have some magical stuff here. Naturally, this time around Doc relies on a whole belt of magical Deus Ex...

The Doctor has a bad week. Now that magic is scarce, it would really be no fun if some of Strange's most powerful enemies showed up, wouldn't it? As always, I love Aaron's writing, but I don't think I've said much about the artwork. Chris Bachalo does great surreal floaty magic-scapes in the grand Ditko tradition. The way he draws faces reminds me in some ways of Sam Keith, and in others of Matt Wagner. I honestly think he's one of my favorite artists to do Dr. Strange over the years.I was also

Recently, I positively reviewed the second volume of this Doctor Strange run, and I said something like "I can't wait to see what's next!". Ah, simpler times....So, this volume was kind of a clustertruck. First of all, Strange is depowered....except when he's not. And he is defenseless...except when he isn't. He lost his magic cloak...but his new one sometimes acts like his old one and sometimes it doesn't. It feels like either Aaron didn't know where to go with this, or he pulled the old "the m...

This story is a ton of fun. I don't know why comic books forget that so often, making everything SRS BZNS 24/7. You know the main character isn't in real jeopardy, and neither are any of the supporting cast who've been around for 45 years, so why not use it as a vehicle to have some fun? And if you happen to get across something a little deeper than that at the same time, bonus!The art is really excellent, graphic and disgusting and demented in just the right proportions. If this were a movie, I...

This series has maintained a high quality standard.Doctor strange is in a weakened state after battling the emprikul who nearly destroyed magic across multiple realities. And seems like any villain he has battled in the past has lined up and are taking shots at the sorcerer supreme.The art and dialogue are wild and this is a main draw for me, the plot is fun, but still feels weak to me. I guess I'm saying the execution is good, but the backbone of the story isn't exactly mind blowing.Overall I'm...

This volume, which has Issues 11-15 is quite a mix! I'd give it a 3.5 on the whole.Stephen Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme is out on his mission to restore Magic in his own life, and to the World. Magic, which was destroyed by an Interdimensional army, Empirikul.I like how this volume brings in a lot of Super Villains (or Marvel Villains? what are they called?) Mister Misery, Strange's own creation out of his bundled misery and pain that he nurtured in his mansion(sanctum sanctorum)'s cellar.Baron...

3.5 starsThis one could also be titled Doctor Strange's Rogues Gallery.That's not a bad thing. It's just that this is one of those volumes that (while fun) is sort of split up by each issue having a different villain. Yeah, there's a main theme, but it feels kind of choppy and frantic due to the need to wrap it up by the end of every issue and get to the next baddie. However, I happen to like that sort of thing, so...In the aftermath of those anti-magic crusaders (wtf were they called?), Strange...

One of Marvels better books at the moment. I'm even starting to like the Bachalo art, though I wish it was Kevin Nowlan cause his covers are A-mazing!

Aight, kinda pacey and draggy. It promised a lot and yeah...World: The art is good it's a bit messy but the creativity in the magic designs is quite good. This team loves boobs though and it's a bit much. The world building is solid, it calls the past of Strange, the new and also the MU allowing for a good list of magic users Strange visits this arc. Story: On a paper it sounds awesome, when everyone is gunning for him, in execution not so much. The story is choppy, pacey and framed issue by iss...

The good Doctor has a very bad, no good, terrible week...but ultimately it was all a bit garbled and "meh" for me.

Good without being great. I'm still digging the directions the story is taking. 3.5 stars.

Compared to the previous volume (The Last Days of Magic), Blood in the Aether is a whole lot of fun.* It’s a veritable smorgasbord of familiar faces any Strange fan would love to punch–Baron Mordo, Dormammu, Satana, Night-fricking-mare, and of course, last volume’s standout baddie, Misery**. Stephen goes through a number of funny scenarios–nightmare in a mansion with a group of bimbos, a trip to the latest Marvel hell which involves him eating bacon and nearly dying (you read that right) and so

I cannot FUCKING believe that I'm invested in Doctor Strange comics now, I DIDN'T ASK FOR THIS TO HAPPEN TO ME.