Heroes Con '09: Strange
Writer Mark Waid leads the former Sorcerer Supreme down a new path in the STRANGE limited series beginning in October
Posted Jun 19, 2009 12:00 am
Updated Jun 22, 2009 9:53 am
By Tim Stevens
Doctor Strange has been handed a mystical pink slip.
While the Marvel Universe may be wrapped up in the crowning of a new Sorcerer Supreme, the man who once held the title finds himself without a job for the first time since he lost his surgical career all those years ago. What does a former Master of the Mystic Arts do for a follow up act?
That's the question behind STRANGE, a new limited series from writer Mark Waid appearing on shelves this October.
For Waid, his attraction to the project comes from this period of uncertainty in the good Doctor's life.
"The appeal of Doctor Strange, to me, is that he's one of the few longtime characters who's always learning, always striving to better himself in ways that we can actually witness," the writer explains. "He never rests on his philosophy or dwells for long in the status quo."
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Editor Tom Brevoort shares Waid's view of Strange's intriguing new situation.
"I'm really comfortable and really excited by the particular take we've got on Strange in the new project now that he's no longer the Sorcerer Supreme," Brevoort says, "I think readers will see some sides to Strange that'll be new to them, and hopefully his new place in the world will prove interesting. I definitely like it!"
Perhaps because of his orientation towards change, Strange quickly finds something unexpected about his loss of title:
"To his stunned surprise, he doesn't miss it," Waid reveals of Strange's disposition towards his new lot. "He figured he would, he assumed he would, but the Doc we're meeting up with is one who's looking upon this as more of a sabbatical than a punishment and is rather enjoying, for the first time in his adult life, not having to shoulder the weight of responsibility every waking moment. Before he started learning the Mystic Arts, Stephen Strange must have had other hobbies, other interests, and now he's able to reconnect with them with a joi de vivre that's overwhelmingly new to him.
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"He's kinda digging it in the same way that, say, David Copperfield loves taking time off from giant stage illusions to practice his rusty sleight-of-hand, or Robert Downey, Jr. might enjoy taking six months off from making blockbuster films to brush up on his stage skills."
Unfortunately for Doctor Strange, his old enemies have no interest in waiting for him to reach any conclusions about where he would like to take his life next. However, while these threats may be familiar to our hero, readers will be meeting them for the first time.
"His old enemies aren't on that same staycation [that Strange is]," confirms Waid. "I would lean towards [them being] brand new [to fans]—or, at least, brand new threats from a familiar place."
"Doc's been a tough sell as a solo player, but we're hopeful that the story we're going to be telling in this new STRANGE project will interest some new fans while giving Doc's core supporters something they'll like," Brevoort articulates. "The goal in this case is what the goal always is with our characters: to bring greater attention to them, and to bring them to greater prominence and popularity."
For all the latest news updates from Heroes Con 2009 and Wizard World Philadelphia 2009, keep checking back right here on Marvel.com all weekend!
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The problem with Strange is that he has never, EVER been written to the specs of his Title. If you call someone the Sorcerer Supreme you better have him acting like a Sorcerer. He should be having council with gods and he should have already had a version of him that was evil that he would continuously fight. The problem is that Marvel Never knew what a Sorcerer is or was and thus constantly ...
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The problem with Strange is that he has never, EVER been written to the specs of his Title. If you call someone the Sorcerer Supreme you better have him acting like a Sorcerer. He should be having council with gods and he should have already had a version of him that was evil that he would continuously fight. The problem is that Marvel Never knew what a Sorcerer is or was and thus constantly messed this character up. If you played him like he was he'd be showing up in books like Ghost Rider, Werewolf not delivering babies and being an over rated teleported.
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This should be interesting and much like the Voodoo series, I'm looking forward to this. I love how his old enemies are coming back for him.
I'm just happy to have a book with Strange as the main character, even if it is a mini and most likely won't convert into a series. I plan on picking this up in Hardcover or in trade if they don't print a HC.
I'm definitely all for a [u:ade254a589]well done[/u:ade254a589] Strange mini. He's always been one of those that I think should get the periodic-mini treatment. Mostly because he is integral to the MU and still not integral because writers tend to not know what to do with him after too long. His biggest problems with maintaining interest have been either that he was too powerful to find ...
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I'm definitely all for a [u:ade254a589]well done[/u:ade254a589] Strange mini. He's always been one of those that I think should get the periodic-mini treatment. Mostly because he is integral to the MU and still not integral because writers tend to not know what to do with him after too long. His biggest problems with maintaining interest have been either that he was too powerful to find threats for or made to look too (implausibly) weak just so that his threats can last more than the amount of seconds he takes to gesture or chant. Now, without the boosts to his powers the eye, the cloak and the wand may have given, Marvel has an excuse to power him down enough to make things interesting, but they better always remember that just to have once earned the title, he needs never to be portrayed as an underpowered chump.If you asked me, they should have done more to establish that 90% of his power or something is automatically and constantly powering spells that keep the dimension magically sealed to most threats, with the occasional overpowered and/or minor threat needing his direct attention (like a living anti-virus shield/internet suite). This would also always explain how and why a non-magical villain can give him some trouble since he wouldn't risk withdrawing overall protective spell power unless he had to, and decades worth of stories could spin out of such. They have that chance to establish this now with the newly christened Doctor Voodoo, but I figure he will not get such logic applied to being the Sorcerer Supreme, so coupling that with:1. being technically in a title that hasn't been sustainable in a while2. his being a lesser known, non-clamored for derivative of Strange3. Strange getting some attention simultaneously4. the new price and economy concerns of comic buyersand5. the likely minimal marketing with Dark Reign being the main focusI see Voodoo's new book being a hard sell and Strange's chances to convert to an ongoing to be iffy.
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By the Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth, that's great news! :hawkeye: