Wow, wow, wow! You know that feeling you have when you finish something that is hard to describe well to others? That’s exactly what I feel now, after reading the first issue of Doctor Strange: Last Days of Magic.
The anthology style the book went with was a great choice, showing how magic’s future is in danger, sorcerer after sorcerer and witch after witch. The included stories have an overall excellent pace and are very engaging.
El Médico Místico had a great start, promising, and despite it was really short, seems he is going to have more space in the next issue, maybe in this mini-series, maybe in Doctor Strange’s, and he’s definitely going to show what he’s made of.
Doctor Voodoo started kind of slow, with a lack of power and energy, so you can say it surprised me when the story ramped things up. He had a strong presence, an aura you just can’t ignore when you see him on the pages. Also, I need to mention that the spreads in this story could make for great posters!
If you try to describe Mahatma Doom and Professor Xu’s story in this issue, ‘calm’ may be the right word to go with. It doesn’t have the large, sweeping action scenes, nor the fast, electrical pace we may be expecting in a magic centric book, but it doesn’t disappoints either.
As always, with a book like this there has to be a story the is considered the weakest, and in Doctor Strange: Last Days of Magic #1 ‘The Wu’s’ earns that badge. It’s hard to say anything substantive as she’s (Wu) not even the real protagonist of her own story segment; her mother and Doctor Strange are the obvious stars here, steal much of the attention that should probably go to Wu. It’s still enjoyable and well developed, but compared with the other stories it falls a bit short.
When it came to Count Kaoz, I really didn’t know what to expect or what I would be reading. The story turned out to be something completely different from all the other stories included. Wild, filled with rage, with a dark sense of humor, and having a well-constructed character that I liked a lot. I’m taking notes of this Count Kaoz so I can follow his future endeavors in comic world.
With so much happening I almost forgot what was happening to poor Doctor Strange in his own series. It was quite the shock to see the Sorcerer Supreme, Master of the Mystic Arts, the first magical defense of our world, on his knees with no power at all. It’s almost as if he is a lowly insect fighting against the sun.
I don’t know how or when, but I’m going to print out this cover in XLL size or find a poster somewhere so I can hang it up. The same goes to a few of the full pages from the Doctor Voodoo story, as all of his segments were excellent in how they were drawn and colored. El Médico Místico was a bit weaker on the art, but that may be because of the limited space they had. But the story did have a final scene that compensates it for this perceived weakness.
Mahatma Doom and Professor Xu’s story was colored great, reflecting well with Doom’s inner peace and Xu’s need of action. The Wu gave me the same feeling, but not as much as I expected it too. Even still, I must say the inks are really cool, maybe the best ones in this issue overall. And finally, the art employed for Count Kaoz showed exactly what they needed; savage and blood thirsty, making for great results.
Needless to say, I’m now waiting for the upcoming Doctor Strange movie with high expectations.
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