Doctor Strange #1 Delivers a Journey into Average
STEPHEN STRANGE, STRANDED! After becoming Sorcerer Supreme of Asgard, Strange lost his chance at redemption – and revenge against Doom – when Loki murdered Thor, cutting Midgard off from the other nine realms. With no way home and few allies remaining in Asgard, Strange travels to Alfheim to investigate an emerging crisis. But in an unfamiliar land, can Strange prevent elves and angels from going to war over a mysterious coffin? Maybe with some help from Heven’s own ANGELA! It’s a new era of Doctor Strange that will take him on a true JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY… Doctor Strange #1 kicks off a new post “One World Under Doom” adventure for Strange picking up from the previous adventure.
Written by Derek Landy, Doctor Strange #1 has Strange still stuck in Asgard, cut off from Midgard. Thor is dead at the hands of Loki, and Sif is rather irritated at Strange for his screwing everything up in the previous volume. So, Strange is tasked on a mission to bring peace between the elves and angels which awakens an ancient evil. It’s a rather bland story overall but you can see Landy’s attempts to mine the classic feel of Journey Into Mystery.
Landy has the bones of what could be a fun fantasy series, but the end result lacks emotion and that sweeping awe one would want. You get a sense that Strange knows he screwed up and is on thin ice, but there’s a lack of emotion from pretty much everyone when it comes to him. Sif should read him the riot act and verbally cut him down, but his interaction falls flat. Angela is generally a cold an unemotional character but Strange should play off of that a bit. There’s an awkwardness to so much of the comic it creates a comedic underlying feel to it all, when it’s not meant as a comedy.
There’s also strange choices such as a battle between Strange and the big bad being stopped so the big bad can info dump their plan. It’s such a strange choice in the flow of the scene and creates an awkward an abrupt break to what’s going on.
Ivan Fiorelli‘s art adds to the awkwardness of it all. With color by Dono Sánchez-Almara and lettering by Cory Petit, the art is good, but doesn’t fit the sweeping fantasy Landy is attempting. The art is good and would work really well in another series but here it feels like a slight mismatch in tone and visuals. The look to the comic is more 90s Marvel animated series than “Journey Into Mystery” and that could work really well with another property. The page layouts and panels look solid and helps enhance the action of it all, but the character designs don’t quite feel like they fit.
Doctor Strange #1 shows potential and there’s some interesting aspects to it. Strange’s journey could be intriguing and lead to something, especially with Marvel’s clear emphasis on its magical aspects currently. But, the comic doesn’t quite nail down what it’s going for visually or in the story. There’s some odd style choices in both story and art that could work, they just don’t work for Doctor Strange.
Story: Derek Landy Art: Ivan Fiorelli
Color: Dono Sánchez-Almara Letterer: Cory Petit
Story: 7.0 Art: 7.0 Overall: 7.0 Recommendation: Read
Marvel provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
Purchase: Zeus Comics – Kindle
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I have followed and collected Doctor Strange from the start.
I am now a senior citizen, and I am very disappointed with the newest series.
I am an artist/art teacher, graphic designer, and also a practitioner of some “esoteric” things including Tibetan Buddhism. And for a decade I wrote and ran a website for a shaman with international clients.
I have taught a couple of “padawans” over they years, on uses of energies (for instance).
The classic character of Strange starts off with him being trained by what is obviously a master of Tibetan Buddhism.
And the story lines of his magical practices actually have a lot of higher level training that rings true for certain magical training. (Not kidding here. Some of the practices closely followed real teaching methods.)
I collect comic books, but it is focused on stuff related to Doctor Strange.
I have all the large omnibuses and many other serious collector items.
(Okay, I have the lunchbox from the movie, as well.)
The writing and illustration before the Asgardian issues started, was some of the very best of Strange.
Then came Doom, and “Doctor Strange of Asgard” series, but still had excellent illustration, and decent writing.
But the new “Doctor Strange” that started December 2025 seems to actually NOT REALLY KNOW ANYTHING about the character.
The writer seems to have NO FEEL OR KNOWLEDGE about this fascinating and layered character.
And I am puzzled about the choice of illustrator, who seems to specialize in cartoonish anime elf faces.
And portrays a person supposed to be Strange, but looking like an escapee from an asylum, passing himself off as: 1. human and 2. Strange, but is not.
Weirdest illustrations of a character they “say” is Doctor Strange, but like from some alternate dimension or something.
I had to go to my local comic shop and have them delete any further issues of Doctor Strange.
And I declared that the problem was that the new issues ARE GARBAGE.
I am friends with the shop owners. They know I am a Strange Superman, and also know a lot about general comic book history. And do have collections of Silver Age DC stuff as well.
The owner I spoke to was really surprised, and said he saw the covers, but had not looked inside.
It made him sad too.
So, new series cover art is fine.
But what’s inside is what makes me pissed off.
When will Marvel give us back the real Strange?
Or have they simply decided to write him off?
What a waste.
Oops. I just sent a long complaint about the new Doctor Strange series.
I was reading back over it, and realized that some kind of auto correct thing happened.
What was sent was “They know I am a Strange Superman”.
That was meant to be “Strange super fan.”
(Auto correct just did the same thing again as I was writing this.)
Glad to see someone else also was not impressed with the new Strange.