Doctor Strange #381 Storytime

Donny Cates of God Country fame takes his first crack at Marvel Comics with his new run on Doctor Strange. But alas, it seems that the good Doctor has been replaced.

By who you ask? Why, none other than Loki, God of Stories!

Quick recap for anyone that didn't read Aaron's run, or the extremely short-lived Hopeless run. Don't worry, you really didn't miss out on anything.

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It really feels like I did after reading this issue.

Man, I had to do a lot of resizing for this issue. This page? 9.5 MB originally.

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First time, I am reading a modern doctor strange book

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Not reading because I'm waiting for my monthly shipment, but have a bump.

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Enjoyable

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I didn't see this coming and I am pleasantly surprised.

So far I'm really enjoying the setup for this new run. Back to taking weirdo magic and just casually existing around it.

This is the only page of the book where the are doesnt look like shit, This person cannot do faces, or maybe the inker just sucks, -shrug-

>hating on Walta
wew

Bump.

I liked it. Was wondering when itvwas comong out. Thanks op

Is he supposed to be a magic Vet or are they claiming being a doctor means you can be a vet too.

He's using magic to talk to the animals. Presumably he's using it to treat them to. I imagine it would be a lot easier to diagnose what's wrong with an animal if that animal can speak to you.

this was nice

New reader here, what exactly are the rules of magic for Marvel? Is it really just "there's a cost"?

The whole "there's a cost! Every spell has a cost!" thing was pretty much created by Aaron in the previous Dr. Strange run and was constantly hammered home in like every issue. It was Aaron's attempt to "define the rules of Magic in Marvel." Cates is basically saying here "yeah, that's dumb, let's get rid of that."

Most magic in Marvel is derived from some powerful entity/demon/god or alternate dimension/realm. That's why most of Strange's more commonly used spells follow the pattern of _______ of *name.* One of his most used spells is a restraining spell called "Crimson Bands of Cyttorak." Cyttorak is a powerful demonic being, the same one that Juggernaut derives his powers from. So it's a lot of basically briefly borrowing powers from these beings. Wanda's Chaos Magic is derived from Chton. Brother Voodoo's Voodoo Magic is derived from The Lao.

But mostly, the rules of magic in marvel is "It's magic, I don't gotta explain shit." There's a certain aspect of "there's a cost" because you generally don't want to be abusing the ability to draw power from these all-powerful demons all the time, but it's not the way that Aaron portrayed it of an "equal and opposite reaction" kinda way.

>God Country
This was such a disappointing and meme tier book. I really don't know why it gets so much praise.

dick

>Every spell has a cost!" thing was pretty much created by Aaron
Sounds like Aaron was reading too much of another kind of magic

Yeah, the price is that using the power of demons and other entities is by its very nature risky, as most of those beings are not charitable. Aaron didn't seem to get that concept.

Like the other user said, the "it's got a price!" thing was really hammered in, stupidly, by Aaron. Magic ALREADY had a price in that it basically works like Warlocks do in D&D: you're making pacts with and invoking the names of deities/demons/etc. to use their power in making spells. The price is if you use magic in a way that these deities you're invoking disprove of, then they can fuck you over.

>Cates is basically saying here "yeah, that's dumb, let's get rid of that."
And I'm glad. I knew this would happen eventually. Aaron's retcon just wasn't sustainable in the long-run, especially since the MCU isn't going along with it.

Why didn't they use Thor Odinson for this scene? It would have worked better.

because JaneThor is just like the tumor slowly killing her: cancer

Because 1. Thor Odinson is more likely to just be OK with Loki's shenanigans since he tends to give him a pass more often than not and 2. then we wouldn't have gotten the reveal that Loki knows Jane's true identity thanks to the all-seeing eye.

I'd like to know what kind of tournament Loki beat Strange at.

I'm guessing he couldn't find a hospital that would take him so had to settle for becoming a vet

a circle game tournament

Yeah, I get why they wanted to jump right into the Loki: Sorcerer Supreme story, but I'd still have liked to see this Magic Tournament.

Maybe we'll get to see it as a flashback?

Wundagore Everbloom!

That's neat.

I wonder if it is something that will be hinted at for months, then revealed to be an a MtG match in Cates final issue

I haven't kept up with Dr Strange comics in a while, who's Zelma? Someone like Wong that stuck around when Loki took over or does she have magic power too?

The former. She was basically an intern/librarian that Strange brought on to help Wong out. She presumably knows some really basic magic just from her time reading books in the Sanctum, but she's mostly just a librarian/housekeeper/assistant. Then Wong quit, so she became the Sanctum's full-time housekeeper and kept the job after Loki replaced Stephen.

gotcha thanks

Ah, I've been following Loki since Journey Into Mystery. I got a finale in Agent of Asgard - so anything else that's any good is just a bonus.

I'm enjoying this.

>Whor
Dropped
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Didn't it have another writer briefly? Barber? How was that run?

The cost of magic was also a big thing in Thompson's Scarlet Witch run. But that actually did interesting things with magic.

This bullshit magic sickness that Aaron came up with is so fucking stupid.

Loki agrees.

robbie thompson? when did he do Scarlet Witch?

Meant Robinson, sorry. I just glanced at my trades and misread it.

Blame editorial for magic being shit, not Aaron, I remember something about Quesadillas not liking magic being OP.

Because Loki backstabbed his/their mother lol.

This is super fun. I always like it better when loki's tricks and lies are simply for smaller gains and not world ending boredom. Dunno why that is.

Based Cates