Doctor Strange #13Issue(s): Doctor Strange #13 Review/plot: He takes his rage out on some heavily photo referenced bystanders (is that Ralph Macchio on the left, maybe?). The Enchantress then zaps him up to explain that she brought him here. Arkon is convinced to attack Dr. Strange since it means that he can also take Strange's woman, Clea. Marrying her would extend his kingdom to another astral plane, so he wants to do it even though she's supposed to be hideous. Meanwhile, if i understand this scene correctly, Dr. Strange is having some trouble getting it up. Strange and Clea's conversation is interrupted by the arrival of Sara Wolfe, Morgana Blessing, and Imei Chang. They expected Strange and Clea to still be in the bedroom, which is why they're bursting in unannounced. I really don't know what's going on with the art. I feel like Guice is tracing directly from fashion magazines at this point. It's getting really weird. No seriously, what's going on? I don't really know what the puppy is about, either. It's said to be a peace offering from Morgana since today is the day that her book comes off the press. But the whole sequence just comes off really bizarre to me. As was hinted last issue, we do see that Sara has developed an interest in Baron Mordo, who is being held prisoner in the cellar. Arkon shows up and is pleased to learn that Clea is actually not ugly (he blames his bad intel on the fact that his spies were "mutated anthropoids" with different standards of beauty). He uses one of his red lightning bolts to stagger Dr. Strange, and runs off with Clea. When Dr. Strange gives chase, he finds Arkon at the Edison Power Plant, and learns that Arkon has put red lightning bolts in a number of the dynamos. The idea being that if he uses more bolts or if Strange uses his spells, it will result in a massive explosion. So they have to fight hand-to-hand. And, while Strange does have some martial arts training, that is to Arkon's advantage. In fact, Dr. Strange is thought dead, and the Enchantress shows up to tell him it's time to go. But it turns out that Strange wasn't really dead; that was an illusion cast by Clea. Then Clea blasts Arkon. The Enchantress flees, and Clea makes a comment about not being treated like a traditional helpless female. And then she sends Arkon home. Dr. Strange then says that, as Sorcerer Supreme, he gave up having an ego or caring about who rescued who. This is really nice. Roy Thomas seems to have taken Roger Stern's work with Clea to heart and is respecting it, which is good to see. I started this run of Thomas' Dr. Strange really not liking the scripting, but as i've mentioned already he's dialed back the goofy nature of it by now, and at this point the scripting is pretty good. He does have a lot of fun with Arkon's barbarian philosophy, but that's different than Dr. Strange making quips or Agamotto making references to Nintendo. The thing holding the book back at this point is Guice's art. Not that the art is bad, exactly. But i do find the style off-putting. I'd love for him to go back to what he was doing on the early issues of X-Factor. There was some degree of photorealism in the close-ups there, but it was combined with dense storytelling. With this, the portraits or whatever you want to call them take up the majority of the issue, leaving little room for mystic battles, making the love sequences (especially Sara and "Karl") feel extra soapy, and just generally seeming very unnatural. Quality Rating: C+ Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A References:
Crossover: Acts of Vengeance Continuity Insert? N My Reprint: N/A
CommentsThe art is distracting, but the coloring of Sara and Imei is even more so. Even early Master of Kung Fu did not have quite this bad color choices. Posted by: Luis Dantas | April 2, 2015 5:53 PM Note that this issue puts a different perspective on Kaluu's claim during Gillis's run that he had noble intentions when the Ancient One opposed him- if he was working with Varnae, then his intentions were probably not so pure. Posted by: Michael | April 3, 2015 12:15 AM I *think* at this point Strange was using a different paper stock and possibly a different color process than the majority of the Marvel titles? It might have some relevance to the pink-red woman. Posted by: cullen | April 3, 2015 12:51 AM That's correct. It's like flexographics on steroids. Also true of a few other comics including Moon Knight, Punisher War Journal, & Cloak & Dagger. $1.50 cover price. A credits page instead of an ad on the inside front cover. Posted by: fnord12 | April 3, 2015 7:40 AM Comics, at least American comics, weren't known for their wide range of coloring or paper stock, and Marvel was hardly leading the way, so I'd put most of those problems down to the colorists trying to figure out what they were doing. I'd also agree that Guice's art looks a bit posed and stilted, but I'd forgotten how good it was. As much as anything, it's trying to bring a sense of realism into a comic book about the master of the mystic arts. Posted by: ChrisW | April 3, 2015 12:20 PM Meanwhile, if i understand this scene correctly, Dr. Strange is having some trouble getting it up. Well, I would probably have the same problem if my undead brother was floating around naked in the corner of the room. That's a heck of a distraction when you're trying to get some action with your gal :P I really like Guice's work, but I agree with fnord that a lot of his penciling on this series seems like he is using fashion magazine photos for reference. There are some really odd poses & facial expressions he gives his female characters, such as Clea in that panel where she's saying "Yes, I rather liked that little touch, myself." Posted by: Ben Herman | June 12, 2016 12:12 PM I was a big fan of "glamourpuss," an analysis/history of photorealism in comics [hopefully soon to be reprinted by IDW as "The Strange Death of Alex Raymond"]so I'm probably more willing to cut Guice a little slack than most. The main problem is that comics are sequential art intended to advance a story. Fashion magazine photographs are not sequential and they're intended to sell whatever dress/purse/etc. is being advertised. Really, it's a weird choice for a superhero comic. Nothing wrong with Guice expanding his abilities by drawing people, and arguably it could work with just Doc and Clea twisting their bodies into weird shapes while casting spells - I think Clea looks good in the "I liked that little touch" panel - but it doesn't work with Sarah, Imei or the Enchantress. Rintrah looks good though. ;) The weird thing is why Guice didn't just get photos of friends or acquaintances and pose them a la Alex Ross. Posted by: ChrisW | June 12, 2016 3:34 PM Glamourpuss was by Dave Simm, right? Had no idea it was going to be collected by IDW. Another odd panel is on that page where the Enchantress first appears and she has her arms crossed over her chest. It feels like Guice was using a photo of a nude model for reference, but the pose makes no sense here since here Amora is clothed, meaning she has no reason to be covering her naughty bits with her hands. Posted by: Ben Herman | June 12, 2016 3:46 PM Yeah, that one's a bit awkward. If she was a normal girl having a normal conversation and just happened to move her arms like so, that would be one thing, but she looks posed like a "Playboy" cover and not the way a supervillainess would pose. Posted by: ChrisW | June 12, 2016 9:16 PM I wonder if this was an attempt by one of Marvel's better artists to justify the higher price and paper and coloring, to bring in *something* that would qualify as more sophistication. It's vastly different from the Lee/Liefeld standard of drawing women, for one thing. Those women are basically cartoons. Maybe one pose out of ten they'll look like real women, if you're really scoping out the babes and happen to catch them at that split-second where she's turning around. These Guice women are real, but the real women in question are being paid to look good as they sell lingerie or fashion accessories, and being reconfigured to look like heroes [Clea] villains [Enchantress] or supporting cast [Sarah and Imei.] He can't change the actual poses because then the real women would look different when you account for clothing, posture, anatomy, lighting, perspective. Changing the faces wouldn't work for similar reasons. Like I say, this is very weird choice to make for superhero comics. Nobody buys "Dr. Strange" to check out the outfits of the female characters, and Guice is a good enough artist to make good outfits and sexy chicks without needing the reference. And he can do great superhero stuff. I'm googling now for any interview where he might explain this stuff. Is it a reaction to the Lee/Liefeld influence? A valid artistic choice that doesn't really work for the audience? Influence by the editor? Posted by: ChrisW | June 13, 2016 8:12 PM Comments are now closed. |
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