Issue(s): Doctor Strange #60
Cover Date: Dec 93
Title: "Scatter... and Sister Nil"
Credits:
David Quinn - Writer
Melvin Rubi - Penciler
Fred Harper - Inker
Evan Skolnick - Editor

Review/plot:
Dr. Strange has always been associated with the Midnight Sons (he gathered the Nine) but starting with this issue his book is formally folded into the line. This makes sense, or it would have if the stink of the Midnight Sons and this crossover in particular wasn't so bad. The Midnight Sons was Marvel's answer to Vertigo (or at least one answer). In realtime when Sandman was coming out i remember wondering why Marvel couldn't do something as good as that with Dr. Strange; he seemed like a natural fit. And with this run, Marvel seems to have been attempting something along those lines. But as is often the case, people seem to have misunderstood why something was good (see also the rise of grim & gritty after Frank Miller's Daredevil). So this book gets incredibly dark and depressing and picks up some "Goth" trappings, but it won't build up any of the cool mythology or just plain good writing that Sandman had. The change in direction also results in a discarding of much of Dr. Strange's traditional elements, including some significant (but temporary) status quo changes. The fact that these things were mixed in to Siege of Darkness over this issue and next may have seemed like a good idea at the time, since theoretically crossover = bigger audience seeing the changes, but this crossover is such an overwhelming mess it might have made better sense to do this stuff "clean" after (or instead of) the crossover.

Along with everything else, there's a major change in the look of the book thanks to the photorealistic-ish art of Melvin Rubi.

But Rubi's run is short and intermittent.

Half of the Midnight Suns are holed up in Dr. Strange's house, but it is besieged by Lilin. During the Siege, we get some lines by Victoria Montesi that basically spoil the upcoming reveal about her.

Strange casts a Sleep spell to knock Vicky out while the others chase a Lilin named Scatter who looks like one of those trolls with the hair. He then teleports Sam Buchanan and Vicky out of the house. Strange then tries to cast a spell to fight back against the mist, but instead he's attacked by something through the mist. Strange thinks that he'll have to destroy himself to prevent it from coming through. Instead he uses a "Stasis Spiral" spell that is supposed to confound it, but instead it seems to cause Strange to live through various moments in time, including one from the future (we'll see more of the masked "Strange" next issue).

The other Midnight Sons are also seeing visions from their pasts. The Lilin responsible manifests. She is called Sister Nil, and she's basically a Sexy Halloween version of Sandman's sister, Death.

Nil touches Wong's fiancee, Imei, and causes her to wither and die.

Sister Nil then turns to Frank Drake, but she's stopped by the arrival of Morbius.

And Morbius' distraction allows Strange to banish Nil.

Wong is upset that Strange seemingly chose to do nothing to help Imei but did help when the Midnight Sons were attacked. Wong tries to leave through the same portal that Sam and Vicky went through, but something goes wrong.

Strange says that his home can no longer serve as a sanctuary, and he destroys it.

So: Imei Chang killed off, Wong temporarily out of the picture and definitely on the outs with Strange, and Dr. Strange's house, a landmark in the Marvel universe, destroyed. (Also here's a reminder that we haven't seen Sara Wolfe in forever, and never will again.) Sister Nil will remain a recurring character in this series. And next issue has another major in change in store for us. Between the carnage here and the death of Louise Hastings, it does at least feel like things are "happening" in this crossover. But in this case the changes are so clearly a deck clearing exercise that they feel arbitrarily tacked on. At the same time a part of me is thrilled that something is happening.

Quality Rating: D+

Historical Significance Rating: 2 - death of Imei Chang. First Sister Nil. Destruction of Dr. Strange's house.

Chronological Placement Considerations: This is part seven of Siege of Darkness. Part eight is in Spirits of Vengeance #17. It's because of the changes in this issue that Siege of Darkness takes place after Blood and Thunder but before the third chapter of Starblast.

References:

• Understandably, this book ignores the previous chapter in Marvel Comics Presents completely and points us to Morbius #16 for the most recent Siege of Darkness developments.

Crossover: Siege of Darkness

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

The captions in the first scan make it sound like Strange returned directly from Doctor Strange 59 to this issue but Starblast and Blood and Thunder make that impossible. It might have worked better if the stories were better coordinated, so that we could have Wong wondering if Imei died because Strange was exhausted after Blood and Thunder and making mistakes.

This is a somewhat jumbled, incoherent beginning for Faust: Love of the Damned co-creator David Quinn's run on Doctor Strange. Once he cleared the hurtle of the "Siege of Darkness" crossover, Quinn would do some interesting and bizarre work on Doctor Strange, producing what is one of my favorite 1990s runs on a Marvel title.

Ben, I'm with you: I remember rather liking Quinn's work on this title once he got going. Not a '90s favorite, but better than average. I kind of like DeMatteis's wrap-up yo the series as well, which I'm astonished to realize is still about 20 issues away.