Seeing as the new movie is out and people seem to be (mostly) enjoying it, I figured now was as good a time as any to bring this monster back---with some additions and important edits.
Just like the original, this post is intended to be a helpful resource for anyone, including people who have never read a Marvel comic before. So if it seems a bit text heavy, well, that’s why. I’ve tried to make this as accessible as possible and to that end have included a solid chunk of background information for each selection.
So without further ado---aside from the important caveat that this remains only my personal opinion---I present to you: my Revised Very Serious and Important guide to reading Doctor Strange (with download links! and end notes! and pictures!)
“ --- yes, such was the stephen strange that men knew---haughty, self-centered, but above all...successful! ”
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What you need to know:
Technically nothing, since these are all origin stories. But I would like to mention from the outset that there’s a lot of latent oreintalism---and outright racism---in Strange’s origin, despite a few remixes and re-imaginings. This problem still exists in its most recent telling, the 2016 film, and requires a post all its own (or academic paper coming 2017 from yours truly) to really delve into it properly, so I’ll leave off here.
What it’s about:
For anyone who likes to begin at the beginning, I’ve packaged up everything you’ll need. Strange Tales #115 and Doctor Strange (1968) #169 are almost the same story, recounting how Strange went from arrogant neurosurgeon to Master of the Mystic Arts. The biggest difference is that the latter has slightly more detail, the former being a split issue.
While Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #045 is technically part of Infinity War, that doesn’t really come into play much. The issue is almost a stand-alone, with Doc’s face off against Death serving as a frame for several flackbacks to Strange’s pre-sorcerer days.
Season One (renamed Strange Origin when it was reprinted in September 2016) is a recent graphic novel that tracks Strange’s first encounter with Wong and the wild adventure they embark on to find three rings of power. Yeah, you read that right---and don’t worry, there are Tolkien jokes made in the text, too. It’s not necessarily considered essential canon, but it is beautifully drawn, witty as hell, and lots of fun to read. If you only read one origin story, read this one. It’s extremely awesome.
What you get:
Strange Tales #115 (Stan Lee; Steve Ditko)
Doctor Strange (1968) #169 (Roy Thomas; Dan Adkins)
Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #045 (Roy Thomas; Geof Isherwood)
Doctor Strange: Season One (Greg Pak; Emma Rios)
“ --- so if these are still just the birds...what the hell is that storm going to look like? ”
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What you need to know:
When Marvel relaunched with All-New, All-Different* in 2015 following the conclusion of Secret Wars, Doc got his own comic again for the first time since the mid-nineties (excluding a few limited series runs), and this is it. The current run constitutes more or less a fresh start, and when it does allude to Strange’s illustrious past adventures, it’s pretty good at filling in the gaps. The first page is a nice, brief recap of his origin story, and then it’s off on some wild ectoplasmic adventures with Chris Bachalo’s phenomenal artwork. If you don’t feel like delving into the Marvel archives, this is a great starting point.
* should you wish it, more information about this and Secret Wars can be found in the “additional info” section.
What it’s about:
Weirder than usual occurrences abound and magic just isn’t working the way it’s supposed to for some reason. Doctor Strange, written by Aaron as a certified Genuine Human Disaster, has his hands full trying to figure out what’s going on and how to stop it. The story forms the lead-in to Last Days of Magic event and makes a point of focusing on the cost of magic, physical and otherwise, adding some truly delightful and staggeringly gross elements as well as great thematic weight. It also features some new villains who are extra cool and a librarian I defy you not to love.
Like anything that pronounces itself to be a “fresh take” on a property that’s been around since the sixties, this run has its fair share of problems. However, I still think it’s worth your time, and if you’re new to Doctor Strange comics, most of those issues probably won’t be that noticeable.
What you get:
Doctor Strange (2015) #001-005 (Jason Aaron; Chris Bachalo)
“ --- magic is dead. and i killed it. ”
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What you need to know:
The big change to this post is including this, because why not? This is the continuation and conclusion of the arc set-up in The Way of the Weird, so read that first. Also please note the reading order is Doctor Strange #06, Last Days of Magic #01, Doctor Strange #07-10.
What it’s about:
If you enjoyed The Way of the Weird, or just really want to know what happens next, these issues wrap up that story line and establish the new status quo of magic in the Marvel universe going in to Blood in the Aether.
What you get:
Doctor Strange (2015) #006-010 (Jason Aaron; Chris Bachalo)
Doctor Strange: Last Days of Magic (Jason Aaron, Gerry Duggan, James Robinson; Leonardo Romero, Danilo Beyruth, Mike Perkins)
“ --- you’re serious? you call yourself the ‘sorcerer supreme?’ and you say you used to be arrogant? ”
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What you need to know:
While it might be handy to have read one or two of the origin stories, it’s definitely not necessary. The comic does a great job filling in any pieces of information that you might need.
And fun trivia for anyone who has seen Doctor Strange (2016), one of the most delightful scenes from that movie is lifted pretty much directly from this book.
What it’s about:
This is on pretty well every list I’ve ever seen of “must read” Doctor Strange comics, and for good reason. Written by Brian K Vaughan (Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina, Saga), this is a great limited series run full of humour, pathos, and, of course, some most excellent Stephen Strange Brooding About Things™ sequences.
Linda Carter (Night Nurse) and a fatally ill Wong shine as they help Stephen unravel the mystery of who tried to kill him and Strange himself gets some great moments, from pithy one-liners to contemplating the importance of friendship and what truly constitutes the greater good.
On a personal note, this is the first Doctor Strange comic I read and after about four pages I knew I was in trouble. Deep, spiralling down to my death and adopting another favourite character trouble.
What you get:
Doctor Strange: The Oath #001-005 (Brian K Vaughan; Marcos Martin)
“ --- do not tempt damnation, von doom...nor mistake caution for cowardice! ”
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What you need to know:
Again, it’s always handy to know a little about the main characters, in this case the eponymous Doctors Strange and Doom, but this story is pretty self-contained. Being aware that Stephen Strange is Sorcerer Supreme and Victor von Doom is generally a villain is more than enough backstory.
What it’s about:
Another title frequently found on “must read” lists, Triumph and Torment has the Doctors team up and travel to Hell to take on Mephisto in an effort to save the soul of Doom’s deceased mother. Though I’d argue Doom gets the better character development, it’s a solid story and compelling read with some sweet art.
What you get:
Doctor Strange & Doctor Doom: Triumph and Torment (Roger Stern; Mike Mignola)
“ --- your own frustration and curiosity, reflected back at you from a maze of mirrors. a maze of mystery. ”
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What you need to know:
This graphic novel is from 1986 and I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention some deeply racist undertones. I considered leaving it off the post because of that, but I feel like it’s better to be aware of that kind of thing than ignore it. Or maybe not. I’m no expert.
What it’s about:
Disclaimer aside, the artwork for this graphic novel is stunning. It gives the bright psychedelics of the classic comics a muted water colour treatment that maintains the surreal nature of Ditko’s vision and imbues it with an ethereal quality. Combined with a narrative written largely in the second person, Into Shamballa is a unique, if occasionally dated, reading experience.
What you get:
Doctor Strange: Into Shamballa (JM DeMatteis; Dan Green)
“ --- this had been, unquestionably, the foulest evening i’ve had in months. ”
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What you need to know:
It’s probably helpful to know that the character Topaz, who pops up early on in the first issue, is an empath who has a long history with Doctor Strange, but otherwise, you should be good.
What it’s about:
This is a really cool limited series run that focuses on the “occult detective” part of Strange’s resume. The art combines the dark shadows and alienating cityscapes of the noir mode with the bright, vibrant colours magic is often associated with in Doctor Strange comics.
As the motor functions in his hands continue to deteriorate, Strange finds himself investigating magical occurrences that don’t follow the usual rules of magic, and his own powers seem to have been rendered obsolete. Plus, he gets to wear some unreal suits. Seriously, his wardrobe is something else.
What you get:
Doctor Strange vol 3 #001-004 (Dan Jolley; Tony Harris, Paul Chadwick)
“ --- flee---? are you mad? umar must be stopped! you must help me! ”
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What you need to know:
Okay. Now we’re getting into the stuff where you need some backstory. Spoilers, I guess. If we’re still tagging things that were written in the 1970s as spoilers. So anyway.
First things first, you need to know about Clea. Clea is from the Dark Dimension and for a while she was Strange’s disciple and also lover. She wears a lot of purple, has anime hair, and she’s the queen of everything, including me. While those last clauses may have been a slightly hyperbolic, she is extremely awesome. As well, it’s important to know that she’s the love of Stephen’s life.
Previous to this arc she left Strange for the first time---because, as the Bard wrote, “the course of true love never did run smooth.” Stephen’s initial method for dealing with this was less than ideal, but that’s really neither here nor there. What is relevant is that Clea returned to the Dark Dimension where she’s currently leading a rebellion against Umar the Unrelenting, who happens to be the Dread Dormammu’s sister.
What it’s about:
I knew I wanted to include at least one arc from before the 90s, but it took me a while to settle on which one. I decided on Into the Dark Dimension because it’s a pretty cool story, it’s reasonably self-contained, and Doctor Strange grows an outrageous beard. Listen, I never claimed to make good choices.
Pretty much what happens is this: in an attempt to stop Umar’s attacks on Earth, Strange heads to the Dark Dimension to help Clea and her rebellion.
What you get:
Doctor Strange: Master of the Mystic Arts #071-073 (Roger Stern; Paul Smith, Terry Austin)
“ --- once, i could have waved one hand and...dammit it, dammit it dammit it! i’ve learned nothing this time around! nothing! ”
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What you need to know:
Oh, man. Oh, buddy. Okay. Here we go. I hope you’re sitting down because this is a long one.
For years, Strange has been part of a super secret superhero group called The Illuminati (the other members are Charles Xavier, Tony Stark, Reed Richards, Black Bolt, and Namor). At some point they (minus Namor) decided the best way to deal with Hulk was to shoot him into space. So they did that.1
And then he came back, and he was angry.
He went after the Illuminati, bad shit happened, et cetera. The important takeaway is that Hulk crushed Strange’s hands, rendering them effectively useless. In a bid to defeat Hulk, Strange decided a good idea would be to eat a very powerful and extremely evil demon called Zom. This increased Strange’s power by a lot, but he couldn’t control it properly and almost killed some innocent people. It was, as they say, a bad time.2
Cut to some point slightly later and Strange is still working with the New Avengers, his hands are still all messed up, he’s still using dark magics to compensate, and he still hasn’t mentioned this to anyone. Instead, he eventually loses control (again) and this time almost kills all the New Avengers. After that, Strange decides he isn’t worthy enough to be Sorcerer Supreme anymore, gives up the mantle, and leaves to “purify” himself.3
What it’s about:
Without the office of Sorcerer Supreme or the ability to physically use his hands, Stephen’s powers are effectively reduced to non-existence. He ends up on some crazy adventures with a wonderful character called Casey and an eclectic supporting cast of demons.
I get the impression that this isn’t the most popular limited series out there, but as we’ve already established, this is strictly my opinion, so whatever I guess. And as far as I’m concerned, this run is filled with wacky fun, great art, and some genuinely heartfelt moments. Plus, without his magic Strange is forced to talk his way out of some ridiculous situations and it is absolutely delightful.
Unfortunately, The Doctor is Out suffers from a serious case of lacking an ending, but if you can get past that, it’s cool and a little different than the usual Doctor Strange story.
What you get:
Strange vol 2 #001-004 (Mark Waid; Emma Rios)
“ --- you’re doctor strange. you don’t get possessed by some d-level demon from some #$%#$ dimension. ”
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What you need to know:
First of all, you gotta read the “what you need to know” section above, because this post is already too ridiculously long without me retyping all that noise. Cool? Cool.
A while after that, Doctor Strange joins back up with the New Avengers to find a new Sorcerer Supreme. The Eye of Agamotto eventually chooses Jericho Drumm, aka Brother Voodoo, and Stephen makes another exit from the team.4
What it’s about:
This one is a little bit different because it’s an ensemble story. Strange features pretty heavily, of course, but there’s still a bunch of scenes with the other characters. If you’re having a hard time figuring out who’s who, I got you covered: there’s a quick list at the end of this post.
This is a neat storyline that begins with Daimon Hellstrom and Strange being possessed by a crazy powerful mystery villain and ends in a wicked Sorcerer’s Duel. It seems the evil entity is after the Eye of Agamotto and it’s willing to rip the New Avenger’s dimension apart to get it.
Featuring Hellstorm yelling a lot, Strange’s trench coat (if you know me, you know I’m all about this brief but extremely excellent look), slick art, and the team behaving like “the best reality show not on television,” it’s worth making a go of it even if you have no idea who most of the other Avengers are. And while this arc technically wraps up with issue #006, issue #007 has some A+ Doctor Strange moments and provides a nice coda to all the crazy that precedes it.
What you get:
New Avengers (2010) #001-007 (Brian Michael Bendis; Stuart Immonen)
“ --- i have become what this world requires of me. ”
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What you need to know:
Actually, surprisingly, almost nothing. It probably has more emotional heft if you’re aware of the preceding events in Hickman’s New Avengers run (but I have my own bone to pick with how some of those issues were handled and cannot, in good conscious, recommend anyone subject themselves to the kind of suffering I endured to gain my knowledge). Same goes for Stephen’s general history with black magic; nice to know, but ultimately, not a deal-breaker by any stretch.
The only important piece of information required is that Strange got the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme back in super badass fashion during an arc called New Avengers: End Times which I almost included instead of the previous entry.5
What it’s about:
Listen, if you want to read this one-shot, you better be ready to get wrecked. Far and away the most emotionally heavy entry I’ve included, Self-Surgery intercuts a story from Strange’s past as a brash young neurosurgeon with his present as Earth’s Sorcerer Supreme.
The artwork is beyond beautiful, filled with expansive water colours, imaginative panels, and harrowing imagery that fits the narrative perfectly. The two stories are held together by thematic resonance, exploring the pride so deeply-rooted in Strange’s character, both then and now. As well, the sentiment which has underpinned much of New Avengers (2013)---Reed Richard’s repeated invocation that “everything dies”---provides a counterpoint to Strange’s insistence that nothing is impossible, but “everything has a price.”
And the price depicted in Self-Surgery is steep, heart-wrenching, and a poignant tie-in to The Way of the Weird’s continued emphasis on the cost of magic.
What you get:
New Avengers (2013) Annual #001 (Frank Barbiere; Marco Rudy)
What is a .cbr file, and how do I read one?
It’s the most common file type for comic books. I use CDisplay Ex to view them, because it works well and it’s free.
Who are the New Avengers, exactly?
They’re another Avengers team, basically. And, for the purposes of issues #001-007 (linked above), here’s the roster:
Luke Cage
Jessica Jones
Carol Danvers (Ms Marvel)
Danny Rand (Iron Fist)
Bobbi Morse (Mockingbird)
Clint Barton (Hawkeye)
Ben Grimm (The Thing)
Logan (Wolverine)
Peter Parker (Spider-Man)
Victoria Hand
If you skip ahead to issue #007, you get a picture of most of those cats with their name, but it’s on the recap page, so be careful of spoilers. Alternately, now that you have their names, you can just Google whoever you don’t recognize.
Secret Wars and All-New, All-Different (short version)
The Marvel multiverse contained a whole lot of different Earths. In a big-ass event called Time Runs Out, all those universes started to collide, until only Earth-616 (Marvel’s main universe) and Earth-1610 (Ultimate universe) were left. Those two collided as well, a bunch of crazy shit went down (Secret Wars), and in the end Reed Richards created a new Earth which combined both universes. From there, Marvel relaunched a lot of its titles under the All-New, All-Different name.
Okay. And what was Doctor Strange’s part in all this?
I’m glad you asked. Marvel put out a guide called All-New, All-Different Universe which has updates on all its character. The pages for Doctor Strange take you from the end of New Avengers (2010) up until the relaunch, which means I don’t have to bother typing it all out. You can find a .pdf of the pages in question here. Spoilers, obviously.
Still have questions?
Sweet! I probably have answers. Hit up my ask or send a chat message or whatever you like, and I will be delighted to answer anything from, “You’re an idiot!” (spoiler: this is a true fact and I will not argue), to, “What issue did that one thing you mention happen in, exactly?”
FOOTNOTES
New Avengers: Illuminati (2006) (Brian Michael Bendis; Alex Maleev)
World War Hulk #003-004 (Greg Pak; John Romita Jr)
New Avengers (2005) Annual #002 (Brian Michael Bendis; Carlo Pagulayan)
New Avengers (2005) #051-53 (Brian Michael Bendis; Billy Tan, Chris Bachalo)
New Avengers (2010) #031-034 (Brian Michael Bendis; Michael Gaydos, Carlos Pacheco, Michael Avon Oeming, Mike Deodato)
