Who is Doctor Strange? Doctor Strange: Mystic Apprentice #1 introduces us to this complex character. The comic begins in a temple in Asia where Strange is training to master the mystical arts. As the book begins he is stuck trying to figure out how to project his astral form. He can fight, and he digested the knowledge of the ancient ones fasters than anyone else but projecting his astral form is his one failure.
Artist, Andrea Di Vito shows us the astral form is just on the fringe of Strange and is trying to get out, but is stuck. Strange is constantly beaten back by his own mindset.
This is the second life for Stephen Strange. Once the greatest doctor in the world, a car accident changed his life forever. After recovering from the accident, Strange found himself on a new, mystical path. Can Strange succeed in his quest to become Sorcerer Supreme?
My Opinion
I knew nothing about Stephen Strange and his story until Marvel Studios greenlighted the movie. I am very excited to see how Benedict Cumberbatch brings Strange to life, and now after reading Doctor Strange: Mystic Apprentice #1 I get a feeling for what the character is.
Strange is a complicated man. A genius, who has known only arrogance, must now build himself up again. His accident is a deathblow to world famous Doctor Stephen Strange but is the birth of one of the most powerful Marvel heroes.
Having no knowledge about Strange I was intrigued to see that writer Will Corona Pilgrim started issue one with a focus on one aspect of Strange’s training, the projecting of his astral form.
We learn a lot about the mindset of Strange and we get to see, through small tidbits, what his life was like before the accident. Rather than starting with a full-blown origin story, we get a minuscule look at life before, and how he achieves one of his greatest skills while on his way to becoming the defender of Earth.
The Strange in this book is the guy we want to root for. Since his life has changed so much, I was invested in his success and wanted him to achieve this goal. He had it all, and then lost it in a freak accident. Everyone likes a comeback story, and Doctor Strange is the epitome of a comeback.
As I was reading the book the Doctor Strange trailers played constantly in my head. Read this comic and you will get an idea about the personality of Stephen Strange, and how he is more than just an image on a billboard. He is going to be around for a long time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so you should learn as much as you can about this intriguing hero.
As a bonus on the digital version of Doctor Strange: Mystic Apprentice #1 you get a copy of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s The Origin of Doctor Strange and Dr. Strange: Master of Black Magic. The layout and dialogue are very different from Doctor Strange: Mystic Apprentice. The overload of images with cartoony looks make the old Strange seem like he belongs in a different reality. That is one of the many improvements to modern day comics. The images we see look genuine and feel real to the reader.