Customer Reviews

Doctor Strange: Beginnings and Endings (New Avengers)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Spinning out of the events of Amazing Spider-Man #500, this mini-series finds Amazing Spider-Man and Supreme Power scribe and Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski teaming up with Doctor Spectrum writer Sara "Samm" Barnes to re-imagine the origin of Marvel's sorcerer supreme, Doctor Strange. Make no mistake, this is a re-imagining of his origin, but this is no Ultimate book. Beginnings and Endings begins with young, promising, and arrogant future surgeon Stephen Strange living a life of luxury unaware of his true destiny. After a chance encounter with a sickly, apparently mute young man named Wong, and a tragic skiing accident in which he loses the full ability of the use of his hands, Strange's life begins a spiraling downfall. Unable to find a solution to fix his hands, he encounters a man calling himself the Ancient One, and the course is set for Stephen Strange to become sorcerer supreme: whether he wants to or not. Other characters fans of Strange are familiar with, including the evil Baron Mordo, are here as well, and all together, Straczynski and Barnes weave a more than solid re-imagining of the classic character's origin. Brandon Petersen's pencils are solid for the most part as well, even though some of the action scenes don't look as good as one would hope. All in all, this TPB is more than worth a look for fans of the good Doctor, and it's also a great starting point for new fans to the character.

The book serves as a reimagining for the orign of a classic character. I've been a Doctor Strange fan for a longtime and always felt the good doctor was somewhat...unappreciated by his peers in the Marvel Universe, and this book helps show all readers who the character is and all he stands for and has gone through. There are some problems with the story, such as with the character Clea. Clea is introduced as somewhat of a guardian figure, who spends all her time playing babysitter for Doctor Strange and giving him alot of "tough love" that seems a very forced relationship (plus her ties to Dormammu are never fully explained). Also, is the fact that Strange is injured in a skiing accident rather than the classic automobile incident (that fate instead befalls his college professor). And finally is the idea that Ancient One does not die, and the sanctum is already located in New York City (it was not until Strange had achieved the title of Sorceror Supreme for himself that the Sanctum had been located to New York). Still though, this shouldn't divert anyone from the aspects that make the book truly great. You discover the sacrifices that Strange had to make in order to become Sorceror Supreme, the truly demonic entities (demon such as Dormmamu and human like Baron Mordo) that inhabit our world and what the Ancient One's true purpose is, and see Starnge's fall from grace (as he squanders every last cent he has) and eventual rise to true "hero-hood". Altogether, this is a good story for a great character. If you're a true Doctor Strange fan, check out this book!

Being a huge fan of both Daredevil and Dr. Strange I can say that without a doubt this is one of the best origin rewrites ever. Don't be surprised when you get half way through it and there has not been a lot of action. Dr. Strange isn't like that. He isn't the "Guns-a-Blazing" Cable or Wolverine, he is more like a smooth bourbon that only gets better the more it settles. Enjoy.

Being a huge Dr Strange fan its hard not like it - a bit of a new take on the good doctor with quality art and storyline - considering the dearth of material recently, its worth the money.

I am a big Doc Strange fan from the beginning. He's one of my favorite Marvel characters and I was interested to see what this re-imagining of the origin would bring to the table. In the end, while very competent, I was left wondering why it was necessary. The arrogant surgeon angle, while true to the original story, is fairly simple to understand and it does not take 5/6ths of a graphic novel to illustrate effectively. That's a fancy way of saying I found the pacing slow and a bit dull.

There were also some rip-offs from the Matrix (they even site Morpheus as the inspiration for his new look at the end) that left me scratching my head. One character in particular was almost a complete lift of Trinity.

The more I look at the new costume, the more I dislike it. He looks like a pimp. Sure the old version was very loud and more in-line with the color sensibilities of the 1960's, but the new version's use of an overcoat and vest makes him look more than a little silly - like an out of touch older man trying to be "hip".

Overall this graphic novel did not work for me, failing to add anything new and interesting to the Dr. Strange story.

This is J. Michael Straczynski's own reworking of the origin of Doctor Strange. He has updated it for the time period, changed the time period and the enemies early on quite a bit.

Strange is thrust into a role a lot earlier than previously, and gets more than he bargained for, as well as another woman to help him.