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ULTIMATE MARVEL TEAM UP #12
Recommended (7/10)
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Marvel Comics
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Ted McKeever
Colors: Transparency Digital
Letters: Chris Eliopoulos
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Price: $2.25 US/$3.50 CAN |
Bendis offers up a weird mix of the old and the new, as he retells the same old Dr. Strange we've heard before, but then throws in a completely different and new twist. I really enjoyed the new, but the old... the old didn't work all that well in the context of Bendis's dialogue. Of course, McKeever's art was a real treat, a delightful deviation from usually comformist super-hero art.
Dr. Strange is not Dr. Strange... not anymore. You know the story -- surgeon, car accident, mystic studies under the guidance of the Ancient One -- it's all the same, even with the Sanctum Sanctorum and his followers. But something is different... Dr. Strange has disappeared, and the time has come for the son he never met to take up the sorcerous mantle. Unfortunately for him, an evil wizard wants something in his possession, and a bored Spider-Man gets drawn into the situation thanks to his nightly patrol and boredom.
Bendis and Macchio are doing the entire comics industry and its readers a great service by signing up unconventional comics artists for these mainstream super-hero stories. His creepy, organic style suits Dr. Strange quite well, which comes as no surprise. It was his portrayal of Spider-Man that really caught my attention. He conveys his lithe nature with a gangly, bony figure that captures the character's odd powers and activities nicely.
And so this isn't the story of Dr. Strange, but that of his son. Smart move on Bendis's part. It brings a more down-to-earth dynamic to the character. It's rather hard to relate to a middle-aged sorcerer spouting purple prose, but a guy in his early 20s trying to connect with the father he never knew... now that's a human concept that I can get into.
Unfortunately, the elements of the Silver Age Dr. Strange are plentiful in this script, and the stilted nature of the original character finds its way into this story. The Wand of Watoomb, Xandu... these elements work against the more modern tone of other aspects of the script and the new twist on the Strange concept.
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