Doctor Strange #14 // Review
The world devourer Galactus has been thrust into the Dark Dimension. A being of pure science who had been reborn into the Big Bang which brought about the Marvel Universe is dying in a realm of pure magic. He is reluctant to accept help from an itinerant physician from Earth’s dimension...even if that physician happens to be Doctor Strange. Both Galactus and the Sorcerer Supreme must compromise themselves for the good of the universe in Part Three of the “Herald Supreme” story written by Mark Waid with art by Barry Kitson. Though art and story lack the vision necessary to fully embrace the cosmic scope of the conflict being presented here, the story itself is a genuinely interesting fusion between cosmic sci-fi and dark magical fantasy in the Marvel Universe.
Doctor Stephen Strange scours the Dark Dimension in search of some place where Galactus might feed life essence of a whole planet. Strange is trying not to violate the Hippocratic Oath and probably a host of other things that a master of the mystic arts must have had to agree to in order to become Sorcerer Supreme of Earth’s dimension. In the process of finding the right place, he and his ex-wife Cleo have to guide the planet devourer through a gauntlet of horrors which threatens to deplete his power altogether.
Waid’s rushing things here. A tour through the Dark Dimension with Galactus really needs to be a much bigger story than the one that Waid is delivering here. The search for a suitable planet while Galactus weakened really could have been several issues long with all kinds of weird adventures, but instead Waid sends Strange through a quick sketch of a journey to find the right planet (the nature of which isn’t really fully explained) only to rush back to Galactus and THEN tell him that it’s going to be a long journey to get to the planet. The pacing is a bit odd, but Waid does a good job of telling a good story even if it IS rushed.
Kitson isn’t really allowed to show the full majesty of a fantastic realm of bizarre magics. The alien realms are largely limited to Strange literally stopping to ask for directions from various denizens of the Dark Dimension. It’s cool and everything, but it would have been far more interesting to develop this a bit more as a Strange/Cleo/Galactus road trip sort of an adventure that has an opportunity to let the menace of dark magics slowly settle-in around the corners of everything in lush panels of alien worlds rather than a bunch of still panels littered with a lot of caption boxes.
The development at the end of the story features a fascinating transformation for Galactus as the dark magics encroach around the planet devourer. It’s too bad so much of the rest of the issue feels like a mad rush to arrive at. This issue really could have been much, much more had Waid simply wanted Galactus to be more of a long-term co-star in the book. As it is, he’s clearly got designs for a larger story that’ll wrap-up in a couple of months. Too bad. This could have been much more interesting if it was given the chance to breathe.
