Doctor Strange: Surgeon Supreme #2 // Review
Stephen Strange has been thrown into the water attached to some concrete and rebar. Strange has no time to prepare for it, so it’s more dangerous than anything Houdini ever had to deal with. Strange is more than just an escape artist, though. He’s got a lot to deal with once he’s escaped certain death as writer Mark Waid continues into the second issue of Doctor Strange: Surgeon Supreme. Artist Kev Walker gives the story visual intensity that is amplified thanks to the coloring work of Java Tartaglia. The current era of Dr. Strange’s life continues to show clever novelty in another fun issue that mixes magical heroic action with mystery and mysticism.
Doctor Strange has fractured his tibia in two places. It’s a quick diagnosis that he makes having just cast a sigil in the water that teleported him to safety. He’s coughing-up water and casting a rejuvenation cast on his leg. In a couple of hours, it’ll be fine, but there are questions to be answered. The Wrecker did what he did to Strange without breaking much of a sweat. Doctor Strange has great power. The Wrecker was a low-level thug. His crowbar was enhanced by some pretty powerful magic. He’s being employed by someone with great power. Strange needs to find out who it was.
Waid gives Strange a very sophisticated heroism. He’s just pulled himself out of the river, and he’s already thinking a few moves ahead. Rather than trying to stop The Wrecker or looking for revenge, he’s already thinking about what kind of figure could have given him the equipment he’d used to beat the hell out of him. He’s thinking about it WHILE forging something that will allow him to do what he needs to do. The concerted tenacity of the hero seems particularly impressive in the second issue of Doctor Strange’s latest issue.
The explosive dynamic of Walker’s art gives the story a nuanced power. Strange is struggling at the opening of the issue. Walker has a really firm grasp of how to bring the struggle to the page in a way that respects the amount of power that Strange has. The fluidity of the pacing of the story is in good hands with Walker, who guides the story between the panels to give it a respectable amount of impact as the plot progresses from page to page. Tartaglia’s colors are beautiful. The multi-colored luminosity of the magic gives Strange’s power a warmth that punctuates the inky shadows of the issue.
This issue is a bit of a departure from the surgeon aspect of Strange’s new life. The life of a medical professional might have been a bit more interesting to maintain for a second issue straight, but Waid has places to take the story. It would be kind of a major disappointment if the surgeon/magician thing ended up being more of a background detail when there are so many possibilities in Strange’s duality between medical science and magic. The series continues to be fun regardless of any missed potential, however, as Waid and Walker do a solidly entertaining job of bringing Strange to the page.
