Sorcerer Supreme #1 // Review
There was a time in the 20th century when the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme was held by one figure. Things have been considerably more complicated since then. A powerful sorceress from the Dark Dimension briefly held onto the title before her lover Stephen reclaimed it. Then there was a small matter of a Victor von Doom claiming the title. Now it rests in the hands of someone else entirely in Sorcerer Supreme #1. Writer Steve Orlando explores Wanda Maximoff’s turn with the mantle in the debut issue of a new series with art by Bernard Chang. Color comes to the page courtesy of Ruth Redmond.
He is the Lord of the Dark Dimension. He is the Great Enigma. He is the Lord of Darkness. The Dread One. Lord of Chaos. And he’s hanging out in Manhattan. He’s Dormammu and he’s threatening the people of Earth’s dimension in one of the biggest cities on the planet. And since this is the Marvel Universe, he’s not exactly scaring them. People crazy enough to live in Marvel Manhattan aren’t’ going to scare easy. There’s always a hero. This time that hero is the Scarlet Witch. She’s got possession of the Darkhold. It’s one of the most totally evil books in the whole of the universe and she’s about to use it on the latest threat to the Earth.
Orlando has been working with Wanda for quite some time now. It’s nice to see her personality evolving over her time with him as a writer. The position as magical champion of the dimension feels like a very natural outgrowth of the work that she had done in her own series prior to this point. She’s an admirable hero with just enough darkness within her to serve as a striking figure to hold the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme.
Chang frames cosmic-level Marvel magic with some powerful layout and composition. There’s a great deal of symmetry and unity going on in every page. Normally this might come across as being a bit too perfect, but Chang gives that symmetry, balance and poise a wild energy that keeps it all feeling deliciously chaotic in a great many space and places. The fusion between mundane realities of Manhattan and the cosmic level Ditko-inspired Marvel magic is deftly brought to the pages in the hands of Chang with some beautiful radiance and resonance from Ruth Redmond’s color work.
With the comic book industry being what it is, it isn’t too terribly often that a single author is able to work with a singe character over the course of a number of years. It’s an extremely rare occasion where an author is able to actually do something meaningful with an extended period of time with a single character. G, Willow Wilson is doing some remarkable things with Poison Ivy for DC. The years that Wilson has worked with Poison Ivy have fostered a sophisticated and nuanced personality for the Ivy. It’s nice to see Orlando working similarly long-term emotional evolutions and vicissitudes in relation with one of Marvel’s longest-lived magic users.
