Reviews

Marvel Masterworks: Doctor Strange - Volume 1 by Stan Lee

rayaan54's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

cleverfoxwithcoffee's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

filmsnobforsale's review against another edition

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4.0

I can't wait to see Paste-Pot Pete become part of the MCU.

tarq1's review against another edition

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3.0

These stories are much more entertaining than I would have expected. Stan Lee has a tendency to lay it in thick with his writing, but it's endearing in a way. Ditko's art work is usually top notch and really brings the "strange" worlds to life. This one is easy to recommend, especially the second half, which is an ongoing story unlike the episodic first half.

skolastic's review against another edition

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3.0

I was thinking recently that I enjoyed Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Strange in the Avengers movies quite a bit, but didn't know a lot about the character's comics so here we are.

It's wild to me that this material follows on the heels of the first Spider-Man story by a year, because while those (IMO) have aged very well, the good doctor's first adventures have not. For all of the praise for Ditko's "psychedelic" style, there aren't really a lot of parts that wow me, and, well, Lee's writing doesn't do much either - what's Strange like as a person when he's not being a super-wizard? Why is a master of the mystic arts living in Greenwich Village? What do any of those weird things he says actually mean? Who knows! (I will reserve some praise here, art-wise, for the parts featuring Nightmare, who I guess is a sort of dream spirit? Ditko's design for him in the earlier stories is extremely creepy and weird, although it becomes more bland as time goes on.)

At the end of the day, this feels like 90% of older comics - long periods of time where not much happens followed by one or two issues that have something unusual/interesting going on. Probably not worth it except for diehards.

ipacho's review against another edition

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2.0

Stan Lee experimented with almost anything, yet he ended with the same mix of "good overcomes evil over a soap opera". His first stories of Dr Strange are a clumsy walk into magick and the paranormal, only saved by Ditko's amazing depictions of other dimensions. Personally, I prefer DC's mystic universe (specially what Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman did).