Hellboy and Dr. Strange. by brett weldele

As much as it can be campy, when illustrated well his original get-up is just as cool. Also by ronsalas 

Doctor Strange by Peach Momoko

Strange, Surfer, Strode (2023)

By Tradd Moore

Dr. Strange by naratani

“The stars are already gone.

I watched them fade that night…

…why can’t I let them go?”

DOCTOR STRANGE: FALL SUNRISE #3 drawn and written by Tradd Moore colored by Heather Moore

Doctor Strange by Nat Jones.

Still on alternate realities, this Stephen variant never had his hands injured in the car accident. Instead, he became a superhuman specialist, which prevented him from travelling to Tibet. Super glad to see his accomplishments tho!

Exiles #66 (2005)

Doctor Strange by James Harren

Cosplayer: me

Photographer: Anna Providence

Did these for fun, ta-da. Colors in Fall Sunrise. Beautiful rainbow of a comic.

Before I combust with a post about the chapter, have Clea’s new uniform in Marvel Puzzle Quest 💜

P. Craig Russell: Doctor Strange

Doctor Strange and the supernatural characters pt 1 - Nico Minoru

Since Nico will soon be featured in v6, I decided to start with her. For context, let’s do a quick review on her character.

Nico Minoru is a member of the Runaways, a team of teenagers that found out their parents were part of a cult called The Pride. Their goal was to perform a ritual to release the elder gods called Gibborin, who would feed on the souls of the entire world and claim it for themselves. The Runaways saved the world, but their parents died in the process. As a consequence, their hearts never recovered from that trauma, which only worsened due to the following betrayal of one of their teammates, Alex Wilder. The TV show is more or less loyal to the characters, but there are heavy differences in case you’re wondering (and one of them is Nico’s character development, which I’ll explain in a second).

Nico comes from a powerful japanese clan of wizards and her weapon is/was The Staff of One, which she stole from her evil parents. It turns out this artifact is actually an ancient sorcerer called The One, who was challenged by Nico’s ancestor. He lost the battle and thus was turned into the Staff. Nico only learned about that recently in the last Runaways volume, when The One came out and revealed himself.

In the past, Nico was forced to draw her own blood to summon the Staff out of her body, but after making a (terrible) deal with The One, she no longer needs to harm herself in order to summon the staff. In exchange, The One releases a drop of his own essence into Nico’s soul, one at a time. On top of that, her staff allows her to perform spells only once, failing whenever she tries to repeat them. But this is not the only issue with Nico and her magic.

She went through a VERY traumatizing experience along with her teammate Chase in Avengers Arena, when Arcade kidnapped sixteen teenagers and created his own Battle Royale scenario. She lost an arm and actually died there, but the staff brought her back, boosting her magic powers and giving her a new artificial arm, although turning her a little more violent. Her mental health was severely damaged there, and so she decided to never speak of that incident ever again.

Following this event, in Avengers Undercover, she infiltrated Zemo’s organization along with the survivors of Murderworld. Their first goal was to rescue Elsa Bloodstone’s little brother, Cullen, unaware that he actually wanted to stay in order to find Arcade and get revenge for Murderworld.

Meanwhile, Nico was welcomed by Daimon Hellstrom (please don’t ask), who was working under Zemo’s leadership (please don’t ask²). Daimon summoned the soul and body of Alex Wilder back from hell (since he was dead) so they could train magic together. Alex’s true intentions were never revealed, but I do suspect Daimon was using him to waste Nico’s spells and also make her vulnerable since Nico had a relationship with Alex before his betrayal. She later realizes that it’s useless to train her magic skills because she wouldn’t be able to use them a second time in battle, accusing Alex of manipulating her.

After that, Daimon teleported them to a hall where Arcade was hosting a murder game. They did kill Arcade, finally getting their revenge, but he just a meat doll created by Daimon. Zemo manipulated them all so he could lure the Avengers while he attacked S.H.I.E.L.D. and framed the kids.

Turns out Daimon was not only manipulating Nico but Cullen as well. Daimon taught Cullen how to control the monster inside him, unaware that his true intent was to put it under his control (please don’t ask³). Since Arcade was still alive, they proved their innocence, although another emotional scar was carved into their souls.

(”oh, but aren’t they teachers at Strange Academy?” you may ask. YES, they are! Marvel’s continuity, am I right?)

Later on, Nico also joined the A-Force team, which sadly didn’t last. But she became good friends with some of the members, such as Dazzler and Singularity (her relationship with Carol became sour due to a terrible event called Civil War II, although they were able to come to an understanding).

Lastly, the Runaways reunited once more, facing new challenges concerning their found family. The volume was sadly cancelled, although it brought huge changes for Nico. She asked Karolina to take The Staff of One with her to space, which depowered her magic abilities significantly. The consequences are seen in Midnight Suns, her last appearance, where she constantly struggles with self-worth and self-doubt (just like a certain magician we know hehe).

That’s what leads us to the next topic: her personality.

Nico is the very definition of a bi disaster. One of her most infamous bad habits is the fact that she’s always trying to kiss almost every member of her team in order to cope with her loneliness, whether they’re single or not. The thing is, the smallest sign of affection is enough for her to get involved with someone, and at the worst possible times (for instance, after burying a friend). Don’t get me wrong, I love her and I’ll protect her. But I can’t pretend she doesn’t have the same bad coping mechanisms than Stephen did when he was trying to forget Clea. And that’s what stood out the most to me as a Stephen stan, opening my mind to ideas of how they can bond.

The thing is, Nico constantly feels alone and insecure about her own capabilities. First of all, there’s the leadership issue. After Alex’s betrayal, she was forced into leading the Runaways, although she canonically states she never wanted that in the first place. It’s a responsibility she was never ready for.

Secondly, there’s the trust issues. Their parents lied to her all her life and tried more than once harm her. She was in love with Alex and then he betrayed everyone, constantly inserting himself into her life and making it a living hell over and over (sometimes quite literally). She trusted Doc Justice and he tried to murder the Runaways in order to promote himself, even though she swore she’d never trust adults.

And that’s a super interesting point because… The very premise of the Runaways is that adults are bad. They refuse to ask for help because the Avengers and the X-Men failed them over and over. This is why Nico never asked for Stephen’s help like Illyana did. And yet… It seems that this is about to change in v6.

I don’t really know where writers are going with their relationship, but I do hope that Stephen realizes that The One is slowly infecting Nico’s soul. That’s a good thing, believe it or not, because Stephen can be a good role model to Nico and a bridge for her to work on her trust issues regarding adults. He can teach her how to get rid of The One’s grip and also teach her safer methods to perform magic. Friendly reminder that Wong also taught her a spell or two.

Overall, I believe that the Strange Academy was a fresh start to her because Nico doesn’t really have a purpose. Karolina is her first stable relationship, and she’s off to space to deal with Majesdanian stuff. Besides, if Nico is considered to be the “mother” of the Runaways, Chase was the “father”, and he was taken to the future for a reason yet to be explored in future stories. Point is, she needs an adult figure to reassure her. The Midnight Suns was another good addition because she was able to open up with Illyana and find comfort and self-worth.

Personally, this is truly touching and meaningful because, as I always like to put, the magic community has something quite special going on. Their connection runs deeper because of the soul/spirituality. And that’s why I have huuuuuge hopes that Stephen will be able to reach out for her. It’s been shown that he keeps in touch with her whenever magic is involved, not to mention the school itself.

It’s true that they barely interacted in the past, mostly because Nico is always neglected when it comes to big magic events (Last Days of Magic, Civil War II etc). Strange Academy was another missed opportunity, but there’s room now thanks to the team of v6.

This is what I’m looking forward to, honestly. Even with limited powers, Nico is quite creative, although her self-destructive tendencies get in her way, which is exactly what v4!Stephen used to be. I’m pretty sure he’d see himself in her and would do his best to support her. That’s Nico’s opportunity to bond and grow as a character, to work on her trust issues, to heal from the trauma she’s been through and create healthy relationships, not only when it comes to Stephen, but the magic community as a whole. Friendly reminder that he taught magic to both Jericho and Illyana and almost became Billy’s and Wanda’s mentor.

So this is it. As you can see, the potential and background are all there. I’m really excited to see what comes next for them and I do hope they’re able to create a nice and sweet bond in the next issues!

Art by Mike Deodato Jr.

This is why I relate to the magicians 😅

New Avengers #14 (2016)

Once more for those in the back.

Fall Sunrise (2022-2023) art by Tradd Moore

What drives me crazy is just how much Waldron doesn’t get “Hold the Knife” what is that even supposed to mean? Like, if anything if you wanted to find a flaw in if actions in Infinity War and Endgame was letting fate decide his action. It’s not Stephan wanted to sacrifice anyone he just saw out of thousands of possibilities that was the only way to win and even then, it still possible cost his own existence. 

Stephan had a bit of an arrogant streak as at his worse when he was lashing out at others out of angry and depression when he lost the use of his hands. Something he got over when he accepted his position as sorcerer supreme. Waldron needs to realize the first person Strange puts in danger is always himself. 

Dumb Walnut does this with every character, goes backwards ignores all the development has them learn the same lesson they’ve already learned except worse this time because he doesn’t understand what their problem actually was 

JIM STARLIN IS SAVAGE!!

So I was re-reading Shadow and Light #2 because of that ask about the famous quote (”Faith is my sword. Truth my shield. Knowledge my armor”) and I’ve never payed attention to Starlin’s preface (the man who created Thanos and wrote the Infinity Trilogy, by the way).

HE WAS MAD at the way people were writing Stephen. He called it “mistakes”. And honestly? I’m with him. To give a bit of context, he was probably referring to the final issues of Sorcerer Supreme, when things really went down. Stephen became rich, long hair, no moustache, AWFUL new look. Not to mention that, well, although I do love the next design, I’m not pleased with the whole “Mordo poisoned Stephen’s mind since he was a boy and forced him into alcohol yadda yadda yadda.” Luckly, this plot is never to be used again.

Also, I stan Starlin’s decision to write a story based on Ditko’s style. Let’s be honest. The same way Chris Claremont is to X-Men, Ditko is for Strange. This appealing, magic world is truly unique. I was so happy to see Stan and Ditko’s touch in Scott Derrickson’s movie.

Don’t get me wrong. I do love many new narratives (like my beloved v4), yet one must be really good to write such incredible character. This task is up to few people. (Waid, do not interact)