Strange #8 // Review
Clea and Stephen are back together again. A reunion between wife and quasi-dead husband should be good news. They’ve been apart for a long time. They both have work to do, though. It’s work that involves substantial danger and some pretty serious hazards as writer Jed MacKay ushers a few really fascinating characters through realms of magic in Strange #8 with artists Stefano Landini and Marcelo Ferreira, inker Roberto Poggi, and colorist Java Tartaglia. MacKay’s clever mix of sorcery and spy security tech makes for a fun atmosphere for a gradually developing cloak-and-dagger mystery involving a group of magic-based terrorists.
Somewhere in the recent past, a top-secret magic organization known as W.A.N.D. contacted Dr. Strange. They needed his help in The Box. Wielders of magic are dying all the time. When they die, W.A.N.D. puts them in The Box…just in case. They want to be prepared for anything. And they are. When all of the dead magicians come back to life at once, they’re going to need some help from the Sorcerer Supreme. It’s not a serious issue for him. The deeper mystery is how the hazard could have happened in the first place…it’s an answer that he and Clea will have to face together.
MacKay fuses espionage with realms of magic in a way that feels more cute than it is deep. Deeper matters of cloak-and-dagger terrorists in a world of magic in the Marvel Universe rest comfortably in the background as advanced security tech finds fun little analogs in a realm of magic. It’s enjoyable stuff that never takes itself too seriously, which is admirable in its own way. With Clea in the background of the eighth issue of MacKay’s series, though, Strange loses a great deal of charm as it launches itself toward the big showdown that is likely coming in issue #9.
Landini handles the scenes set in the past with Dr. Strange in The Box. Landini’s clean lines and highly kinetic action allow Tartaglia’s colors plenty of room to render their own magic. Ferreira and Poggi finesse the scenes of present-day drama. Clea’s presence is felt in the present through very dramatic silences on the page. She may not be sealing much, but her anger and frustration are simmering around the center of the plot. It’s interesting to see Tartaglia’s coloring forming itself around a couple of different artists in the course of the chapter. The style cleverly forms itself in distinctly different ways between past and present scenes.
It would be really nice to see Clea remain in the center of the panel for many, many issues to come, but all it took to knock her away from the spotlight was the sudden appearance of her late husband. This is kind of a disappointment that drags the series a bit for the moment. MacKay’s Clea is as fun as his Black Cat. A team-up series for the both of them would be irresistible in MacKay’s hands.
