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NEW AVENGERS (v.2) # 34
END TIMES – PART 4
BENDIS – story
MIKE DEODATO – art
(with “artist jam” assists from: CHUCK BB, FAREL DALRYMPLE,
MING DOYLE, LUCY KNISLEY, BECKY CLOONAN & YVES BIGEREL)
RAIN BEREDO – colors
Be sure to read the reviews of the previous three issues in this arc:
For those who like quick, spoiler-free, to-the-point
reviews, I’ll post here what I tweeted about my take on reading New Avengers v.2
# 34:
"I read #NewAvengers 34. Bendis' #DoctorStrange arc wrap up. Some good, some bad, some BAD!, a few F*@% YEAH's & PLOT HOLES aplenty."
That sums it up nicely.
However, for those who like their reviews slightly more
in-depth (and spoilery)… read on.
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*SPOILER WARNINGS ARE IN EFFECT!*
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Ostensibly, with the imperative of wrapping up the loose
ends involved with the current story arc (and hopefully also doing so for the
dangling plot-lines left over from the previous arcs dealing with Doctor
Strange, Doctor Voodoo, Agamotto [and his All-Seeing Eye] and the mantle of
Sorcerer Supreme) Brian Michael Bendis produced the script for this issue, wherein
Daniel Drumm (Brother Voodoo) seeks the demise of Doctor Strange and the
Avengers in retaliation for the death of his brother, Jericho (Doctor Voodoo)
Drumm.
It is interesting to note, that in a title called “Avengers”,
everyone in this story, not just the heroes, but the villain as well, is trying
to avenge someone’s death.
As we saw in the first three issues in this arc, Daniel
attacked and seemingly killed both Daimon (Son of Satan) Hellstrom and Jennifer
(sorceress, friend of Man-Thing and inheritor of the magic of Zhered-Na) Kale before turning his attentions to the New
Avengers – and Dr. Strange.
Using his ability to possess the bodies of the living,
Daniel hopped from one Avenger’s body to the next in split-second exchanges, in
order to confuse and sew destruction. He also utilized his abilities to
traverse the astral realms, and in so doing, brought about the death of
Victoria Hand.
This final issue (both of the story arc, as well as of Brian
Michael Bendis’ tenure on the franchise) is all about the final battle of
Daniel Drumm (and in essence, due to his body-snatching ability: the entirety of the Avengers)
vs Doctor Strange – to the death.
Starting where last issue left off, this issue begins with
Strange manifesting among the Avengers, who are being trounced by Daniel
Drumm’s body-hopping, hit-and-run combat technique.
However, Bendis immediately forgets the parameters of Daniel
Drumm’s powers and has artist Mike Deodato draw the entire Avengers line-up standing
against Strange, en masse, when Daniel is only able to possess ONE at a time. Even
at split-second body-jumps, he can’t realistically control all the members of
both teams simultaneously.
That said, it doesn’t stop the double-page spread, drawn
by Deodato, from being 100% filled with F*@% YEAH awesomeness. The implied
upcoming ass-kickery is truly exciting.
Also of illustrative excellence is the following page
wherein Doctor Strange, dynamically foreshortened, in mystical prestidigitation
mode, talks smack and (with the exception of Thor) nullifies the threat posed
by these possessed aggressors by wrapping them in the Crimson bands of Cytorrak.
Thor however, manages to break them all free with enchanted lightning summoned
forth by Mjolnir.
What come next are several pages of battle; but it seems that
the reader is the one who feels the most pain from the
altercations, as each of the next 6 pages are drawn by a different artist in a
“jam session” of conflicting and jarring styles. Most of these artists (predominantly “indie”
illustrators) are either not ready for prime-time, or were the improper choices
for a series of scenes as dynamic as these should have been.
With the exception of two pages, by Farel Dalrymple and Becky Cloonan, which
were nice to look at but were simply the wrong tone for the book, the rest of
these jam pages were cartoony and amateurish, and absolutely TORE me from the
story and ruined what could have been an epic battle sequence.
However, even therein is something positive about them, as it was very interesting to see some of these artists, who otherwise seem uninitiated to how Dr. Strange's abilities work, bestow upon him some nifty new tricks. Perhaps my favorite new power being Lucy Knisley's portrayal of Strange's spoken spell being shown visually, granting Strange the ability to totally dominate Captain America, effortlessly bringing the super soldier to his knees.
Unfortunately, experimental art aside, Bendis didn’t do much to help things along much either, as it
seemed evident that his story needed to wrap up, post haste, and so he chose a
truly curious stratagem – OUROBOROS LOGIC; A.K.A: the PLOT HOLE (or more accurately one of a series of plot holes, not first and foremost, the total disregard of his own [and others’] previous
written work)!
The whole contradictory, circuitous logic of the plot resolution deals with
the use of dark magic.
Daniel Drumm sought to kill sorcerers who were using dark
magicks, since only they would have the true power to defeat him. Strange, ever
a wielder of “white” magicks states in the story that “when [he] was Sorcerer
Supreme [he] would NEVER EVER use the dark arts.” Yet, the story-driven reason for Strange
giving up the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme was because he did not feel worthy of
it – due to his actually using the dark arts - to combat the
Hulk during the “World War Hulk” debacle. (This is ignoring the fact that
Strange HAD USED the dark arts even prior to that - during the entirety of the
2nd volume of ‘Strange Tales’ - out of necessity. But we’ve long
known Bendis doesn’t read [or care about] what comics were written before his).
So, in order to defeat Daniel Drumm (who is in essence using
forms of voodoo and necromancy – a dark magic), Doctor Strange must resort to
using dark magic, and essentially dissipates Drumm’s spirit into nothingness by
utilizing “Zhadana Spell of Astral Form Destruction – from the Scrolls of
Damnation!
Damn.
Thus we find that once again (for the third major time for
those counting [not including some other minor instances of same]) that when in
absolute need, Doctor Strange WILL pull out the black magic cannon.
So, let me see if I understand Bendis’ entire plot resolution
to the scenario that he himself put in place: Doc uses dark magic to combat a
dire threat, and thus can no longer be Sorcerer Supreme, is... to have Doc use dark magic to combat a
dire threat in order to RECLAIM the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme?
OK. Gotcha.
And to wrap it all up, Bendis uses another plot hole but
merges it with a “Deus ex machina” solution. (Ironic in that the very reason
for Doctor Strange’s “demotion” from the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme and power
loss being a direct result of editorial edict that HE was too much of a “Deus
ex machina” – and thus proving the point that I have always stated; it’s not
the fault of a character who is used as a “D.e.M” but the poor author who
writes himself into a corner and thus has need of one.)
During the battle between Strange and Drumm, we saw Daimon
Hellstrom (seemingly alive and well, in a void) speaking to someone off-panel
about how all this is a test, and that there needs to be a Sorcerer Supreme.
That someone..?
The ANCIENT ONE!
I’ve long been one to call for a return of the Ancient One,
in some capacity, to Doctor Strange’s supporting cast, and while I was happy in
some way to see him “in the flesh”, it also struck me as wrong.
First, it seemed inherently incongruous that this ancient
master, steeped in myth and legend (and since dying having become “one with
all”) would be able to be seen by such “mere” mortals as the Avengers. It would
have been best if he were only visible to Strange. His standing in the presence
of such colorfully attired super-heroes somehow reduces the Ancient One’s
status. Does that make sense to anyone but me?
Still, aside from my own personal “feeling” about it is the
story-driven fact that it makes little sense.
Remember back in issues # 1 – 6, when the spirit of the
Ancient One was the one who stated that Strange was a failure and no good and
blah-blah-blabbity-blah, and was in league with “Agamotto” in his efforts to
defeat Strange and claim the Eye of Agamotto for whatever purpose? (Seriously,
it’s complicated. Just go read my in-depth analysis of that arc [
HERE]) Well…
with ZERO mention of that whole event, the Ancient One just shows up and deems
Strange fit to be Sorcerer Supreme and bequeaths once again to him the Cloak of
Levitation and Eye of Agamotto.
But wait…uh…wasn’t the Eye destroyed? Doc sure thought so
(and so, by extension, did we). So why is it no explanation is offered?
OK fine, Doctor Strange once again is in possession of the
Eye of Agamotto…
Oh, but wait… isn’t Agamotto dead? Depending on which origin
of the EYE you follow, it might not even work at all without Agamotto to
empower it.
Oh, wait. I know… the answer is so simple. It’s BENDIS!
Still, Bendis continued to do one thing right... he has Stephen Strange THINK (and research) his way to a solution (albeit, off-panel).
And I do need to allow for the admission that seeing Doctor
Strange standing triumphant with his talismans, once again the Sorcerer Supreme
was indeed a totally F*@% YEAH moment! (and possibly worth the self-lobotomizing required to take all this at face value.)
While my overall thoughts for this story arc are
positive ones, there are some disappointments:
The least of which is simply of a cover design –to- story
ratio. The quadtych cover should have had Doctor Strange on the cover for # 34
as opposed to # 31. It’s his wrap-up, after all. Iron Fist featured fairly
large in issue # 31, so swapping the two characters’ positions in the artwork
would have been best – building to the crescendo of the Doctor Strange finale’.
But that’s a very minor nit that only an obsessive-compulsive/anal-retentive, art-nerd
like myself would note.
Mike Deodato's quadtych artwork for the covers of
NEW AVENGERS v2 # 31, 32, 33 34
One disappointment with the story is that Jericho (Doctor
Voodoo) Drumm did not make an appearance. His tale, now, it seems, has been
writ. But there is no way I can believe (nor Fred Hembeck, I’m sure) that it
was meant to stay as it is, with Voodoo dead. I don’t doubt that the editors in
charge had Voodoo’s name on as list of “characters you can kill off”. Heck…
Hawkeye was on that list (remember his death in the “Disassembled” arc “NOT
LIKE THIS!”) Well, Voodoo has never been popular, and yet… they were actually
doing it. Jericho Drumm was growing as a character!
Jericho Drumm as ‘Doctor Voodoo’ was finally a chance at
doing right by the character. Bendis treated him fairly well in his early
dealings with the character (New Avengers v.1 # 29 - 30) and Voodoo had a better-than-average mini-series of his own, but once Voodoo became “an Avengers
character” Bendis used him to further the ends of his own story. Perhaps Thor,
in this issue, is being utilized to expresses the proper accusation – but instead of saying it to
Dr. Strange, it is Bendis' way of addressing meta-commentary of fans' accusations to Bendis himself; “…YOU killed him. YOU
set him up to fail.”
Even so, there were (and still are) many places for Doctor
Voodoo to be used in the future. His
brother, as well. Voodoo is in itself a form of magic that deals with death, so
I can believe he’ll be back – eventually.
Remember the whole “Drumm of Revenge” notation on the
wall-map of Tony Stark’s future-self? (See it [
HERE]) In a timeline of big events that affected
the Marvel Universe, it was placed alongside such momentous events as the
death of the Human Torch and the return of the original X-Men.
Far be it for me to say that this arc presented a minor
foeman in the likes of Daniel Drumm (seeing as how he did manage to kill at least
one “Avenger”; Victoria Hand), but this entire event took all of a day in
“real” time and couldn’t have really been any more “important” than any other
adventure.
It seems to me like something more substantial was initially
intended, but time constraints, due to the onset of the new 'Marvel NOW!' era and
Bendis’ choice to depart the Avengers franchise for all things “X”, led to a
quick retooling of the story in the need to set things back to being as close
to “pre-Bendis” as possible.
Due to the cyclical nature of the “implied growth”
that comics presents, added to the end of the “Bendis-era” on the title, it
basically was tantamount to “rearranging the deck-chairs on the Titanic”.
Unless… perhaps… this IS what was planned (in some manner or
other) and the “Event” aspect of the “Drumm of Revenge” is but a simpler way of
denoting the myriad aspects of this adventure: the death of an Avenger, the
reinstatement of Doctor Strange as the major mystical force, and the “end” of
the New Avengers. In which case, sure… I’ll buy that. I do think more was
planned, but this will do.
Probably my biggest disappointment (and I know this will
sound strange and slightly “blasphemous”,) is that I am NOT a fan of Doctor
Strange’s NEW new look. Combining his new black and red costume with the Cloak
of Levitation and the Eye of Agamotto is just a fashion nightmare. But THAT is
the subject of my NEXT blog post. Look for it this weekend soon!
However, at the end of it all, we are left with Doctor
Strange, once again, as the Sorcerer Supreme – and that is a great thing,
indeed.
*UPDATE*
Check out the comments section for continued discussion on implied events, theories, the status of the Ancient One & Agamotto, and the fate of Doctor Voodoo.