Its not fun tearing into a book like this with a talented team and a track record for being really good. Hopeless last issue of Doctor Strange had some of the same problems as this one, but they were downplayed and not as damaging. Here, those problems are amped up and fatal. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend this comic. Read Full Review

Stuff happens, so there's that, but seriously: WHY?! Won't tying Fisk and Urich to mysticism just end up tainting their A-List commonfolk characters cast status in DD's book? Not only does that book need more cast focus, why do these big changes in this title. Maybe it'll be just a one-shot thing like when MJ became Red Sonja in MTU - that'd be alright. Plus we get big name guest stars, with multiple titles of their own, that do nothing but get pawned just to try to attract their individual fan bases. Maybe it would've been better to spotlight some of the umpteen other superheroes (and supervillains) trapped in the darkbubble for evenness. And the unclear S.E. timeline while the darkbubble is up is infuriating. On the plus side the Baron Mordo grandstanding is proceeding reasonably enough and that cover is as provactive, if not more, as the scattering of other good guy/bad guy bondings/pacts on other back issue covers. more

Dr. Strange teams up with demon-ridden Kingpin, white knight Ben Urich, and ghost-plane-flying Spider-Woman to take down Mordo before he can gobble up every last bite of scenery in Manhattan. It seems Dennis Hopeless is pretty contemptuous of Secret Empire, but his over-the-top D&D parody tie-in dances on the line between "whew, much-needed comic relief" and "ugh, wacky for the sake of wackiness 'LOL Memes' humor." Niko Henrichon's messy art heads in the same direction: Is it exuberant and vivacious or hopelessly rough and unpolished? Reader attitude will ultimately be key in deciding whether this issue is delightful or tiresome, but a stronger creative effort could have grounded it solidly in the former camp.

I'm surprised that Hopeless gets the voices of these characters so wrong. Mordo quipping like a character on a sitcom? Ben Urich tossing out references to Larping? Who are these people?