Doctor Strange #5 Review

Written by: Jed MacKay
Art by: Pasqual Ferry
Colors by: Heather Moore
Letters by: Vc’s Cory Petit
Cover art by: Alex Ross (cover A)
Cover price: $3.99
Release date: July 5th, 2023

Doctor Strange #5 invites readers to partake in the joy of wedded bliss as Umar, Clea’s mother, weds Tiboro of the 6th Dimension. In case you were wondering, there is an open bar.

Is It Good?

Finally. FINALLY! Doctor Strange #5 starts getting somewhere in Jed MacKay’s wildly uneven run. I was about ready to throw in the towel when it became clear MacKay didn’t have a story and was just treading water until inspiration struck, but now a picture is coming into focus, and it has potential.

When last we left Doctor Strange, we didn’t. Issue #4 was a bottle episode starring Wong and the Agents of WAND, the second bottle issue in a row that didn’t have anything to do with the murder mystery at hand. That’s not a good sign this early in the run.

Now, Strange and Clea attend Umar and Tiboro’s previously-announced wedding. Clea learns the wedding is one of convenience, offspring are in the offing, and through little snippets of conversation, we learn that the magical people dying at the hands of a mysterious murderer all had a hand in Doctor Strange’s recent death.

This is how you get things moving and make a title interesting. The wedding is amusingly awkward for all the right reasons. Clea’s heart-to-heart with her mother reveals much about the current murders. Using Dormammu as the officiant is a stroke of genius, and the ending casts light on the mastermind behind the murders with a fair amount of intrigue and curiosity.

Is this the best Doctor Strange comic ever? No, not by a long shot, but this is the best issue in MacKay’s run so far, and this comic does exactly what it needs to do – get me interested in what happens next.

How’s the art? Admittedly, Pasqual Ferry’s pencils/inks haven’t done much to compensate for MacKay’s lack of excitement, and Heather Moore’s penchant for soft palette colors generally cools an already directionless arc, but here, the art goes a long way toward heightening the drama and tension in this issue. When the battle begins (yes, there’s a battle), the art sings. It’s amazing how much better the art gets when the writer gives the art team something to work with.

About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.

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Bits and Pieces

Doctor Strange #5 isn’t the best Doctor Strange comic in the world, but it’s the best in Jed MacKay’s run so far. The mystery behind the murders gets a big boost with clues, reveals, and a possible suspect, and the art team steps up when presented with a script that looks like it’s headed somewhere.