Doctor Strange #3

[laughing_tree]

Here's the thing: Look, we always say "magic has a price" and we're always looking for a way to limit Doctor Strange's powers and so forth and so on. But I gotta tell ya, that doesn't always fly with me. What makes him limited is not interesting to me. It's what he does with his powers that makes him interesting to me. I understand putting some limitations on him, but I don't think comics are about characters who have to follow rules. They're about flying, right? They're about doing impossible things. I think the more rules and regulations we put on our characters... That's just my own personal opinion, but it doesn't wash for me. -- Mark Waid

Comments

[jaxjyls]

Is those Skrull's jobs just to be a walking throne?

[zachbeacon]

Cue Flintstones "eh, it's a living" gag.


I like to think one of them ties to impress people by saying they're a Chairperson.

[thanekos]

" I was a footman to Kl'rt himself! "
" .. "
" .. better than my friend, okay? The doorman.. "

[zachbeacon]

"Command has posted the new assignments"

"Wait, which kind of Watchman am I?"

"Don't ask me. It says I'm a Postman"

[remial]

"the guy who is stuck being toilet paper prays for death regularly"

[locuatico]

Maybe they work as a taxi service?

[owlbrigade1]

Somewhere an Uber exec is taking notes...

[dcbanacek]

Dr. Strange, mind whammying people who inconvenience or question him since the 60's.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

[long_silence]

Sometimes I forget how much I hate the whole "self important men making decisions that affect entire worlds without consulting anyone else" schtick that the Illuminati keeps pulling

And then Strange or Stark or Xavier or Black Bolt will do something like this to their own allies and then I'll remember

[akodo_rokku]

To be fair, this particular ally has proven herself to be pretty amoral and greedy. He's with her because he's desperate to restore his magic so he can protect Earth. So while this isn't the *nicest* move, it's totally understandable.

[locuatico]

Yeah. if, upon having an infinity stone, someone's first impulse is "how can I make a profit out of it?" then I wouldn't feel comofrtable with them handling the stone, either.

[spider_man6]

Agreed.

[long_silence]

I'm just saying it's something of a pattern with Strange (and his Illuminati bros). Remember when he mindwiped Steve Rogers after the last set of Infinity Gems got destroyed because he didn't want them to blow up planets?

And then there's how he unleashed the Sentry on Asgard so that he could steal from yggdrasil and attack Loki. Or how he hid a magical nuke spell inside Zelma Stanton's soul without telling her.

He uses his friends and allies "for the greater good" to their detriment, and it seems like no one can stop him because no one knows he does this crap.

[scorntx]

... why is this guy Sorcerer Supreme again?

[erikred]

On account of the other candidate being Baron Mordo, so, really, we've established that the entire character history is based on lesser-of-the-two-evils decisions.

Steve Ditko lives on!

[bruinsfan]

He used to be a much more morally upright character before he fell into Bendis and Hickman's hands. Though mesmerism and memory wiping have always been tools in his toolbox.

[zachbeacon]

The Illuminati isn't that big a retcon all things considered. If anything the surprising thing was that they were willing to collaborate with the others while they were taking matters into their own hands.

[lordultimus]

It does kind of remind me of Metalocalypse, though.

"Something world-threatening is happening! What should we do?!"

"I think... we'll... WAIT!"

[locuatico]

"should we do something?"
"we should DO something!"
"SHOULD we do something?"

[leoboiko]

> What makes him limited is not interesting to me. It's what he does with his powers that makes him interesting to me. I understand putting some limitations on him, but I don't think comics are about characters who have to follow rules. They're about flying, right?

Hey, this is cool, I kind of get i—

>mindwipe!<

Oh, it's that kind of limitation he won't have (-___-)

[dr_archeville]

While I love the image of a Skrull extruding multiple limbs to do moar magick (and the concept of alien magic as a whole), the thought of magic-using Skrulls still weirds me out, b/c I remember when it was stated the Dire Wraiths were the (dark magic-warped) descendants of the magic-using Skrulls that had been exiled from pro-tech, anti-magic Skrull society.

[broblawsky]

Skrull civilization was pretty much destroyed, and it looks like this is their only magician; maybe post-Annihilation Skrull society is a bit more liberal.

[bruinsfan]

In that Illuminati story featuring their return strike against the Skrull Throneworld, they did have the Emperor calling in some obscure priests to examine Strange since his scientists couldn't make heads or tails of his abilities.

My headcanon is that their solution to prevent Strange from uncovering their plots was brainwashing to prevent him from using the Eye of Agamotto if he suspected Skrull activities. I don't recall seeing him use it once in Secret Invasion, when you'd think an all-seeing eye that can penetrate any disguise or illusion would have come in rather handy.

[burkeonthesly]

"Do Skrulls even have individual identities? I can only think of one, and it's not like I ever faced him."
*pages later*
"Kl'rt--is that a very common Skrull name, do you think, or is this the Super-Skrull, that one Skrull-with-their-own-identity that I was thinking of earlier?"

Also, if that is the Super-Skrull, what the hell, Kl'rt? You're a refugee and back on the universal conquest kick?

[scorntx]

He's trying to use the Time Gem to restore the Skrull species to glory.

... don't think he thought his plan through very well.

[spider_man6]

He's been kicking to rebuild the empire, makes sense as to why he'd want a stone on this side to do it.

The art is this issue is just killer. Also, the Skrulls becoming animals and environments and objects is a fascinating...if not slightly weird idea.

[scorntx]

-he tried to remember if he had ever encountered a Skrull who was uniquely distinct-

Wow. Way to completely burn all those Skrulls with actual personalities.
Like Anelle, or Veranke, or Lyja, or Crusader.
Four. Four Skrulls with personalities. A-ha-ha!


Actually feeling a little sympathy for Kl'rt there. Not because he's actually done anything sympathetic, mind, but it's just...
Infinity Countdown made it look like he was going to be a Big Deal, getting the Time Gem, planning to restore the Skrulls. He was even on the cover. The cover, damn it!
And then he loses the Time Gem in a tie-in. A tie-in which didn't even show up until Countdown was almost over, and which the main title considered so unimportant it didn't feel the need to explain, just "yeah, that thing with Super-Skrull? He lost the gem. Strange has it now."

It's like he's a green, evil Charlie Brown...

[alliterator]

At least he wasn't killed off-screen, like Ronan the Accuser.

[arilou_skiff]

The annihilation crew has a distressing tendency to either get killed off or their characters ruined.

[alliterator]

At least an alternate universe version of Phyla-Vell is alive. I keep waiting for the 616 version to come back.

[scorntx]

...
WHAT.

[alliterator]

Read Death of the Inhumans. The new Kree Empire apparently executed Ronan the Accuser for failing the save the previous Kree Empire.

[long_silence]

Isn't Ronan on the cover for the next issue?

[alliterator]

He might be, in which case the New Kree Empire lied about killing him.