Strange vol 1 by jed mackay

Vol 1: I Belong to Death, penciled by Marcelo Ferreira,  Inked by Don Ho & Roberto Poggi, colored by Javier Tartaglia & Felipe Sobreiro, lettered by Vc Cory Petit

Stephen Strange has died from the actions of The Death of Doctor Strange, and his wife, Clea, has become the Sorcerer Supreme of Earth. But Clea's lineage has also afforded an already immeasurable power. She’s the niece of Dormamu, a daughter to a Warlord, a Faltine, and the Sorcerer Supreme of the Dark Dimensions. While the two Sorcerer roles wage war inside her, she has made it her mission to resurrect Stephen. For this, she needs to tangle with Death. But before she can do that, she gets mixed up with a local gang that's creating powerful monsters using the collective power of thousands of souls. Clea’s tangle with them brings face-to-face with The Harvestman, a servant of Death, and possibly closer to her goal of waring with Death herself.

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MacKay and the artistic team do a great job of conveying the power Clea has through some really powerful panels full of magic and spell-casting. But, some parts of this title are a little repetitive. Clea lists her lineage often, kind of like a battle mantra that helps her be secure in her power or something, so readers will see that often. I selfishly appreciated the crossover with Moon Knight, which is one of MacKay's other titles running right now, and hope that the two gritty characters will cross paths more in volume 2. 

This is a little bit darker of a Marvel book, like Moon Knight, because Clea isn't held back by the same heroic notions of other superheroes, so there is quite a lot of death and blood on the page. Clea also is seen drinking wine when she's back at the Sanctum Sanctorum. 

Sara's Rating: 8/10
Suitability Level: Grades 10-12

Publisher: Marvel
Publication Date: September 27, 2022
ISBN: 9781302946029 (Paperback)

​Tags: Rating: 8/10, Suitability: High School, Comicbooks, Action Adventure, Superheroes, Magic, Marvel