Comic Book Reviews – New Avengers #20 and Annual #1
New Avengers Annual #1
Writer: Frank Barbiere
Artist/Cover: Marco Rudy
“Nothing is impossible. Everything has a price.”
Wow, this issue was absolutely fantastic from start to finish. Without his own title and the cancelation of Matt Fraction’s Defenders series, the only place to find the Sorcerer Supreme is in the pages on New Avengers and in this annual he goes solo! This story features Stephen Strange facing a hard reality as an aspiring doctor while the modern Doctor must pay the price to save the life of a young princess.
I really like the trajectory that Stephen Strange has been 
on since he joined the New Avengers back in Volume 1. We have seen him lose the status of being Sorcerer Supreme and search for the new one as well as his comeback. It’s been a long journey for him and how he is facing things that require a darker magic: blood magic. Doctor Strange isn’t just a master of the mystic arts anymore, now he’s a master of the dark arts too. How could this possibly go wrong?
I’ll be honest, this art really surprised me. It doesn’t look like something I would normally be into, but for a Doctor Strange story it worked beautifully. This is everything that a Doctor Strange book should look like. I genuinely enjoyed it because it brings so much emotion to the story and makes some scenes dark like they need to be.
Rating: 7 (Out of 7) – Beautiful artwork, fantastic story. This issue makes me wish Marvel was putting out a monthly Doctor Strange title by this creative team.
