Writer: Jed MacKay
Artist: Pasqual Ferry
Color Artist: Heather Moore
Cover Artist: Alex Ross
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: $4.99
Reviewer: StoryBabbler
Doctor Strange is trying to keep Cobolorum, a living D&D-style fantasy board game, from turning all of New York into a fantasy kingdom and save the players that it has ensnared to keep its existence afloat. To do that, he needs to play by its Jumanji-like rules to quell the threat. He formed his team of characters Jed MacKay has written for, and soon enough his adventurer party made it to the heart of the game. But there they discover the game master is none other than Baron Mordo! Read Doctor Strange #14 to see Strange battle one of his oldest arch-enemies once more.
Review:
Okay, so Doctor Strange and his adventuring party have to fight the literal evil dungeon master of Cobolorum. On paper, this should be a really fun and exciting story for Doctor Strange as he confronts one of his oldest supervillains ever. The problem, like much of this comic, is the execution. Fair warning, there will be SPOILERS in this review.
Now, that we know Baron Mordo is controlling Cobolorum, things went from bad to worse for Doctor Strange and his adventurers. Especially when Mordo summoned a big green, firebreathing dragon to kill them and nothing they do seems to be hurting it that much, if at all. So, the good doctor switches tactics and instead orders the others to go for Cobolorum’s rulebook while he fends off the dragon. Easier said than done. But the doctor is not out of tricks and plays a trusted play out of the hero’s handbook to find a solution to not only the fight but Cobolorum’s unique situation.
Let’s get the good out of the way before delving into the bad. First off, Pasqual Ferry’s art really does shine when depicting the fantastical elements here, as it was with the previous issue. I think it helps when there’s a tangible template for him to work around when it comes to depicting the fantasy elements here compared to most of the previous issues. A good example of this is the green dragon that Stephen has to face, and even gets to ride for a little bit. On top of that, it was cool to see Doctor Strange find an empathetic solution to resolve the problem with Cobolorum. But that’s all I have to say for the good.
Now, onto the bad. Obviously, the biggest problem is how Baron Mordo is written. I said before in my review for the previous issue that I had little confidence in how MacKay would write Mordo here. Mainly based on how he depicted him in his Death of Doctor Strange miniseries, which was pathetic to say the least. And unfortunately, I was proven right as Mordo, like most villains in this series, is depicted like a terrible Saturday morning cartoon villain. As a result, there’s no style, no real menace here, and how he’s defeated is far from clever and just makes him look stupid when any other writer would know he’s a little more competent than this. On top of that, it doesn’t help that Strange just tells them to face Mordo with little to no strategy or protection of any kind against him, which unintentionally makes Strange look foolish. Overall, this whole story feels like it was rushed so we could get to the Blood Hunt tie-in story, which will no doubt focus on Stephen’s evil vampire brother, Victor Strange.
Final Thoughts:
Doctor Strange #14 concludes the story of Cobolorum as Stephen and his allies face the game’s evil dungeon master, Baron Mordo. Unfortunately, Baron Mordo is far from a serious threat or an entertaining villain here. He’s more like a bad Saturday morning cartoon villain. On top of that, the comic’s resolution feels a little rushed to wrap up the current story, so that it can tie-in to the upcoming Blood Hunt event. Thankfully, the art was good and Strange’s solution for handling Cobolorum after the battle was quite empathetic.