As has been the case with other Bendis issues, if one describes the plot very simply, omitting names and characterizations, one sees the potential for an entertaining story, but since the details of the plot are wrong in practically every respect, a reader who knows the characters’ histories and abilities sees the equivalent of blank sheets of paper.

This situation is exceptional in that Brevoort, Bendis, et al., can’t seem to get their stories straight as to why Dr. Strange is no longer the Sorcerer Supreme, Compare the text page of NA #54 to the contents and to the IGN interview with Brevoort and Waid, and one ends up with three different, inconsistent explanations. The varying amounts of emphasis placed on Strange’s ability to gesture with his hands is ridiculous, since Bendis is the only writer that’s made that ability important. Remember that Strange can cast spells in his astral form.

All in all, this issue is as bad a story as one might think he’d ever see in a commercial publication. Bendis and Brevoort didn’t accomplish anything that they set out to do, in a professional sense, yet they will act as if they did.

SRS