The title remained cancelled until 2015 this time. Eventually the series was cancelled, only to be brought back by Warren Ellis.who left after the very first issue due to problems with editorial, including pushes to make Strange more like a superhero. Quinn blamed the people higher up for wanting him to make the changes, editors claimed they fired him because he was doing all this stuff on his own. Sales were bad for Marvel in general at this point and they were trying to reinvent the wheel on a number of fronts, including Strange. He was de-aged and lost the beard, the cape was traded for a trenchcoat, he wore sunglasses, at one point he had an alter-ego that looked like Spawn, there were a ton of crossovers with Blade and Ghost Rider.

What happened next is under some dispute from different parties involved but Strange went through a lot of rapid changes in a short period of time. Sales were beginning to tank and eventually Dan Quinn took over the series. Thomas tried to make Strange a lot more sarcastic and quippy. But things really peaked in the 90s.Īfter Peter Gillis left the series there was a pretty rough patch, largely written by Roy Thomas. The Strange comics were never the most popular Marvel series, being canceled due to low sales a number of times, and Marvel was always trying to find new ways to market him such as the infamous 'blue mage' costume that made him look more like a conventional spandexed superhero. I think some of it must be coming from near the top in Marvel editorial, because it's been a very consistent trend for a long time now.

His first movie was very much in the 'magic Tony Stark' vein and in his latest two appearances he's much closer to the 'mystic professional' of Classic Strange. It's especially disappointing as the movies finally get around to a more classic Strange, yet his comics still lag behind.

WHAT IF? CLASSIC by Roy Thomas