Doctor Strange: Into Shamballa - Marvel Graphic Novel #23

This reflective and mystical tales takes place twenty years after Dr. Strange left the temple in the Himalayas where, with the help of his mentor the Ancient One, he was transformed from a selfish, angry, bitter and spiteful man into a master of the mystic arts. Stephen Strange returns to pay homage to the memory of the Ancient One and finds out his departed master left him a strange gift, a puzzle box. In unlocking the secrets of the gift Strange gains an insight into his inner self and in the process faces a "trial by fire" by the Lords of the mystical Shamballa. Number 23 in the Marvel Graphic Novel series, is superbly written and drawn.

First of all this isn't your typical graphic novel. It gives out more of the impression of an illuminated manuscript. Every panel is an impressionistic painting. Every single word is actually written in calligraphic script. There are even large illuminated capitals in the corners of most pages. As for the story line, it goes far, far beyond simple entertainment for its own sake. This is a masterpiece. --

Printed in a high quality 8 1/2" by 11" magazine format, and with work by some of the industries most prominent talent, the Marvel Graphic Novels were Marvel's attempt at emulating European-style graphic novels rising in popularity at the time. Starting in 1982, each graphic novel was a complete, self-contained event, each related to the others only by the common "Marvel Graphic Novel" imprint. Later the titles became somewhat less self-contained. The novels were also characterized by stories targeted at more mature audience both in the art -- which occassionally featured gore and nudity not possible under the American Comics Code -- and in the story lines, which dealt with topics such as coping with the inevitability of death. The first novels were numbered from 1 through 20, with each containing a list of all graphic novel's up to that point. The numbering was then dropped, but the lists were maintained until "Silver Surfer: Judgment Day". The Overstreet Price Guide continued to number those titles as 21 through 38, and other price guides did likewise. There were several graphic novels which did not find their way onto the lists, or into Overstreet's numbering, however, such as "Iron Man: Crash" from the Epic graphic novels, or the six Marvel UK graphic novels. When Marvel stopped including a list of previous graphic novels in new releases, Overstreet likewise dropped the numbering. The last comic to bear the Marvel Graphic Novel logo was the 1993 title "Daredevil & Black Widow: Abattoir." --

Visit my blog often for regular and complete comic book series updates.