#zounds!

i had a dream (in late march? or early april) that it was jacq's birthday lmao. it was celebrated on nintendo's official twt supposedly and it mentioned something with the 27th?

The Death of Doctor Strange #1 by Jed MacKay (writer), Lee Garbett (artist), Antonio Fabela (colorist), and VC’s Cory Petit (lettering) 

I’ve read only a handful of Doctor Strange stories before, but I have been thoroughly enjoying Strange Academy (it’s lit, if you miss old school X-Men and want to see a cast of brand new characters, go check it out) so I decided to pick up this mini. I’m not sure what Doctor Strange has been up to recently beyond running a school. 

The comic more or less starts off with a day in the life of Doctor Strange, with his adorable ghostly pupper cautioning him about needing to go on more walks. We see Strange practice surgery, both medicinal and magical, give a lecture on the responsibilities of the Sorcerer Supreme at his school, listen to Doyle’s concerns about the dark dimension, help Magik out with some wayward limbo-ites who invaded the school, and more. I’m a sucker for these quiet moments in the lives of our heroes, so I really enjoyed that. I also enjoyed his musings on immortality and how there was a myth of a man who managed to do so by hiding his soul (very Harry Potter-esque, with an obligatory ~JK Rowling is a piece of transphobic trash~). He mind keeps on dwelling on this image of who I assume has to be Clea, one of Strange’s lovers (I may be wrong, as I said previously, I haven’t read a huge amount of Strange stories). 

The comic really does a great job though of giving you a sense for how bad Strange’s death is - with everything that depends on him to more or less keep on going. The reveal at the end that an earlier version of Doctor Strange (bringing back the little ‘zounds!’ joke from before) was a nice touch. I know it’s 99.99% a completely different situation from Wanda’s death in the Trial of Magneto, but there is some striking similarities for two comics coming out so close together. Both involve high profile magic users, both of which are very popular in the MCU and co-starring in an upcoming movie, both of whom are killed and found too late for their friends to help, and both suddenly reappear acting like a much earlier version of themselves. Is it connected? Probably not. It’s likely just coincidence, but it’s a coincidence I appreciate nonetheless. 

The art is really enjoyable as well - not amazing or anything, but there’s a really great mastery of facial expressions in some parts to convey emotion. 

“Zounds!”

The Masterworks Series of Great Comic Book Artists #1 (Spring 1983)

Joe Samachson and Frank Frazetta

Team-ups, beat’em-ups, and pun-ches galore~!

Litte Ionia, Valoran City...

The rain pours down, soaking the city to the bone.  Moonlight barely escapes past the storm, casting pale light across the darkened pavement.  In the shadows, CRIME dwells.  Ne’er-do-wells who see the riches of a small mom-and-pop store’s knick-knacks.  Apparently, they plan to do some “knicking” of their own!  

CRASH!

The silence of the rain and the night is broken by a brick through dirty glass.  The owners awaken quickly, and rush down the stairs.  Three ruffians now stand in the storefront, loading bags with Ionian artifacts.  Suddenly, one of the thugs notices the elderly couple, standing in the hall, eyes open in terror.  A menacing grin alights upon the street tough’s face.

“Well, lookee here, boys~.  Looks like we got ourselves a bucha antiques right there, ripe for the picking!” he growls out, large canine teeth extending out of his face.  His eyes scream predator, and his slathering lips belie the fate he has in store.  

Ka-BOOOM!

Before he can move, however, the thunder strikes loudly, followed swiftly by lightning.  And that light illuminates two others who had arrived upon the scene. 

The larger of the two is a man clad in strange robes, emerald green and obsidian black.  He carries a strange staff, a large emerald sitting atop it.  And, most strange of all, he appears to be...avian!  Yes, it’s true, his head is not that of a man, but of a giant raven!  Sharp talons jut out of his hands, ebony feathers covering most of him, and large wings barely contained within the small shop flap majestically in the night!  

“Fie, evil-doers!  Fly, thou brigands, for fear of facing the unholy wrath of...The Raven!” he shouts loudly, his voice magnifying even beyond the sounds of the storm.  As he finishes, his staff glows with eldritch magic, glowing brighter than an evening star!

The villains are stunned, for but a moment.  However, their leader, a wolfish man in his own regard, takes affront to these charges, and rushes toward the duo, howling in anger!

i love seeing if people would either spell his name out as "jacq" or "jacques" lmao. whenever i first aaw his name, i just wondered if he purposefully've shortened it so that it looks a bit easier to pronounce. he probably still hears the occasional "jack"...

i've seen people put his first name as zinnia. i think that's sweet haha considering many people speculate his name comes from the zinnia plant (zinnia elegans/zinnia elegans jacq.). plus, zinnia's already his japanese name. iirc, the jacq. at the end is significant of a famous botanist who shortened his name to jacq.

i wonder if he has an eye for photography, since all of the pokémon enteries have really cute pictures to accompany them. maybe he was secretly the protag of pokemon snap but to be genuine haha i feel like the pics add more of a charm. even if his pokedex is a bit clunky in some departments. sorry, sorry.

i love him to death and all, but his "outfit" sure is interesting haha. i mean, i don't think he even sits down whenever he's teaching. isn't that good for your health, apparently? anyways, what i mean is that—at least it's comfortable to him. also, i don't think the character design team could get far if they also limited the teachers too in uniforms (minus clavell in a way).

also, the whole family thing. either it's with sycamore, leon & hop, or even adaman; it's pretty neat. i just like seeing what others can infer from 'em. oh, i've also seen both raifort and miriam theories on them being related to jacq. most be the purple hair, huh? though, it's much deeper than that; i guess.