UPDATE: Marvel’s digital comics now carry someone else’s name too. Marvel Unlimited shuts down December 7, replaced on November 16 by a new app called Marvel Comics powered by Webtoon. Full details on Marvel Unlimited shutting down.
A new Doctor Strange graphic novel is on shelves this week, and Marvel is not the one publishing it.
Doctor Strange: Endless Nightmare comes from Abrams ComicArts’ Marvel Arts line, the licensed imprint curated by Alex Ross.
It is written by Kevin J. Anderson with art by Raúl Allén and Patricia Martín, the same team behind the bestselling Dune graphic novel adaptations, and the hardcover went on sale September 8.
Another Marvel Book Marvel Isn’t Publishing
If that publishing arrangement sounds familiar, it should.
Marvel Arts is the same licensed line our insiders pointed to when they told us Disney is “less interested in publishing” and is looking to license Marvel Comics out rather than produce the books in house.
It is the line releasing John Byrne’s X-Men: Elsewhen. It published Alex Ross’s Fantastic Four: Full Circle. And now it has the Sorcerer Supreme.
This release also lands right after a second outlet reported Marvel could phase its publishing over to Webtoon by 2030, a report Rob Liefeld responded to with “Believe it.” One by one, the Marvel books keep showing up with someone else’s name on the spine.
Inside The Nightmare Realm
As for the book itself, this one sounds like a trip.
Per the announcement, Stephen Strange encounters a patient at his hospital who keeps insisting the world is nothing but a sleeping god’s dream. Then the entire planet is hit with insomnia. To stop the chaos as humanity grows desperate for sleep, Strange has to enter the mind of the madman behind it all, taking a psychedelic journey into the Nightmare Realm.
“I wanted to introduce him to a dark and twisted Lovecraft-inspired story,” Anderson said in the announcement.
Anderson also teased the villains. He says the book features an important and popular Doctor Strange villain, plus one who has never appeared again since Stan Lee and Steve Ditko created him in 1964’s Strange Tales #122. Given the Nightmare Realm setting, the popular one is not hard to guess. The deep cut from 1964 is the fun mystery for longtime readers.
The Dune Team Gets The Marvel Universe
The creative pedigree here is real. Anderson has written more than 50 bestsellers, including spin-off novels for Star Wars, StarCraft, and The X-Files, along with more than 15 Dune prequels.
Allén and Martín illustrated the bestselling Dune graphic novel trilogy and have drawn for Marvel, DC, and Valiant alongside writers like Matt Fraction, Jeff Lemire, and Matt Kindt. The publisher is pitching the book’s look with shades of Winsor McCay’s Little Nemo, which is the right reference for a story built on dreams.
Doctor Strange: Endless Nightmare is a 64-page, 8.5 by 11 inch full-color hardcover, on sale now for $25.99.
For the bigger picture on where Marvel publishing is headed, read our exclusive on Disney losing interest in publishing Marvel Comics and the report that Marvel is heading to Webtoon by 2030.
