The fallout from “Secret Empire” continues in “Doctor Strange: Damnation” as Stephen Strange tries to resurrect the entire city of Las Vegas which was destroyed during the fascist reign of Steve Rogers. Marvel announced today that current “Doctor Strange” writer Donny Cates (whose first issue dropped this week), “Secret Empire” scribe Nick Spencer and artist Rod Reis are teaming for a new five issue event launching in February 2018.
The event was described by Cates as a “corner event” in the vein of other Marvel events like “Annihilation” which will follow a slew of Marvel’s mystical and horror characters. “Damnation” spins out of the current “Doctor Strange” story which sees Loki become the new Sorcerer Supreme and Doctor Strange trying to become a hero again. Following the arc, Strange seeks to use his powers to bring back Vegas which was destroyed by Hydra, which irritates Mephisto, Marvel’s ruler of hell. Nick Spencer described Mephisto’s intentions stating:
One of the fun things about this story, to me, is Mephisto’s motivation. For starters, he believes he’s the aggrieved party here. One day, through no doing of his own, Vegas fell to his realm. He loved it; it was a natural fit — he and his minions were having a grand time with it. Then along comes Stephen and takes it away from them. In Mephisto’s mind, that’s not playing fair. If Doctor Strange wants to mess with Mephisto’s realm, Mephisto is more than happy to return the favor in Strange’s realm.
Along with Doctor Strange a whole slew of other magical characters from the Marvel Universe are joining the fight including Blade, Ghost Rider, Moon Knight, Iron Fist, and many more. Cates described his excitement for the series and the process of working with Spencer saying,
As a die-hard Marvel fan myself, the end of the first issue had me freaking out with how cool and hardcore it is. There’s this thing that happens (You’ll know it when you see it) that I just LOST it over when Nick and I were brainstorming the series. It’s so much fun. Nick and I are buddies, so we just get on the phone and jam on stories and ideas all the time. And obviously Nick is an amazing writer, so it’s just such a kick to play in the magical Marvel sandbox like this. And then to have those idea come to life from someone as incredibly talented as Rod? Jeez, how lucky am I? This is how the best comics get made.
“Doctor Strange: Damnation” #1 drops in February.
