AVENGERS/DOCTOR STRANGE: RISE OF THE DARKHOLD

Dr Strange Reading order:Marvel Masterworks vol 9 (coming end of October) / Essential collection vol 4Master of the Mystic Arts #58 (individual comic, available digitally on kindle)**Avengers/Doctor Strange: Rise Of The Darkhold**#63-66 (individual comics, not available digitally anywhere or collected)**Avengers/Doctor Strange: Rise Of The Darkhold** (#67 only)Into the Dark DimensionAnyone who collects old Dr Strange comics knows there is a pretty significant gap of issues missing during the 1974 run, Master of the Mystic Arts. The Marvel Masterworks vol 8 only collects up to issue #46 and Essential vol 4 (which is black and white and deadens the colorful world's Strange often visits) only collects up to issue #56. Update: Masterworks vol 9 is on the way at the end of October which collects up to issue #57. This trade, Rise of the DarkHold, as a Strange fan, is a one of the only options at this time to collect #59-62, then skips to #67 as a follow up story and leads right into the "Into the Dark Dimension" hardcover trade which begins at #68.The book itself is centered around the occult and the evil book known as the Darkhold. We get a huge assortment of stories revolving around these themes with 1970s work in Marvel Fanfare, Wolfman and Dracula and they were pretty enjoyable. We then get issues of Avengers, Thor and the finale of it all, Dr Strange. This arc is basically Dr. Strange teaming up with the likes of Blade and others to destroy not only just Dracula, but all Vampires everywhere. Also included are side stories found at the end of several issues of the 90s Sorcerer Supreme run which tells the history of the Darkhold, an enjoyable set of stories there.This is pretty typical Marvel TPB quality, the colors are cleaned up and look great and the comics are ordered as chronologically as possible. I give it a 5/5 simply because it's near 500 pages with a lot of various characters and intersecting story lines and Amazon just has the best pricing around. Of course any fan who is a collector of Dr Strange stories will want to own this, but it's also a good way to dive into some of the older occult Marvel stories.None of the books and issues I listed in the reading order are really required reading to understand the stories here which makes it rather self contained and ups the value of the book for more readers which is a plus. It's more of a guide to help along anyone who may be confused as to where this comic sits in context with what else is available to read.

When I first read the Avengers story included, I knew there was more to the background, but never for a moment thought I would be able to read all those stories. A great collection!

Great collection series that chronicles the Marvel tales involving The Darkhold Book.

Beautiful book.

Wonderful. Classic stories from Marvel’s history with a supernatural twist.