Doctor-StrangeDoctor Stephen Strange has become quite the popular Marvel character recently, having played a powerful role in Jonathan Hickman’s New Avengers and running Battleworld as Doom’s right hand man in the big Secret Wars comic event. But Doctor Strange’s popularity grows even outside of the comic pages, with a mention in the Captain America: Winter Soldier movie and a solo film of his own coming out next year, starring Benedict Cumberbatch. So isn’t it about time the medical surgeon turned sorcerer supreme got his own on-going comic series again? Well, the folks at Marvel would agree and have just announced plans for a new Doctor Strange comic series starting later this year, after the end of Secret Wars.

The new Doctor Strange comic series will be written by Jason Aaron (Thor, Original Sin) and drawn by Chris Bachalo (Uncanny X-Men, Avengers), proving Marvel is ready to come out swinging on the title this go around by throwing on their creative A-team. This will be Strange’s first new on-going series in nearly twenty years, but Marvel’s Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso is telling us to get ready for a much newer take on the classic character, stating “Jason Aaron and Chris Bachalo have rebuilt Marvel’s ’Sorcerer Supreme’ from the ground up with an excitingly original take that redefines the character going forward.” In the new series, Doctor Strange will be taking on a dark new power that is gaining a foot hold in the Marvel Universe and will have repercussions that effect all its many magic users. As if that wasn’t problem enough, Strange apparently knows he isn’t powerful enough to stop it as is and will therefore be looking for a new way to balance the scales. Perhaps this new way of taking on evil will explain the battle axe we see in the promotional image for the series above.

“None of Marvel’s other heavy hitters walk the same beat as Dr. Strange,” says Jason Aaron in an upcoming interview with Marvel.com. “None of them have to face the same sorts of repercussions whenever they use their powers. Being the Sorcerer Supreme is a unique responsibility. And it’s one that Stephen Strange embraces. Even though there’s no doubt that his job is one day going to leave him dead, damned, or insane. So I want to celebrate all the weirdness that is Dr. Strange, while having him face a challenge unlike anything he’s ever faced before. One that rewrites the rulebook for what it means to be the Sorcerer Supreme.” Considering Jason Aaron did such a great job reviving Thor in Thor, God of Thunder I have high hopes that the brilliant bearded writer will see lightning strike twice. Check out the new on-going Doctor Strange comic series when it hits stores this Fall!