The Oath is the latest in a long line of Dr. Strange miniseries to be released by Marvel. I'm not sure why the comics-buying audience has been so unreceptive to the good Doctor in recent years but, looking at the character's publication history, it seems as though he's struggling to support a mini these days, let alone a full-fledged ongoing.

Still, Dr. Strange seems to be a favourite character of many writers and artists, and his recently raised profile in the Marvel Universe (in several guest-spots, and as a member of the New Avengers and the Illuminati) must have given Marvel the confidence to greenlight yet another limited series about him. Whilst I'd love to report that Brian K. Vaughan has revitalised the character and made him compelling and relevant again, that isn't the case.

The Oath isn't an instant classic, and isn't even a particularly memorable story. Still, it does manage to be a fairly entertaining one.

Happily, Vaughan doesn't treat these five issues as an opportunity to try to update the character with a major overhaul or to re-establish him in the Marvel Universe in a big way. Instead, he concentrates on telling a good story using the basic building blocks of Dr. Strange's world: magic, mysticism, and a battle between good and evil.

Vaughan’s decision to have evil take the form of a sinister pharmaceutical company that wishes to repress Strange's discovery of a cure for cancer feels like a suitably modern backdrop against which Strange's magical antics can play out, and Vaughan wrings a lot of personal drama out of the story, too, with Wong's contraction of the disease acting as a major plot point.

There's plenty of spellcasting and numerous magical incantations for those who enjoy the showiness of the Sorceror Supreme's powers, but Vaughan tempers the potentially po-faced pretensions with a strong sense of humour, peppering Strange's dialogue with some less austere phrases than you might expect ("By the Hoary #%*-ing Hosts!") and including some out-and-out comedic sequences (such as the scene in which Wong takes out a group of villains in the background whilst a distracted Strange concentrates on casting a spell).

Vaughan also makes the most of the book's small cast, giving Wong and Night Nurse a significance to the plot that goes far beyond that of mere supporting characters. Additionally, he includes occasional cameos from (and references to) other Marvel heroes, which helps to ground the book in the notion of a shared universe.

There are some imaginative macguffins in the story--such as an enchanted evil handgun that was once owned by Hitler, the Lovecraftian threat of the Marrakant Hellguard, and the mysterious and powerful god "Otkid the Omnipotent" (a neat anagrammatic tribute to Dr. Strange's creator)--all of which help to keep things interesting on a chapter-to-chapter basis.

The writer also manages to make the book accessible for new readers--retelling Strange's origin succinctly for those who are unfamiliar with the character, but in a way that doesn't impede the progress of the story too severely.

Some of the major plot points of the story involve slight retcons of Strange's origin, but they're hardly significant changes to his backstory--and I can't imagine fans of the character being particularly offended by them. There's also an inventive approach taken to the recap pages (which are reproduced here in full from the single issues) in which devices such as a medical report or a page from the Book of Vishanti is used to get readers up to speed. These recaps are integrated into the fabric of the story rather than simply printing a page of dull text.

Art-wise, Marcos Martin turns in some more than serviceable visuals which tell the story clearly and dramatically. Although his style is a little different than Ditko’s, he manages to evoke the kind of classic poses that are associated with the character. He conveys the emotion of each scene adequately even if the characters’ faces occasionally seem a little blank and expressionless.

Martin seems comfortable with the mixture of reality and wild fantasy as he effectively brings some challenging visual concepts to life--such as the giant hand that emerges from a tiled bathroom floor, or the large-scale attack on the Night Nurse's hospice by a gargantuan tentacled monster.

Personally, I prefer the slightly more smoothly-inked style of the first chapter to the slightly looser finish of the subsequent four, although that reaction is possibly as much down to the generally lighter tone of the opening chapter as it is to any real visual difference.

If I have one major criticism of the story, it's that there isn't enough attention given to the weird and wonderful worlds that Dr. Strange moves in. Whilst I understand that Vaughan is trying to ground him in some kind of tangible reality, the fantastical nature of Strange and his powers is what makes the character unique and interesting, and I feel as though those elements have been consciously toned down here (although we do get a few cameos from Dr. Strange's most well-known villains, in a dream sequence that shows Vaughan has done his homework on the character).

On the other hand, Vaughan also struggles to escape one of Dr. Strange's major weaknesses as a character: the lack of jeopardy that can be plausibly created for such a high-powered Sorcerer. The writer even uses Strange's ability to easily escape from any trap as a plot twist at one point--though he does effectively turn the tables in the closing battle sequence, making good use of a plot device that strips magicians of their powers to heighten the drama and allow for a surprisingly physical fight.

One other criticism is that the ending feels a little rushed, which is surprising considering the fairly padded feel of the rest of the book. (In all honesty, it's a five-issue story that could probably have easily been told in three.) There's a sense that Timely Pharmaceuticals doesn't really get the comeuppance they deserve, as their fate is dealt with in a single panel that feels like an afterthought, and the ending is so sudden that there's little time to really explore the ramifications of the dramatic events of the series.

There's a little extra material in the back of the TPB in the form of Marcos Martin's concept designs for Dr. Strange and one of the book's supporting characters, as well as a couple of promotional pieces that were used to advertise the series in advance of its release. There's also a four-page prequel that isn't really related to the main story, but is included for the sake of completeness. It will be welcomed by fans who didn't get a chance to catch it when it appeared as an extra on one of Marvel's animated DVDs.

Doctor Strange: The Oath, then, is a comic book you can devour quickly, but a couple of hours later you'll probably barely remember it even happened. It's enjoyable enough whilst it lasts.

It's not one of Vaughan's finest works, but if you're a fan of Dr. Strange in particular or magical fantasy in general, you'll probably find a lot to enjoy here--even if it's unlikely to be enough to break the character out of his current cycle of sporadic miniseries and guest-appearances.

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