The Good Word of Jed MacKay
The biggest writer without a "big name".
You Read These With Your Eyes! (March 22, 2023)
A quick feature about selling stories, featuring the week’s newest reads.
Folks, let’s talk about Jed MacKay.
When Marvel announced MacKay as the upcoming writer of Avengers, the internet was… less than kind. Perceived as an anchor book for the line, the book was set for a new season when Jason Aaron announced his departure from the team.
Aaron holds the increasingly rare distinction of running a book or a concept for five years. Within the realm of the Big Two, you don’t just do that by telling quality stories, but you do that by shifting copies, and building tentpoles to mitigate against the standard attrition in sales that takes root in almost every single comic release.
So when MacKay was announced, I was shocked to hear people shrug at the news. From my perspective, Marvel’s choice seemed to be a no brainer - and the comic we’re talking about this week gives me a great excuse to explain why.
ONGOING | Doctor Strange #1 (Marvel Comics)
by Jed MacKay, Pasqual Ferry, Matt Hollingsworth, VC’s Cory Petit, Andy MacDonald & Ian Herring w/ editorial support by Kat Gregorowicz & Darren Shan.
For me, it started with Moon Knight. MacKay had been writing books for a while, but something clicked for me while I read his first issue of that book - both as a reader, and as a retailer.
The book had the unenviable task of setting up Moon Knight for a return after a long absence. Being a character of a certain age, the book also came with a certain amount of baggage that would have to be addressed for many fans. Jed MacKay turned in a first issue that explored the complexities of the character, while grounding the action in something new and fresh. The basics were explained. The complexities were given a nod. The story was set, and the book was off and running.
Moon Knight #1 was also quite a sales success for Marvel. The book was the second best selling title for the company during it’s debut month, clocking in at roughly 235,200 copies - trailing X-Men #1, which came in at 248,800. Now you can argue that part of that speaks to Marvel’s marketing machine gearing up to capitalize on the Moon Knight TV show - but just a few months later, when things had died down, Comichron was projecting Moon Knight’s 10th issue to sell just a little more than that month’s X-Men.1
Today, the Moon Knight title has hit 21 issues without signs of slowing down. Anecdotally, it has done so without shedding many readers, remaining one of our stronger selling Marvel books. A run like this, featuring a character that has cycled down from their big outside media push is remarkable. Remarkable enough for Marvel to tap the writer to take over Doctor Strange, starting with The Death of Doctor Strange in late 2021, which was ramping into the character’s second movie stretch - and the upcoming Avengers.
While I’ll admit, MacKay’s name doesn’t get the people whispering with anticipation like a Jonathan Hickman, he is a remarkably great choice to take over the flagship team’s title. He’s proven time and time again that he can deliver what the company needs, in ways that seem to connect with the audience. He also builds incredibly good first issues.
As I said above, Moon Knight’s first issue did a lot of work, and worked beautifully. The Death of Doctor Strange did the same. And the book we’re talking about today - the first issue of the new Doctor Strange title following the man’s return to the realm of the living - is even better.
MacKay cuts through a lot of built up continuity (much of which he put there himself) by having Strange live a bit of the history, all while reintroducing Stephen back to a universe of characters who missed him in a concise manner. The result is a collection of short bursts that build out the different ideas this series will be tackling. It’s very well done.
THE PITCH | Stephen Strange was dead, but he got better. He’s open for consultation for superheroes in need, while dealing with a bit of the hangover of being dead, but those tendrils linger just long enough to push the story forward in very interesting directions. I don’t want to spoil anything, but the back-up story was a particularly strong addition to the story and the Marvel Universe as a whole. Definitely felt like a more magic based version of Nextwave was happening, which you can take as you will.
The art from Pasqual Ferry is also quite wonderful. The story exudes a warmth that his line holds wonderfully, and it is embellished well with the work of Matt Hollingsworth on colours. A great new season for Strange that I’ll be popping into people’s hands this week.
Variant Edition presents: The New Releases Show
Each and every week, we talk about the new comics and graphic novels hitting our shelves. It can be weird and goofy. Here’s this week’s.
Alright! Time to get moving on this Wednesday. I hope your new comic book day goes well. Happy reading - and talk with you soon.
-B.
The 10th issues were chosen, because they were the last month Comichron has anything approaching solid data on for overall sales numbers.