Book Review: Marvel's Doctor Strange: The Art of the Movie

Just like other Marvel artbooks, this came with a slipcase. I was pleasantly surprised by the cover art on it. According to the product shot, it was just black background with words but in actual fact it's photographic shot of a backlit Doctor Strange looking at the Sanctum window that's glowing with light. It's nice. On the back of the slipcase is a promotional shot of him with his hand posed in front of his faces but we can see through to his eyes.

The book's a 240-page hardcover. It's thick and huge. Every page is packed with art.

The content is arranged chronologically. So it starts with the car crash, the journey to Kamar-Taj, training, and so on.

The concept art of Kathmandu are amazing. They are probably 3D paint-overs but they still look great. It could have looked like a location from the Uncharted video game series. There's so much life and activity going on. The architecture is stunning with a feeling of long history.

There are lots of character designs. For Doctor Strange, Mordo, The Ancient One, Kaecilius, the students and zealots and Dormammu. I got the most kick out of looking at Tilda Swinton being matched with all the different costume designs. There's one of her in cliche Chinese kung fu outfit with long white hair, another with her floating crossed-legged and many more.

There are many pages devoted to the "Magical Mystery Tour" where the artworks appear psychedelic, spiritual, surreal, abstract and magical, all at the same time. There are scene paintings of the Astral Plane and Mirror Dimension with all the weird perspective.

There are also designs for the magical artifacts such as the items inside the library of Kamar-Taj, Eye of Agamoto, Sling Rings, and in the Chamber or Relics there are a lot more including Doctor Strange's Cloak of Levitation.

Storyboards for the New York mirror realm chase scene are included, as are pages showing scenes of destruction in Hong Kong.

Short commentary are provided with the designs with the artists, actors talking about filming and the design.

Overall, it's an excellent book. Well worth the money. I'm sure fans of the film will be thrilled.

Marvel's Doctor Strange: The Art of the Movie is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN)

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