Review by Frank Plowright
Anyone buying this collection on the basis of the Avengers having title billing is due a mighty disappointment as of the twenty full issues collected here they feature in three, and guest star with Doctor Strange in another. Dracula manages the same, while Werewolf by Night has five solo chapters. So, this is deceptive marketing attempting to cash in the 2018 Avengers film release. Doctor Strange, though, more than earns the co-star status.
The Darkhold is a book of ancient evil magic also serving as the gateway through which the demon Chthon can manifest on Earth, and Rise of the Darkhold collects the stories in which it featured before the 1990s. Given the amount of writers and artists involved, an uneven experience has greater certainty than Avengers appearances. The mood ranges from the gothic horror of Werewolf by Night supplied by Steve Gerber, then Gerry Conway and Mike Ploog (sample art left) to the uneasy merging of superheroes with the supernatural courtesy of Mark Gruenwald, Steven Grant, David Michelinie and John Byrne.
Different writers use the idea of the Darkhold in different ways. Marv Wolfman has Dracula’s first involvement prompted by a concern that there’s a spell within able to release the curse of vampirism, during which Gene Colan’s depiction of the stormy Himalayas is an artistic highlight. That Avengers story has the tragic fate of Modred the Mystic, introduced as a hero, yet corrupted and defiled by a power he can’t control, and the book is considered an evil to be contained by Doctor Strange.
The collection’s highlight is the work of Roger Stern and Dan Green from 1983. Here the Darkhold is only the maguffin used to connect Dracula and Doctor Strange, and eventually Scarlet Witch and Photon from the Avengers, then Blade. Green decoratively connects the supernatural existence of Doctor Strange with the grubbier locations occupied by Dracula and his followers, while Stern may be very wordy at times, but the plot twists unexpectedly and he even throws in the origins of vampirism.
From here the Darkhold becomes inextricably linked to Doctor Strange, but despite noteworthy art from Steve Leialoha and Chris Warner, the material doesn’t live up to Stern’s efforts. The team of David Day and Dan Day’s art on the connected final chapters also shines. This reads more as a prelude from Roy Thomas and Jean-Marc L’Officier, setting the record straight about what the Darkhold influenced in the past before reintroducing Chthon. It’s a useful summation of the previous 450 pages.
Too much of this collection is ordinary, but the Stern/Green partnership stands out. Their work is also available in hardcover as Marvel Masterworks: Doctor Strange Volume 10.
