Summary: After resurrecting the Las Vegas Strip Doctor Strange has to face off against Mephisto to pay the price, and the battle field is...black jack!? 

Plot: After loving the previous run by Jason Aaron I dropped the book pretty quick as the tie in to Secrete Empire held no interest for me but I heard good things about Cates and liked the idea of Loki as the Sorcerer Supreme so I recently picked up those back issues and have just now caught up with the ongoing and I'm loving it! What I really loved about Aaron's run was that, for me anyway, he really nailed the character of Steven Strange; too often he's written as this super serious guy but in my head I always thought a cocky, snarky, sarcastic personality would seem to be a much better fit for a guy so obsessed with his medical career and play boy life style that he'd go hiking in the Himalayas just to get his hands back and Aaron really delivered on that. With this current run Cates has taken that idea but ran with it a step further giving you a look of insecurity lurking just below the exterior which also fits that type of personality, and that layered approach to his characterization really makes the book great. I will say that making this story an "event" and making you go buy a separate title to get the story did annoy me; granted most of the Damnation issue is summarized here so you didn't necessarily have to buy that extra issue but that wasn't advertised so those of who did pick up both only get one and a half stories out of two issues which is frustrating. Still, the show down with Mephisto is shaping up to be fun and the cast of characters being assembled to aid the good doctor is a veritable who's who of the mystic Marvel universe so I'm hoping for big things out of this.
Art: While I tend to like clear, solid lines in my art I have to say that Henrchon's scratchier style really does fit an adventure such as this. His slightly undefined edges really give an other worldly look to the denizens of hell, making them appear as if they're here but not here which is a great effect and that they are scratchier than the mere mortals serves to create a great contrast in his work.
Grade:8/10

Summary: Vader returns to Coruscant to track down the person who put a price on his head and finds things are not as they seem.
Plot: While I'm glad that Soule didn't turn this "test" of Vader into some sprawling six part "epic" I'm still left feeling that even at just two issues this story was stretched thin. Looking at this story I just feel like it would have been a much tighter and impactful story if it had been only one issue and there's plenty that could have easily be cut to do that; namely the heavy focus on the bounty hunter family from the last issue and the number of panels spent on Vader's meditation in this issue as neither of these elements was that important in establishing the way that Vader gained prominence with the Imperial navy. 
Art: While I mentioned that this issue could have done with out so many panels of Vader in meditation I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that Camuncoli beautifully portrayed how Vader saw himself in his mind's eye. The dichotomy of what is actually left of his body being shriveled and black and red while his missing arms and legs were pure blue light; as if his remaining body is tainted by the dark side but the limbs he lost before his fall are still with the light side which is an interesting thought. It also seems like a play on that wonderful line from Yoda about our bodies being luminous.

Grade:6/10