The Marvel Comics world is about to get a little more magical. As part of their All-New, All-Different Marvel campaign, which will see 60 new titles being released this year, one of those titles will be about the continuing adventures of everyone’s favorite (and also probably least known, currently) Sorcerer Supreme, Dr. Stephen Strange.

The new Doctor Strange will be written by Jason Aaron (Thor, Westworld) and features art by Chris Bachalo (Uncanny X-Men, Incredible Hulk) and will be a departure from past iterations of the character. For one, he’ll be a lot more accountable for the repercussions of his magical use. He’ll also get damaged in his quest and the hope, said Marvel Editor Nick Lowe in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, is to make readers feel things as well as think things.

Aaron also told the magazine:

We wanted a Doctor Strange who was always having to work for what he gets, and to show that when he shows up and uses his powers, it’s not like Captain America throwing his shield or Thor throwing his hammer. Strange has to worry about repercussions that those other heroes don’t have to worry about, because he’s a Sorcerer Supreme. We’re talking about the forces of magic. So whatever he does has repressions. Any of this stuff with magic, there’s always a cost to it. I think that’s kind of the only rule of magic we ever really talk about—everything he does, there’s a price to it. So he always has to kind of balance those skills and worry, “if I save the day here, what repercussions will that have for me, or elsewhere in the world? We liked him having to deal with that, and liked him being able to get his hands a little dirty, rather than just having him stand around, waving his hands and saving the day.

You can read the rest of EW‘s interview with Aaron and Lowe here.

The main thrust for this version of the character is going to be the emotional struggle within him. While the stories are still going to be “trippy and weird,” the impact on the character is going to be a lot more psychologically taxing and will leave scars both visible and invisible. A very interesting development for a character who’s been around since 1963.

This reinvention of the character is surely to reinvigorate/reacquaint the public with the world of Doctor Strange before the feature film comes out next year. That, if you’ll recall, is set to star Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen Strange, Chiwetel Ejiofor as his arch-nemesis Baron Mordo, and Tilda Swinton as the all-powerful Ancient One. A pretty great cast so far, and a pretty cool premise for a comic book.

A gallery of Bachalo’s concept art for the new book can be seen below.

Let us know what you think about this new direction for Doctor Strange. Are you stoked for some angst in with your surrealism? Comments, below, use ’em!

HT: Entertainment Weekly; IMAGES: Copyright Marvel

Featured image courtesy of deviantArt // artist: Cinar