Change is coming for Doctor Strange, now that he is finally able to put down his spellbooks, and pick up a scalpel instead. Well, technically, he’s going to be using them both on an alternating schedule, now that he is returning to the surgery suite in the pages of Dr. Strange: Surgeon Supreme.

After having his hands healed in a bargain with a demon (always a great start to a pleasant twist), Doctor Strange realized he can operate once again, fulfilling his Hippocratic oath as he must, now that he can once again be the world’s top neurosurgeon. But now that the first preview pages of Dr. Strange: Surgeon Suprme have been released by Marvel, it looks like more than medicine will be dealt with in Strange’s new posting at the McCarthy Medical Insititute. And that perhaps the line between the mystical and the medicinal isn’t as clearly drawn as readers assumed.

There are sure to be some fans who were instantly concerned by Dr. Strange’s intention of dividing his time between Sorcerer Supreme-ing and surgery. After all, even he admits that every hour spent saving one life is time NOT spent saving all of Earth, the universe, even the dimension. But writer Mark Waid explained Surgeon Supreme as more than just a magic book, or a horror book. And certainly not one that deals only with threats on a cosmic level:

Check out Marvel’s official preview pages embedded below:

What I’m really looking forward to is telling smaller, more human stories. We want to get more into the heart of Doctor Strange and what it’s like to have to make the decisions he has to make every day… It’s a Doctor Strange you’ve not seen in a long, long time. and make no mistake, this is, at heart a horror book. It is scary, and it’s dealing with things that you and I can really grasp, and really be afraid of.

Check out the full solicitations details and plot synopsis for Dr. Strange: Surgeon Supreme #1 below.

  • DR. STRANGE: SURGEON SUPREME #1 Written by MARK WAID Art by KEV WALKER Cover by PHIL NOTO The impossible has happened! Doctor Strange’s hands have been healed, restoring his surgical skills - but now he’s being torn between his obligations as the Sorcerer Supreme and as a neurosurgeon. And when he’s forced to choose which vows to uphold, who suffers most for it? After all, magic always has a cost…Be here for a brand new era of magic…and horror from Mark Waid (HISTORY OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE) and Kev Walker (BLACK PANTHER)!

Dr. Strange: Surgeon Supreme #1 begins on December 26th, 2019.

MORE: Doctor Strange 2 Theory: What If Scarlet Witch IS The Multiverse Of Madness?