Doctor Strange / Punisher: Magic Bullets is a 2016 webcomic limited series from Infinite Comics, an imprint of Marvel Comics. It’s written by John Barber, with art by Jason Muhr and Andrea Broccardo. Color art is by Andres Mossa.
Set in the shared Marvel Universe, the series is a crossover between the titular characters, the vigilante known as the Punisher and Earth's sorcerous protector, Doctor Strange. Frank Castle, the Punisher, has had some experience with the supernatural - and he doesn't like it. So when a raid on a reclusive mob family confronts him with demonic beings, he immediately goes to Doctor Strange.
However, Doctor Strange has recently been through some changes. Magic has drained from the world and the Sorcerer Supreme now relies on a magic axe more than his magic spells. Perhaps he's not going to be the powerful ally that Frank had hoped for.
As with Marvel's other Infinite Comics, the series is designed for readers to proceed step-by-step in guided view. Sometimes this loads a new page - but more frequently it will add or alter an element on the existing page (e.g. a new panel will pop-up over the existing art, or dialogue will change).
Doctor Strange / Punisher: Magic Bullets contains examples of:
- All Part of the Show: The demon Doctor Strange initially fights in Coney Island is Invisible to Normals, so bystanders initially assume it's some sort of show. As the fight goes on, Strange actively invokes that idea - although he keeps getting interrupted mid-sentence.
- Big Bad: The sorcerer Mangrove, a Politically Incorrect Villain and Fantastic Racist, who manipulates the Fusilli siblings. He plans to use magic to 'purify' the land of magical beings and so-called 'inferior' races.
- Bilingual Bonus: When we first see Doctor Strange, he's battling a demon in Coney Island. It's somehow fused with a World War One biplane, and all of its dialogue is in untranslated German.
- Boom, Headshot!:
- After Bonfrisco phones the restaurant to warn that Strange and the Punisher are coming, Prentice is waiting for them outside. Strange is insistent that there should be no killing - but when he can't immediately subdue Prentice with a spell, Frank simply shoots him in the head.
- Mangrove, the story's Big Bad, is protected by magical force fields that can even deflect the magical bullets from the Phantom Eagle's biplane. Strange works out that they're not so effective against mundane bullets, though, and distracts him long enough for Frank to get close and shoot him in the head.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Doctor Strange's first issue introduction is a Batman Cold Open variant, fighting a demon merged with a biplane. The demon is swiftly dealt with, but that encounter later leads Strange and the Punisher to the ghost of the Phantom Eagle's World War One biplane, which plays a key part in the final battle.
- Continuity Nod:
- The Punisher notes that he promised himself he wouldn't get mixed up in "horror stuff" again. Previous stories have briefly transformed him into a supernatural enforcer and a patchwork monster ('Frankenstein-Castle').
- When Doctor Strange initially seems unwilling to help, Frank mentions that he'll go to Doctor Voodoo instead.
- Covers Always Lie: The first issue's cover shows Doctor Strange wielding a glowing shotgun. He does briefly use a magical gun at one point later in the series, but it's the machine gun mounted on the Phantom Eagle's ghostly biplane. Strange mostly relies on his axe and the Punisher handles the guns.
- Crossover: It's a self-contained crossover series between The Punisher and Doctor Strange.
- Deadly Rotary Fan: The demon Doctor Strange fights in the first issue is fused with a World War One biplane and its left arm ends in a bladed propeller. Strange throws his magic axe into the propeller - the spinning blades sever the monster's other arm and almost decapitate it.
- Eye Beams: Once Lucretia's transformed by Mangrove's magic she acquires the ability to project mystic energy blasts from her eyes. Her brother Livio gets Hand Blasts instead.
- Hand Blast: Once Livio's transformed by Mangrove's magic he acquires the ability to project mystic energy blasts from his hands. His sister Lucretia gets Eye Beams instead.
- Heel–Face Door-Slam: Bonfrisco is a small-time gangster who survives the Punisher's massacre of the Fusilli siblings' goons, spies on Strange and the Punisher for the Fusillis, and then reports on the Fusillis to their rival Steelgrave. By the final battle, he's actually trying to help Strange and the Punisher against Mangrove's demonic leviathan. Immediately after the final battle... the Punisher shoots him dead.
- Invisible to Normals: The demon Strange fights in Coney Island isn't visible to the onlookers, who only see Strange leaping about. He uses this to convince them that it's All Part of the Show.
- No Body Left Behind: The demon Strange fights in Coney Island is fused with a World War One biplane. Not only is it Invisible to Normals, but when it dies the body vanishes in a puff of smoke - which several miniature biplanes promptly fly out of.
- Sequel Hook: Mandrake may be dead, but both of the Fusilli siblings survive, escape and are still fuelled with demonic power. Even if Livio is now just a disembodied head...
- Shout-Out: Bonfrisco describes Doctor Strange as a cross between a young Vincent Price and Liberace.
- Sole Survivor: Bonfrisco, who was unknowingly talking to the Punisher in the queue outside Fusilli's restaurant, is the only survivor when Frank kills the gangsters there. Rather than flee, he follows Frank to his meeting with Doctor Strange and tips off Prentice that they're returning. At the very end of the series, this gets him killed by the Punisher.
- Webcomic Print Collection: The webcomic was later reprinted as a paper edition, with two chapters in each issue. In turn, the paper limited series was collected as a single trade paperback book.
- What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Frank realises that some of the supernatural beings around the basement portal are innocents, a family caught up in Mangrove's plan. He has views on families being caught up in private wars, whether or not they're human.
