For the finale, Vaughan tries to bring back the charm of the early issues and sort of does. Not enough to really matter, but he’s referencing it.
The last issue is more about Dr. Strange than anything else, with Vaughan looking at the relationship between medicine and magic. Given the villain, it makes for a good conflict for Strange. It’s so good, in fact, when Vaughan calms things down again and reverts back to the charm… there’s something missing. The series, which had a couple unsteady issues, found new ground. Then Vaughan all of a sudden backtracks.
There are a few call-backs to the earlier issues’ details, which makes The Oath feel like something of a relaunch. It’s Vaughan establishing Strange for a new reading audience (unfortunately, it didn’t take).
Martin also changes a little here, using his panel layouts to control reading time.
It’s good, but not great.
