Warning: contains spoilers for Death of Doctor Strange #4!
Marvel's X-Men event X-Men: The Trial of Magneto has concluded, and fans aren't particularly pleased at the result. The event committed a critical mistake that left many readers scratching their heads; but the Doctor Strange event Death of Doctor Strange avoid the same problem despite having the exact same setup. The flaw was so substantial yet incredibly simple: following through on the promise of the event's title.
In X-Men: The Trial of Magneto, the X-Men of Krakoa and the Avengers are distraught over the death of the Scarlet Witch. Seemingly murdered by an attacker with the power to rival Wanda Maximoff - or with the ability to catch her off-guard - the mutant community determined Magneto to be a prime suspect. An investigation proved fruitless when the Scarlet Witch reappeared, shocking everyone involved. It was later revealed the entire affair was her plan all along, as a method to grant the X-Men even more powerful resurrection abilities. Now even X-Men who died long before the Krakoa era could be brought back to life, but this is a somewhat lackluster ending to readers who were promised a trial of Magneto.
Meanwhile in Marvel's Death of Doctor Strange event, a similar situation occurred involving a dead Marvel superhero, a murder mystery, and a surprise resurrection in the middle of said investigation. The difference between the two events is the resurrection; Doctor Strange is truly dead, and the "Strange" that returns to investigate his own murder is an earlier version of Strange, a contingency plan created by the real doctor in the event of his death. Another distinction: an actual murder, and murderer.
The villain Kaecilius is revealed to be Doctor Strange's murderer, and the mastermind behind the plot. In The Trial of Magneto, it is Toad who confesses to the murder of the Scarlet Witch, but he didn't do it; effectively, the Scarlet Witch murdered herself and magically walks back to the land of the living as easily as one walks into a room. The very title of The Trial of Magneto lies to the audience in that there is no trial of Magneto, only a plot that's concealed from the audience.
Marvel readers are under no illusions that Doctor Strange will stay dead forever. Nevertheless, the fact that the Scarlet Witch was never killed - and thus no murderer to find - rubs audience the wrong way. Doctor Strange's event, while centered around an almost-certain temporary consequence, at least is an event of consequence; the same cannot be said for The Trial of Magneto.