Appearing in "That Was Then... This Is Now"
Featured Characters:
- ⏴ Doctor Strange (Stephen Strange) ⏵ (also in multiple photos)
Supporting Characters:
Other Characters:
- Morgana Blessing (Photo)
- Janet Van Dyne (Photo) (on cover)
- Princess Di (Photo) (on cover) (Topical reference)
- Gregory Wright (Named only) (on cover)
- Agamotto (Mentioned)
- Mephisto (Mentioned)
- Satannish (Mentioned)
- Baron Mordo (Mentioned)
- Ancient One (Named only)
- Donna Strange (Photo)
- Tom Wolfe (Named only)
- Jean (Moebius) Giraud (Photo)
- Reed Richards (Photo)
- Susan Storm (Photo)
- Johnny Storm (Photo)
- Ben Grimm (Photo)
- Brandon Forsythe (Photo) (Name first revealed)
- Arnold Crang (Named only) (Full name first revealed)
- Nightmare (Named only)
- House of Shadows (Photo)
- Allan Stevens (Named only)
- Professor Schuyler (Photo)
- Dr. Green (Photo)
- Professor Milsop (Photo) (Name first revealed)
- Tiboro (Drawing)
- Dormammu (Drawing)
- Mindless Ones (Named only)
- Clea (Named only)
- Eternity (Drawing)
- Shuma-Gorath (Named only)
- Nick Fury (Photo)
- Bela Lugosi (Photo) (as Count Dracula)
- Count Dracula (Drawing) (caption mistakenly identifies the images as being of Vlad Dracul, the "historical Dracula")
- Urthona's "demon" minion (Photo)
- Arnie Green (Photo)
- Captain America (Named only)
- Thor (Illusion or holographic simulation)
- George C. Scott (Named only) (Topical reference)
- Silver Surfer (Norrin Radd) (Illusion or holographic simulation)
- Hulk (Illusion or holographic simulation)
- Daredevil (Illusion or holographic simulation)
- Iron Man (Illusion or holographic simulation)
- Black Knight (Illusion or holographic simulation)
- Spider-Man (Illusion or holographic simulation)
- Victoria Bentley (Named only)
- Dagger (Illusion or holographic simulation)
- Hirohito (Named only) (Topical reference)
- Beyonder (Named only)
- Umar the Unrelenting (Named only)
- H.P. Lovecraft (Named only)
- Galactus (Named only)
- Magellan II (Photo)
- J. Jonah Jameson (Named only)
- Doctor Octopus (Named only)
- Lincoln Steffers "Fletch" Fletcher (Named only)
Locations:
- New York State
- New York City
- Greenwich Village
- Stephen Strange's Mansion (also in photo)
- Times Square (Photo)
- Greenwich Village
- New York City
- Nebraska (Named only)
- Tibet (Named only)
- Kamar-Taj (Named only)
- Crypts of Kaa-U (Named only)
- Purple Dimension (Named only)
- Sixth Dimension (Named only)
- Dark Dimension (Named only)
Items:
- Cloak of Levitation
- Eye of Agamotto
- NOW Magazine (November 1989 edition)
- Dr. Strange: The Man - The Myth - The Magic (biography) (Named only)
- Cleveland Chainsaw Cheerleaders (film) (Name only on cover)
- Purple Gem (Named only)
- The Twelfth Hour (TV show) (Photo)
- Screaming Idol (Photo)
- Darkhold (Named only)
- Montesi Formula (Named only)
Vehicles:
- Silver Surfer's Surfboard (Illusion or holographic simulation)
Events:
- Secret Wars (Named only)
Synopsis for "That Was Then... This Is Now"
Doctor Strange reacts with anger after reading an article in NOW magazine about Morgana Blessing's soon-to-be-published biography about him. After Topaz and Wong calm him down a bit, Strange flies off to talk to Morgana about the book. In his absence, Sara wonders if Stephen might be over-reacting so Wong suggests that she read the article herself.
Once she has read the entire article, Sara admits that Stephen wasn't over-reacting after all. When Wong expresses his concern that the publicity will cause Strange to be besieged by multitudes of the curious that will interfere with his mission as Earth's Sorcerer Supreme, Imei feels that he is greatly exaggerating the problems that a mere book could cause. However, after looking out a window and seeing the crowd that has already gathered outside, Rintrah is less certain.
Appearing in "The Book of the Vishanti: The Curse of the Darkhold Part 1 "The Montesi Formula""
Featured Characters:
- Doctor Strange (Main story and recap)
- Jack Russell (Only in recap) (also as Werewolf by Night)
Supporting Characters:
- Lissa Russell (Only in recap)
- Topaz (Only in recap)
Antagonists:
- Miles Blackgar (Only in recap)
- Marlene Blackgar (Only in recap)
- Mad Monk (Only in recap)
- Dragonus (Only in recap)
- Count Dracula (Only in flashback) (Death)
- Chthon (Only in recap)
- Morgan Le Fay (Only in flashback)
- Modred the Mystic (Only in recap)
- Darkholders (Only in recap)
- Urthona (Only in flashback)
Other Characters:
- Baron Gregor Russoff (Only in flashback) (Death) (also as a werewolf)
- Father Ramón Jóquez (Only in recap) (Death)
- High Evolutionary (Only in recap)
- Knights of Wundagore (Only in recap)
- Magnus (Only in recap)
- Jonathan Drew (Only in recap)
- Laura Russell (Only in recap)
- Rachel van Helsing (Only in recap)
- Giuseppe Montesi (Only in flashback) (Death) (Full name first revealed)
- Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew) (Only in recap)
- Avengers (Only in recap)
- Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff) (Only in recap)
- Captain America (Only in recap)
- Wonder Man (Only in recap)
- Falcon (Only in recap)
- Wasp (Only in recap)
- Ms. Marvel (Only in recap)
- Quicksilver (Pietro Maximoff) (Only in recap)
- Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau) (Only in recap)
- Hannibal King (Only in recap)
- Blade (Only in recap)
- Wong (Only in recap)
- Lilith (Only in recap) (Death)
- Agamotto the All-Seeing (Named only)
Locations:
- New York City (Main story and recap)
- Sanctum Sanctorum
- Avengers Mansion (Only in recap)
- California (Only in recap)
- Blackgar Island (Only in recap)
- Transylvania (Only in flashback)
- Rome (Only in flashback)
- Vatican Library (Only in flashback)
- Transia (Only in recap)
- Wundagore Mountain (Only in recap)
- South of France (Only in recap)
Items:
- Book of the Vishanti
- Cloak of Levitation (Main story and recap)
- Eye of Agamotto (Main story and recap)
- Montesi Formula (Only in recap)
- Darkhold (Only in flashback)
- Baron Russoff's diary (Only in flashback)
Synopsis for "The Book of the Vishanti: The Curse of the Darkhold Part 1 "The Montesi Formula""
Doctor Strange reads a chapter from the Book of the Vishanti that reveals some of the people who have had the Darkhold in their possession in recent years.
Notes
- A photograph included in one of the book excerpts is from the funeral that was held for Strange following his supposed death. It is similar to the videotaped recording of a TV newscast of the funeral that Imei Chang was shown watching in Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #1. However, since that funeral never actually happened and all evidence of it was part of a spell that Strange had cast to make the people of Earth believe that he had died, that photograph is nothing more than an illusion.
- Fifteen of this comic's twenty-nine story pages are devoted to reprinting material that supposedly appeared in the November 1989 edition of Now Magazine. Twelve of those pages cover the article and include excerpts from Morgana Blessing's book, two more pages contain an interview with the author, and the last reprinted page is the Guest Editorial by J. Jonah Jameson that appeared in that edition.
- After 24 years, the name of the third scientist from The Twelfth Hour was finally revealed but his name was spelt inconsistently, first as "Milsop" and then as "Milsap."
- Some of the information presented in this issue's chapter of the Book of the Vishanti is inaccurate.
- Laura Russell is said to have died "soon after" her first husband, Baron Gregor Russoff. In actuality, Laura died almost eighteen years after the baron did. Also, due to Marvel's sliding timescale, the circumstances of his death (i.e., being struck dead by Chthon) have since been transferred to one of his ancestors.
- The Darkhold was never in Jack Russell's possession after he gave it to Father Jóquez to translate in Werewolf by Night #2, and Werewolf by Night #13 revealed that Jack believed that the book had later been destroyed by Aelfric. The book that Topaz later had in Transylvania, the one that was taken from her by Count Dracula, was actually Jack's father's diary, known as "The Second Book of Sins" because Baron Russoff had copied a number of spells from the Darkhold into it.
- The narrative references Dracula's encounter with the mutant X-Men in England's Pendrammon Castle. However, the location where they (first) battled in X-Men Annual #6 was actually Pendarrow Castle in Cornwall.
- According to the source-notes for this issue's Book of the Vishanti feature that were presented in the letters page of Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #10, most of "The Montesi Formula" was a recapping of events that had first been recounted in Marvel Spotlight #2-4, Werewolf by Night #3 and 15, Tomb of Dracula #19, and those chapters of the history of the High Evolutionary that were presented in Fantastic Four Annual #21 and X-Men Annual #12. Since these source-notes accidentally got chopped off in the middle, they were completed in the letters page of Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #15 which added Dracula Lives #6, X-Men Annual #6, the first Spider-Woman series, Avengers #186-187, and Doctor Strange (Vol. 2) #60-62 and 81.
- Aside from the opening and closing panels that show Doctor Strange reading from the Book of the Vishanti, only four panels in the second story are not based on events depicted in earlier stories. It is the presence of this new material that makes the appearances of several Characters, Locations and Items into flashbacks instead of recaps.
Trivia
- Father Ramón Jóquez's first name is misspelled as Damon.
See Also
- 3 image(s) from Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme Vol 1 9
- 3 reprint(s) of Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme Vol 1 9