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Doctor Strange Vol 2 2

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Quote1 I must meditate-- attempt to comprehend this cosmos-- for only through knowledge can true salvation come. Quote2
—Doctor Strange (Stephen Strange)

Appearing in "A Separate Reality"

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Synopsis for "A Separate Reality"

Doctor Strange Vol 1 2 001


Within the abandoned subway station that is his lair, Silver Dagger continues his attempt to cleanse Clea of her black faith in the Sorcerer Supreme by using his weapon to decapitate a wax mannequin of Doctor Strange and reminding her that the real Strange is just as dead. While taking a break from Clea's conversion, Silver Dagger uses the Eye of Agamotto to see what's been done with Strange's corpse but is instead shown that Dr. Strange is alive somewhere.

Meanwhile, flying through the realm of unreality within the Orb of Agamotto, Doctor Strange is lost, unable to find the center of the Orb or anything else. In an attempt to gain the knowledge he needs to save himself, Strange begins meditating and soon theorizes that the fact that the Caterpillar he met seemed too much like "Alice in Wonderland" is an indication that his unconscious mind can affect what occurs within the Orb. Suddenly, Strange is attacked by a flying creature that rips his astral body from his mortal form and, despite an attempt by a "Silver Surfer" to prevent it, Strange's soul is sucked within the creature's guts where he encounters the heads of multiple previous victims of the Soul-Eater. Although told by the captive souls that they are all doomed to provide eternal psychic energy for the creature, Strange's astral form instead choses to disrupt the creature's brain, causing it to fly out of control and crash onto the ground. With the Soul-Eater now unconscious, all of the souls that it had held captive are able to escape. Strange's soul meets the Silver Surfer who doesn't know him and Strange soon realizes that this Surfer is an image of the Orb that has been shaped by Strange's memories. Finding that his mortal form has walked off on its own, Strange and the Silver Surfer follow its tracks to the castle of the White Queen, the Surfer's sovereign. Within the castle, the two find Strange's body sitting at a table where the Knights of the Rostrum, beings who resemble the Defenders and other allies of Strange, are having a tea party.

After Strange reunites his astral and physical bodies, the group is joined by their queen who has the appearance of the Valkyrie. When Strange tries to leave, the heroes take this as an insult and try to kill him but Strange manages to overcome them. Spotting the now-conscious Soul-Eater approaching, Strange fears that it may steal the souls of his fallen foes but the queen and the Silver Surfer explain that, for the same reason that the knights reacted so murderously and unpredictably, they are in no danger from the Soul-Eater because none of them have souls. Only Strange, among all who abide with them now, has a soul and thus only he can live or die. This revelation causes Strange to realize that only he has a choice and that, while he has squirmed and twisted like a fish in the net of unreality, his true foe has always been the fisherman, Death. When Strange declares that he has only postponed his fate and that it must still be awaiting him at the center of the Orb, the queen offers him her stallion to take him there. Strange realizes that, now that he knows what he's actually seeking, all of the beings within the Orb that he affects know, too.

As Strange flies off towards the center of the Orb astride an unreal Aragorn, Silver Dagger has been showing Clea that, although his schemes may have gone somewhat awry, Strange is actually suffering a fate worse than death. Reassured that Strange is still lost, Silver Dagger is now ready to begin on Clea.

Notes

  • Cover art: pencils, inks and colours by Brunner.[1]
  • Plot by Englehart and Brunner, script by Englehart.[2]
  • Colours by Frank Brunner and Jan Brunner (uncredited).[3]
  • In a two-page spread which shows the illusory Defenders having tea together, Hawkeye is calling someone passed out under the table a "pantywaist." Those with a keen eye will note that the hand coming up from under the table is wearing a Green Lantern power ring.
  • On the same pages is a red-suited guy who is passed out and has had web sprayed on his face by Spider-Man, who refers him as "the Captain." This is Captain Midnight of Fawcett Comics which originally started as a radio show in the 1930-1940s.
  • Although the fact that Doctor Strange's astral form can be separated from his physical body in this story would seem to demonstrate that his entire being now exists within the Orb, this is as illusory as the rest of his surroundings. As revealed in Doctor Strange (Vol. 2) #5, Strange's actual physical body has been lying dead (or in a death-like state) on the floor of the Sanctum Sanctorum ever since he used the Orb of Agamotto in Doctor Strange (Vol. 2) #1. Therefore, despite appearances, only Strange's soul has actually entered the Orb.
  • Although this storyline treats the unnamed "realm of unreality" as being within the Orb of Agamotto, Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #6 will later establish that it exists as a separate pocket dimension, known as Agamotto's Dimension, and that the Orb, instead of containing that realm, is actually a portal to it. The Eye of Agamotto can also be used to travel to and from that realm.

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