Doctor Strange Vol 2 81

Doctor Strange and his new ally Rintrah are aboard a Skrull saucer that is traveling through deep space at megalight speeds. While Strange's physical body rests within a transparent cylinder, comatose as it recovers from recent near-fatal injuries, his astral form is active outside it, guiding the starship by following the traces of the power that took his mansion and everything and everyone within it away from Earth. Strange informs Rintrah that it should be no more than a day before they reach their destination and reveals that the time his spirit has spent within the alien's mystically-attuned body has enabled his powers to rise to near their peak. Strange then reminisces aloud about recent events, beginning with how Rintrah, the apprentice of Enitharmon the Weaver, had sought out Strange in order to return to him the recently-repaired Cloak of Levitation. Strange then recalls how upset and angry Sara Wolfe had become when Strange had chosen Rintrah to serve as his host body during the upcoming battle instead of her, and how Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four had willingly allowed them to borrow the ship the FF had captured from the Skrulls so that Strange and Rintrah could travel to the enemy's world via a route that Strange hopes his enemy will not expect. As the saucer approaches the planet, Strange reminds Rintrah that, with his power still debilitated, Rintrah will have to wear Strange's amulet and cloak and be the hand and the sword of Dr. Strange.

Meanwhile, on the alien planet, Urthona is aware of how close Strange is and will soon be able to attack him. Urthona brags to himself about how the stolen talismans are a fitting treasury for him as the Sorcerer Supreme of this plane. Wong and Topaz are shackled nearby and Topaz is desperate to be reunited with the other half of her soul that is now so close. When the saucer is near enough, Urthona uses the Talons of Farallah to grasp it at planetary distance, a feat that shocks Strange because it indicates that Urthona's power has grown greater than he had thought. Strange/Rintrah manage to turn that power back on itself and bring the saucer down to the planet's surface where Urthona uses some of his world's machines to seize it before sending an army of minions to attack. After quickly dispersing that army, Strange/Rintrah engages Urthona in mystic battle and Urthona soon realizes that he is not yet Strange's master. Taking advantage of the fact that Strange, as a champion of the light, is sworn to protect others, Urthona exploits that vulnerability by using machinery to attack and seemingly kill Wong. As Strange's shock halts his mystic attack, Urthona uses the Darkhold to conjure forth the Dark Bloodhunger of the Night, shadowy bat-shaped creatures that want revenge on Strange for having banished them out of the universe.

When Strange remains overcome by despair and is unable to fight back, Rintrah gets an idea and vacates his own body. Regaining his will to fight, Strange-as-Rintrah uses the light from the Eye of Agamotto, channeled through the Crystal of Vyhagh Ar, to deal with the Dark Bloodhunger. Rintrah's spirit occupies Strange's still-recovering physical body back on the starship and, while Strange and Urthona continue battling, Rintrah-as-Strange climbs the pillar to the top where Urthona, Wong, Topaz and the items from the Sanctum are. As Rintrah-as-Strange sneaks across the platform and prepares to free the two hostages, Topaz begs him to restore her soul to her, revealing that it's in a vessel on a table with the Sanctum relics. Although Urthona spots them and moves to attack, Strange risks losing the greater battle by attacking Urthona, delaying him long enough for Rintrah to smash the bottle, releasing the trapped soul and allowing Topaz to become whole once more.

As Urthona reaches for the Darkhold that the previous attack had caused him to drop, Strange realizes that, within moments, all his own talismans of power will be turned against him and that he no longer has the power to withstand them. Forced to strike at the most immediate threat and trust in his abilities to deal with the consequences, Strange uses his power to destroy the talismans. The Orb of Agamotto, the Book of the Vishanti and others are all incinerated, leaving Urthona aghast. Clutching the indestructible Darkhold, the would-be usurper uses its power to teleport himself and it away after warning Strange of the dark forces that he's released by destroying the relics that had kept them bound. After Strange and Rintrah's spirits return to their proper bodies, Strange learns that Wong is still alive and then collapses in Topaz's arms, bemoaning everything that he has broken in order to win. Topaz comforts him by assuring him that he's taken his first step out of a long darkness and towards the light.

Notes

This storyline continues directly into Strange Tales (Vol. 2) #1. It is therefore impossible for Doctor Strange, Rintrah, Topaz and Wong to appear anywhere else between this issue and that one.

This is the sixth and (so far) last comic in which the disc-shaped starship in the possession of the Fantastic Four is identified as being a Skrull spacecraft. However, at the time this story was published, the only saucer-shaped spacecraft that the FF had yet been shown acquiring was the saucer that they had used in Fantastic Four #7 to escape from the planet Xanth before its destruction. Decades later, this continuity error will be partially resolved in Marvel Legacy: The 1960s Handbook #1 when the "Where are they now" update to the entry on Kurrgo notes that "The ship the FF got from Kurrgo has been consistently referred to as a Skrull ship, indicating that Kurrgo had purchased the ship from Skrulls."

As revealed in Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #7, all of the talismans that Doctor Strange seemingly disintegrated in this issue were actually saved by Agamotto the All-Seeing who secretly pulled them all (plus the Darkhold) into his dimension. The Book of the Vishanti back-up story in Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #9 revealed how Agamotto's spell had also teleported the Darkhold away from Urthona mere moments after he had fled with it.

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References

Doctor Strange Vol 2 81

Appearing in "The Tongues of Men and Angels...!"

Synopsis for "The Tongues of Men and Angels...!"

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