Strange Tales Vol 1 157

Strucker announces that the impregnable dome over Hydra Island will keep them safe from the "Death Spore" plague, and plans to use Fury's body as the basis for an army of HYDRA androids to "police" the world, once he's dead from the Alpha Ray beam. But Fury escapes! As S.H.I.E.L.D. searches the Heli-Carrier for the bomb with no result, Fury, "playing it by ear", takes on one group of HYDRA thugs after another, until Strucker faces him one-on-one. Thanks to his deadly "Satan Claw", Strucker gains the upper hand, and it looks like it might be the end.

Appearing in "The End of the Ancient One!"

Featured Characters:

⏴ Doctor Strange (Stephen Strange) ⏵

Supporting Characters:

⏴ Ancient One ⏵ (Apparent death)
Living Tribunal ⏵ (First appearance)

Antagonists:

⏴ Zom ⏵

Other Characters:

Cyttorak (Invoked)
Seraphim (Invoked)
Vishanti (Invoked)
- Hoggoth (Invoked)
- Agamotto (Mentioned)
- Oshtur (Invoked)
Dormammu (Mentioned)
Eternity (Mentioned)
Valtorr (Invoked)
Numerous unnamed practitioners of the mystic arts (Vision)
Denak (Invoked)
Munnopor (Invoked)

Races and Species:

Locations:

Earthspace
- Earth
  - United Kingdom
    - England
      - Wiltshire
        Amesbury
        Stonehenge
Munnopor (Invoked)

Items:

Links of Living Bondage
Cloak of Levitation (Destroyed)
Eye of Agamotto
Spells
- Crimson Bands of Cyttorak
- Shades of the Seraphim
- Maze of Madness
- Hosts of Hoggoth (Invoked)
- Vapors of Valtorr (Invoked)
- Demons of Denak
- Moons of Munnopor (Invoked)
Legendary Amphora (Mentioned)

Synopsis for "The End of the Ancient One!"

To defeat Umar, Doctor Strange freed Zom, who has trapped him and the Ancient One in the Seven Bands of Cyttorak. The Ancient One sacrifices himself to pass his powers on to Strange; while merging with a stone pillar, he warns of "the coming of" something and says, "the forelock." Zom casts a spatial distortion spell, which Strange escapes with his new strength. Strange grasps Zom's topknot and pulls it loose, at the cost of part of his cloak. Zom seems afraid, as do the mystically attuned of Earth (shown by the All-Seeing Eye of Agamotto). Zom traps Strange in another spell but is dissolved by the coming of ... the Living Tribunal. Because of Strange, Earth's mystics now have a "sense of evil," so their world must be destroyed.

Notes

Publication Notes[]

This issue contains a letters page, "Strange Mails". Letters are published from: Kevin Karusek and Barry Brookner.

Pop Culture and Historical Notes[]

While Nick Fury is leaping upon a group of Hydra agents, he compares the stunt to one performed by the actor Errol Flynn, whom would perform stunts similar to that in his numerous acting appearances. Fury states that he had seen the stunt performed on The Late Late Show an Irish talk television show Errol Flynn had appeared on, according to Fury.
Fury often references the comedian Soupy Sales, who was a kid's entertainer that routinely ended his act with taking a pie to the face. In most cases when Fury uses his name it is a sarcastic insult to show how incompetent someone is at a task they're performing, in this issue it's a Hydra agent's dialogue, which has Fury questioning if Soupy Sales wrote it. In a similar vein Fury insults another Hydra agent by comparing his grappling ability to that of operating the "bubble machine" on the The Lawrence Welk Show. The "bubble machine" is a reference to a parody song written by Stan Freberg titled "Wun'erful, Wun'erful! (Sides uh-one & uh-two)" which parodies Lawrence Welk and the show, the "bubble machine" in question being a reference to the show's intro which made a Champaign opening noise after featuring guest stars floating in animated bubbles.

Links and References

References