Doctor Strange #79, OCT 86 (writer) Peter B. Gillis (artist) Chris Warner
This issues starts with a decidedly epic bend straight out of a work of sf/fantasy, and effective as heck setting the mood. Sorcery has overtaken this planet of industry and reigns supreme, as does the battling of war for a monarch’s pleasure.
“You have learned death in our sphere, champion. You shall be the one to teach it in others.” said Monarch says to the one whom bested all others. His new task: show Doctor Strange the taste of death.
The Doctor returns home from France looking rather swank in tight white pants and a blue bomber jacket and shades. Topaz again rushes to his side, and Wong is worried that Strange will again push her pleas aside. Some lady-friend named Morganna is pestering him, so he makes a date. He also shoos Sara and Wong out the door for th evening.
Doctor Strange meets Morganna out, with a later stop scheduled at a salsa bar. One can only assume that it’s an eighties thing, maybe the precursor to a tapas bar. They talk of Stephen’s preoccupation with his work and he being out of touch with things not associated with skulking around the night. Talk continues with his lacking of a personal life. Meanwhile, there’s a page devoted to Topaz awakening at the Greenwich mansion, heading to the portal Strange had forbidden her. Out of touch is right.
Morganna and Stephen hold hands and in zaps the champion by our unknown dark lord. Kicking butt and taking names, Doctor Strange is at the top of his list. Spells are bouncing off this mook, so Strange needs to get a little physical. Picking up a butter knife and imbuing it with magic will have to do.
Doctor Strange takes a sword. He’s not dead, and his astral form is still functioning. Against all odds and best judgement, he enters Morganna’s body to defeat this foe because he’s calling for more blood. She handles magic well, though unable to do all that Strange was. There’s an off-handed comment about her purity which brings a pretty good giggle.
Topaz makes contact with this entity (who looks a little like Gaiman’s Dream wearing the headgear) and the sanctum is whisked away with she and Wong in tow. Morganna is still donning the Doctor’s strange mystical clothing and it fizzles out and leaves her unconscious. We see Strange himself lying on a stretcher as well.
Things are not looking good.