Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme Annual (1992 series) #2

Story continued from SILVER SURFER ANNUAL #5 .

The Defenders arrive on Hawaii where the Wild One has turned the paradise into an inferno of madness. Namor (in Rick Jones’ body) attacks Shanzar (in Namor’s ebonized body) while the other heroes take on the demonized humans serving the Wild One. Annoyed at the interruption, the Wild One takes a hand in the battle, using his flaming hot rod to run down and apparently kill the heroes. Turns out, at the last moment, Dr. Strange transported them astrally to another dimension, along with the physical forms of Shanzar and Aster; there they plot with the betrayed villains how best to take down the Wild One.... 

The Defenders return to Hawaii and go to work rescuing the people from the enemy’s apocalyptic chaos, then turn to face the Wild One. The sneering villain takes down the heroes magically, one by one, but there’s a surprise afoot: Dr. Strange is actually Lucien Aster in disguise and his body contains a portal to absorb the Wild One into another universe—Shanzar’s strange matter dimension, where the arcane forces overwhelm and imprison him. Shanzar then turns on the heroes, protected by Strange’s magic, and a brief battle ensues—until Shanzar realizes that their fight could possibly cause the Wild One to be set free. 

The Defenders return to Hawaii, where the geological upheavals are subsiding and the demonized humans returning to normal. Rick Jones’ mind and body are reunited (and Namor is unaccounted for) and Strange reveals that Aster’s effort to hide the dimensional portal cost him his life. The Pantheon takes on the task of rounding up the remaining copies of Aster’s book and the Defenders go their separate ways.

His Master’s Foes

Synopsis

By Peter Silvestro
Rating:

Rintrah, hoping to inherit Dr. Strange’s mantle someday, studies Strange’s great enemies. In no particular order: Baron Mordo, Nightmare, the Dweller in Darkness, Dormammu, Umar, Shuma-Gorath, Satannish, Urthona, Varnae the Vampire, Silver Dagger. After surveying this list, Rintrah is overcome with the weight of evil he has seen and despairs of becoming Sorcerer Supreme….

Rintrah, Future Master of the Mystic Arts

Synopsis

By Peter Silvestro
Rating:

Dr. Strange’s apprentice Rintrah achieves a new level in his education and so Strange presents him with Strange’s old items the Cloak of Levitation and the Amulet of Agamotto, sending him on his first solo mission. Dictating his own entry in the Book of the Vishanti, Rintrah adopts a human guise and applies for an apartment in a haunted condominium where all the previous tenants have vanished mysteriously. 

That night, Rintrah occupies the condo and challenges the sinister entity which responds by attacking him with the Vapors of Valtorr which the young wizard can break easily. He orders the entity reveal itself and it does: it is the House of Shadows, adapting to the times by going condo. Rintrah speaks the spell that banishes the villain from Earth and it vanishes, taking the entire top floor of the building with it, the missing tenants being restored elsewhere in the building. Rintrah is pleased with his first solo mission and the building manager is left to deal with the mystery.

Characters
Good (or All)

 

Doctor Strange
(Dr Strange)

Plus: Rintrah.

First Blood

Synopsis

By Peter Silvestro
Rating:

Vic Strange is awoken at nightfall by his lover Morgana Blessing; they share a romantic (blood-drinking) moment before he dons his Baron Blood costume and goes out to pursue his goal of becoming a hero. He comes upon two big bruisers assaulting a young woman and he intervenes but the three are disguised monsters and they overcome him and knock him out….

Vic awakens to find himself confined by vampire-proof bonds, garlic ropes tying him to a silver rack. His captor is a masked and hooded man who desires his blood because a vampire’s blood keeps him alive eternally. The masked man departs and Vic summons rats to chew through his bonds, freeing him. He hurls a beaker of acid at the golems guarding him and heads upstairs to find himself in a lavish penthouse. A maid informs him the owner is one Giuseppe Balsamo and assumes he is a party guest. Vic heads to the ballroom and calls out his enemy. Balsamo responds, telling the guests this is a madman, using an invisible demon to silence Vic. Balsamo takes Vic out on the balcony and shows him that the sun is about to rise. To do him a favor, Balsamo teleports Vic home, warning him not to cross his path again. Vic surprises Morgana by appearing suddenly in their living room. He asks her about Balsamo and she reveals that Giuseppe Balsamo is the real name of the 18^th century sorcerer known as Cagliostro, an enemy of Dr. Strange….

Raider of the Purple Veil

Synopsis

By Peter Silvestro
Rating:

Clea is taking a bath at the Sanctum Sanctorum when a Faltinian called Flyx arrives to ask her help. It seems there is a feud between two parties of Faltines, one of which is related to Clea so he wants her to get involved. Clea agrees to this but only if Flyx agrees to help her reclaim her rulership of the Dark Dimension, with one proviso: that Doctor Strange never find out about it because she wants to establish her independence in the eyes of the Faltines. 

So to overthrow her uncle Dormammu, she looks for allies among the Lords of the Netherworld. She and Flyx enter the Purple Dimension and approach Aggamon, the All-Powerful. She asks for his help, he declines as his business interests require him to be neutral in interdimensional conflicts. He offers to show her some of his mystical wares that may be useful in persuading others of the Netherworlds, and she agrees. Aggamon shows her into a crystal chamber and it’s a trap, as Aggamon has never forgiven Dr. Strange for defeating him. The chamber drains the life-force from Faltines and it is a valuable commodity in magic circles. But since Clea is half-human, she tries some non-Faltinian spells and they reverse the aging process of her and Flyx so the latter exerts his power and destroys the chamber—and most of Aggamon’s stronghold. The angry Aggamon threatens them with a demolisher beam; Clea bluffs him into believing they will destroy the other half of his kingdom if he tries it. Clea agrees to leave if Aggamon promises to provide them with the weapons they need for their mission. He does. Next up: Tiboro, Sorcerer Supreme of the Sixth Dimension….

Characters
Good (or All)

 

Clea

Enemies

 

Dormammu

Plus: Aggamon.