Savage Avengers (2019 series) #11

Dr Strange is recovering from the damage his body took in the fight last issue with Conan and Dr Doom against Kulan Gath. Elektra enters his Sanctum Sanctorum with takeaway coffees. It becomes clear that they slept together last night (for the 1st time) and he's granted her run of the place. (This is all news to us, unless you've seen the cover.) Stephen Strange is concerned about Gath and wants Elektra to kill him if the Hyborian sorcerer ever manages to gain control of him.

Stephen tells her about KG's supposed 3rd Eye Of Agamotto, which was the means of his temporary defeat last issue. But he now lets us know that Gath's 3rd Eye was obviously a fake because his own Eye Of Agamotto is the 3rd, granting prescience. An Asgardian dragon has the 1st Eye, and the 2nd Eye is lost in time. (This matches the description of the Eyes in #8, but with a different numbering. There he suggested that the Eye Gath had was the 1 lost in time. And I don't see why this couldn't still be true, especially if he brought it with him from the Hyborian Age.)

The Sorcerer Supreme plans an astral journey and he wants Elektra to watch over his body. He will be able to tell her what's happening but won't be able to hear any reply. If he tells her he's lost contact with his body and can't find the way back she must inflict pain which will give him an anchor to return to.

He has a sample of KG's blood from the battle and he can use this to astral travel to the wizard's past. Strange reaches the foe's boyhood as a personal slave to a Stygian sorcerer. But the boy eventually kills his master and took his home, his books of sorcerous lore and his name, Kulan Gath. Later the young man seeks to become apprentice to that age's Sorcerer Supreme, Mekri Ra. But he is rejected. So he becomes a disciple of the wizard Thoth-Amon.

He also learns all he can from other magicians. But some texts he can't decipher, and a mage tells him that such knowledge is not *meant* for those who can't read it. So he kills the mage violently and escapes with the man's blood in his mouth. And watching Stephen realises that Gath has learnt how to absorb knowledge cannibalistically, and sees him devouring other sorcerers.

At some point he married the witch Vammatar and they conspired to steal the power of the Elder Demon Shuma-Gorath but they were defeated (in Conan The Barbarian #258-260). At another time (earlier) he fell before the Melnibonean sorceress Terhali (CTB#14-15). Later he is killed by Conan and/or Red Sonja and uses a different magic amulet to be 'reborn' in the future (we see an encounter with Spider-Man either from Marvel Team-Up #79 or Uncanny X-Men #190-191).

But before that he defeats Mekri Ra and eats his heart. But on his death-bed the old-time Sorcerer Supreme senses the astral body of Dr Strange and tells him cryptically that KG "has been slain many times ... but perhaps not by the right weapons" and "look to the apex predator that shadows Kulan Gath" (Conan? But *he* has 'killed' Gath before.) DrS understands and thanks him.

Back in the present Elektra seems to be playing a game of ball with Strange's Cloak Of Levitation and a mystic orb. (Or I'm totally misreading the panels.) Stephen returns to his body and tells her they must find Conan and assemble all their other allies.