Synopsis
Last issue Dr Strange gathered together a gang in Mexico to attack the sorcerer Kulan Gath, all of them from previous issues of this series:- Black Widow, Conan the Cimmerian, Daimon Hellstrom, Dr Voodoo, Elektra plus Magik and Wolverine of the X-Men.
Now he's taken them to the Moon for a conference, hoping to evade Gath's view. Strange says his Orb Of Agamotto can't locate their foe (in #7 KG moved his base to a pocket dimension) who has amassed great power through the ages by killing Sorcerer Supreme's like himself. Hellstrom opines that killing an SS doesn't seem very hard, and Stephen Strange retorts that Hellstrom will fall long before he does. Elektra interrupts the wizardly macho posturing and suggest they pool knowledge.
DrS relates how KG once took over and transformed New York, until he, the X-Men and the Avengers defeated him (Magik was instrumental in that in Uncanny XM #190-191). He is now many thousands of years old and absorbed the knowledge of many Sorcerers Supreme. Such men will die before letting evil-doers like Gath learn their secrets, but Dr Voodoo confirms that the wizard gains their knowledge by consuming their flesh. And while Jericho Drumm was his prisoner in #7 Gath told him he was going to get the power of the elder god Shuma-Gorath that way. Elektra adds that he ate the leaders of the Hand and an Egyptian death cult. Black Widow has been investigating his acolytes in Central and South America who have been killing drug cartel members.
Conan now describes a recent incident. He had been hunting Gath's servants, branded with his sickle sign, who were selling tainted cocaine. After stealing and selling a great treasure he was celebrating with a bevy of prostitutes, 1 of whom had an artificial lower leg. Another of them took such cocaine which turned her head into that of Shuma-Gorath (who he recognised from Conan The Barbarian #260). Conan grabbed the artificial leg and battered SG's avatar to death with it ... then went back to bed. Voodoo adds that (#7 again) he was shown a vision of Gorath turning Earth's population into his avatars and Gath feasting on him/them. DrS believes that their enemy has to consume his latest victim slowly, avatar by avatar, to avoid magical indigestion.
Strange has a plan which involves splitting into 2 groups. Gath had an amulet he called the 3rd Eye Of Agamotto, similar to the Eye that Stephen uses to fasten his Cloak Of Levitation, but that turned out to be a fake (#11). However there is another real such Eye held by the Asgardian dragon Sadurang, and they must get it before Gath does. He suggests team Spear (Conan, Elektra, Magik and Voodoo) goes to get that Eye by any means necessary, while team Shield (Hellstrom, Widow and Wolverine) go after KG's Earthly acolytes. Natasha Romanoff suggests that dealing with purveyors of poisoned cocaine is a good job for the Punisher (another guy from previous issues). Strange agrees she should bring him in to the team, but he wants her to stop him from killing *too* many people.
Now the Sorcerer Supreme transports them all to his Sanctum Sanctorum in Greenwich Village to use as a base of operations. Wolverine asks Stephen which team *he* will be on. He says he'll monitor the other teams, but 1st he has to go warn Shuma-Gorath what's happening. We see him entering another dimension and facing the giant demon, an eye with tentacles.
Back on Earth Wolverine greets an old friend, a talking ghost-dog called Bats. To Conan all the undead are enemies, and he frightens the dog away. Black Widow and Elektra use the Orb Of Agamotto to locate Frank Castle, and Daimon creates a portal to take BW to him. Magik looks up dragon-killing methods in Strange's library.
DrS has returned from the SG-dimension and takes Conan into his armoury to choose some weapons. He tells the Cimmerian he believes the universe caused his arrival in the modern era (during the Avengers: No Road Home arc) to balance that of his old foe Kulan Gath. He asks the Barbarian to wound Gath rather than kill him, and bring a sample of his flesh for the SS to eat. But don't tell the others.
But Kulan Gath is watching the conversation from afar. And we see him eating a tentacle of SG-avatar flesh.