Doctor Strange #38

Name: Doctor Strange #38
Brand: Marvel
Availability: InStock

Dec 1979 · Marvel · 0.40 USD; 0.40 CAD

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“Eye of the Beholder!”

★ 1st appearance — Sara Wolfe

About this Issue

Doctor Strange #38 is the debut issue of Sara Wolfe, a character of Cheyenne heritage who became Stephen Strange's secretary and a long-running member of the Sanctum Sanctorum's supporting cast — one of the few Native American characters to hold an ongoing, named role in a Marvel title of the Bronze Age. The issue also introduces the Eye Killers, demons drawn from Indigenous American mythology, giving the story an unusual cultural texture for a superhero comic of 1979. Beyond those firsts, the issue marks the formal kick-off of Chris Claremont's run on the series paired with Gene Colan, a creative partnership that would shape the title for nearly a decade's worth of collected reprints. Sara Wolfe's presence carried forward into the MCU, where a character clearly inspired by her appears — under the same name — in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022).

writer Chris Claremont · artist Gene Colan · inker Dan Green · colorist Bob Sharen · letterer Tom Orzechowski · cover Bob Hall, Terry Austin

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History

Issue #38 was written by Chris Claremont — then at the peak of his celebrated Uncanny X-Men tenure — and penciled by Gene Colan, with inks by Dan Green, colors by Bob Sharen, and letters by Tom Orzechowski; it went on sale September 11, 1979, with a December 1979 cover date under editor-in-chief Jim Shooter, with Jo Duffy and Al Milgrom as editors. Colan was a natural fit for the book, having drawn Doctor Strange in the character's late-1960s solo series and again briefly during the Steve Englehart run; his atmospheric, shadow-heavy style gave the mystic adventures a cinematic unease that few other artists could replicate. The cover was produced separately by Bob Hall (pencils) and Terry Austin (inks), which was standard practice for the period. The story opens a multi-part arc that continues through at least issue #39, centering on Baron Mordo's theft of artifacts from the Vatican's San Gabriel Archives.

Trivia · 8 facts

First appearance of Sara Wolfe (Earth-616), a full-blooded Cheyenne woman who becomes Doctor Strange's secretary and Wong's love interest — she goes on to rack up 68 confirmed appearances across Marvel continuity.
First appearance of the Eye Killers — Native American demons described in-story as having the head of an owl, the arms of a mountain lion, and the body of a snake — and of Cardinal Alfeo Spinosa.
Written by Chris Claremont (pencils by Gene Colan, inks by Dan Green) — issue #38 is the opening chapter of Claremont's run on the title, which spans issues #38–45 and is collected in Marvel Masterworks: Doctor Strange Vol. 8 (ISBN 978-1302907129) and the Marvel Universe by Chris Claremont Omnibus.
The story is titled 'Eye of the Beholder!' The cover was separately produced by Bob Hall (pencils) and Terry Austin (inks); the issue was edited by Jo Duffy and Al Milgrom under editor-in-chief Jim Shooter.
Baron Mordo appears in a cameo (via photograph) as the man who robbed the Vatican's San Gabriel Archives — seeding the multi-issue Mordo arc that is a centerpiece of the Claremont run.
The Hell's Bells dance club featured in the story is a deliberate in-universe nod to the real Bells of Hell tavern in Greenwich Village, New York, which had closed a few months before the comic went on sale.
The issue exists in at least two distinct newsstand/direct editions plus a Mark Jeweler Advertisement Insert variant, and a UK edition with a 12p cover price (which reprints different interior content — a Don McGregor/Tom Sutton story — rather than the Claremont/Colan material).
Sara Wolfe's comic-book origins are the basis for the character 'Sara' (portrayed by Sheila Atim) in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), where she shares Sara Wolfe's bond with Wong and similarly sacrifices herself.