Doctor Strange #79
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeDoctor Strange #79 ("Fata Morganna!") carries real weight as the opening salvo of the storyline that would close out the long-running second volume of the series — a thirteen-year, 81-issue run that Marvel branded its 25th Anniversary year. The issue delivers the first full, identified appearance of Urthona, an alien sorcerer from the planet Gevaltu whose audacious goal of supplanting Strange as Sorcerer Supreme of the universe set in motion a chain of consequences — the destruction of the Sanctum Sanctorum's magical contents and the series' cancellation — that fundamentally reset the status quo for the character heading into Strange Tales and eventually Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme. The storytelling conceit at the heart of this issue — a mortally wounded Strange astrally possessing Morgana Blessing so she can fight on his behalf, and then crossing his own ethical line by invoking black magic to summon the demon Satannish — is one of the more dramatically stark "ends justify the means" moments in the character's Bronze Age history, forcing readers to question the Sorcerer Supreme's moral center at the exact moment the series was drawing its curtain.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
By mid-1986, writer Peter B. Gillis had taken over the Doctor Strange title and was steering it through its final arc under editor Carl Potts, with Jim Shooter serving as editor-in-chief. Gillis brought artist Chris Warner aboard as the sole penciler for this closing run, and Warner also handled the cover art for the direct-edition copy (with Randy Emberlin on inks and Bob Sharen on colors), while the newsstand edition's cover was also penciled by Warner. The series was already being wound down as part of Marvel's strategy to fold Doctor Strange into the new split-book Strange Tales, making room in the publishing slate connected to the launch of the New Universe line; #79 was published bi-monthly and went on sale in June 1986, with an October cover date.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First full, named appearance of Urthona (Earth-616), the extradimensional sorcerer from the planet Gevaltu who seeks to become Sorcerer Supreme of the entire universe — he had appeared only behind-the-scenes in the prior issue (#78).
- Story titled "Fata Morganna!", written by Peter B. Gillis with pencils by Chris Warner, inks by Randy Emberlin, colors by Bob Sharen, and letters by Jim Novak; edited by Carl Potts under editor-in-chief Jim Shooter.
- The issue's central dramatic event is Doctor Strange — badly wounded after battling Urthona's warrior champion — sending his astral form into Morgana Blessing, making her a temporary vessel for his powers, and then resorting to black magic by summoning Satannish to destroy the enemy.
- The Sanctum Sanctorum is heavily damaged in the conflict, setting up its eventual physical relocation to Gevaltu across the arc's final two issues (#80–81).
- Supporting characters appearing include Wong, Topaz, Sara Wolfe, and Morgana Blessing; the Avengers, Agamotto, and Satannish are referenced or invoked.
- This is the third-to-last issue of Doctor Strange Vol. 2 (1974–1987), which ran a total of 81 issues; the series concluded with #81 (February 1987), after which the character moved into a new Strange Tales split-book.
- The names Urthona and Rintrah (who first appears in the following issue, #80) are drawn from the mythology of the English poet William Blake, where Urthona is the Zoa of inspiration and creativity.
- The issue was reprinted in the 2015 Marvel trade paperback Doctor Strange: Don't Pay the Ferryman, which collected Doctor Strange (1974) #75–81 — the entire final chapter of the volume.
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Reprints
Reprinted in Doctor Strange: Don't Pay the Ferryman #[nn] (2015), Marvel Masterworks: Doctor Strange #11 (2024)
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