Doctor Strange #80
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeDoctor Strange Vol. 2 #80 earns its place in Marvel history primarily as the cameo debut of Rintrah — an extra-dimensional, minotaur-like sorcerer from the planet R'Vaal who would become one of Strange's most memorable Copper Age allies and apprentices. The issue also sits at a pivotal dramatic crossroads in Peter B. Gillis's run: Strange lies near death from a magical poison, stripped of his powers and fighting to survive on a mundane operating table, a storytelling inversion that forced the character's dual identity as doctor and mystic into direct conflict. As the penultimate chapter of Doctor Strange Vol. 2 — a series that ran 81 issues — this issue helps set the stage for the catastrophic series finale in which Strange loses his Sanctum Sanctorum and his entire arcane library, a status-quo upheaval that reverberated through the character's mythology for years. Rintrah's eventual MCU appearance in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) brought fresh retrospective attention to this issue as the character's textual origin point.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The issue was written by Peter B. Gillis, penciled by Chris Warner, and inked by Randy Emberlin, with the letters page carrying a formal statement of ownership that recorded an average print run of roughly 220,000 copies. Gillis had taken over the title following Roger Stern's departure and steered it toward a more psychologically grounded, vulnerability-centered approach — foregrounding Strange's self-doubt and his inability to rely on magic — right up to the series' end with issue #81. The cover is signed 'ALBRET CARLSON,' which the Marvel Database identifies as most likely a portmanteau crediting artists Al Williamson, Bret Blevins, and Carl Potts. Editor Carl Potts shepherded the book under Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First cameo appearance of Rintrah (Earth-616), the green minotaur sorcerer from the extradimensional planet R'Vaal — created by writer Peter B. Gillis and penciler Chris Warner.
- Rintrah's name, along with his mentor Enitharmon the Weaver, derives from the writings of 18th-century visionary poet William Blake; Blake's Rintrah is the personification of revolutionary spirit.
- Story title: 'Don't Pay the Ferryman.' Plot centers on Strange fighting for survival on an operating table after being infected by a magical poison; his astral form possesses Sara Wolfe's body to guide his own surgery.
- This is the penultimate issue (second-to-last) of Doctor Strange Vol. 2, which ran from June 1974 through February 1987 for a total of 81 issues.
- The cover carries the pseudonym 'ALBRET CARLSON' — identified by the Marvel Database as a fusion credit for artists Al Williamson, Bret Blevins, and Carl Potts.
- Issue #80 also shows the repaired Cloak of Levitation being returned to Strange — the Cloak had been torn in battle earlier in the run (around issue #77) and its restoration here is what brings Rintrah directly into Strange's life.
- The issue is part of the 'Don't Pay the Ferryman' arc (issues #76–81), reprinted in the 2015 Marvel trade paperback of the same name, collecting Doctor Strange (1974) #75–81.
- Supporting characters appearing in this issue include Wong, Topaz, Sara Wolfe, Morgana Blessing (spelled 'Morganna'), and the spirit of Valkyrie (Brunnhilde), with antagonist Urthona continuing his multi-issue threat.
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in Doctor Strange: Don't Pay the Ferryman #[nn] (2015), Doctor Strange #[nn] (2023), Marvel Masterworks: Doctor Strange #11 (2024)
Key issues in Doctor Strange
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