Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #9

History

The issue arrived in November 1989 under the editorial stewardship of Ralph Macchio and Mike Rockwitz, with Tom DeFalco as editor-in-chief. Roy Thomas, who had returned to the title by issue #5, co-wrote both stories: the lead with his wife Dann Thomas and artist Jackson 'Butch' Guice (who also supplied the cover), and the Darkhold back-up with Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, penciled by David Day and inked by his brother Dan Day. The source citations for the back-up were accidentally cropped from the printed letters page, requiring corrections spread across two subsequent issues (#10 and #15), an editorial miscue that the creative team acknowledged openly.

Trivia · 8 facts

• Two distinct stories: lead story 'That Was Then… This Is NOW' (Roy & Dann Thomas / Jackson Guice) and back-up 'The Book of the Vishanti: The Curse of the Darkhold Part 1 — The Montesi Formula' (Roy Thomas & Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier / David Day and Dan Day).
• The lead story frames roughly 15 of its 29 pages as a reproduction of a fictional November 1989 Now Magazine article, including excerpts from Morgana Blessing's biography of Doctor Strange and a guest editorial by J. Jonah Jameson.
• The Darkhold back-up consolidates the in-universe history of the Montesi Formula, revealing for the first time that the monk connected to the spell was actually a prelate named Monsignore Giuseppe Montesi, whose family had sought the incantation for generations.
• Blade (Eric Brooks), Hannibal King, Lilith (daughter of Dracula), Dracula, Werewolf by Night (Jack Russell), Scarlet Witch, Morgan Le Fay, Modred the Mystic, and Rachel Van Helsing all appear in the back-up in cameo or recap contexts — none as first appearances.
• Lilith's inclusion here is a posthumous/flashback appearance; her in-story destruction alongside Dracula via the Montesi Formula had occurred in Doctor Strange Vol. 2 #62 (1983).
• The back-up directly laid narrative groundwork for the 'Vampiric Verses' storyline, which reversed the Montesi Formula and restored vampires to Marvel continuity beginning around issue #14.
• The issue has been collected three times: Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme Omnibus Vol. 1 (2017), Avengers/Doctor Strange: Rise of the Darkhold (2018), and Doctor Strange Epic Collection Vol. 8 — Triumph and Torment (2019).
• The source citations for the back-up story were accidentally cut off mid-page in the letters section of issue #10 and had to be completed in the letters section of issue #15 — an editorial error the team addressed transparently.

Cast · 40 characters

Full credits

Key issues in Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme

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#10 1st appearance — Victor Strange

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#44 1st appearance — Cyttorak

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#6 1st appearance — Mephista