Essential Doctor Strange #3
In "Through an Orb Darkly," Doctor Strange faces off against the relentless Xander the Merciless, whose dark magic strips Clea of her memories and sends her into a violent magical frenzy. As the battle unfolds, Xander unveils a shocking truth: the Creators manipulated the Ancient One into testing Strange for ultimate life conversion, a secret that ultimately cost Strange his powers. Written by Marv Wolfman and illustrated by Rudy Nebres, with lettering by John Costanza, this pivotal issue features a striking cover by Frank Brunner.
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Strange battles Xander the Merciless. Xander erases Clea's memory; she goes on a magical rampage. Xander reveals that the Creators planted the idea in Ancient One's mind of testing Strange for ultimate life conversion, which resulted in the stripping of Strange's powers.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).