Strange Tales #138
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeStrange Tales #138 marks the actual first appearance of Eternity — the living embodiment of the Marvel Universe itself — capping nine installments of the landmark 'Eternity Saga' that Steve Ditko and Stan Lee had been building across Strange Tales #130–146. Ditko's visual conception of the entity as a vast, humanoid silhouette whose body is filled with a starscape pushed superhero comics into genuinely philosophical, cosmological territory and helped establish the cosmic hierarchy that still underlies the Marvel Universe today. The issue simultaneously advances the early S.H.I.E.L.D./HYDRA spy thriller that Jack Kirby and Lee were co-plotting on the book's other half, making it a double-barreled time capsule of Marvel's mid-1960s creative ambition. Both strands — Ditko's psychedelic mysticism and Kirby's Cold War espionage — fed directly into the storytelling vocabulary Marvel would draw on for decades.
In "Sometimes the Good Guys Lose!", Stan Lee and Jack Kirby deliver a tense, high-stakes thriller as SHIELD scrambles to stop the Betraton Bomb after it's launched—too late to prevent HYDRA’s global ultimatum. With Fury tracking the threat from the Intercontinental Ballistic Plane, Agent G pleads with her father, Imperial Hydra, while Tony Stark is captured and corporate intrigue brews at Imperial Industries. Jack Kirby’s dynamic art, brought to life by John Severin’s inks and Marie Severin’s colors, captures the urgency of a world on the brink. The cover by Kirby and Severin perfectly encapsulates the looming dread of the story.
In "Sometimes the Good Guys Lose!" from Strange Tales #138, Fury races against time to stop the Betraton Bomb after it’s launched, even as Agent G pleads with her father, Imperial Hydra, to stand down. With HYDRA’s Fox Division spreading ultimatums across the globe and Tony Stark captured, the fate of Earth hangs in the balance—while Imperial Industries teeters on the edge of a corporate takeover.
In "If Eternity Should Fail!" from Strange Tales #138, Dr. Strange confronts the cosmic entity Eternity in a realm beyond comprehension, where he’s tested not by power, but by purpose. Though warned of the dire threat posed by Mordo and Dormammu, Strange is told he already holds the strength he needs—only to return to find The Ancient One vanished and Mordo’s influence closing in.
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By November 1965, Strange Tales was running two distinct creative operations under one cover: Steve Ditko, who functioned as artist and co-plotter under the Marvel Method, was steering Doctor Strange through an ambitious 17-part quest narrative, while Jack Kirby supplied layouts for the Nick Fury feature that John Severin then finished. Stan Lee served as editor and dialogue scripter on both strips. The Eternity character had been teased by name since Strange Tales #134, making issue #138 the payoff of a sustained multi-month build — an unusually long narrative arc for a 10-page backup feature of the era. Ditko and Lee's working relationship was reportedly growing more distant by this period, and Ditko would leave the title entirely with issue #146, making this run — and this issue in particular — among the final flourishes of their collaboration.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Eternity, the cosmic entity who embodies the entire Marvel Universe, created by Stan Lee (scripter/editor) and Steve Ditko (artist/plotter); the character had been first mentioned by name in Strange Tales #134 (July 1965) but is seen for the first time here.
- The Doctor Strange story is titled 'If Eternity Should Fail!' — part 9 of the 17-part 'Eternity Saga' that ran through Strange Tales #130–146 (March 1965–July 1966); script by Stan Lee (dialogue) and Steve Ditko (plot), art and inks by Steve Ditko, letters by Sam Rosen.
- The Nick Fury story is titled 'Sometimes the Good Guys Lose!' — part 4 of the ongoing S.H.I.E.L.D. vs. HYDRA arc; Jack Kirby supplied layouts, John Severin finished the pencils and inks, with Stan Lee scripting and Stan Goldberg on colors.
- Cover pencilled by Jack Kirby and inked by John Severin.
- Tony Stark appears in the Nick Fury story: HYDRA agents infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters and abduct Fury in front of a helpless Stark, who has left his Iron Man attaché case behind.
- Eternity's visual design — a human-shaped silhouette whose interior is filled with stars, planets, and galaxies — was conceived by Steve Ditko and became one of the most imitated cosmic-entity designs in comics history; the character later appeared in the MCU film Thor: Love and Thunder (2022).
- The Doctor Strange story from this issue was reprinted in Marvel's Greatest Comics #27 (June 1970) and Strange Tales (reprint series) #187 (September 1976); it has since been collected in Marvel Masterworks: Doctor Strange Vol. 1, the Doctor Strange Omnibus Vol. 1 (2016), Doctor Strange Epic Collection Vol. 1: Master of the Mystic Arts (2018), and Mighty Marvel Masterworks: Doctor Strange Vol. 2: The Eternity War (2022).
- The Nick Fury story was reprinted in Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #16 (November 1970) and has been collected in the S.H.I.E.L.D. by Lee & Kirby: The Complete Collection (2015) and the S.H.I.E.L.D.: The Complete Collection Omnibus (2015).
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Reprints
Reprinted in Pow! #7 (1967), Pow! #8 (1967), Terrific! #26 (1967), Marvel's Greatest Comics #27 (1970), Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD #16 (1970), Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD #17 (1971), Vengeur #10 (1974), Eclipso #38 (1974), Strange Tales #187 (1976), Doctor Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts #2 (1979), L'incroyable Hulk #96/97 (1979), Le Fils de Satan #18 (1980), Doctor Strange Classics Starring Doctor Strange #3 (1984), Marvel Fanfare hors-série #[nn] (1985), Marvel Masterworks #23 (1992), Essential Doctor Strange #1 (2001), Marvel Masterworks: Doctor Strange #1 (2003), Marvel Masterworks: Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #1 (2007), Marvel Masterworks: Doctor Strange #1 (2010), The Ultimate Graphic Novels Collection - Classic #3 (2014), Marvel Famous Firsts: 75th Anniversary Masterworks Slipcase Set #5 (2014), Marvel Masterworks: Doctor Strange #1 [Third Edition] (2015), S.H.I.E.L.D. by Lee & Kirby: The Complete Collection. #[nn] (2015), S.H.I.E.L.D.: The Complete Collection Omnibus #[nn] (2015) + 9 more
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