Strange Tales #157
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeStrange Tales #157 (June 1967) is the cornerstone of Marvel's cosmic mythology because it delivers — on its final page — the cameo introduction of the Living Tribunal, the supreme multiversal arbiter who would become the most powerful recurring entity in the Marvel Universe below the One-Above-All. By placing that debut inside a Doctor Strange story co-plotted by Marie Severin and scripted by Stan Lee, the issue also marks a pivotal transition in the Sorcerer Supreme's world: the Ancient One sacrifices himself at Stonehenge to pass his full mystic power to Strange, dramatically escalating the stakes of the Doctor Strange feature at exactly the moment Steranko's Nick Fury half was redefining the visual language of the spy-action genre. The issue thus stands at the intersection of two of the most creatively fertile sub-universes Marvel built during the Silver Age, and the Living Tribunal's subsequent centrality to Infinity Gauntlet, Infinity War, New Avengers, and MCU productions ensures the issue's debut remains of enduring narrative consequence.
In "Crisis!" from Strange Tales #157, Jo faces off against Strucker in a desperate bid to stop the Hydra leader’s twisted plan, as the fate of the world hangs in the balance. With the Heli-Carrier under siege and the Alpha Ray beam closing in, Fury fights his way through HYDRA's ranks—each encounter pushing him closer to a final showdown with Strucker, who wields the deadly Satan Claw.
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The issue was released on newsstands on March 2, 1967, with a June 1967 cover date, under editor-in-chief Stan Lee. It runs two co-features: the Nick Fury half — titled 'Crisis!' — was written, penciled, inked, and (per a 1995 industry checklist) possibly colored by Jim Steranko, with lettering by Sam Rosen, representing Steranko's increasingly total creative control over the Fury strip that had begun just a few issues earlier. The Doctor Strange half, 'The End of the Ancient One!', was scripted by Stan Lee from a co-plot by Marie Severin, penciled by Severin, and inked by Herb Trimpe in some of his earliest Marvel work, with coloring also attributed to Severin. A production-history wrinkle persists: Steranko himself stated in the Marvel Masterworks: Nick Fury Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Volume 2 introduction that he did not take over coloring duties on the Fury feature until Strange Tales #165, while a 1995 checklist in Comic Book Marketplace #28 credits him with coloring starting at #157 — a discrepancy that remains unresolved in the scholarly record.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First (cameo) appearance of the Living Tribunal — the cosmic entity created by Stan Lee, Marie Severin, and Herb Trimpe — who appears on the final page of the Doctor Strange story and declares Earth must be destroyed for having unleashed a threat to the cosmos.
- Strange Tales #158 (the following issue) is generally recognized as the Living Tribunal's first full appearance; the Marvel Database and multiple collector sources classify #157 as a cameo and #158 as full.
- First appearance of the Satan Claw — Baron Wolfgang von Strucker's strength-amplifying electrified metal gauntlet, which he deploys against Nick Fury in Steranko's 'Crisis!' feature and which would recur as a HYDRA weapon for decades.
- The Doctor Strange story, 'The End of the Ancient One!', depicts the Ancient One sacrificing himself at Stonehenge so that he can transfer his mystic powers to Doctor Strange — a foundational event in Strange's continuity.
- The Nick Fury feature 'Crisis!' is part 8 of a 9-part story arc and is entirely the work of Jim Steranko (writer, penciler, inker), marking his period of full creative authority over the S.H.I.E.L.D. feature.
- The Steranko nine-panel fight sequence on page 7 of the Fury story has been noted by the Grand Comics Database as an intentional homage to the Simon & Kirby fight choreography in Yellow Claw #3 (February 1957).
- The issue has been reprinted in Doctor Strange Epic Collection Vol. 2 — 'I, Dormammu' (2023) and the Steranko S.H.I.E.L.D. material has been collected in S.H.I.E.L.D. by Steranko: The Complete Collection (2013) and the S.H.I.E.L.D.: The Complete Collection Omnibus (2015), among other formats.
- The Living Tribunal made a cameo appearance in the MCU film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, extending the character's cultural reach well beyond the comics page.
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Reprints
Reprinted in Fantastic! #63 (1968), Fantastic! #64 (1968), Eclipso #47 (1974), Marvel Treasury Edition #6 (1975), Vengeur #14 (1975), Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD #2 (1984), Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #[nn] (2000), Essential Doctor Strange #1 (2001), Marvel Masterworks: Doctor Strange #2 (2005), Marvel Masterworks: Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #2 (2009), Marvel Masterworks: Doctor Strange #2 (2013), S.H.I.E.L.D. by Steranko: The Complete Collection #[nn] (2013), The Ultimate Graphic Novels Collection - Classic #8 (2014), S.H.I.E.L.D.: The Complete Collection Omnibus #[nn] (2015), Die offizielle Marvel-Comic-Sammlung #8 (2016), Marvel. Официальная коллекция комиксов #124 (2018), Steranko Is... Revolutionary #[nn] (2020), Doctor Strange Omnibus #2 (2021), Doctor Strange Epic Collection #2 (2024), Agente Internacional #23, Marvel Série I #15
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