Strange is allowing the world to believe he is dead–actually, he’s leading them to believe it–because he casts a magical funeral spell. Pretty neat way to start a new series, with the death of the main character.
None of those characters pictured are tagged because I don’t think the scene ever happened–it was a false memory created by Strange’s spell. But Strange is acting odd in the story…
From there, it’s a Dormammu story.
He’s torturing Clea and steals Dr. Strange’s mortal body, sticking Stephen in the body of a rat.
Rat Strange then hooks up with the frogs from the Throg (Frog Thor) story back in the Walt Simonson days, and Strange eventually gets his bod back.
I’ve made no secret that I’m not a fan of Doctor Strange, but as his stories go (and they almost always go the same way), this is a very good one.