Very interesting story. A homeless man figures out who Doctor Strange really is, and tries to force him to teach him to be a mystic. Strange refuses, so the man slits his own throat, forcing Strange to drag him into his Sanctum Sanctorum and administer first aid.
Interactions with “real world” people were huge in Marvel in the ’70s and ’80s. The publisher has gotten away form this, but it was part of what made their books feel different and grounded.
Turns out, his throat-slitting was a blood sacrifice, and Satan empowers the homeless man to fight the Doc for the rest of the adventure, which brings Dr. Strange–like so many other Marvel heroes in 1976–to the year 1776.
And Clea decides to bump uglies with Ben Franklin.
There’s other weird stuff in this story, but that’s the important parts. Strange “frees” Clea from Ben Franklin and, of course, they return to the Sanctum in the end.
Holding hands.
It turns out The Ancient One was just messing with the Doc, testing to see if he was ready to ascend into the Astral Plane full-time. Strange says “no,” and Ancient One removes his title as Sorceror Supreme.
Strange doesn’t feel bad about it because he gets to bed Clea.
These issues are kind of all over the place, but they’re very interesting.
Okay, so let me see if I am understanding this correctly: All the while Dr. Strange was the ‘Sorcerer Supreme’, he was not Doing the Nasty with Clea, the woman who shares his home??? ( along with the Valkyrie ) I just assumed they had been “doing it” all along, ever since Clea first came to live with him at the Sanctum back in the ‘Strange Tales’ days. Exactly what is it about being the Sorcerer Supreme that prevents the holder of that title from getting laid-??? If Superman can nail Lois Lane without hurting her, with his ultra-sturdy physique, ( the science of which I have always questioned- and the writers of 1981’s “Superman II” clearly agreed with ) then why can’t a totally, physically, 100% normal man like Stephen Strange get his freak on, even if he IS the ‘Sorcerer Supreme’-?? Inquiring minds want to know!