Salome has taken over Stephen Strange’s role as Sorcerer Supreme to Salome, and now there’s two Dr. Strange clones running around.
Salome summarizes the creation of these two mystical beings like so:
They’re actually interesting creatures.
One is called “Strange,” who looks and acts like a superhero. The other is Vincent Strange, a sophisticated financial investor who can support Doctor Strange’s Midnight Sons effort to reclaim mystical artifacts. Both were created by Doctor Strange–they’re just the result of spells–to do his bidding in an effort to reclaim his title.
He sends Strange to ally with Namor to obtain a magic relic from an underwater serpent called Leviathan. They don’t play nice together.
Actually, Namor’s being manipulated by Salome. Eventually some of Doctor Strange’s allies in the Midnight Sons arrive and help fix the whole thing.
Meanwhile, Salome is making the most of her time on Earth.
She’s hunting Vincent Stevens, and she’s got a demon who has seduced Wong into helping.
And finally, Doctor Strange and Salome have their big battle in Doctor Strange Annual #4.
Strange attempts to bring his two mystical alter egos to his side, to battle Salome. But her sexual energy is quite seductive…
…What’s going on with that hand there?
Nevertheless, Doctor Strange is able to send her packing–but he doesn’t defeat her permanently. The final scene with Strange/Stevens is ambiguous:
We do not get to see whether they merge.
As for the titular Doctor, he’s back in power, with all the artifacts and Sister Nil still working for him (unvoluntarily).
A back-up story by Tom Brevoort and Mike Kanterovich focuses on Clea, and sets up the next story in issue #67, where she will seek the Doc’s help (again) with problems in the dark dimension (again).
I don’t love the art in these issues, but David Quinn’s writing is surprisingly good and his run on Strange continues to be a welcome one–very interesting ideas, well-executed, in a series that is often sub-par.