Cover Date: December 1980
On-Sale Date: September 9, 1980
This issue we wrap up the current arc as both Chris Claremont's and Gene Colan's runs on Doc's title approach their ends. I have a special fondness for this issue that I'll explain in the wrap up.
Gene gives us an awesome mystic battle between Doc and the Shadowqueen. As we've seen in the past, Gene's panel layouts start out fairly standard and go completely crazy as the action heats up.
We also get some history to this alternate earth that itself has decent action. It's a shame we never returned to it. As the history ties to Wong and his family, it's nice to see his character fleshed out a bit.
We begin in the Shadowqueen's throne room. She is spying on Doc and his cohorts who plan to overthrow/kill/destroy Shialmar and her reign. She's planning to do the same to them. Unfortunately, they don't appear aware they are being observed. Shialmar consults with her cat. I'm sure this is a reason why I like this villain more than I should.
Shialmar also gives us a nice summary of the major players' roles and abilities in this game. I suppose it's helpful to those (like me) may have missed the previous issues. If you bought your comics off the newsstand back in those days, it was easy to miss an issue of a not extremely popular book like Docs. Shialmar then flits off... somewhere. We'll find out eventually.
Cut to camera two in the rebel camp. Wong is about to give a history lesson and explain his connection to this world. This all started because Wong was kidnapped which drew in Clea who also disappeared and then Doc was drawn in and all wound up in this strange world. But Wong had an ancestor who wound up in this world a 1000 years ago as we saw last issue. What happened after that?
The prince introduces himself, his sister and his sorcerer Vung, who seems to think orange and lavender are a good fashion choice. Vung's sorcery is superior to his fashion sense and he cast a spell to find the multiverse's heavy hitter. That turned out to be Kan, who is a bit skeptical of Vung after hearing the explanation.
Kan isn't buying it at first. So Vung sets up a display to convince him. Kan and Shialmar are walking around the battlements apparently in a love at first sight situation when Vung's summoned demon attacks the pair. Kan dispatches it based on Shialmar's claim that it serves the wizard kings and slew her parents. Kan is now convinced.
Kan leads his allies into battle and kills everyone. When it's over, Vung shows up and strikes Kan and Shialmar down. He's got some nasty plans for them.
Vung's captured everyone. He has nasty plans for everyone! But Shialmar ain't having it. She's got some quickly thought of plans of her own.
The dread ones do listen and Shialmar trades her dubiously fashionable lavender and yellow duds for something far more sinister.
Vung strikes the newly born Shadowqueen with his left hand, so "sinister" isn't entirely out of place here. She kills Vung, makes her brother disappear, sends Kan home and seizes the throne.
We return to the present and find out where the Shadowqueen flited off to in the first couple of pages. Right here to their camp! She kills one of the guards and lets her presence be known to the rest, showing off her raiment which has been bedazzled since the early days. A millennium of boredom will do that to a person.
She immediately attacks Silver Fox, but Doc parries it. Next she brings the dead guard back to life transforming him into a stone gargoyle-like thing. It has the added benefit of transforming whomever it touches into stone gargoyle-like things just like itself. Shialmar hoofs it out of there and Doc follows to confront her. This leaves everyone else to face the growing number of stone gargoyle-like things.
Doc and the Shadowqueen immediately get into it giving Gene the opportunity to draw some wonderfully crazy stuff like this.
On the ground, Silver Fox's army with Clea and Wong face their stony opponents, each in their own way. Clea manages a bit of badassery.
Back in the air, Doc has a startling revelation that puts the outcome of this battle in doubt.
Back on the ground, Clea is grabbed by a stony guy. Uh oh! Or is it?
Silver Fox uses his magic to sweep the gargoyles out of the tent and Clea's arm returns to normal. (Whew!) Wong attempts to help his master by firing an arrow at the Shadowqueen which only succeeds in pissing her off even more.
Wong manages to survive the blast, perhaps because he's Kan's descendant and identical twin. The distraction gives Doc a fighting chance. He casts his grand spell.
Doc falls to the ground while a blood red lighting bolt strikes from the sky. (It doesn't hit Doc.) An identical bolt hits the Sanctum Sanctorum in New York City. His neighbor, Sara Wolfe witnesses the display. It seems her apartment overlooks the Sanctum.
Back to the alternate Earth, Doc has landed and may be seriously injured. Clea uses the all-purpose amulet to scan Doc and see if there are any residual heebee jeebees from drawing off Shialmar's evil. Fortunately he's clean and they go over to the now good Shadowqueen who is also grievously injured and being tended by Wong. Doc thinks he may be able to save her life, but she asks that he doesn't. She wouldn't be able to live with the atrocities she committed as the Shadowqueen. Calling Wong Kan, she asks for a kiss and dies.
That wraps up our tale. Doc and Clea go for the celebratory smooch.
The reason this is a special issue is because it is the first I purchased off the newsstand. My previous encounters with Doc had been as part of the Defenders in an issue of the Hulk and the Pocket Books reprint of Strange Tales #110-129. Gene Colan's art was a definite shock to my young brain reared on Ditko, Perlin and other more traditional artists and it took a while to appreciate it.
My main issue with Chris Claremont is his nerfing of Clea. She has been presented as much more capable in previous years and in the last few issues she can barely do anything but look pretty and yell for Doc. This issue slightly improves on things, but if you check out what she did during the Creators saga, she should have been able to whisk away the gargoyles with a thought.
On the plus side, he made Doc and Clea's relationship more complicated. I thank Roger Stern for continuing this when he takes over in a few issues. Both seem more like real people.
As for the story itself, it's great. You have a fascinating villain. She is evil because she tried to do good. As Doc says, there is a duality to her nature and it's a shame she died and hasn't been seen since. Heck, no one stays dead. And there are always time travel shenanigans to check her out again. Even a What-If story "What if the Shadowqueen Lived?" would have been satisfying if handled well.
There's plenty of action, a history lesson and our heroes have lots to do. Wong is more than "I'll bring the tea" and gets a few heroic acts in.
All this allows Gene to produce awesome illustrations that get crazier as the story proceeds. It's a delight to look at. This is definitely a highlight!
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