Issue(s): Warlock and the Infinity Watch #36
Cover Date: Jan 95
Title: "The dark of truth"
Credits:
Evan Skolnick - Writer
Lee Sullivan - Penciler
Lee Sullivan - Inker
Lynaire Brust - Assistant Editor
Craig Anderson - Editor

Review/plot:
This fill-in is less an Infinity Watch story and more an advertisement for the changes in the Doctor Strange series. It's written by the editor of the Doctor Strange book.

"Strange" shows up and fights each member of the Infinity Watch because he wants the Infinity Gems. He succeeds with ease against the non-Warlock members of the team.

The dialogue during the fights hints that this "Strange" is not simply a changed Doctor Strange ("Foolish human. Your facts are as obsolete as Stephen Strange himself"), something that i think would have been known to regular readers of the Strange series, but not necessarily to readers of this series. And that is confirmed when Warlock confronts Strange and finds that he's immune to Warlock's Karmic Blast. Warlock learns that Strange is a "magickal construct -- a robot of sorts -- created by Doctor Stephen Strange himself". Warlock convinces Strange that there's no point in collecting all of the Infinity Gems, since the Living Tribunal has ruled that the gems can't be used in unison. Warlock convinces Strange that stealing the gems and using them for personal gain would be "folly". Strange reluctantly agrees that the gems would only cause "more agony", and leaves wondering why he's already in so much agony already. Warlock says that he's going to ask Strange creator the same question.

If you want to see a Dr. Strange simulacrum wipe the floor with the Infinity Watch, this issue is for you. But the Strange character's motivations are pretty random, and he's convinced to give up too easily (Warlock even says that Strange should have been programmed with the knowledge that his quest was futile, making the whole thing seem even more pointless). This plot might have been a little more welcome in the Strange series (the Infinity Watch making for better guest stars than this "Strange"), but either way the story isn't much of anything. As for this series, it certainly seems like it should have been canceled after Starlin left.

Quality Rating: D+

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: A footnote says that this takes "place previous to Doctor Strange #70". The MCP have Strange here between Doctor Strange #69-70. (That might mean that this story should be pushed back into 1994 since Doctor Strange #70 has an Oct 94 cover date, but i don't have the Strange issues to analyze.)

References:

• For the whole story about Strange, we should see "current issues of Doctor Strange". I'll link to the not-so-current Doctor Strange #61, which had Strange's first appearance.
  
• In reference to the Living Tribunal decreeing that the Infinity Gems can't be used in unison, a footnote points to Infinity War #6. That seems to be a mistake. The Tribunal made the ruling that the gems be dispersed in Warlock and the Infinity Watch #1 and we found out the implications of the ruling (that they can't be used together) in Infinity War #4.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A