The Way They Were!
New story wraparound with reprints from
The Incredible Hulk #4 The Monster and the Machine!
Sub-Mariner #41 Bird of Prey
Strange Tales #145 To Catch a Magician!
The new content of the issue features Hulk, Dr. Strange, and Valkyrie walking through the city, where they come upon a homeless alcoholic. He runs off, saying he'll never drink again. When they get home, Val asks Clea about the strange friendship that exists between Strange and Hulk, as well as Namor. Clea casts a spell to show Val images of the past.
The first shows an insight into the early Hulk (an excerpt from #4), before they were friends, and he had imprisoned himself in an underground bunker so he wouldn't hurt anyone. He escapes and is tricked by the military into getting on a rocket, which they send into space to banish him (foreshadowing the much later time the Illuminati, including Dr. Strange, sent him into space for much the same reasons). However, Rick Jones sabotages the control panel back on Earth, and the capsule returns. Due to the radiation in space, the Hulk has now been transformed so he is under Rick's control. Rick eventually puts him back in the bunker, unsure what to do with such power at his command.
Back in the current time, Val is now more sympathetic to the Hulk's past. However, Strange and Wong watch as the Hulk mysteriously vanishes. Clea then shows Val the past of Namor.
In an excerpt from Sub-mariner 41, Namor is a youth and very impetuous and naive. He sees a Nazi warplane and thinks it's a bird, and attacks. It crashes and almost kills him, but he is an accidental hero for destroying the plane and its base.
Back in the present again, Val continues to gain insight into her peers. Strange, however, realizes that Clea cast the wrong spell, and is making the past actually come alive again. As he rushes towards her, he disappears as his story comes alive.
In the excerpt from Strange Tales, the sorcerer Rasputin starts to wreak havoc. Dr. Strange finds out about him and confronts him. Strange is more powerful, but is weakened from a recent fight. Rasputin then surprises him by pulling out a pistol and shooting Strange. Strange gets to the hospital and is partially healed, then wonders where Rasputin went. He realizes he is probably ransacking his Sanctum Sanctorum. When his astral form gets there, they fight again, and Strange wins. His astral form gets back just in time to stop an assassin of Rasputin's from killing his body.
Returning to the present once more, Strange, Hulk, and Namor, who had all disappeared from the normal world, reappear in a magical universe. They are stuck battling variants on their pasts. Luckily Strange is able to contact Clea, who realizes what happened, and the Defenders are able to return to the real world. Clea now knows not to mess with spells she doesn't know about, and Val has a better understanding of her compatriots.
The Peerless Power of the Silver Surfer
Silver Surfer story
Reprint from Fantastic Four Annual #5
The Silver Surfer, in his early days on Earth, once again is pessimistic about humans' ability to be peaceful and thoughtful as some hunters shoot at him, thinking he is a bird. He goes to the city, and feels a being who is in existential crisis.
This is Quasimodo, a living computer created by the Mad Thinker, its mind now stuck alone in a machine. The Surfer creates a mechanical body for him so he can move, but unfortunately Quasimodo also happens to be evil, as well as sad. He attacks the Surfer and starts wrecking the city. The Surfer has a shockingly hard time stopping him, but ultimately turns him into a statue on top of a clock.
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