Strange Tales #1

This issue features three stories.

"Destroyer of Worlds" - [Continued from MAN-THING Vol 3 #8] Ellen Brandt finds herself and the Man-Thing (who is exhibiting a harsh, abrasive personality) on a distant planet as they continue their quest for the missing fragments of the Nexus of All Realities. Before long, they are met by the Silver Surfer who has come sensing that the actions of these two would destroy the planet. The spirit voice speaking through the Man-Thing orders the Surfer to leave, but Ellen asks him to show her why he thinks what they do will harm the world. The Surfer pulls her onto his board to show her, and the Man-Thing sprouts wings to follow them.

Back on Earth, Jack and Gwyneth Burke have reached Citrusville, Florida, where they enlist the aid of Sheriff Bobby Fillmore in the search for their abducted son, Job.

On the alien world, the Silver Surfer shows Ellen a crystal tower which sprang up from the ground when the Nexus fragment she and the Man-Thing seek was flung to this planet. With the rise of the crystal city, a delicate etherial form of life also emerged, which now populates the tower. Ellen finds herself utterly moved by the beauty of the city's inhabitants, and agrees with the Surfer that they mustn't disturb the fragment.

The voice from the Man-Thing, however, demands that they take the fragment, and he encases Ellen in a cocoon of energy, while he confronts the Surfer. They do battle and resultant shock waves begin to damage the tower as terror spread across the populace. The cocoon cracks freeing Ellen, and she makes a decision: to save the multiverse, she takes the fragment from its moorings.

To the Surfer's horror, the tower collapses, leaving a single crystal shard in his hand. The aggressive spirit that acted through the Man-Thing weeps as well, having released Ellen to do what he in truth could not bring himself to do.

Back on Earth, the search by Sheriff Fillmore and the Burkes brings them face-to-face with Mr. Termineus and Job, who now acts as Termineus' apprentice.

"Love is Colder Than Death - Part Two " - [Continued from WEREWOLF BY NIGHT Vol 2 #6] In the sewers of New York, Jack Russell reverts to human with the rising sun. In the cell in which he imprisons himself when he becomes the Werewolf, he finds the door open, and the mutilated corpse of a vagrant beside him, and he fears the worst. In her parlor, the psychic Mariana feels Jack's anguish.

Later that day, Jack phones his girlfriend Roxanna to beg out of a family commitment so he can lay low for a few days. Meanwhile, Len Mico and Phil Jones, the two NYPD detectives investigating serial killings on the East Side with Mariana's aid, suffer through the mocking and laughter of their colleagues, until they are called away to a new crime scene on the docks. There, they get a lead from a homeless woman who tells them she heard howling about the time of the murder.

Elsewhere, in their underground lair, the vampire coven led by Brother Steven feed on new victims. Steven's acolyte, Emil, expresses his concerns about their recent reckless behavior, but Steven assures him all is well. He continues to boast of his plot against Jack Russell, who at this time is huddled in his tub, struggling with images of a murder he fears he may have committed.

That night, Smedley, the mysterious little man who has insinuated himself into Jack's life, awaits him on a street corner. Jack arrives in his wolf form, his skin covered with scabs, and he accosts Smedley, demanding to know why this is happening to him. Smedley warns Jack he's not fully accepted the Werewolf. Frustrated, Jack runs off into the night, howling in anguish.

"A Tomb for Two" - Two men, Papa Nebo and Narcisse, argue over recent events while, unbeknownst to them, the Zombie that was once Simon Garth approaches. Narcisse had paid Nebo to create a love potion that would bind Angelina, long the object of Narcisse's desire, to him. Narcisse describes how he'd loved her since they were children, but when she returned from college with her best friend Donna Garth and announced she was engaged to a man she met at school, he decided to take drastic measures. Papa Nebo, however, took matters further: he drugged Angelina with an elixir that zombified her, making her a mindless slave to Narcisse. Unfortunately for all concerned, her family, thinking her dead, had her entombed, and now Narcisse wants to break her out of her mausoleum.

At this point, the Zombie bursts in through a window, knocks Narcisse unconscious, and kills Papa Nebo. When Narcisse comes to, he finds himself entombed with Angelina who swears her devotion for all eternity. Outside, Donna stands with the Zombie that was her father and is now under her command, as she ruefully curses Narcisse for destroying her best friend.