The following contains major spoilers for Strange #2, available now from Marvel Comics.
For decades, the Sorcerer Supreme has served as the first line of defense against any and all mystic threats to the Marvel Universe. While Doctor Strange spent most of his career filling that role, his untimely demise has brought that time to an end. Thankfully, Strange's estranged wife from the Dark Dimension, Clea, has stepped up to take on her late husband's duties, and she has just discovered that Death itself has appointed its own horrifying counterpart to the Sorcerer Supreme.
Strange #2 (by Jed MacKay, Marcelo Ferreira, Don Ho, Java Tartaglia, and VC's Cory Petit) finds Clea embroiled in a brutal confrontation with the anti-Sorcerer Supreme known as the Harvestman and a zombified Eric Masterson, aka Thunderstrike. On the surface it initially appeared as though the two terrors were working together, but it soon enough becomes apparent that the mission of the Harvestman is to return Masterson to his rightful place among the dead.
The Harvestman also offers an ominous warning to Clea against her current campaign to resurrect her beloved. Clea and Death's Sorcerer Supreme are directly opposed when it comes to the possible resurrection of Strange, and he has proven powerful enough to be an imposing deterrent to her quest. Her assistant Wong also points out that the Harvestman may not be an inherently sinister force, but rather a response to a pending threat that none of them are quite aware of yet.
Surprisingly, the fact that Death has decided to create an arbiter of its domain doesn't appear to raise any obvious red flags for Clea. Considering the grotesque manner in which Thunderstrike was resurrected and the haste with which Death's new champion arrived, it is obvious that there is something serious going on behind the scenes. The Harvestman might actually be the only one truly prepared to take on the threat that appears to be waiting just behind the scenes.
While the Harvestman and his scythe are intimidating, his representation as the chosen avatar of Death is even more unsettling. If his presence is genuinely necessary in the grand scheme of things, Clea could soon be forced to take up arms alongside this powerful new figure rather than against him.
At the same time, the warning he has given her about trying to bring back Strange will surely put the two in further opposition at some point down the line, potentially making the world's new Sorcerer Supreme into the villain of her own story. There still remains the hope, however, that the Harvestman will be able to carry out his work without Clea's ultimate goal leading to disaster.
