If you missed the last one…
Well, we are finally going to see Stalker get his wish…an in-person confrontation with Dgrth. Sadly, it will be the last issue of the comic, which simply could not sell enough copies to continue. Unlike a few titles later during the DC Implosion, Levitz/Ditko/Wood at least got to wrap things up a little. (I am still pissed we never got one more issue of Star Hunters!) We are given a small ending if not the ultimate fate of Stalker.
I think I can see the influence of Ray Harryhausen’s Jason and the Argonauts (1963) in this issue. We will get a skeleton fight as well as Dgrth possesses clay figures of individuals, in this case Stalker, that he crushes in anger. In the Harryhausen film, Zeus (played by Niall MacGinnis) and Hera (Honor Blackman) play a game with human figures too. Ray would use that idea again in Clash of the Titans (1981) where Laurence Olivier as Zeus would warp the image of Calibos. Levitz was obviously a fan. (And who wasn’t? The films of Ray Harryhausen were a central influence to many S&S writers after Robert E. Howard, J. R. R. Tolkien and Frank Frazetta.)
The story continues after Stalker enters hell. (How did he get that door open?) He meets his first guardian. The creature tells Stalker he is in Dgrth’s domain so he belongs to the lord of war and death. Stalker has other ideas and bests the guardian at swordplay. 
But the demon does not fight fairly and prepares to throw the dust of dragon teeth into Stalker’s face. (Another Ray reference!) Stalker backhands the dust into the demon’s face, burning away all three heads.
Having defeated the guardian, a three foot imp appears to play guide. He shows Stalker the hellish landscape of Dgrth’s domain.
Stalker demands that the imp tell him the truth. Dgrth gives him permission to do so. The imp admits he is not guiding Stalker through the dangers but TO them. He disappears and Stalker is attacked by skeletons.
Stalker sees the imp reappear with a golden skull. He smashes the skull with his sword, ending the animation of the skeletons.
The imp accuses Stalker of not being a good sport and changes into a dragon.
Stalker fights the dragon but notices that his sword does not melt in the beast’s flame. He realizes the whole thing is an illusion.
Dgrth, who is watching all of this, is not pleased. He wants Stalker for his servant and crushes his figurine.
Stalker gets tired of the imp’s constant yattering and grabs him by the throat. The creature laughs at him. He sends Stalker into nothingness. Stalker is in danger of fading away forever…
…but he uses his concentration to know he exists and thinks of a place he remembers. He appears in front of Dgrth’s castle in hell.
The imp reappears and congratulates Stalker on being worthy of serving Dgrth. But Stalker is having none of it and turns his back on the offer. Walking away from the castle, the imp shrieks that no one has ever failed this test before. Stalker goes out to meet the souls of all the dead warriors of time. They elect him their general in a war against Dgrth.
Stalker and his forces attack. Riding his horned mount, Stalker makes it to the drawbridge and inside the castle where Dgrth waits…
The two meet at last. Dgrth tries to reason with Stalker, pointing out that all the amazing things he has accomplished would have been impossible without his gifts. Stalker calls them a curse, not a gift. He wants his soul back.
Dgrth confesses that gods exist only if people believe in them. Stalker’s soul was the ultimate example of belief and Dgrth can not return it. The soul has become part of him. If Stalker can’t have his soul back, he will return to the world and kill every believer of Dgrth’s. The god laughs and tells him go ahead for when he dies he will suffer the most terrible damnation ever.
Stalker is sent back and swears to continue his fight until he gets his soul back. The following issues would have shown Stalker’s long campaign with all manner of Dgrth-worshipers, I suppose. I would have bought that comic for sure.
Levitz works many “Inferno” references into this comic. Instead of the three-headed Cerberus dog, he has a three-headed warrior. Stalker has a guide-of-sorts though he is no Virgil. He is an annoying version of Mr. Mxyzlptlk, who challenges him over and over. The floor of hell is filled with the souls of dead warriors. Of course, this isn’t Dante but something closer to Robert E. Howard, so Stalker leads the souls in a great battle with a final boss fight. (Or is that Milton?)
I don’t think it is any surprise that I wish the comic had had a long run. There are so many super-hero titles from DC and far too few Sword & Sorcery ones. Like Sword of Sorcery and Beowulf Dragonslayer, Stalker is a short glimpse at something a little different. DC would have successful heroic fantasy series with The Warlord, Claw the Unconquered, Amethyst, Princess of Gem World, Arak, Son of Thunder and Arion, Lord of Atlantis but none of these is quite as promising as what the Levitz/Ditko/Wood team had here.
Good overview of the series. DC wasted a lot of potential in those days
I wanted that next issue of Star Hunters as well. I once talked to Paul Levitz at an 80s San Diego Comic Con and asked him what he had planned for Stalker but he couldn’t remember since he basically plotted it monthly with no jotted down overall plans.