Back then, I assumed this must be due to some near-inconceivable fluke of mathematics, or statistical probability. I still don't have a better answer. 
Tom Strong #11 is an issue of the series Tom Strong (Volume 1) with a cover date of January, 2001. It was published on November 29, 2000.
Synopsis for "Strange Reunion"
October 12, 2000: A meteor Tom Strong has been tracking crashes into a condemned tenement building, reducing it to rubble. Moving in to investigate, Tom is attacked by a man from the crater. Strong proves no match for him, but the man calms down and collapses.
With help from his family, Strong takes the man back to the Stronghold, where he reveals the strange visitor is none other than his counter part from a parallel world - "Doc" Tom Strange from Terra Obscura. Strange had literally run across the Milky Way Galaxy for Strong's help - for 30 years without rest.
Strange reveals that when astronauts landed on his Moon in 1969, it unleashed a powerful alien that had lain dormant for billions of years. Traveling to the Earth's South Pole, it proceeded to begin some sort of mining operation and killing or imprisoning Terra Obscura's Science Heroes. The Terror told Tom to go get help, just before his death at the hands of the alien's drones.
Strange came for help. Tom Strong traveled back with him a hypersaucer in a few days. Strong told Strange that comic books of his allies adventures had been published on Earth since the 1940's.
Arriving, they find a number of Science Heroes imprisoned in time-looping green spheres and the alien converting the Earth into a new spaceship.
Appearing in "Strange Reunion"
Featured Characters:
- Tom Strong
- Tom Strange (Flashback and main story)
Supporting Characters:
- Dhalua Strong
- Tesla Strong
- Solomon
- The Terror (Dies in flashback)
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Society of Modern American Science Heroes (First appearance) (Flashback only)
- Fighting Spirit (First appearance)
- Fighting Yank (Flashback and main story)
- The Ghost (First appearance) (Flashback and main story)
- The Magnet (First appearance) (Flashback only)
- Princess Pantha (First appearance) (Flashback only)
- Woman in Red (First appearance) (Flashback only)
Locations:
- Earth-ABC
- Millennium City
- Terra Obscura (First appearance)
Items:
- Entropy Gauntlets
Vehicles:
- Hypersaucer
Notes
- The cover of this issue is an homage to Marvel's Strange Tales #114.
- Two characters appear in flashback in the shadows. Based on information in #11 and #12, it appears to be the Fighting Yank and The Ghost.
See Also
Recommended Reading
- Tom Strong Vol 1 11
- Tom Strong Vol 1 12
- Terra Obscura Volume 1
- Terra Obscura Volume 2
- Tom Strong and the Planet of Peril Vol 1
- Terra Obscura & Splash Brannigan - a Who's Who type issue covering Terra Obscura characters.