Defenders #109, 1982

I started writing this post a month ago, so it's time to play catch-up here at the Super-DuperToyBox  :D My interest in the Marvel non-team the Defenders grew after reading  Avengers Defenders War recently, and I've scrounged up some random issues from the dollar comics bin, including this well-worn copy of Defenders #109 from 1982. Look at that cover- rockin' !  

Valkyrie's announces the Enchantress' pending doom, repayment for trapping her in the host body of Barbara Norris, ironically to help the-allies the Defenders. Her eternal soul escaped it's centuries long containment in the crystal Globe of Souls, and Brunnhilde now having regained her true body thanks to Dr. Strange's magic, the Asgardian goddess commands the mystic to cast a spell to contain the confrontation & for the Defenders to stand down while she finishes her battle with Amora.  

Brunnhilde flies into a rage against Amora, shocking fellow Defenders as well as Amora herself, who returns the attack with some spells, the final one rooting Brunnhilde to the ground, like a tree! Before Amora deals the final blow, Brunnhilde mentally rolls the crystal globe into Amora's leg, breaking her spell and sucking her soul into it- horrific! The gleefully vengeful Valkyrie tosses Dr. Strange the globe to Strange for safekeeping while she attends to her All-Father Odin on Asgard.

Though the spirit of Barbars Norris gone & back in her own body, Brunnhilde's vengeance is not quite undone by the reversal of fortune, Amora now having been imprisoned in the crystal globe Dr. Strange keeps. She departs for Asgard to confront the All-Father! Her demand for retribution for the old god's negligence is met with surprising tenderness by a repentant Odin. The two embrace following his confession, forgiveness not given, but acknowledgement expressed.

Meanwhile, interdimesionally lost comrades Hulk, Hellstrom & Namor are pulled through a rip in the universe, dispatched there by the Enchantress earlier. The land clumsily on solid ground before someone they re shocked to see... !

Dr. Strange manages to find Hellcat while searching for the other three lost Defenders, and they pay a visit to Vera, Beast's librarian girlfriend, along with Spider-Man & Gargoyle. Dr. Strange feels some indistinct force pulling his lost teammates away from the spell he cast, and disappears to search the dimensional pathways for them. Still upset over the death of Nighthawk, caused by her demonic father's spell, Patsy (Hellcat) stays to confide in houskeeper Dolly in lieu of dinner with Beast & Vera. Later in the evening, Patsy slips away whileDolly sleeps, in search of her identity as an individual woman, the recent turn of events having been difficult to digest.

Finally, Dr. Strange finds his way to the other three lost Defenders, found earlier by the presumed-dead Nighthawk (Kyle)! Great last page!

While I was initially unfamiliar with the surrounding continuity, this story sucked me into this issue! Dropping into the series here 11 years after it's inception is only a mild handicap, the action whooshing my imagination off on an exciting adventure from the first page. As stated earlier, I've since read a couple more odd issues of Defenders and Dr. Strange found in the dollar comics bins at V-Stock (pictured below), and Defenders: Indefensible which I picked up in December at Comic Headquarters. I enjoy super-group/team books in general, and am becoming a little more familiar with Dr. Strange and his non-team of heroes.

*See my post on The Avengers-Defenders War!

More Later- Make It Fun!