Defender Comics and other books

When it comes to reading, I made a few post Christmas purchases concerning books and comics. 

I now have all of the first 125 Defenders with the exception of #26-#30 (120/125). Maybe I can finally figure out what went on with Barbra and Valkyrie.  Also at 55, that much closer to fulfilling my 12 year old dream of reading them all. 

Curious thing is issue #26-30 deal with an early Guardians of the Galaxy team up with the Defenders and it looks completely different than the Guardians we know from the Marvel movies.  So at some point, I'm really going to want to read these.

I also picked up 3 Terry Goodkind books in Sturgis Kentucky and received 5 new Terry Brooks for Christmas in Lola Kentucky.   One of the Terry Goodkind books was the hardback version of Debt of Bones, which I have read - but I had never seen this version of the book before.

I also received a NASB 1995 and a NASB 2020 Bible.  Lastly I hauled home a huge 1903 Catholic Handbook.

This should be enough reading to keep me entertained for a while.

What am I working on?

First, I have a lot of new code for GibPascal.  None of it I feel is ready for release.  Why, some of the completed code, I'm not sure I like the standard.  I'm not sure Turbo Pascal did some of this correctly.  Additionally, for some of the math functions, I'm debating best practices.  February is the first month in a while that I did not push out a release of GibPascal.

What else am I doing?  I am also currently working on two large databases that I would be mounting on MrGibson.com.  These database cover a couple of my interests, just not wanting to release yet until more is completed.

I have not received an of the items I ordered for my Santa Cruz, so I have nothing to report there.

Baseball cards are still on hold.  I have not purchased, organized, or cataloged any for a while now.  I do have some money burning a whole in my pocket at the moment though. (classic Topps and Fleer) lol

Nothing new on dice since the last two sets I purchased summer of 2021.  Went looking Saturday, but nothing I couldn't live without.  It is good to see prices of dice come back into check though.  Maybe baseball cards will also.  I'm also been thinking some on building a new dice box, but still not sure what direction I would take with that.  I would like something super usable like the last and as unique as the last.

The Avengers/Defenders

Marvel Comics has had many superhero groups.  Only two were used to high light superheros. Almost every major superhero that has been on one of these two Teams. The Avengers and The Defenders.  Not including guests, I decided to map the members of both and show the superheros that have been members of both.

The Defenders: * (** founding member)
The Avengers: + (++ founding member)

Angel (Warren_Worthington_III) *
Ant-Man / Giant-man / Yellowjacket (Hank Pym) * ++
Beast (Henry "Hank" McCoy) * +
Black Knight  * +
Black Panther +
Black Widow (Natalia Romanova) +
Captain America (Steve Rogers) +
Captain Marvel (Carol Danver) +
Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau) +
Clea *
Devil Slayer (Eric Simon Payne) *
Doctor Druid +
Doctor Strange (Stephen Strange) **
Falcon +
Gargoyle (Isaac Christians) *
Goliath  +
Hawkeye (Clint Barton) * +
Hell Cat (Patsy Walker) * +
Hercules +
Hulk (Bruce Banner) ** ++
Iceman (Robert Drake) *
Iron Man (Tony Stark) ++
Mantis +
Moondragon * +
Nighthawk *
Power Man (Luke Cage) * +
Quicksilver +
Red Guardian (Tania Belinsky) *
Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff) +
She Hulk +
Silver Surfer *
Son of Satan (Damon Hellstorm) *
Spiderman +
Sub-Mariner (Namor) **
Swordsman (Jacques Duquesne) +
Thor +
Vision +
Wasp +
Wonder Man (Simon Williams) +
Valkyrie *

1973 comics to 2017 movies

The newest Thor movie, Thor: Ragnarok, had everyone pretty excited.  The movie appeared to be something new for Marvel with the particular paring of super heroes.  I must say I enjoyed the movie.  But the movie was not a completely original Marvel work of art. In reality, back in 1973, Marvel had Valkrie, Thor, Hulk, Dr Strange, and Loki all together then.  Yes, the story scenario is much different, but there are similarities. Starting Feb 1973, The Defenders vol 1 issue 4 - the super hero group, The Defenders consisted of Dr. Strange, Sub-Mariner, Hulk, and Valkyrie (This was her first appearance with Defenders, issue she joins the team.)

I didn't read these early Defenders growing up.  I did not start reading The Defenders 'till issue 105.
By then, these comics had become much more soap-opera like.

Valkyrie of the old comics is not the same as the Valkyrie of the movies, The spirit of the Asgardian has possessed the body of an earth woman in the early Marvel world.

In the movie, the big sell was having Thor and the Hulk fight. In the 1973 issue 10 of The Defenders, that is exactly what happens. I thought this was the first time the two fought each other, but this comic was 3 time out of 15 times in the comic.  But this comic is a gem with many pages of the two muscles fighting each other.  The fight ended in a draw.

 Few snap shots of panels drawn of the fight.

 Here is a good summary of Thor vs Hulk

 https://www.cbr.com/thor-vs-hulk-biggest-comic-book-fights/

Me, comics, and D&D

Most people that know me know that I have many thousands of baseball cards.  I of course started collecting them as a child when I was in grade school.  My most significant collection is of the Cubs, followed by Cardinals, White Sox, and Red Sox.  What many people don't know about me is that I have hundreds of comic books.  I don't really consider myself a comic book collector.  I just have stuff that I like ;)

My biggest collection is of the Defenders by Marvel comics.  I purchased 4 a kid on a whim and loved them.  I later just made sure I acquired the rest so I could have the whole story from beginning to end.  I also loved Thor, Hulk, and Captain Marvel.  I don't think most 'comic people' really know how big a part of the Marvel Universe had through the 60s, 70s, and 80s.  Also how intertwined they were with the Avengers.  Or even that the Hulk and Dr Strange were Defenders way before they ever were part of the Avengers.  Some characters would even go back and forth between the two.  With that in mind, I may start blogging about the stories contained in all these comics.

One thing that has changed is that in 2017, I started playing two different D&D campaigns.  I had not played this much D&D since I played in the late 70s and early 80s.  Now that D&D has changed a lot with the 5e rules and being adult, it does feel considerably different.  I'm meeting with a friend this Friday to talk about a new campaign to start.  That is also very different for me.  In the past I had always used commercially paid campaigns.  2017 and now 2018 will be home brewed.