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Sal Buscema will be joining Steve for the entirety of this arc. He is by far the Defenders' most iconic artist, having contributed pencils to 45 of the team's 152 original issues, only ever matched in output by the similarly-productive Don Perlin (who donated 52 pencils of his own). Nighthawk here is demonstrating what I will generously call "Buscema-face:" he's got this startled, gawking expression that Buscema abused to a distracting degree for everything from shouting to shock to simple surprise. You will be seeing quite a lot of it today, and I will quickly disclose that I am not a fan of this. Although Buscema's art is otherwise alright, the sheer frequency with which this expression appears is annoying-- at least, to me personally. This is the only time I will comment on it, hopefully, but know that it is one of my biggest gripes with his art and drags down a lot of his stuff.

On the more positive side of things: this is a good opener. We're introduced to our primary cast members-- Hulk, Dr. Strange, Valkyrie, and Nighthawk-- through the fears of this issue's titular member. Buscema's composition is good, too, with the hand gripping Nighthawk hinting at the plot to come and making for a very good centerpiece. Gerber's narration is as skillful as ever, with great detail given to the pressure Nighthawk feels in whatever this scene is meant to be (a dream sequence? A flashback? A hallucination? We don't know yet, but Gerber makes it quite evocative).

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Trish Starr! She'll be familiar to anyone who's read Gerber's previous Defenders work, and she's the star of an issue I'll be storytiming as soon as this Friday, but she's unknown to us for now. All you need to know is that she and Kyle were once very close, but things went awry due to a series of unfortunate events and the two are now parted.

More good work from Gerber here. Nighthawk's toolkit is introduced to us through his determination to fight against his own despair-- his character is further elaborated upon when he's forced to give in and be drawn into the beach anyways. Would a born hero accept such a fate so readily..?

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Panel 1's sneaky. Nighthawk isn't sure he's said a word, so the story sees fit to present itself in a way that leaves the audience in doubt, too. (This sort of thought-bubble narration is very common nowadays, but was somewhat unusual in the 70s-- this likely would have stood out to audiences at the time, at least a little bit.)

Note, also, the specific hand grabbing Kyle in panels 4 and 5. Looks familiar, doesn't it? Sharp nails, with a bracelet around the wrist...

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We've snapped back to reality! Kyle feels the effects of gravity, and we're given an answer to our previous sequence! Just a dream, Kyle says-- but an unusual one, in unusual circumstances!

His mysterious attacker will be recognizable to previous readers of Gerber from limb and intonation, too, but I won't spoil his identity quite yet.

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Jack Norriss appears again! A quick introduction for the newcomers: he's the husband of Barbara Norriss, the poor madwoman whom Valkyrie's been made to inhabit by the Enchantress. (To detail further would derail this storytime-- just read Defenders #3-4 if you're curious.) He's a very prominent recurring character in the Defenders, with a significant presence in the first 50-odd issues, and he's currently going through some troubles with Val (who doesn't know or recognize him at all). Val, herself, is struggling with both him and herself-- she doesn't really know much about Earth, nor its customs, and that's what this small sequence is mainly here to illustrate.

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Oh, by the way, just as a brief aside: there'll be longer gaps between issues than usual. I didn't have the time to pre-write all of the commentary for this thread, so I'm doing some of it as I go. I'm about 3 issues ahead of the thread at any given time.

TL;DR: if you're reading, please bump. This thread'll need it more than most.

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HULK!

Would you believe me if I said this scene was vital to this entire story?

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Less is more!

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Nighthawk's aggressor is revealed! It's Arthur Nagan, Gorilla-Man, of the Headmen!

Now-- the Headmen are a very interesting group. Every single member is repurposed from an old 50s anthology book. Jerold Morgan comes from World of Fantasy, Arthur Nagan is from Mystery Tales, and Harvey Schlemerman, alias Chondu the Mystic, comes from Tales of Suspense. Despite this, they're all tied together with one common theme-- their heads! Duh! (You'd think this obvious, but it took me until this storyline to realize that their names actually pertained to their identities.)
Such practice is common nowadays, often as a means of flexing fanboy muscle or making jokes about how silly comics used to be, but Gerber was doing it before it was cool. He was also doing it better than anyone else has, by giving these characters both respect and a sense of humor, and I actually feel dirty comparing him to the likes of those shitty Deadpool minis making fun of Z-listers. His Headmen are nothing alike-- just similar in superficialities.
There are many more interesting things about the group that I'd like to divulge here, but as I was beginning to do so I realized that it'd spoil the plot silly and hamper quite a few other storytimes I had planned. For now, all I'll say is that this team is one of my favorite villainous groups in Marvel for a reason.

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A page of great import.

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Already, the plot unfolds!

Our final member of the team is introduced in-person in the three panels below, and what an introduction it is. The Sorcerer Supreme, wise and sagacious as always, is spending his off-time... messing about with fiery action figures.
Part of the comedy comes from the juxtaposition of this action against the narration, yes, but the mere premise is enough to be funny. The thought of Strange spending his rare moments of relaxation indulging in the same autism as us anons, just with magic, is rather absurd.

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Having known Nighthawk for quite some time now, Strange immediately notices that something's off. He still considers Kyle a friend, so he doesn't turn the Eye of Agamotto upon him immediately, but Strange's distrust is obvious from panels three and four alone.

Harvey Schlemerman, knowledgeable enough in the Mystic Arts to know exactly who Dr. Strange is, realizes the magnitude of the situation very quickly.

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The course of action he takes upon learning such a thing, however, is nowhere near as wise!

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Take drugs, kids! It'll give you SUPERPOWERS! (So long as you're getting them from a bona-fide villain, anyways!)

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It's not often that you get an in-built explanation as to why a one-off spell never appears again, but panels three and four deliver on that front and more!

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Gerber's Strange is an odd duck. He writes the Sorcerer Supreme in a manner I can only describe as a combination between a tenured professor and an actual Buddha. It's not inaccurate to Stephen, (though he's much more the Bodhisattva than the Buddha,) but it's distinct enough that I could probably pick it out from other writers' interpretations with just a few lines of dialogue (or narration, though Gerber's rather more extensive-than-average vocabulary might be to blame for that). The Defenders necessitates taking a lighter tone with him, which you've already seen Gerber do with the flaming action figures, and that light veil of comedy bleeds a little into Strange's characterization. You won't see much of his cold anger or melodramatic despair here-- more his quiet calculations and calm warmth.

This page is maybe an exception to that-- though there's plenty of calculation going on, panels 2 and 3 are plenty cold and plenty reminiscent of Strange's similarly swift victories in his own mag.

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Even here, that despair is tempered-- quiet, disgruntled. Not so much balling a fist at the skyline as keeping said fist clenched by his waist while teeth are grit.

Still, this is quite the sticky situation. How on Earth will the Defenders find their way out of it? We'll find out... next issue!

>>155991890
You could probably have a popular sitcom just by recycling the Headmen. Group dynamics are very good.

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>>155992402
Putting it lightly, yes! There are some shining examples of that later on. I'm genuinely surprised that these guys never made it into any cartoons I know of.

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Daimon Hellstrom, Son of Satan, appears! He's been an on-off member of the team since Giant-Size #2, and he appears every now and then for a long time after this. He doesn't become a regular member until much later on.

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I do find it a little interesting that Strange makes a distinction between sorcery and possession here, given that he's possessed many a person before, but it could just be that Gerber was thinking more in terms of ghosts and egregores as opposed to astral forms, and so separated them.

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Lovely, eerie stuff up in that top row. Buscema makes great use of negative space in the first three panels especially, employing a similar tactic that Ditko used to make Strange's robes look darker than they were, and his Strange in the fourth panel is one of my favorites.

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The Headmen are being the Headmen. Bullying Jerry is a well-worn and sacred tradition, and Arthur is all too happy to indulge in it.

Their name, however, is about to become slightly less accurate! Gentlemen: meet Ruby Thursday! She's the only exception to that 1950s anthology rule, and is pure Gerber OC. I actually quite like her, and believe her to be sorely underused.

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Ruby introduces herself by joining Arthur in bullying Jerry. God bless.

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Eerie implications on this page. The Orb of Agamotto can see into peoples' minds... even if there's no body to fuel those minds. It stares straight into the soul. And further implies that the soul is stored in the brain... which is a surprisingly fitting explanation for the MU. All those brains-in-jars really are quite practical, apparently.

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Strange's proportions in the top panel make me wonder if Buscema's Defenders work was one of their primary reference materials for his Rivals design. Big chest, huge collar... I'm only half-joking, but now I'm actually curious. That game is one of maybe two, ever, to even acknowledge the Defenders' existence beyond token affiliation tags, after all...

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More thought-narration! Gerber was ahead of his time in this respect, though the quotation marks indicating the speech still date the issue somewhat. (That's hardly a complaint, though!)

Panel 3's eye-related revelation is meant to be scary, but it falls a bit flat when you remember that Nighthawk's mask has been flipping between having eye-holes and covered eyes for this entire series. In fact, it keeps doing so... for his entire existence. I'm not sure a consensus was ever reached on the matter. He'll sometimes have pure whites, sometimes have visible irises. This is despite his Squadron Sinister outfit almost always having covered eyeholes, and his Defenders outfit only being a lightly modified version of that. It's kind of funny.

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He wouldn't be a proper Bruce Wayne expy without at least one dead parent.

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If I had a nickel for every member of the Defenders whose drinking habits caused them to get into a car crash, lose their guaranteed future and rich fortune, and end up sent halfway across the world to Asia, I'd have two nickels.

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Or, well, I would... had Nighthawk not gotten lucky!

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Ah, nevermind, jinxed it.

The events being referred to in the final two narration boxes aren't sourced, but they happened in this very series. One occurred in Defenders #25, while the other happened in an issue I'll be storytiming two days from now. (But I won't say which..!)

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So Nighthawk's introspection ends... with a nice and moody panel from Buscema!

Quite the odd contrast to the borderline comedic arrival of the Defenders in the panel below.

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Speaking of odd-- what's up with Nighthawk? :)

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Morgan makes clear one of the Headmen's more unique traits-- a general dislike for murder! This isn't a one-off comment-- Arthur in particular doesn't exactly like the grizzly art, and Jerry's usually too much of a wuss to do it. Chondu and Ruby, on the other hand...

Anyways, please relish this comparatively normal page. It is somewhat understandable and grounded.
It is going to be one of the last pages of its kind very, very soon.

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Quite possibly the angriest a baby deer has ever been drawn.

I don't even know what more to say. This page speaks for itself. If I remain quiet from here on out, it'll likely be for similar reasons.

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Blink and you'll miss it-- panel 3 explains more about the intro to this entire overarching story, but keeps itself wisely scarce on specifics... that the final panel kind of spoils, if you've a working brain with which to process the implications of the narration. Ah well!

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How deft d'you think an actual gorilla's hands might be? Steady and skillful enough to do brain surgery? Has humanity yet dared to find out?

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Oh! That's what's going on with Nighthawk! Wait-- that doesn't make any more sense! I mean-- it does, but it doesn't!

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Ah, yes, of course. Of course that red head can turn into a fully-functional stretcher. What do you mean "that's not normal"? "Yours can't"? You're just not trying hard enough.

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Cissy calls her man a sissy while we see something silly.

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Would you?

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It's honestly a shame that Nighthawk and Ruby Thursday never actually became a thing. It could've been fun to see some villain-turned-hero team-ups with them in charge.

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Who are the Headmen? This page will tell you all about them! All except for Chondu, anyways. Thursday's goal is, uh, interesting. Very... interesting.

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In case anyone was curious about the wooden house frame in the background of the last issue... well, there's your answer.

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Is... is that technically vomit? Bubblegum vomit?

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Not a U-boat indeed! Say hello to Nebulon! Not a Geber original-- but he may as well be, given how much more popular his Gerber stories are than his debut. The Lubderites, however, are all Gerber.

No, this story's insanity does not peak with the deer. No, things do not get any saner from here.

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This cover is very deceptively straightforward.

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Yes, he really means that. Nebulon was indeed planning to buy the world to accelerate global warming. That story was far more grounded than this one is about to be.

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In lieu of repeating my constant bewilderment, I'll instead comment that this explanation of motivation makes Nebulon seem like a good fit for Strange specifically. Beyond the existing "green and tentacled extraterrestrial horror" bit, I mean. I'm a little surprised that nobody's tried to bring him back in Strange's own solo.

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Poor Mr. Teekle! He's never going to get a break. Or a new house.

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Ah, halcyon days! Strange teleports the team to the Sanctum... only to find a construction crew lying in wait! Yes-- at this point, specifically the point immediately preceding Strange's battle against Dracula, wielding the power of God (different from the battle against Dracula which ended in total vampiric genocide), the Sanctum's more magical properties had yet to be clearly defined. Ditko treated it as only a slightly abnormal house, Englehart treated it as "imbued with magical energies" but otherwise normal... it took until Roger Stern for the house's truly mystical qualities to be set in stone.

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"Rich dark wood" and "Rococo" are maybe the last things you'd expect to describe Strange's meditation chamber, what with the giant occult window and general lack of Western flourishings it's known for, but Gerber seems to be referring to *a* meditation chamber as opposed to *the* meditation chamber here. It's not unlikely that Strange has multiple, anyways, what with the neverending house and all.

The last panel is an entertaining bit of meta-commentary. Maybe a little ill-timed, given the beginnings of drama in the panels before it, but apt given that Val was quite literally two feet away from Strange when she started monologuing.

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Once more, it bears repeating: please assume that any silence on my end is stunned, not bereft of things to say.

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Oh, no! The Illuminati have been outplayed!

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What a name. The "Fluoro-"Detector, you say? Aged gracefully, that one has.

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I...

...that last panel makes for a good reaction image...?

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Oh, good, he remembers! The bald-headed guy, anyways. Not the Hulk. Unfortunately!

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The deer's dominated the dazzling alien warlord!

This issue may be over, but this story most certainly isn't! Hell, this scene isn't either. Next up...

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...things get stranger yet.

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But first-- something completely different!

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This issue is the Red Guardian's first appearance... on this person, anyways. The mantle's been passed around to many different people, apparently, but this is the only female. I suppose that enough makes her stand out, but it isn't the only thing...

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Yes-- Tania Belinsky is a neurosurgeon! Her connections to the Defenders, then, should be relatively obvious-- she's got a peer in Stephen Strange!

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Good work by Buscema and Janson in the latter half of this page. They've been doing a good job this whole issue, really-- I should've complimented their art earlier.

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E.E.G = electroencephalogram. The brain's electrical signals, basically. (Probably. I don't know enough about the brain to say for sure, but I do have a search engine.)

Fears of a villainous team-up are put to rest... through flirtation. I'd tell Ruby to keep it in her pants, but I'm quite sure she doesn't have a choice.

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Hah, plaid-jacket's smugness in panel 3 is great. I really like how Gerber writes Stephen's colleagues-- it's got a very particular and grounded manner about it that makes the backstory feel much more tangible than most other writers care to make it. There'll be more talk of this come Friday, I think, but that's all I'll say for now.

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One has to wonder how frequent the Hulk visiting a zoo might be in the Marvel Universe. He's got quite the love for animals... I'd think it would happen quite often. I doubt the police would ever leave him be, though. (They're still Marvel civilians, after all!)

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Hulk's still a bit wary of the Defenders. They're his friends, yes, but he's currently under quite a bit of stress and just had his relaxation interrupted by some of his most annoying enemies. He's not yet tamed enough to forgive Valkyrie giving them aid.

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I'd have spoiled this page if not for the cover. It's quite the effective jumpscare. Buscema-face actually works to make this crazy chimera even scarier-- especially in panel 2-- and I think this issue's art is some of the arc's best as a result.

...I do have to wonder how nobody on this team thought it might be a bad idea to get rid of a spellcaster's fingers, but that's the Headmen for ya.

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A unicorn horn and a sword clashing is a surprisingly uncommon image, especially given how cool it looks.

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Brutal! What a tweest-- the police have got the wrong guy! Or is it gal? This isn't a fakeout, either-- be here for next issue to find out exactly how!

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So begins one of this arc's weakest issues... for reasons I will elaborate on shortly. I should mention, however, that it's still quite good-- this entire arc is top-notch stuff, and this issue is no exception! It's just the weakest link in a strong chain.

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That little asterisk in the writer credit may be to blame, but I won't go placing undue disapproval on Mary Skrenes here. For all I know, the weaker aspects could've been Gerber originals-- I'm just speculating as to the cause.

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A recap of a recap, mostly carried by its well-composed (panels 6 and 8) art...

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...followed by another recap of a recap, now covering a good portion of Gerber's older Defenders work! That final panel heralds its end, and a new beginning for Nighthawk...

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...as his brain is returned to his body without issue!

Gerber's very good at putting you in the mindset of his characters, which I always take to be the sign of a genuinely good author. Nighthawk's delirious (yet overjoyed) narration throughout this page exemplifies that strength very well (just as that last panel does Tania's)!

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Meanwhile, Strange is being, uh, questionably ethical. And ethically questioning! Is that a phrase? Well, it is now! He's curious, is what I mean. As he should be!

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I was not kidding about last issue's ending.

In all honesty, although this premise is quite funny and I don't dislike it, I feel the all-female jail is probably the weakest part of this story. It's just... there. It keeps a member busy and away from the rest of the team. It gives Gerber an opportunity to write some more angst. It's not my favorite.

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Gerber's segues are to be commended. They really start coming into their own during this issue, and that telephone transition is one of my favorites. If you pay attention, you'll notice many more smoothly-executed scene transitions from here on out-- seems Gerber started getting the knack of his own pacing and went all in on improving it.

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Kino, chud, seethe-- Gerber's using quite a few trendy terms in this series of his. :P

Speaking of ominous-- Strange, you bastard, why would you subject poor Belinsky to Clea and the Sanctum? Get her an apartment or something!

Gerber's being a cheeky fuck in panel four. Strange's preferred method of mind control might not have been celestial, but Marvel's blended the cosmic and the mystical enough for it to count...

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You remember the clown girls, don't you? Sure you do. And I doubt you'll be forgetting them again.

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Especially after this page's second panel.

If those men's names sound familiar to you... no they don't. :)

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Panel 4 sums up why Strange's character progression can be so compelling in just a couple of sentences! "Since my RETIREMENT from surgery, I've steeped myself in the lore of the MIND more than that of the brain." It's believable, it's succinct, it's interesting-- and it's got a bit of a double meaning to it, inviting you to think a bit more deeply about what it means. It's also why I think Strange specifically being designated a neurosurgeon, as opposed to just a vague physician (under Ditko, in Strange Tales), is one of the best clarifications added to a backstory since Captain America's freezing in ice.

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I'm not sure if this is a particularly unpopular opinion, but I actually really like this costume for the Plantman. I can't even describe why. It just tickles me in all the right ways.

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And... this is another reason I feel this issue is one of the arc's weakest.

Rarely am I ever perturbed by powerlevel scaling, especially in comics, but this is one of those few instances where I just have to throw my hands up and say "oh, come on." Strange jobbing to the fucking Plantman is more than a bit absurd. It was maybe understandable back in the single-digit days, when he jobbed to the Wrecking Crew-- that sucked, too, but it was acceptable as a remnant of the Silver Age and part and parcel of the book finding its footing.
Having Strange job to almost as low-level a crook, almost forty issues into this team's existence, while at almost full power, however... this is just fucking stupid. Especially given that one of Strange's most-used spells is the FLAMES of the Faltine. I understand that Gerber needed some way to make the Plantman a threat, and that the Red Guardian needed some time to show off (primarily so that Gerber could have this specific scene wherein Tania and Strange have a wacky run-in while they're both in-costume), but this is so contrived and retarded that it actually hampers the story. It only gets off easy because the rest of it is so good, and Gerber's writing is enough to make this shitty plot point just barely tolerable. Were this attempted by almost any other writer, I'd not be nearly so lenient.

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At least Tania's efforts are about as useless.

Credit where credit is due-- that final panel looks good. Real good! I'd honestly say it could make for a good pin-up if you just gave it some more room to breathe. Some of Buscema's best.

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What an opening! That snarling Hulk looks appropriately terrifying.

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Ah, another one of Hulk's tantrums. These will continue being relatively common up until the Kraft years. This arc has been mercifully spared of most of them, but they used to be common to nearly every single issue.

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Yeah, how CAN this be? Seriously. No explanation is sufficient enough to make up for this stupidity.

Anyways, I should quit complaining. Gerber is tying all of these plot threads together exceedingly well. I'm actually jealous. There's just a few missing at the moment, of no real import...

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Honestly, I think I just like looking at this tree-thing. That might be why I don't entirely mind this obvious diversion.

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Enter: Luke Cage! On-and-off-and-on again Defender. This is his last real "on"-time; he'll go on to leave the team semi-permanently less than ten issues from now. He was a pretty frequent guest star throughout the 70s, though, and Gerber writes him well.

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His attitude to the team is summed up excellently in that final panel. Ironic, then, that he'd go on to be a founding member of another version of the Defenders...

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"Why can't Strange blast open the stupid overgrown bush?"
"Uhhhh... he just can't."
Bravo Gerber. Genuinely one of the most obvious plot contrivances I've ever read.
Even the explanation for this given, later on, doesn't solve this. Yes, it makes it make some sense that the one most attuned to the universe and his emotions would start having trouble when those go out of whack soonest, but it doesn't absolve this and doesn't excuse it. There's not enough telegraphing elsewhere to do so. Even a sentence or two of narration stressing some kind of imbalance would have been nice.

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I've no idea if these spontaneous mutants ever show up again, but I hope they do. They're an interesting twist on Plantman's power over nature.

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WHY DIDN'T STRANGE JUST USE THIS IN THE PLANT-CAGE? AAGH!!

Ah well, that whole debacle's over with now. I'll stop harping on about it.

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See? Told you. Those names were completely irrelevant and brand-new. They served no relevance to the story whatsoever and proved themselves nothing more than flavorful decoration.

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While old fears of a team-up are realized, the parties involved are quite unexpected!

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The little plot thread established on this page was actually lost, from what I recall, for a long majority of the Defenders' run-time. Of course, once Kurt Busiek got his hands on the book, he brought it right back! Thank god he did-- it was honestly a joy to read. It was also completely inevitable, given the company Kyle kept, and I'm kind of surprised it took him nearly thirty issues to start thinking this way given all of the shit Doc has put him through by now.

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Ah, right, I think Kyle ended up going the "denial and retreat" way after the events of #100. I can't really blame him, I guess, but there's no way he'd have stayed stuck in that shell for long and I'm glad Busiek agreed. (I do wish he'd kept a bit more of Kyle's character development while doing so, though.)

It's not often that a hero's first thoughts upon sniffing nerve-deadening gas go towards occupational hazards, but it makes a lot of sense here and it's a great demonstration of Gerber's attention to detail. I suppose this is still a type of occupational hazard, depending on how much you consider the man a sorcerer versus a superhero (and how tightly you intertwine such terms), but it's not what I mean.

bump

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Ah, man, what a cover!! I think this honestly might be one of the best in the entire arc. It deserves to be remembered far more than it has been.

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Bam! When the Defenders come to, they're someplace mysterious and alien! Good news for us-- it means Buscema and Janson can flex their artistic muscles! They're off to a good start, what with that glimmering head in the sky.

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Hey, Cage, there's no need to bring up Benjamin. That is, quite frankly, uncalled for.

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Gerber attempts to explain and limit Strange's teleportation. A futile effort, but an appreciated one. It makes sense, really, but its interaction with lightning is... questionable, to say the least.

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Kyle is as eager to help the Defenders as ever, no matter the stakes! You've gotta love the enthusiasm. It's very endearing.

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Gerber's struggling a bit with Strange's power level, but I can't help calling him a hack for the specific way in which he's dealing with this. Come on. There are better, easier ways to make him less of an issue. Hell, just clonk him upside the head again. Works for everyone else. If you aren't going to bother to foreshadow your ultimate explanation, it's the least you can do.

At least Cage gets to wield a big stone club. That's cool.

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The sheer horror in that fourth panel conveys the situation very well. I also can't pay attention to the fifth panel for long, because it actually makes me itchy and I hate it quite a lot.

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Nighthawk's back in action! Even acknowledging the insanity of Gerber's plot, he's still as eager to prove himself a Defender as always!

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Maybe a little bit too eager.

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No-- just the right amount! Hooray for Kyle!

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Another page of great import.

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Doc beginning to lose his confidence like this hits harder when Gerber's writing him, but I still don't like it much. Maybe if the change were more gradual it'd be a bit less annoying, but having this originate with the fucking Plantman... it kind of robs it of a lot of intrigue, y'know?

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The Crimson Bands are looking a little less Crimson and a lot more liquorice, but I'm sure they work just fine all the same. Maybe they're tasty, too?

More neat insight into Doc in panel four here. It's not something you'd catch him saying nowadays, and depending on his mood he might've not said it back in ye olden ones either, but his humility is greatly exemplified by Gerber and embodied well by that panel.

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This cover is a complete lie. I'm really not sure why it's here, as it seems to be for a completely different story that the Defenders were not a part of, and I have to assume it was originally attributed to some other issue that never saw the light of day.

I wish that issue had taken its place. It's by far the weakest, to the point where I'm ambivalent about it, and I won't have much to say while it's being posted. Sorry.

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Lovely work from Buscema and Janson here. I dislike the coloring, I think it's a bit too bright for the occasion, but the inks and pencils are quite alright.

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Clea *is* in this issue, but she doesn't play a huge part in it and definitely doesn't go crazy.

Nighthawk's concern for Val is just as over-the-top as his love for the team, and it's always nice to see.

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Recap time!

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Upon rereading the third panel here, I remembered that "hellcat" was an actual turn of phrase. I was about to tease the warden for naming the wrong Defender and everything! The consequences of writing this on so little sleep are starting to show! Haha.

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Hey, remember when New York City used to be SEEDY? Gerber does! Probably because it was super seedy when he was writing this, and Marvel was meant to be the World Outside your Window instead of Disney's Superhero Universe. Good times.

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Nighthawk looks pretty cool in that penultimate panel. He's not drawn that heroically very often, and it's a bit odd to see him drawn as such here, but I can't say it doesn't look good.

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As does Valkyrie, in this topmost panel! She's not so much heroic-looking as she is a bit creepy, but she still looks cool.

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I can't say i'm a huge fan of this catty drama. I'm glad it's going to be over with soon. It's well-executed, it's just not my thing.

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Ladies and gentlemen: Clea's most prominent role in this entire comic, begun and concluded in one panel.

I can't say I'll miss her. Gerber doesn't seem to know how to write her, and Buscema definitely doesn't know how to draw her. Where's her neck? Why's she look so mannish in panel 2? The torpedo tits in panel 1 are funny, but that's all I can say for positives.

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It's over! Next issue is our second-last. Val will finally be rejoining us...

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...as will the rest of the team, finally back together and fighting at last!

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Mercifully, we are spared a full issue of courtroom drama. Thank you, Gerber!

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Cage is a dick! Not a very capitalistic one, either. An interesting perspective for sure, given his and Tanya's tense relationship.

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Clea has more prominence in this story than she did the last. Somehow, that rubs me the wrong way... (at least Buscema remembered to give her a neck this time!)

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Val gets a new costume! This actually stuck around for quite a while after its introduction, albeit with a bit less skin showing and some other slight modifications, but seems to have been largely forgotten after the first Defenders ongoing was canceled. I can sort of see why-- I don't think it's as iconic as the original torpedo-tit costume, and I think its colors are worse, but it's not overall bad. Just not as good as the first.

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Strange is doing as Strange does. Sitting in a tree, on a branch, in a park, in full garb. Perfectly normal and expected of him to do. Cough. :)

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"Am I the problem?"
"No. It must be my loving, yet somewhat retarded, friends."
Beautiful.

I'm poking fun, here, but Gerber is actually making a decent point. Strange was practically at the height of his reclusivity around this period, with an especially great amount of emphasis placed on his need to remain disciplined and unperturbed by the material world. Given all he's gone through with the Defenders as of late... it stands to reason that he'd be growing a bit slippery, especially in constant pursuit of bozos and B-movie aliens as opposed to otherworldly horrors and embodiments of nature itself.

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Strange isn't the only one having mind troubles, it seems...

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Nor was Val's observation of vanity particularly misplaced.

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Geber quietly explains why he hasn't been touching on the big world-threatening stuff by having Norriss make himself the fall guy. Nice.

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Gerber really likes his guns in unusual situations, doesn't he?

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The cover's big villain makes his debut! The pacing might tip you off to how important he is...

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If you didn't catch on earlier, this page should do it for you.

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A weary Guardian returns to the Sanctum, but her story's not over yet... nor is ours!

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Not until this issue's end, anyways!

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the grand finale!

This issue, which lends its title to the entire story arc, is TWICE the length of all our other stories! Strap yourselves in for this-- it's going to be a long ride!

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The table drops our title for today! Or, it would have, had I not spoiled it for you all in advance!

The equestrian academy being referred to here is actually under Kyle's ownership, purchased in a previous issue and converted into a superhero team base. The Defenders would bounce between this base (called Richmond Riding Academy, if I remember correctly) and the Sanctum Sanctorum rather often, but always ended up gravitating towards the latter. Why? Magic! (Probably.)

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R-R-R-RECAP! Feel free to skip ahead of this if you're bored; Jack isn't covering any new information here, just phrasing it somewhat entertainingly.

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(See above.)

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This page wraps up the recaps by pointing out what'd been hinted at before: something's off with all of the Defenders, in some way, for reasons that you probably don't remember! (I know I don't. It's been four hours, and it's far too late for me to be retaining such things.) I'm thankful, then, that Jack recaps the cause for us all while proving his (somewhat superfluous) worth to the team.

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Not sure if Nighthawk's comments in the first panel are a retcon or what Gerber was originally intending to depict in the last issue. Those funds weren't requested by Jack-- they were offered by Nighthawk, specifically to get Norriss to fuck off. That's upheld in a later issue, too, so I'm not sure why Kyle's talking like Jack asked for this money here.

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Bam! We're off to the races! Around the world we go-- in pairs, save for one!

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First up: white-eyes in Paris! They're met with plenty of white faces... one of which is suffering a gruesome fate indeed!

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Ah, that's where those fishy-guys went! I was starting to wonder about them.

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So the first duo's trip to Paris ends! Onto the next couple!

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Our second couple has yet to be revealed, but the narration is clashing with the art pretty hard here so I'll focus on that instead. Yes, the stuffy and overpopulated nation with... maybe eight people total, that we can see. In India, supposedly, with cloth masks and all-white preachers wearing turbans. Hah, 70s.

It's a shame-- I like the coloring here, but the art is just so ill-fitted to the mood Gerber is trying to convey. This feels like an empty town square in a Middle Eastern bazaar, not the overcrowded streets of New Delhi.

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The strange art choices continue with the onion domes and neatly square houses in the background of panel three, but our protagonists appear to steal our attention away! That's not the only thing they're after, either!

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That explains what happened to the House of Bozos (and Tania Belinsky), at least... a very interesting alternative to murder!

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Hah.

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The fate of the second couple mirrors the first... at least in result!

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And... our third viewpoint isn't a couple. Whoops. My bad. Could've sworn...

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The homaging here is lovingly blatant and entertaining to read. I can't speak to its accuracy, as I've somehow escaped watching anything James Bond for my entire life, but it's plenty fun even without much direct knowledge of that which is being parodied.

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That's especially true from this page onward!

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Will Ruby Thursday ever meet a man she doesn't like the look of? Find out next time on Defenders Ball Z.

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So begins the FINAL BATTLE! What an entrance Strange makes-- as nonchalant as ever while dropping the president on a space rock. It's just another day in the life...

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The suits and ties can only stay on for so long... save for in the case of the president. He's greeted with more pomp than he's ever been given, and all he can do is stare!

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Nebulon Kaczynski makes his opinions known, but suffers the horrible fate of being trapped between magical onion rings for daring to speak his mind. The horror!

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The battle is decided! But what follows..?

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I am glad that there exists an author who is willing to interrupt his philosophical debating with magic men causing guns to fire cartoon sound-effect flags.

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The Headmen make a grave mistake...

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...and learn of it far too late...

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...to do anything about it!

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Big Green saves the day! Huzzah!

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The final FINAL battle begins!

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And ends... almost as quickly as it started!

I find it a little quaint that this entire debacle was solved using some of Strange's most basic tricks... and a bit of muscle, of course. (Just a bit.)

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Nebulon's mind is opened to the great feats of our history... and he is disgusted! With that, he bids us all farewell-- readers and superheroes alike!

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Thank you all so much for reading along with me! This gigantic storytime almost didn't happen thanks to the 4chan shutdown, but the site came back up just in time for me to start posting during the anniversary. I somewhat regret doing it today, admittedly-- I've had to extend this storytime into the bizarre hours nobody in their right mind should be up at, but I think it was worth it just this one time. I won't be doing it again-- should I have to stay up so late to commentate, I'll just move the date.

For that reason, I cannot 100% guarantee that I'll be storytiming the Giant-Size issues I've been talking about this exact Friday... but it's far more likely than not that I will, so I hope to see many of you there with me when they arrive! They'll cap off this mad gauntlet of storytimes and hopefully teach me never to do this again.

If you want to read some more storytimes with my commentary, both on the Defenders and on Doctor Strange, mosey on down to this newly-baked link of mine: https://rentry.org/strangeanonstorytimes

If you'd rather read some more Defenders on your own, with whatever off-time you may have, I'll instead recommend giving this custom-made recommendation image a look. It covers every single Defenders story I believe to be worth reading, and it's quite the substantial thing!

I don't have a care package of stories for you all to download, unfortunately, as there doesn't seem to exist any dedicated DefendersAnon like there did the many StrangeAnons before I. I'll see if I can compile something before the next thread or two, but make no promises (I only have the digital versions of most stories to share, and really don't want those to be anyone's introduction to this series). For now, just use batcave.biz or getcomics.org to look up whichever titles you're interested in.

With all that said... thank you for very much for reading! May the Vishanti smile upon you, and may your day remain well-Defended!

>>155995624
Badass

>>155995462
I quite like their architecture, it has so much personality

>>155994202
>>155994209
Presumably sufficiently advanced science can manipulate souls. Being a digitized copy in chimera body would be excessive.

Aw yeah, StrangeAnon thread!

>>155995537
Wonder if having an organic circuitry brain makes her horny all the time, or if she was already like that.

>>155991771
Yeah, Sal was definitely the lesser of the Buscemas

Hell yeah

>Page 9
Hell no