Fansite Anniversary

One year ago today I launched this blog by examining the psychology of the Hulk and his involvement with the Defenders (in a post titled For He's a Jolly Green Fellow). That initial post also gave a nod to the Hulk's 2008 film, which I still haven't gotten around to seeing.

That said, now seemed like the right time to discuss why I decided to create a fansite about a persistently overlooked group of heroes.

Truth be told, I found the concept of the non-team confusing when I read my first issues of the Defenders while growing up.

I didn't take a real interest in the series until the roster began to change in the early 1980s. A level of sophistication underlay many Defenders stories from that era. Recurring themes of theology and sexuality caught my attention then and remain captivating today.

As a series, the Defenders had its share of ups and downs. But there was a novel-like quality to the way that many of the storylines unfolded, with intelligent foreshadowing and emotional depth.

Over the past 12 months, this blog has afforded me an opportunity to revisit many favorite issues from my youth, and uncover some classic 1970s tales that I was too young to catch at the time.

In the months ahead, I expect to keep moving forward with posts about the original series and finally give the New Defenders the attention they deserve. There will still be flashbacks to earlier issues and discussions of pertinent crossovers. As I'm discovering, some of the Defenders' best adventures—and most relavent developments—happened in other comic book series.

I'm happy to say that there's still a lot left to cover.

The image at the top comes from Defenders #14, when the early members began to gel as a team.