The Model Mutant

Bizarre Adventures #27 (July 1981) included three vignettes starring past or present X-Men: Iceman, Phoenix, and Nightcrawler. Iceman's story took place at a winter carnival featuring ice sculptures of numerous superheroes. In his civilian identity as Bobby Drake, the mutant hero noticed that Angel was the only X-Man with a sculpture. It doesn't seem fair, he thought, and then used his powers to add an Iceman sculpture to the display.

At this point, Angel had a unique place among the X-Men. In spite of the public's prejudice against mutants, Angel had publicly disclosed his true identity as Warren Worthington III. His feathered wings had a favorable connotation, in contrast to Nightcrawler's blue skin and tail. Additionally, Angel's ability to fly made his mutation largely unthreatening. This combination of factors made Angel more palatable to the general public than most mutants.

Defenders of Light and Dark

The Queen in Black storyline prompted Iron Man to organize two strike teams to do battle against Hela. Led by Iron Man, Team Dark included Agent Anti-Venom, Cable, Darkstar and Cloak. Team Light, on the other hand, included Beta Ray Bill, Photon, Sunfire and Dagger. Each issue of the limited series displays the classic Defenders nameplate on the cover, but Iron Man's passing reference to the teams as Earth's Defenders seemed incidental (#1).

I purchased this edition of Defenders of Light and Dark #1 (September 2026) with a variant cover featuring Cable and Cloak.

Dr. Strange's Mystic Maze

This creative maze appeared in Fun and Games Magazine #1 (Sept. 1979).

Quadruple Word Find

This puzzle from Fun and Games Magazine #1 (Sept. 1979) asked readers to find the names of each of these heroes four times:

Power Man Valkyrie Hawkeye Ghost Rider Nick Fury Moondragon Nova

Most of these characters were Defenders or would become Defenders at some point.

Pat Walker

Although they occasionally dated other people, Buzz Baxter and Patsy Walker were high school sweethearts. As a sign of their deepening connection, Buzz eventually started calling her Pat from time to time, while everyone else still knew her as Patsy. Rival classmate Hedy Wolfe, meanwhile, often referred to her as Red.

The covers of Patsy Walker #112 (Dec. 1963) and #114 (April 1964) show Buzz Baxter calling her Pat.

The Search for the Sub-Mariner

Sub-Mariner's preoccupation with Susan Storm reached an all-time low when he kidnapped her and held her captive in Atlantis. The prince of Atlantis intended to make the Invisible Girl his bride! With the help of Dr. Strange, the rest of the Fantastic Four located and rescued their imprisoned teammate. Sub-Mariner finally accepted that she was in love with Reed Richards (Fantastic Four #27). Reed and Sue would marry the following year (Fantastic Four Annual #3).

Fantastic Four. Vol. 1. No. 27. June 1964. "The Search for the Sub-Mariner. Stan Lee (author), Jack Kirby (illustrator), Geo. Bell (inker), S. Rosen (letterer).

Current Affairs

This maze featuring Sub-Mariner appeared in Fun and Games Magazine #13 (September 1980).

Silver Maze

This untitled maze featuring the Silver Surfer appeared in Fun and Games Magazine #6 (February 1980). Text in the lower left asked, YOU MEAN WE GOTTA TELL YOU WHAT TO DO?

Miss America Magazine

Before Patsy Walker got her own comic book series, she appeared regularly in Miss America Magazine. Her stories were so popular that the magazine regularly highlighted them on the cover.

Several Patsy Walker comic stories appeared in this issue of Miss America Magazine. Vol. 7. No. 37. January 1951.

Graduation Day

Patsy Walker could have remained a perpetual teen. But that changed in Patsy and Hedy #95 (August 1964), when Patsy and her pals graduated from high school. While Patsy and rival Hedy Wolfe had their eyes set on being valedictorian, mutual friend Nan Brown had the highest marks and recieved the honor. Graduation was one of many steps on Patsy's path to becoming Hellcat.

Black Magic

When Dr. Strange made his debut in Strange Tales #110, he carried the title Master of Black Magic. That term wouldn't stick. Dr. Strange would soon find himself ever alert to any sign of danger from the world of Black Magic (#121) and became known instead as Master of the Mystic Arts.

This panel from Giant-Size Defenders #4 (April 1975) originally appeared in Strange Tales #121 (March 1964).

Realms of Magic

The Realms of Magic supplement for the Marvel Super Heroes role-playing game included a section on Magic Schools, more or less adhering to the three alignments popularized in early editions of Dungeons & Dragons: white magic = good; gray magic = neutral; black magic = chaotic/evil. A character could learn a particular school of magic yet violate those teachings. This would account for the villain Druid (Strange Tales #144-145), who is decidedly evil even though Realms of Magic (and D&D) describes druidic magic as neutral. Voodoo, on the other hand, is a white magic that can be perverted into chaotic magic.

Ultimately Marvel Boy

A new combination of heroes appear as Defenders within the alternate world of the Ultimates (#21). This latest iteration of Defenders has no connection to earlier versions of the team. One of the most interesting members of the new team is Marvel Boy, a Japanese hero with a positive track record as a monster hunter.

This panel with Marvel Boy comes from Ultimates #21 (April 2026).

H Is for Hellcat

Fun and Games Magazine #1 (Sept. 1979) included a Secret Code Breaker to solve puzzles in that issue—and future issues—of the monthly publication. Of the 26 heroes pictured in the code breaker, Hellcat was the only one whose code-breaking letter corresponded to the first letter of her name. Silver Surfer, for instance, stood for C, while Hulk stood for the letter D.