These days when it comes to pop culture it’s Marvel Comics’ world and the rest of us are just potential LMDs. You readers wanted more Marvel and I’m delivering. FOR PART 1 OF BALLADEER’S BLOG’S EXAMINATION OF MARVEL’S SUPERHEROINE MANTIS CLICK HERE
THE AVENGERS Volume 1, Number 118 (December 1973) To The Death
AVENGERS ROSTER: Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, The Scarlet Witch, The Black Panther, The Vision, The Swordsman and MANTIS
DEFENDERS ROSTER: Doctor Strange, Sub-Mariner, The Hulk, The Silver Surfer, Valkyrie and Hawkeye
Last time around the globe-spanning war between the Avengers and the Defenders came to an end in Los Angeles when both teams at last compared notes and realized they were being manipulated into fighting each other.
The 14 assembled heroes had recovered all six fragments of the Evil Eye of Avalon, which relic was hastily stolen by Dormammu. That flame-headed man-god who ruled over the Dark Dimension was a foe of Dr Strange and the Defenders.
For years Dormammu had been bound by his Galactus-like vow not to invade Earth’s dimension ever again but the reassembled Evil Eye of Avalon gives him the power to bypass that vow by simply MERGING our dimension with his.
As Dormammu taunted the Avengers and Defenders, our entire universe was becoming one with Dormammu’s vile domain. The landscape and buildings were all turning surreal and distorted, the sun’s light was fading and some people were transforming into the kind of monstrous beings who inhabit the Dark Dimension.
TO THE DEATH
Synopsis: This story resumes right where we left off, with the Avengers and Defenders defiantly telling Dormammu that they’ll do whatever they have to do to save the universe from him. In typical pulp fiction fashion there’s an arbitrary but dramatic deadline to race against: Dormammu tells the heroes that in one Earth-hour the merging of dimensions will be complete and irreversible.
While the other superheroes fight off the demonic creatures beginning to surround them, Dr Strange casts a spell to prevent the Avengers and Defenders from turning into Dark Dimension creatures for the necessary hour. He tells his comrades that he can’t protect everyone on Earth the same way or he’ll be too weak to help them fight Dormammu.
The Doctor wants the Avengers to join him and the Defenders in a direct attack on Dormammu but – rather foolishly, given what’s at stake – the Avengers argue that they can’t abandon the innocent people of Los Angeles to their fate. Strange counters that the entire damn UNIVERSE will suffer if they don’t act quickly.
As the argument continues amid battles with Dark Dimension demonoids, Nick Fury, Contessa Valentina Allegro de Fontaine and Dum Dum Dugan arrive with dozens of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Fury’s outfit was as much a paramilitary organization as an intelligence unit and, with guns blazing they tackle the monstrous beings now reproducing geometrically out of the local population.
Satisfied that S.H.I.E.L.D. will be fighting to help the locals the Avengers agree to accompany the Defenders. Dr Strange casts a spell that takes the 14 superheroes out of Los Angeles and into the heart of Dormammu’s realm. Meanwhile the Contessa and some of Nick Fury’s other agents turn into demonoids themselves.
MORE bickering breaks out among the heroes as Thor calls out to all of those Avengers and Defenders who can fly to join him in racing to the far-off spot where they can see Dormammu and his ally/ pawn Loki standing. Continue reading
PENULTIMATE GAME: The 2nd seeded FAULKNER UNIVERSITY EAGLES needed to defeat the 5 seeds – the LEWIS-CLARK STATE WARRIORS – in order to force a deciding game the next day. A 1-0 1st Inning lead for the Eagles stood unchanged until the 4th, when it became a 2-1 advantage. The Warriors responded with a huge 5th Inning which saw them take the lead by a score of 5-2. Faulkner University shut out Lewis-Clark State from there while cutting their lead down to 5-3 in the 6th Inning and 5-4 in the 8th. The Eagles drove in 2 runs in the 9th for a 6-5 victory behind the pitching of Austin Moreland. 
DAY SIX, FIRST SEMIFINAL: The UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT SAN DIEGO TRITONS took the diamond against the SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS COLLEGE SPARTANS. After a scoreless 1st Inning the Tritons grabbed a 2-0 edge in the 2nd and a 4-0 advantage in the 3rd. That set the pattern for the game as UC-San Diego scored in every remaining Inning except the 8th while simultaneously shutting out the Spartans. The Tritons eviscerated their opponents to the tune of TEN to NOTHING courtesy of a complete Iron Man Game by Pitcher Kyle Goodbrand. 
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: The final two teams left standing in NJCAA D3 were the 3-time Defending National Champions – the TYLER COLLEGE APACHES – and the NIAGARA COUNTY COLLEGE THUNDER WOLVES. 
ALIEN: COVENANT (2017) – Balladeer’s Blog’s sources in the industry – and by the industry I mean the business – have assured me that when the very first public showing of Alien: Covenant was over Ridley Scott stood up, faced the preview audience and defiantly said “Now you tell me that’s not funny!”
Director Scott even takes a not-so-subtle poke at the whole “Newt and Hicks die right off the bat in Alien 3″ debacle. He has reasonably famous actor James Franco play the ship’s captain and – get this – Franco’s character dies after about a minute and a half when his cryo-sleep coffin catches fire! Too funny! (But I feel the merchandising tie-in with James Franco Briquettes is a little tasteless!) 
Time once again for a Balladeer’s Blog shoutout to the neglected Adam Ant (Stuart Leslie Goddard). 
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: The 3 seeds – the CALIFORNIA LUTHERAN UNIVERSITY KINGSMEN – and the 5th seeded WASHINGTON & JEFFERSON COLLEGE PRESIDENTS were tied up at 1 game apiece headed into this decisive Game Three. 
DAY FOUR, GAME ONE: The 9th seeded WILLIAM CAREY UNIVERSITY CRUSADERS continued their Cinderella run, this time against the 6 seeds – the MISSOURI BAPTIST UNIVERSITY SPARTANS. The Crusaders immediately seized a 2-0 edge in the 1st Inning, followed by the Spartans making it a 2-1 score in the 3rd. William Carey University drove in 3 runs in the 4th Inning and SIX in the 5th on their way to a resounding TWELVE to THREE triumph. Pitcher Cole Edgins picked up the win. 
THE DEFENDERS Volume 1, Number 10 (November 1973) Breakthrough! 
Synopsis: BATTLE SIX: THOR VERSUS THE HULK – Because of the Marvel Cinematic Universe audiences today automatically associate the Hulk with the Avengers. Back in 1973 that was not the case. Even though the Hulk WAS one of the original Avengers he quit the team at the end of the SECOND ISSUE, in 1963. 
Getting back to the story, the final fragment of the Evil Eye is in Los Angeles, where the Hulk has dug it up with help from the spell cast by Dr Strange. Greenskin is causing the expected city-wide panic but before he can leave with the Eye fragment Thor arrives. 
DAY THREE, GAME TWO: Another elimination game and another upset followed. The 10 seeds – THE MASTER’S UNIVERSITY MUSTANGS – did battle with the 4th seeded KEISER UNIVERSITY SEAHAWKS. Neither team scored until the 4th Inning, when the Seahawks eked out a 2-1 edge. The Mustangs added 4 more runs in the 5th and 6th Innings before their bats went as cold as Keiser’s. The Master’s University smacked down the Seahawks by a score of 9-2 behind the pitching of Robert Winslow. 
The Memorial Day Holiday is marked here at Balladeer’s Blog with items about neglected conflicts and neglected military units from American history. The latest unit to be examined is the Navy of the Republic of Texas. I’ll examine the period from the Texas Revolution against the tyrannical Mexican government up through the Texas Republic joining the U.S. as the State of Texas. 
