The first issue of The Defenders I every bought was Giant-Size #1 in 1974; the second issue I bought was (probably) #106 (1982), which was a crossover with Captain America. When Trish Starr appeared in Hulk #233 (1979) and I had no idea who she was, it surred me to start collecting The Defenders (as backissues) from the beginning (Marvel Feature #1, 1971), working my way up to the first appearance of Trish Starr. It had been my plan all along to begin collecting The Defenders as soon as I completed my collection of The Incredible Hulk, ever since I saw the splash page of Defenders #12 (by Sal Buscema and Jack Abel), which I did not buy. I have often said the the Hulk was my "first favorite character," so I was hoilding The Defenders in reserve for when I was caught up with Hulk backissues. Up until 1982 or so, I had favorite runs of titles, but I never had "favorite writers" per se. I think J.M. DeMatteis may have been the first to receive that particular designation. I was already reading Captain America, my "second (in sequence) favorite character," when it crossed over with Defenders. I had so many questions (not the least of which was, "Who is this 'Gargoyle' character?"). At that point, I had not yet completed my Defenders backissue collection, but I immediately began to collect it from #92 (DeMatteis' first) in addition to wherever I was in sequence. It didn't take long to fill the gap between #92 and #106, and I continued on, right through #152.
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