This is Foggy Ruins of Time, a feature that provides the cultural context behind certain comic book characters/behaviors. You know, the sort of then-topical references that have faded into the “foggy ruins of time.” To wit, twenty years from now, a college senior watching episodes of "Seinfeld" will likely miss a lot of the then-topical pop culture humor (like the very specific references in “The Understudy” to the Nancy Kerrigan/Tonya Harding scandal).

Reader Le Messor wrote in with this suggestion.

In a story line in the Defenders from #58-60, co-writers David A. Kraft and Ed Hannigan (Hannigan also drew the issues, with Klaus Janson inking the first few pages of #58 and then Dan Green doing finishes on #59-60), Kraft and Hannigan decided to pay strange homage to a popular band from the 1970s, the Blue Oyster Cult, best known for their hit song, "(Don't Fear) The Reaper."

The first part of the storyline is titled "Agents of Fortune"...

That was the name of a then-recent Blue Oyster Cult album (the one that had "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" on it.

The issue opens with, of course, a guy named the Agent of Fortune, who steals the Eye of Agamatto from Doctor Strange...

By the way, the first issue even specifically credits Eric Bloom, the lead singer and songwriter of Blue Oyster Cult.

In Defenders #59, the issue is named "Tyranny and Mutation"...

That issue was named after their first studio album...

The issue introduces the main villain of the storyline, Vera Gemini, who was the head of the cult in the story. She was named after a Blue Oyster Cult song, "The Revenge of Vera Gemini"...

The final part of the story had a very special cameo from the group itself!

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The final part of the story was titled "The Revenge of Vera Gemini," which we know already is a song title...

But we also learn the name of Gemini's cult, it is the Cult of the Harversters of Eyes, which is named after the Blue Oyster Cult song, "Harvester of Eyes," off of their third album, Secret Treaties.

Finally, we see a group of demons in human form mid-way through the issue...

They are, of course, the members of Blue Oyster Cult, as seen from a then-recent ad for the album, Agents of Fortune (I assume that the photo is from the back cover or the inside sleeve of the album)...

As the guy who names most of his columns after Bob Dylan lyrics, this is the sort of stuff I just love to see.

Thanks to Le Messor for the suggestion! If anyone else has a suggestion for a future edition of Foggy Ruins of Time, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!