"The End" Week: Black Cat #10!

Not picking on Jed MacKay, this was just next in the pile! From 2021, Black Cat #10, "Infinity Score, part 3" Written by Jed MacKay, art by C.F. Villa, color art by Brian Reber. I had this variant, that wasn't in the GCD, by Ema Lupacchino and Brian Reber.

Although this was the last issue of this series, it wasn't the end of the storyline: it would wrap up in Giant-Size Black Cat #1: Felicia was after the Infinity Stones, which were currently embedded in people, giving them powers, even if she didn't think much of them. Nick Fury was after her, as well as Nighthawk this issue: not the classic, but the new one from Coulson and Mephisto's Squadron Supreme! Nighthawk remembered the Heroes Reborn universe (not that one, the other one...man, comics sometimes) and Felicia from it. He tries to sway her, to bring back what he considered a better world; maybe with them as a couple? But, Nighthawk also uses the past tense, when talking about her mom, so no deal. (Which is weird, because Felicia is such a daddy's girl; I don't think I knew she had contact with her mom. I thought at best it was like Daredevil's mom, if not Bambi's...)

Fury isn't quite trying to murder Felicia--yet--but absolutely can't have those two working together, since he didn't want to "wake up living in the United States of Nighthawk or some damn thing." But, she's saved by Odessa, who I had not seen before: she forces Fury off with a rocket launcher. Odessa appears to be part of some guild, presumably thieves'? I don't know if it's the same thieves' guild seen in Gambit books, either. She's breaking some rules to help Felicia, who's trying to stall for time, that Odessa will probably cave and give to her; but there was at least one other miscreant with an Infinity Stone out there...(Odessa also seemed to have ninjas, who drop back for her and Felicia's conversation, like they did not want in on that drama!)

This wasn't bad, although not as good as Felicia's current book! After this series, I think she had multiple ones with Mary Jane, as Jackpot or just herself. Read more!

Hey, this ain't a Two-in-One! Gimme my quarter back!

Well, this was continued from Marvel Two-in-One #7. Synopis: "The Thing and Valkyrie stop Enchantress and the Executioner. The Thing saves the world with a supernatural harmonica." Aw, man...from 1975, Defenders #20, "The Woman She Was...!" Written by Steve Gerber, layouts by Sal Buscema, finishes by Vince Colletta.

The Enchantress and Executioner are here briefly, as this ties into what was the current origin for Valkyrie: "...created full grown, without a past, by the Enchantress's magic--and inhabits the body of Barbara Denton--a person she never knew." Amora and Skurge split, although not before the Thing gives him a couple good shots, but their plan had fallen through: Ben figured, the magic harmonica from the previous chapter was probably out of juice. He moves to help Val, who was torn up with grief over the death of the father she didn't know, and she tells him she would do this alone. He's a little hurt, but then decides he might as well go home, until Doctor Strange's astral form appears, to tell him there was still danger. Yeah, yeah, whatever: Ben takes a nap, waiting for Strange and another friend of Val's to show.

Val brings her father's body to the police station, unaware that a local snitch has also seen her. Although it had apparently been a couple years since Barbara Denton had been home, the locals still recognize her and treat Val as such. The police chief seems nice enough, helping her to her old house and letting her in with a spare key; but also lets slip that Barbara had been married! Meanwhile, the Thing is awakened, but not by Reed Richards, but by Doctor Strange and Nighthawk! Ben hadn't met Nighthawk before, and the latter grouses a bit about the non-team team nature of the Defenders, with a roster of whoever felt like showing up that day...and at her house, Val is attacked by a caped figure with zappy-hands. Hey, this copy still has the MODOK Marvel Value Stamp! Nice.

In the front yard of Val's house, the Thing and Nighthawk fall through a trapdoor: the snitch is there, but alarmed that he got those two and not Strange. Still, Ben can't climb out of the electrified walls, and was too big for Nighthawk to carry. Worse, the snitch disappears, and he snagged the magic harmonica! With some mystic force blocking his way, Strange enters the front door, and finds a portrait of a woman who resembles an older Val: Celestia, which was the name inscribed on the harmonica as well. Strange also gets zapped by the caped creep, and trussed up on a sacrificial altar with Val, by worshippers of the Nameless Ones, included the grotesquely deformed Celestia, who was more than willing to sacrifice her daughter for power and beauty.

Ben and Nighthawk get free, and wade into the cultists and Nameless Ones, while the narration explains all of this had been going on since way back in Incredible Hulk #126. (Which I might have a reprint of handy! Sooner or later.) Events had piled up to turn Barbara into Valkyrie and maybe use her power to unleash the Nameless Ones, but nobody planned on the appearance of the Thing! Ben gets the harmonica from Celestia and destroys it, then frees Val and Strange. Celestia turns to ashes, the Nameless Ones don't fully manifest, and Strange hypnotizes the cultists to...leave? Turn themselves in? Jump in a lake? While this might have been deeply traumatizing for everyone involved, Strange still feels like they eked out a win today. This wrapped up pretty quickly, and feels more like a Two-in-One than a Defenders, which might be why I like it a little more? The next issue blurb teases Val's husband, problems for Nighthawk, and the Headmen; so the return to usual. Read more!

Yet another "The End" Week begins!

I started this bit 14 years ago, partly because the last week of the year was probably going to be a low-content area for comic book blogs...back when there were a lot of them, posting on the regular...and because last issues have always held an interest for me. It seems like even longer ago, but it used to be the last issue of a comic maybe meant the big goodbye, that you were not going to see those characters again, ever. Back when Star Wars was cancelled, I thought that was it; there would be no more Star Wars for me, in any way, shape, or form, forever. Really! When you're done laughing, yes, I was wrong. And comics being what they are, tons of books are cancelled, then retooled and relaunched later...sometimes by 'later' I mean 'immediately.' Every so often there might be one like Master of Kung Fu #125 or Micronauts #20 that seem like a hard stop, and they still come back! He hasn't got a new series yet, but Marvel's brought back Crystar; and I suspect are eying ROM. (Two last issues I haven't blogged yet!) 

So, we'll start with a title that's I know I've got two last issues for right here; but it's also had um, at least two miniseries, and like three more series since; and that's before you start throwing adjectives like 'Secret' or 'Fearless' into the mix. From 2002, Defenders #12, "Silent but Deadly" Story and art by Erik Larsen; and "Fooling with Mother Nature" Written by Jo Duffy and Kurt Busiek, pencils by Ivan Reis, inks by Randy Emberlin.

Even though Busiek and Larsen would've been pretty good gets as far as creative teams go, this series seemed to have a rough time of it: #8 features a blurb on the cover from a comics site (actually, a magazine!) proclaiming Defenders "The Worst Comic Ever Produced" but I've mentioned before, I liked the issues I read. The opener this issue isn't the strongest, as it was for 'Nuff Said month (like the Captain Marvel issue we mentioned the other day) and was silent: the cursed Defenders (Strange, Namor, Hulk, and the Surfer) get teleported to defend the earth yet again, this time in a mysteriously silent and rocky environment, which is shortly filled with rocky monsters.

Larsen's usually good for comedic touches, like the Hulk getting Namor's attention, by throwing a good-sized rock at him. It might be intentional: when the spell is broken, and sound returns, the guys still don't seem to have anything to say to each other, they were pretty over this...The second story, "Fooling with Mother Nature" includes the Defenders that did (usually) want to be there, Nighthawk, Valkyrie, and Hellcat; helping fight time-distorting baddie Chronarch. Who turns out to be a janitor that accidentally broke/created a time vortex, and gets wrapped up in a few pages; but the main four are again pissed that they had to show up for that, as the curse was getting to them. Back at Doctor Strange's Sanctum, Nighthawk's "spiritual advisor" Papa Hagg stops by to help, and gets bounced by Strange. The four then decide, if they can't get at the dead Yandroth to break the curse, they can go to Gaea, goddess of earth, and make her break it.

Nighthawk, somewhat dismayed, follows them and observes them petitioning a seemingly disinterested Gaea, who refuses to release them, even after they attack her. She teleports them away, dismissively; and when Nighthawk finds them again, the four have resolved to "tolerate this state of affairs no longer--and we will do what must be done!" This was setting up them going bad for a bit, in the Order, another name Marvel seems to trot out every so often. I'm not sure how much Nighthawk's relationship to the team was explored (or Patsy's, or Val's) as this feels like he's on a basketball team with four other guys who would barely let him sit on the bench.

Well, since I've got a moment, we might as well glance at another last issue that's been in the pile for some time: from 1986, the New Defenders #152, "The End of All Songs" Written by Peter B. Gillis, pencils by Don Perlin, inks by Dell Barras.

This is yet another last issue that's still part of a crossover event, so drink! It's a Secret Wars II tie-in, so of course we get the Beyonder midway through this just to muddy the waters, but this was straight-up editorial deck-clearing: Angel, Beast, and Iceman had to be reset and freed up to go to X-Factor #1, which I read when it came out, and can't recall if any of them so much as mention being part of the Defenders or losing all their teammates. Also, Beast had a dog, and doesn't get to bring it with him? Man. Moondragon, infected by the "Dragon of the Moon" and then empowered by the Beyonder, wants to do good, but also thinks killing the Defenders would be a good first step there. While Moondragon tortures the X-guys by threatening various supporting cast members, the other Defenders sacrifice themselves to destroy the Dragon, and are seemingly reduced to crumbling ash.

Valkyrie's pretty much the only one we really care about, and while Gillis may have intended to bring everyone back later, I think it was a spell for her. Despite being really vindictive and mean here, Moondragon is given a bit of an out in the end, that she helped save some supporting cast before her end; and she would be back in 1989, well before the others. I think Moondragon gets the bump because she was an Avenger; but Valkyrie had to be more popular?

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The previous issue had a Hulk blurb and no Hulk; this cover's got Dr. Strange and no Strange...

But three dead Defenders, well, that's probably plenty. From 1978, Defenders #67, "Val in Valhalla, part 2: We, the Unliving..." Plot by David Anthony Kraft; plot, script, and pencils by Ed Hannigan; inks by Bruce Patterson.

We saw the previous chapter some time back, and this chapter opens in Oregon, in a state park where the Hulk has been peacefully hanging out. The Army can't have that, of course; and tries to ambush him with gas. While that doesn't work, they are still more successful than they realize, as the Hulk has a heart attack and dies! Since they didn't see his body land, they assume he just hopped off somewhere. Meanwhile, in scenic Valhalla, Harokin's forces have been defeated, since god of death-wannabe Ollerus has a moveable mountain, tear-assing across the countryside. He also has captured Valkyrie, while using Barbara Noriss as a pawn.

Back on earth, Hellcat and Nighthawk are also killed, in rather Twilight Zone fashion, in a car wreck: even seeing their bodies carted off, they don't realize they were dead until "Valkyrie" shows up for them. Ollerus's plan was to kill as many people as he had to on earth, to bring their spirits into his forces, building them up until he was declared the new god of death. Valkyrie realized, although her costume had been changed, she was in the body of Barbara Norris...which is spelled differently every time it's brought up...and she starts fighting her way out, past chatty "watch-dragons," with the help of Harokin on Aragorn. They don't see "Valkyrie" arrive with Hellcat and Nighthawk, as the Hulk shows up with a lot of souls from earth, for Ollerus to "implore you--fight with me, lest earth and Valhalla perish!"

The letters page mentions, this was the last issue for writer Dave Kraft, who was off to run a publishing company in Georgia. He wasn't done with Marvel, though; he wrote most of the Savage She-Hulk. I might have missed it before, though: he passed away in 2021 from COVID. Read more!

"Tow."

It had been a month since the last Pool and Kurt strip? Weird. That may have been because I did a couple that didn't fit in there, and scheduled them for later.

Almost at the end here, the flash on my beloved, and ancient, Canon SD600 died! How will I overexpose things now? Okay, my two settings were pitch black or overexposed. I took a couple pictures with my phone--actually several pictures, before getting a couple passable ones. Technically the phone may be a better camera, I just don't like it as much.

And we left Moon Knight in space with Man-Wolf and Gwenpool about a year ago; so I figured I'd better put him back. I think Man-Wolf and Gwen could be there with him, and they still wouldn't believe him. Or stop trying to medicate him. Gwen and Manny might even help...I actually don't know if I've seen Moon Knight and Daredevil together that often, but I definitely can see DD being sick of his nonsense.

Nighthawk gets called up because they needed a fourth for bridge.


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"Sinister."

A pleasant surprise yesterday: found the new Marvel Legends Nighthawk! Then I was able to find the old Marvel Legends Hyperion! I thought I had set him aside for just this occasion, but nope! Hype was in the same bin he'd been in since his last strip in 2016. Their Squadron Sinister teammate Speed Demon--formerly the Whizzer, when they were together, Speed Demon's his post-group solo work--had somehow weaseled his way into Flash scenes.

I have an idea for their fourth member, possibly kinda-sorta based on the current continuity. Meanwhile, while I saw Living Laser, Citizen V, and quantum whatzit armor Cap yesterday; I didn't bite yet. Probably would've for Hercules, so I'll just have to keep an eye out.


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"You'll always have the Defenders!" Great, now I'm depressed.

We saw the prior chapter some time back, but today we finally see the Hulk versus his teammates, the Defenders! From 1977, Incredible Hulk #207, "Alone Against the Defenders!" Written by Len Wein, pencils by Sal Buscema, inks by Joe Staton.

Mourning his lost love, former sub-atomic queen Jarella; the Hulk has smashed up a fair chunk of New York City while waiting for Dr. Strange. Firmly in denial, the Hulk is hoping Strange can bring her back; but their reunion gets off to the wrong foot when Strange has a little too accusatory tone, and the Hulk is a little too mad at the "puny humans." Strange wraps up Hulk with the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak, but that merely traps Hulk in a big red ball that he can hop around in! Strange starts to realize the Hulk needed a friend, but then gets sidetracked into damage control.

Following a young blonde girl from behind, the Hulk hopes she is Jarella, then is enraged when she's not. Nighthawk, Valkyrie, and Red Guardian save the girl and tussle with Hulk for a bit; before Nighthawk gets the Hulk to realize the Defenders are his friends. Regrouping at Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum, the Doctor casts out his astral form and checks Jarella's body...and finds that she was truly dead.

Shattered with grief, the Hulk takes it out on the Sanctum, then cries it out with Valkyrie. Finally composing himself, Hulk makes a surprisingly coherent apology, then excuses himself...to go somewhere, he no longer cared where.

I don't know if I would've brought back Jarella after Harlan Ellison's story, because once you do, she's pretty obviously doomed. Rather leave her a happy memory--or a torturing one, of Hulk's only moment of contentment.

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I'm not used to the Grandmaster's games going longer than two, three issues...

This one's in extra innings: from 2006, Thunderbolts #106, "Power Hungry" Written by Fabian Nicieza, pencils by Tom Grummett, inks by Gary Erskine.

Instead of the Avengers or Death, today the Grandmaster is challenging Baron Helmut Zemo, for control of a power source called the Universal Wellspring. Whoever wins could use said Wellspring to create an army of super-powered pawns (it's unclear if control was somehow conferred as well...) so the United States government actually gives Zemo a team: his Thunderbolts! This story was set post-Civil War, when bad ideas were the order of the day. Meanwhile, Grandmaster has gone back to an old fave: the Squadron Sinister!

In typical Thunderbolts tradition, both teams are full of traitors: Spidey villain Joystick was working with the Grandmaster, while Kyle "Nighthawk" Richmond was unwillingly reunited with the Squadron. He may have thought Grandmaster the lesser of two evils, and both Songbird and Radioactive Man may have agreed: could Zemo be dealt with if he won? Speed Demon is out with two broken legs, but still leaks the last Wellspring location to M.A.C.H. IV, reasoning better Zemo than an alien get it.

For his part, Zemo may not even be sure what will happen if either he or the Grandmaster get the Wellspring: he had been sniffing paint communing with alien gemstones, and that either way, the "Guardian Protocols" could be enacted. Guardian Protocols?

The weird thing is, this issue predates (by two years or so) the modern Guardians of the Galaxy set in the present day; and recently we've seen the Guardians of a thousand years ago. This team could be from even further back, although I don't recognize the skull-face in the bottom left by the word balloons. I kinda like the Kree barbarian-woman with the skull helmet, though.

On the other hand, anything Zemo says is at least doubly suspect: he was a renowned liar, and any intel you get by "communing" with anything should be double-checked. Moreover, while the Guardian Protocols sound reasonable, wouldn't they have been enacted like five hundred times prior in Marvel continuity?

The T-Bolts pile on the Squadron Sinister, and Zemo seemingly kills the Grandmaster. He also knew Joystick was a traitor, but she still manages to disrupt the Wellspring, blowing up the entire castle! I had thought this would be the penultimate chapter of this fight, but it still had a couple issues to go. Once again, time to keep an eye out.

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Eventually, I realized the Defenders fight each other pretty much every issue.

I actually had to go back and check that I hadn't blogged this one before: from 1983, Defenders #119, "Ashes, Ashes...We All Fall Down!" Written by Steven Grant (with an assist by J.M. DeMatteis), pencils by Sal Buscema, inks by Jack Abel. (And a pretty good cover by Ron Wilson and Terry Austin.)

I don't think it was, but this reads a lot like a fill-in issue with an odd framing device: the story was set about fifty issues ago, around #68. But the framing device acknowledges the recent death of Nighthawk, as perennial oddball the Elf with a Gun has kidnapped Nighthawk's former nurse, Luann Bloom, and brought her before a mysterious shadowy council. There, Luann is revealed to have been a robot, which is a revelation to her as well: she didn't know, which may have been a malfunction. (I've had this issue for years, and don't necessarily recall the previous ones, but I don't know if Luann's condition had been foreshadowed in any way, or if this was out of left field.) Having surveilled Nighthawk and the other Defenders for some time, Luann holographically shows the council a story Nighthawk had told her, about an encounter with another long-time Defenders villain, Yandroth.


Who was a woman now, as opposed to the older bald guy he had been before. Using the alien super-science Yandroth was known for, she attacks the Hulk, and is about to be pulped when she gets him with a microscopic implant shot into the Hulk's brain, and takes control of him. Meanwhile, at the Defenders' HQ (really Nighthawk's ranch) Nighthawk is getting thrown off a horse--in full costume!--while Hellcat and Valkyrie have a bit of a laugh. Yandroth surprises Nighthawk and Hellcat, taking control of Nighthawk quickly. When Valkyrie tries to help, Yandroth slaps her down; since Valkyrie explains the spell that created her won't let her fight a woman. With four Defenders her slaves, Yandroth sends the Hulk to Doctor Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum, where Strange gets sucker-punched and goes down, and Yandroth enslaves Clea as well.


Yandroth recaps her new origin for Strange: the consciousness of the original Yandroth approached a young scientist, working menial tasks at a lab, and offered her his knowledge in exchange for the chance to get revenge on the Defenders. Instead, she took control, taking Yandroth's name, costume, and science; just as she injects her implant into Dr. Strange. Still, Strange had been able to project his astral form, and summon back-up: Namor, the Sub-Mariner! Who is able to outfight a sluggish Hulk, but is then almost immediately possessed by Yandroth. Strange's spells can't penetrate Yandroth's mental shields, and anyone else he might call would get possessed as well, so Strange tries helping Valkyrie and the Hulk break the control. As the Defenders fight their possessed friends, Strange realizes, after trapping Nighthawk and Hellcat in the Sphere of Cyttorak, that Yandroth is stronger with half her slaves. He gambles on releasing them, that Yandroth has over-extended herself, and Strange is right. Partially because the female Yandroth was fighting the mind of the original as well, and she is left a seemingly mindless shell.

The shadowy council and the Elf don't think that episode was particularly enlightening, since Yandroth doesn't seem like he/she would be any help now, but they can't leave any resources untapped. Especially since they claim "The Defenders must be destroyed--or time itself will die!" Which may or may not have been true: in a Defenders reunion years later in Peter David's Incredible Hulk run, Strange would reveal whatever that was about, it was an elaborate hoax. Though he allowed the team to stay broken up, since he had come to enjoy the peace and quiet.

This issue has a Statement of Ownership, Management, and Circulation, with 10C. Total Paid Circulation: Average no. copies each issue during preceding 12 months: 139,926. Actual no. copies of single issue published nearest to filing date: 139,858.

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Somehow, the next issue wasn't Captain America versus the Hulk.

I had a guess, but it took a couple minutes for me to confirm Ronald Reagan was the President that pardoned the Hulk, in Incredible Hulk #278. I have to wonder if anyone gave Reagan any crap for this...

From 1976, Incredible Hulk #206, "A Man-Brute Berserk!" Written by Len Wein, art by Sal Buscema and Joe Staton, with a cover by Dave Cockrum. In the previous issue, during a battle with the bank robber calling himself Crypto-Man, the Hulk's love interest Jarella was killed while saving a little boy's life. Although fairly well-behaved of late, the Hulk loses it, and rampages towards New York City, intent on getting some help for Jarella from Dr. Strange. Yeah, that conversation is not gonna go well; but before that Hulk first takes out some jets in the desert, then helicopters at the Statue of Liberty, where he rips the torch and hand off to throw at them! (All the pilots parachute to safety, G.I. Joe style.)

The Hulk camps out in front of Strange's house, but the defensive spells therein prevent him from entering while Strange is out. Eventually the cops show up, but are nowhere near a match for him; and the issue ends with the Defenders confronting the Hulk. Which seems like it's going to be fights rather than hugs, but the Hulk probably isn't ready to cry it out yet. Pretty sure that's coming...
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Still Defending that copyright:

Another recent pick-up, that doesn't fit in the scanner; from 2008, The Last Defenders, written by Joe Casey, art by Jim Muniz, with co-plotting by Keith Giffen. It's good, but not quite great; set during the Initiative and featuring Tony Stark at his absolute doucheiest, a somewhat left-field use of longtime Defenders villain Yandroth and some revisionist history with the team, and a surprising array of line-up changes.

It's mildly disappointing that it sticks true to a lot of Defenders continuity, but maybe not all of it. There's a few flashbacks with Damian Hellstrom, who gets passed up for the choice gig of Sorcerer Supreme and visits his ex-wife Patsy (Hellcat) Walker; there's Nighthawk trying to make a go with any super-hero roster he can hold together, and there's She-Hulk, not looking to be part of a team and rather getting roped in anyway. The She-Hulk plotline in particular seems to be going in a direction that isn't picked up the next time she's seen, which seems to happen to her every so often.

Still killing me there isn't a Marvel Legends Nighthawk; although I'd also love a Blazing Skull, who guests here as part of Nighthawk's New Jersey based team.
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The Defenders: Making TV look good...

As typical for the Defenders, one crummy day leads to another: pissed off about Dollar Bill's TV special, which made the heroes, the criminals and the viewing public look like fools; the Foolkiller kidnaps Dollar; who leads him to the Defenders HQ--at the time, Kyle (Nighthawk) Richmond's mansion. Dollar had hoped the Defenders would kick Foolkiller's ass, but so far that hadn't been working out.

Foolkiller's death-ray gun only stuns Valkyrie, but also starts the place on fire. Clea can't put the fire completely out; Hellcat isn't able to put Foolkiller out, but Val comes back to administer him a stout beating about the skull and face.


Meanwhile, the Hulk yells at a whale; and Nighthawk violates a court order and flys over to his now-half demolished home. Upon hearing it was just a guy with a gun, he's a little cheesed off. He also seemingly outs his secret identity, except the news crew seems to think he's Hawkeye.

By the time the Hulk shows up, Nighthawk's disbanded the team; but even the Hulk thought the Defenders was a stupid idea. This does free up Valkyrie and Hellcat to look into what happened to Omega...

From 1979, the Defenders #75, "Poetic Justice" Written by Ed Hannigan, pencils by Herb Trimpe, inks by Mike Esposito.

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