Yeah, try your 'gender inspection' on Val, see what that gets you.

Huh, another book with Daimon Hellstrom, I wonder if that means anything? From 1983, Defenders #120, "Sanctuary!" Written by J. M. DeMatteis, pencils by Don Perlin, inks by Jack Abel, Kim DeMulder, and Andy Mushynsky.

The bulk of this issue is Daimon, the Son of Satan, in a really maudlin struggle for his identity at a monastery: his "darksoul" maybe wasn't in control anymore, but then, what was left of him without it or fighting it all the time. He was in love with Patsy Walker, Hellcat; and seemed to want a "normal" life; which I think we would see happen for them briefly later: either just long enough to enjoy it before it was taken away, or long enough to realize that wasn't them. At the monastery, Daimon befriends a mysterious new monk, who seems to have a strange power, trying to help him keep it under control. Unfortunately, the 'monk' remembers who he really was: the Miracle Man--not that one, although honestly, at this point he's got a better chance of making a comeback...Anyhow, Miracle Man steals the darksoul from Daimon. And the trident, although it doesn't look as great in green. I wasn't surprised he turned on Daimon, but that this was a two-parter, since Miracle Man was the definition of second-rate: I was thinking he would get got by Scourge next issue, but no, that was later in Thing #24.

Patsy keeps having dreams about Daimon, so she rallies the current Defenders available to help; after a scene in a gym with Beast and Valkyrie, where a meathead accosts her as a man, for the crime of being far stronger than him. Yeah, I'm sure that never happens nowadays... 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!

He's an Eternal, too? Crap, that's gonna come up again.

For some reason, at some point I was positive I had an almost complete collection of Defenders, which doesn't make any sense, since I've never been able to read the last two years of the title! The "New Defenders" stuff with Beast, Angel, and Iceman; after Dr. Strange, Namor, and the Hulk are all written out? Never been able to get into it; I'm not sure why. This guy's tenure on the team was up around about then, anyway: from 1983, the Defenders #117, "The Gift" Written by J. M. DeMatteis, pencils by Don Perlin, inks by Jack Abel.

The Over-Mind had originally been (and would be again...) an alien Eternal with a billion minds collected within it; but those consciousnesses were believed either destroyed or suppresed, and now six dead telepaths, the Chorus, resided within. After a memorial service for Kyle (Nighthawk) Richmond, they realized they would need closure on their past lives, since they lived in a ten-foot-tall ginger now...sounds like the worst season of the Real World yet!

Meanwhile, Valkyrie wonders what's wrong with her best pal, Hellcat; who seems suddenly cold to her: Val had been restored to her own body, but was so different she was like a stranger to Patsy. Val pretty much picks up Patsy's ass and sets her straight: they were still besties. They get back to Dr. Strange's in time to welcome Over-Mind to the team...but, he would leave by the New Defenders era, and be a bad-guy again by his appearance in Quasar (a four-issue stretch, he wouldn't appear on the covers once!) so whatevs. Read more!

With that lead-in, kind of have to post this today.

I always think I have more Defenders issues than I actually do; even though #119 was the only one I bought off the racks. (Actually, I'm not even positive about that; maybe I got it in a trade or something.) I thought I had bought almost the whole run out of the quarter bins; but I didn't get that many. And I know I've had the last issue of the series around, waiting to blogged for "The End" week, and I just can't bring myself to plow through it. But, let's try this issue from the bins: from 1982, Defenders #103, "The Haunting of Christiansboro!" Written by J. M. DeMatteis, pencils by Don Perlin, inks by Joe Sinnott.

We open with something not always seen in this title: Defenders giving a crap about a teammate and showing honest concern for their welfare, as Clea and Devil-Slayer track down the Gargoyle, who had taken off a week prior. Then, a scene that I had seen before--I had to check I hadn't blogged this one already! Hellcat recovers her magical shadow-cloak in the ruins of her house, but is surprised when a young child comes out of it, having accidentally fallen in a few issues prior. (That kid had to have been missing a couple days; his explanation to his parents would've been a joy to hear.) Disenchanted with the thing, Patsy folds it in upon itself and out of this world. Summoning the Defenders, Clea tells her she never needed that thing; but then interrupts Kyle Richmond in the middle of a tax investigation: he blurts out he's no longer a Defender, get lost; which is confusing to everyone in the room who didn't see Clea. Still, Kyle gets off with just having to pay $767 grand in back taxes; but his celebration is short-lived, as a grinning government goon from another previous issue tells Kyle that he got him off easy.

Back at Dr. Strange's house, the Gargoyle recaps his origin a bit: short answer, he had been an old man before making a deal with demons to save his small town, but in double-crossing them he was trapped as the Gargoyle. Valkyrie suggests he needs to go home, and the lot of them teleport to Christiansboro...which they find deserted. (They also leave just before the arrival of the Beast, who would have to wait an issue or two.) Splitting up to investigate, Hellcat meets "Simple" Joe, who tells her about "the hauntin'," which drove the rest of the townsfolk away. As the creepy fog intensifies, the Gargoyle sees the ghost of his brother, who died when they were children, then his mother; as Clea and Valkyrie are surrounded by ghosts downtown and Devil-Slayer finds a little girl that is of course eeeeeevil. This isn't a simple haunting, though: it's Null, the Living Darkness! Who we've actually seen on the blog before, but his origin story is much darker than that panel would indicate: long ago, a race of angelic beings that lived on the moon searched the universe for truth, a reason for being; not finding it, the race killed themselves, and their collective despair survived as Null.

While the Gargoyle is driven to attempt suicide over how he feels he failed his family, Null gives him something to fight, and he nearly sacrifices his own life-force to stop the monster. Dying, he's visited again by the ghosts of his family, who want him to bury the past, move forward, and live. I think he would be a lot more upbeat going forward--not quite to the Beast's level of coping, but close--but I never understood why he was so bent out of shape to save his town. Having grown up in a small town, I didn't think there was any one person whose job that was, or who would care. Also, I'm probably wrong, but I feel like the Defenders faced horrible manifestations of negative emotions all the time. The Elf with a Gun was probably one...

I'm off today, all the better to watch horror movies! Have a safe, happy Halloween!
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I don't know why the Hulk gets a cover blurb this issue...

...unless to tie-in, however tenuously, to the TV show? From 1978, Defenders #66, "Val in Valhalla, part 1: War of the Dead!" Written by David Anthony Kraft, pencils by Ed Hannigan, inks by Bruce Patterson.

So no Hulk this month, save a brief floating head; and the other Defenders get only brief appearances or a mere mention: Hellcat is concerned over the departure of Valkyrie, and Kyle (Nighthawk) Richmond was going to go under financial investigation that would seemingly run longer than the course of the book. The rest is the return of Valkyrie to Asgard, which is not as happy an occasion as it could be: instead of reporting to Odin, Val has to visit the Three Fates. (It's mentioned Odin was not currently "leige-lord" of Valhalla, since I think Hela was in charge.) She is treated to visions of a horrible future, worse than Ragnarok, with death even striking earth and her Defenders, and ending with her banishment to Niffleheim. Val grasps at the hope that maybe forewarned she could stop this; and the Norns tell her no in no uncertain terms. Unafraid, Val resolves to surrender herself and accept Hela's judgement, but the Norns remind her she shouldn't just be worried about herself: she was still using the body of Barbara Norriss.

In scenic Valhalla, the sea reavers of Tyr have won the first skirmish of the war against Hela's Valkyries and the legions of the noble dead, led by Harokin. (He's appeared multiple times, but I remember him as covering for Thor in the Frog of Thunder issues!) Val seems resigned to being sent to Niffleheim, the bad hell of Norse myth; but Hela just waves off the Norns as full of crap: she wanted Val there to lead her forces against Ollerus. Ollerus? Is that name a joke or something? I don't know, but he's running to be the next God of Death, backed by his wizard staff: jester-looking Poppo the Cunning, and disaffected blonde Cassiolena. Cassiolena at least had made appearances before, in Defenders #4. Visiting one of her fellow Valkyries, Val notices Valhalla doesn't look as nice since Hela took over, and some of her troops are not thrilled with her. Now, here we get into a weird bit of Norse mythology, as all the warriors fighting here are honored dead, and any slain would return to life in the morning: all except Val. If she dies, Barbara Norriss's body goes with her!

Onnerus has some kind of magic mountain going, which causes massive rockslides, not caring if his own forces were squashed as well. Invading the mountain, Val finds...her old body, in the classic uniform! Touching her forehead, a mystic whammy awakens the mad Barbara Norriss, in the Valkyrie's immortal, super-strong body! The next issue blurb promises "The Death of the Defenders" but has to add a "(Really!)" since I think they had played that card before... Read more!

Traditionally, no one's happy about a fill-in issue, but this time...

This was a comicon pickup that I was pretty sure was going to be a reprint of some sort, but no! It's burning off a fill-in issue, but with somewhat higher production values than usual, and a better story behind it. From 2011, Defenders: From the Marvel Vault #1, "Mind Slam" Plot by Fabian Nicieza, script by Kurt Busiek, pencils by Mark Bagley, inks by Andrew Hennessy.

In more ways than one, this was set during Kurt Busiek and Erik Larsen's Defenders run, wherein the curse of Yandroth forced Dr. Strange, the Hulk, the Sub-Mariner and (usually) the Silver Surfer together whenever there was an emergency. Behind the scenes, in case Busiek or Larsen fell behind, a fill-in issue was commissioned; plotted by Nicieza and drawn by Bagley...and left in a drawer, since they managed to stay on schedule! So, it was finally scheduled for this Vault event with similar unpublished stories, but Nicieza didn't have time to script it, and had lost the original plot! Which thus left Busiek to figure something out, and he did!


The Defenders are called together once again, but this time...they're Jerry, Nicholls, Ramona and Tyler? It's our usual heroes, but with the minds of four college students after a night of Red Bull and Pathfinder. You'd think D&D kids would know better, but they immediately split the party, looking around on their own; and Jerry the Surfer quickly finds his heart's desire: Shalla Bal and the Shi'ar homeworld! Man, the Surfer has weird tastes...no, as Shalla explains, he would have love and not have to give up journeying, the best of both worlds. Ramona the Hulk finds a happy place as well: a beach day, with all his old villains now his friends! Nicholls/Strange thinks this might be a trap, for about one second before joining Eternity--with an old joke!

Tyler/Namor is left to his own fondest wish: an underwater picnic with a fabulous blue babe, who he wouldn't know was Lady Dorma. Namor's happy place also appears to involve killing all humans, since their picnic ground is the sunken Statue of Liberty, but that's not what snaps Tyler out of it...

I won't spoil the rest, but it's a solid, fun issue that fits easily into the original run. Which I still need to finish, come to think of it...I wonder if any of the other Vault issues were this good.
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"The End" Week: Secret Defenders #25!

I've been running this "The End" feature since 2009, and I've looked at a lot of last issues. So much so, that I have to go out of my way to find them now. Which often leads to some pretty dire comics. This one was so bad I was going to skip it, but then something came up in the news that reminded me of it again. From 1995, Secret Defenders #25, "Final Defense, part 4: Dead on Arrival" Written by Tom Brevoort and Mike Kanterovich, breakdowns by Bill Wylie, inks by Tony DeZuniga.

Secret Defenders had begun as a rotating lineup team book: Dr. Strange would gather up a fistful of heroes, to face whatever that month's problem was. #12-13 (and #14 the only issues of the book I recall reading, were an inversion of that formula, with Thanos putting together a team. By #16 Dr. Druid was setting up the teams, but while Cage and Deadpool are on the cover, a more core group was forming: Shadowoman (later Sepulcre) and Cadaver. But they may have been duped by Druid, who would be absorbed by the demonic Slorioth. (In an inversion of the traditional Beard of Evil, evil Druid didn't have Druid's facial hair!)

Recruited from the past, old school Defenders Namor, Hulk, and the Silver Surfer battle the colossal Slorioth; alongside Drax, Deathlok, and Dagger. (Why the latter three, I couldn't say.) Young wizard Joshua Pryce ("Avatar of the Cognoscenti") with his sidekick head-in-a-jar Al, battles the evil Druid, who's larger plan seems to be make things hopeless and crappy on earth, in order to expand Slorioth's sphere of influence against other mystic forces like the Vishanti. (Judging by recent events, Slorioth could be due a comeback...)

Pryce frees Cadaver and Sepulcre from Druid's influence, but the Silver Surfer from the past is about to be killed, which would wreck the timeline. Still, Pryce stalls long enough for the Vishanti to get involved...for binding arbitration? That involves the Living Tribunal, so it's slightly more dramatic than that sounded. Slorioth is booted from this dimension, and while Cadaver is restored (if still dead) and Sepulcre becomes Shadowoman again; Druid is still on the loose, "free once more to pursue his own agendas!" Which would be in Druid #1, so that didn't go so well for him.

I was going to skip blogging this issue, but it came back to mind since Brevoort was in the news recently; since Jim Starlin was "moving on" from Marvel Comics over a dispute with him on the editorial side. Per Starlin, Brevoort approved a plot for the Thanos on-going series, that was pretty close to a plot for the graphic novel Starlin was already working on with Alan Davis! Rather than have his book undercut, Starlin opted to walk away from Marvel. Without hearing both sides...it still sounds bad. Not unlike this comic.
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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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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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