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?