Essential Defenders, v. 6

Collects: Defenders #107-25, Marvel Team-Up #119, and Avengers Annual #11 (1982-3)

Released: September 2011 (Marvel)

Format: 528 pages / black and white / $19.99 / ISBN: 9780785157540

What is this?: The Defenders spiral toward the non-team’s dissolution.

The culprits: Writers J.M. DeMatteis and artist Don Perlin

A couple of weeks ago I reviewed Batman: The Court of Owls, a recent title that might be of interest to a general audience. Last week, it was Chronicles of Conan, v. 21: Blood of the Titan and Other Stories, which — since it reprints stories almost 30 years old — has a more limited appeal. This week I remain in the past, turning my back on relevance with Essential Defenders, v. 6, another set of early ‘80s stories from late in the title’s run.

Not that I think there’s anything wrong with looking at a random slice of issues from near the end of Defenders. Every title has troughs and crests in quality; Defenders certainly had high points well after issue #1 in ‘72. I liked parts of Essential Defenders, v. 5, even if the previous volume was a bit weak. There’s no reason why some of the greatest Defenders issues couldn’t have been released in the early ‘80s, between #107-25.

But are there great issues in there? No, not really. Could’ve been, though.

J.M. DeMatteis wrote all but one issue in this collection (Steven Grant wrote #119, a flashback issue that has all the hallmarks of an inventory story that had to be used before the title’s status quo changed). DeMatteis is best known — to me, at least — for writing psychological Spider-Man stories, like Kraven’s Last Hunt and The Child Within (Spectacular Spider-Man #178-84). Basically, if you wanted a story where a Spider-Man villain cries about a difficult / tragic childhood, DeMatteis was your man.

In v. 6 DeMatteis concentrates on the theme of identity, potentially an interesting idea on a non-team in which few members can define themselves in terms of the team. Valkyrie seems to die, but she returns in a new / old Asgardian body — her original, not the one she co-opted because of the Enchantress’s spell that brought her to Midgard in the first place. She looks the same — of course; it’s magic — but everyone talks about how different she seems emotionally. DeMatteis devotes a story to Devil Slayer’s issues — Devil Slayer, everyone’s favorite Marine / alcoholic / hitman / cultist / supernatural killer with a teleportation cloak. The story involves hallucinations and drinking and many, many manly tears. Hellcat goes on a journey to discover if she’s really the daughter of the devil; Nighthawk deals with mind control and implanted memories; Hellstrom finds a double has taken the life he abandoned at District University in Washington.

Some of these are interesting in concept, such as Valkyrie’s transformation or the glimpse of the supporting cast Hellstrom abandoned in Son of Satan (reprinted in Essential Marvel Horror, v. 1). But few are interesting in execution, with the low point being in #116, in which new character Overmind seems to be trying to make the lonely Dr. Strange more miserable by showing him couples in love (or struggling with love).

The Overmind is symptomatic of the book’s biggest problem. It isn’t that the telepathic lug is little more than a vivid visual and a power set; many characters start that way and still go on to long lives. But he’s a big part of the book straying from its roots. The Defenders are a non-team, which causes a fluid membership. Characters come and go, yes, but most of the solid core remains: Dr. Strange, Hulk, Hellcat, Nighthawk, and Valkyrie. DeMatteis forcefully pushes most of those characters aside by the end of v. 6, but you can see them slowly being edged out before that. Beast, former X-Man and Avenger, is the instigator, pushing for more conformity and becoming “leader” of the team by #125. He makes the defenders into the de facto first X-Men spinoff by adding Angel and Iceman to the roster. By the end, only Beast and Gargoyle remain from #107; Valkyrie is with the team as well, but as mentioned above, it’s ostensibly a different Valkyrie.

To effect this changeover, DeMatteis wastes considerable pages over the final four issues on a vague prophecy that shuffles the Big 4 Defenders (Strange, Hulk, Namor, and Silver Surfer) off stage. To do this, he gives resolution to previous writer Steve Gerber‘s “Elf with a Gun” story. There was never any sense behind the “subplot” — Gerber wrote one-page vignettes of an Elf shooting people, apparently without any purpose behind it — but DeMatteis retroactively gives those bits of silliness meaning. It does not improve the previous installments, and tying the Elf to an attempt to write out long-term Defenders does no favors to DeMatteis’s story either.

Robbing that story of its whimsy is somewhat fitting for this volume; most of the strange, silly fun of the Defenders is missing inv. 6, replaced by DeMatteis’s heavy introspection. I don’t know whether the new direction DeMatteis wrenched the book toward was his or editorial’s, but it ill suits the book. It’s all a bit too obvious, too heavy handed for a freewheeling, fluid book like the Defenders.

Looking of the review so far, it sounds like this book is a completely failure, or nearly so. But there are some enjoyable moments. As I mentioned, Hellstrom finding someone has picked up his discarded life at District University is a neat idea and symbolically suggests the nature of a shared universe. Grant’s fill-in reminds readers of vintage Defenders — it’s set between #68 and 69, actually — and even if it is a bit tried and true, it does have Sal Buscema pencils, so I can forgive the story for not being the most innovative. DeMatteis obviously enjoys writing the Beast, and even if this isn’t my favorite interpretation of the character, he is still frequently amusing. The funniest issue is #115, in which Beast, Valkyrie, Gargoyle, and Namor are thrown into a faux-Seuss dimension; I wish Namor could have vented his frustration on the overly sweet homages, but sadly, it was a Code-approved comic.

Still, that’s not enough to let me recommend v. 6 — nowhere close, really. If you really like Beast or think previous volumes of the Essential Defenders were a touch too silly or weird, then this might be for you. Otherwise …

Or maybe if you’re a Don Perlin fan — I haven’t met any of those, but I think they’re probably out there. Perlin, who drew most of the issues in v. 6, is … fine: competent, dependable, not prone to drown in any stylistic excuses. His name probably sold few books in his time, but he was a Marvel mainstay for a reason, and you can see that reason throughout v. 6.

Given that #125 ifs the first issue of the New Defenders, you might think this (or the next volume) is a good jumping on point. Not so fast, Alphonse; you have to look at what you leap into. The New Defenders are not that fondly remembered — a 27-issue run that ended when Iceman, Beast, and Angel were needed for the launch of X-Factor, and the rest of the team was unceremoniously jettisoned into the Great Beyond. You could jump on there. Would you want to? And if you wanted to, why not do it in color with the New Defenders trade paperback, which reprints #122-31? Even I, completist that I am, have decided to end my Defenders collection with this volume. I don’t think it’s much of a decision, though, as there is little chance the New Defenders will get an Essential of its own.

Essential Defenders, v. 6, has little to recommend it beyond its value to completists. Pass on it unless you’re really into the non-team.

Rating: (1.5 of 5)

Essential Defenders, v. 5

Collects: Defenders #92-106,Marvel Team-Up #101, 111, and 116, and Captain America #268 (1981-2)

Released: July 2010 (Marvel)

Format: 448 pages / black and white / $19.99 / ISBN: 9780785145370

What is this?: The Defenders fight a war with the Six-Fingered Hand and deal with other challenges.

The culprits: Writer J.M. DeMatteis and artist Don Perlin (and others)

The last Essential I went over, Essential Avengers, v. 6, was unusual in that it was mostly devoted to one extended storyline. Similarly, more than a third of Essential Defenders, v. 5, is devoted to the Defenders’ battle against the Six-Fingered Hand, a band of six demons whose union has made them more than the sum of their parts.

Even more interesting, the entire book is written by J.M. DeMatteis — not only does he write all fifteen Defenders issues, he also writes the included Marvel Team-Up and Captain America issues. Other than a throwaway MTU issue, this allows for a narrative continuity not always seen in the later volumes of Essential titles. Creators of characters or teams may stick around for long runs, but later writers? Not so often. (DeMatteis stuck around until #131, missing only #119.) Is this continuity a good thing?

The fights with the Six-Fingered Hand make up a traditionally structured comic-book battle; for five consecutive issues, they battle a different member of the Hand. In the sixth, they fight the Hand all together, with the battle spilling into the double-sized issue #100. It is a landmark storyline, in the sense that you can use it to remember where you are in the continuity of the series. During this storyline, they pick up a new member in the person of Gargoyle, whom they allow to join them for reasons never completely elucidated. By the time you can really decide to question his presence, he’s been around for too long to easily boot off.

The other major storyline involves a group of telepaths created by a shadowy agency that claimed ties to the federal government; Nighthawk’s former girlfriend Mindy is part of that group. This is also a standard, unexceptional but unobjectionable storyline, crossing over near the end with Captain America. It simmers in the background throughout the entire volume, and it is so low-key at one point that it seems as if Dr. Strange and Clea forget the existence of members who are captured in #104 until Dr. Strange gets a telepathic summons in #106 (with the Captain America part of the crossover falling just before #106). It does make for a heck of a cliffhanger, in which you may actually believe a member of the non-team has been killed in a moment of self-sacrifice.

And that self-sacrifice makes sense — not just in the general heroic sense but in the development of that character. That’s where DeMatteis’s work shines. Most of the lesser characters — those without their own books — get a nice moment in the sun. Hellcat has to deal with tragedy in her life and with potential lies about her paternity. Nighthawk is paralyzed by a mysterious affliction after coming to grips with what he perceives as his own non-heroic nature. We see Gargoyle’s background, even if we can’t see why he’s part of the Defenders. The Son of Satan deals with his demonic side in a way that was inevitable but previous issues feared to deal with. Even Devil-Slayer gets some personal development, despite his ludicrous career path (Marine turned alcoholic turned mob hitman turned cultist turned demon hunter). While the plot is nothing to grab readers, the characters are at least entertaining in their own right.

As those who have read DeMatteis’s work on Spider-titles in the ‘90s would expect, this book features characters in mental institutions and characters with daddy issues. The Son of Satan fills the latter role, obviously, and DeMatteis works in the rare female character with mommy issues, as Hellcat deals with the idea that her domineering and disapproving mother tried to barter Hellcat’s soul for a longer life. Nighthawk also has to institutionalize an insane ex-girlfriend, who switches between love and hate for Kyle.

In a way, it’s surprising what DeMatteis (and Marvel) are getting away with here. These issues came out in the early ‘80s, not very temporally distant from the era in which Dungeons & Dragons was getting excoriated by parental groups for its demonic ties. Beyond the Six-Fingered Hand, one character of the heroes is the Son of Satan, and another one is Devil Slayer — even if he’s against devils and demons, you know they are going to figure prominently into his adventures. The Son of Satan has an extended storyline in which his father (You-Know-Who) tries to purge his human half. On the other hand, Marvel had a line-wide crossover featuring demons at the other end of the ‘80s (Inferno), so demons in comics obviously weren’t as important to pop-culture watchdogs as demons in role-playing games.

Essential Defenders, v. 5, feels a bit thin, and it is. It’s a rare Essential that doesn’t top 500 pages, but v. 5 doesn’t come close to that mark. On first glance, this is surprising, given that there are many more Defenders issues to reprint — the series lasted for 152 issues. However, the classic Defenders team — one that included Dr. Strange, Hulk, Silver Surfer, or Namor — ended with #125, and the rest of the run was the New Defenders, which had a lineup almost half made up of the original X-Men (Beast, who is introduced as a Defender in this volume, and Iceman and Angel). My guess is that Marvel wanted to have another Essentials volume of the classic Defenders, and this smaller volume leaves eighteen issues to put in that volume plus whatever they can squeeze out of other titles at the time. Still, a smaller volume should be accompanied by a smaller price tag — $17.99 or $16.99 for a slimmer Essential would be appropriate.

I appreciate wanting a unified v. 6 — those New Defenders would be quite a clash with the Defenders — but it does cause the quality and value of v. 5 to suffer. The volume includes three issues of Marvel Team-Up and a single issue of Captain America to help pad out the volume. Captain America #268 is necessary, as it’s a direct crossover with Defenders #106. Marvel Team-Up #101 also explains what the deal is with Kyle’s ex-girlfriend Mindy and why she’s in a mental institution; given how much she appears in the volume, that’s an important issue to include as well. But MTU #111 and #116 are included because they peripherally include Defenders: #111 has Valkyrie being possessed and attacking Spider-Man, and #116 has a very brief appearance by the Defenders at the end of the issue. Both end up raising more questions than they answer; in #111, Spider-Man smashes Valkyrie’s sword, Dragonfang, to end her possession, and its reforging is handled off panel, while #116 ends with Dr. Strange’s solemn pronouncement that Spider-Man may die before the day ends. In some Essentials, this sort of flotsam would hardly be remarkable, but given the rather tight storylines in v. 5, it’s quite noticeable.

The art is nearly as unified as the writing, as Don Perlin pencils all of the Defenders issues in this book. He’s a solid artist, much in the Marvel house style of the time, who has a good narrative sense and can convey a decent amount of emotion in a three-row layout. Really, you can’t ask for much more from an artist; flashiness and innovation is nice, but the art should be all about storytelling, and Perlin — whose name you don’t hear much any more — is a good storyteller. Jerry Bingham contributed one issue of MTU and the ever-reliable Herb Trimpe two; Mike Zeck penciled the Captain America issue.

Essential Defenders, v. 5 is a low-key Essential — good but unspectacular art, consistent writing, interesting characterization moments, and unspectacular plots. The book should have “steady” on its cover copy somewhere; if you’re looking for a slice of Bronze Age Marvel or are a fan of the Defenders, it’s worth a look.

Rating: (3 of 5)

Essential Defenders, v. 4

Collects: Defenders #61-91 (1978-81)

Released: July 2008 (Marvel)

Format: 584 pages / black and white / $16.99 / ISBN: 9780785130611

It’s probably safe to say that the Essential Defenders, v. 4 is not the Defenders you remember.

There’s none of the inspired Steve Gerber madness, the stuff that made Gerber and the comics he worked on intensely interesting and occasionally baffling in the ‘70s. It never has the Big 4 — Silver Surfer, Namor, Dr. Strange, and the Hulk — together at once, although it does have the latter three a few times. But Namor shows up only reluctantly, it seems, and Dr. Strange appears in less than half the book. Heck, his apprentice / lover Clea seems to be around as much. And it’s not quite what it would become, with a full cast of B-level heroes (Son of Satan, Gargoyle, Demon Slayer, Beast, etc.).

So for the most part, you have Nighthawk, Valkyrie, Hellcat, and the Hulk. These are great characters,although the modern Marvel Universe seems to do just fine without them. (The Hulk in this era of The Defenders — simple, touchy, and bean-loving — is not the current incarnation of the Jade Giant.) But they are all seemingly supporting characters, none of whom can support a title. I mean, the Hulk had his own comic, so he could obviously drive a plot, but when he goes, he goes alone. There’s no one stable on this non-team, perhaps by desire, and there’s no one for the team to rally around or be the leader in tough times. (Nighthawk pointedly shoves that obligation away repeatedly.) There’s a reason the X-Men have almost always had either Cyclops or Colossus, despite both of them being as dull as Point Barrow in January.

Writers Ed Hannigan and David Anthony Kraft hatch some good ideas here — excellent ideas, actually. The Mandrill storyline is the best, stretching throughout the volume. Mandrill, the mutant man-ape who can control any female who breathes his pheromones, is a creepy villain who is underplayed (and underused); I can’t tell whether this is because going all out with his powers would be too unsettling for kids (or adults, really) or would have violated the Comics Code. In any event, it’s fascinating to watch Valkyrie’s struggle against a villain simple biology has made an easy target for male heroes but near impossible for her to defeat. Her rage and frustration are nicely played.

A confrontation between Black Panther and Namor is interesting, for no other reason than I don’t think the two rulers had ever clashed before, but the near war between their two nations gets overlooked in the Marvel Universe proper because it happened in Defenders. The “Defenders for a Day” story, in which hanger-on Dollar Bill throws open Defenders membership to anyone, starts off with the chaos of a dozen or two unaffiliated superheroes showing up at Defenders HQ but disappointingly ends with an ineffectual fight against supervillains and petulant heroes.

Unfortunately, there’s a lot of ideas that fall flat. I don’t care about the Defenders battling the Unnameable, although I am interested in what Hannigan has against — or for — Houghton-Mifflin. (He uses the company’s name, written backwards, as a foreign language.) When Lunatik went from some weird vigilante to fragments of an interstellar pirate prince, I stopped caring. Foolkiller just doesn’t quite work in the Defenders framework — should a guy with a ray gun really be such a challenge? — and although I’m sure Omega the Unknown’s story deserved to be finished, I wish it hadn’t been dragged into Defenders, even if Ruby Thursday was used to help finish it up. Nighthawk’s millionaire playboy identity is investigated by federal agents, but that story has already been done in Defenders. I don’t care about Valkyrie’s duties in Valhalla; although her interactions with our world are interesting, I don’t care about the war among the Asgardians, especially since it seems to be between Hela (the good guy!) and some upstart. A war in Asgard without Thor or Odin or Loki is pointless.

And there’s only so much of Hellcat’s “golly-whillikers-gee-whiz-shucks” dialogue I can take before I just pray someone beats the cornball right out of her.

The art comes mainly from Herb Trimpe and Don Perlin. Trimpe’s art is good, and as one of the definitive Hulk artists, he’s a good fit for the title. However, his run is marred by multiple inkers and is a good study in the effect different inkers can have on the same penciller. Perlin is a solid ‘70s / ‘80s artist, although perhaps not quite the equal of Trimpe. There’s also a few issues by Sal Buscema, and any chance to see him draw the Hulk is always a bonus.

I want to recommend this book, but I feel it’s missing something. It feels ragged, sometimes; the transitions between status quos aren’t quite as smooth as they should be. It also feels like it’s still having a bit of a hangover from Gerber’s days. It has big ideas that it can’t quite deliver on. To be fair, however, this book was quite forward thinking for its day, featuring strong, independent female leads in the ‘70s. (Not quite as strong as Chris Claremont women — there is such a thing as going too far, after all.)

Still, it falls short of being excellent.

Rating: (2 of 5)