The Defenders

Picked up both of Marvel's recent Defenders reprints.

Coming Of The Defenders comprises their first three appearances. Essentially they read like three Dr Strange stories guest starring The Hulk and the Sub-Mariner.

Tournament Of Heroes is four issues from the late seventies. By this point Hulk is the only original member left.
The stories are as corny as hell and it's easy to see why Defenders didn't have the staying power of other Marvel titles as it's nowhere near as well written as the Spider-Man or X-Men titles of the time and (Hulk excepted) it doesn't have the iconic characters of The Avengers.
Nevertheless there is some fun to be had as this run features a huge number of guest appearances by forgotten B list Marvel heroes and villains from the 70s.

Have you read the new Defenders limited series? I'm picking it up, as a longtime Defenders fan, but it really doesn't read like the Defenders to me and I just don't see the point of Red She-Hulk.

I actually remember the story you referred to, I think. The Defenders for a Day storyline, no? I seem to remember it being quite fun. Not sure Defenders could be said to lack staying power, though: 152 issues in all, over 14 years! And if you've never read Steve Gerber or JM DeMatteis's runs, you don't know what you've missed...

Worth sticking with the Gerber run after he left just to see the final solution to The Elf problem...

Giffen ad DeMatties did their usual bang up de-construction as well, so yeah, I'd recommend both those runs as well.

DeMatteis did some fantastic stuff with characters like Daimon Hellstrom, Devil Slayer and Gargoyle during his run, anything but the normal superhero fare. If I remember right, he even wrote Jesus into one story!

I got almost all of J.M. DeMatteis' run at a used bookstore that was selling them 3 for a dollar. I bought them on a whim, figuring that at the very least I was in for a good Avengers knock-off but MAN. . .what a run. It's often pained me that his brilliance there goes mostly unrecognized these days, but at least now I know of at least two other people who appreciated it. I thought it was just me, yelling at the padded walls. . . .

Funny side-note: Based on those wonderfully poignant and surprisingly uplifting stories, I went out and bought a bunch more of the Defenders, this time by the guy who preceded DeMatteis. The first of those issues I read seemed to be about how much the Hulk liked beans.

It is my favorite comic book of all time.

Who was that? David Anthony Kraft, maybe? I think I remember the story. "More beans".

Defenders always seemed to have a perfect mix of action, pathos and humour. I can't really think of any part of the original run that I didn't like (well, aside from 'The New Defenders'). Shame they've been largely misused or ignored since then.

tony ingram wrote:Defenders always seemed to have a perfect mix of action, pathos and humour.

I bought two Marvel trades of the Defenders a while ago, just to get Stever Gerber's run. I haven't read it yet, no time, but I'm really looking forward to it.

Mbast1 wrote:

tony ingram wrote:Defenders always seemed to have a perfect mix of action, pathos and humour.

I bought two Marvel trades of the Defenders a while ago, just to get Stever Gerber's run. I haven't read it yet, no time, but I'm really looking forward to it.

Did you ever get around to it?

Probably. It's been two years.

The thing about The Defenders that will always be special to me is that at one point (either 1979 or 1980, I believe), they set up their headquarters in Montclair, NJ.
(That was the town I was from.    )

No super team has ever been based in Ipswich..  

I'd even settle for the Champions.

tony ingram wrote:No super team has ever been based in Ipswich..  

You don't even live in Ipswich.

Near enough...

If any superheroes show up in the UK they're more likely to choose Ipswich for their base than Northwich.

Lucy McGough wrote:If any superheroes show up in the UK they're more likely to choose Ipswich for their base than Northwich.

If they're from America, it won't occur to them that there's life beyond London.

Come to think of it, if they're from London, it won't occur to them that there's life beyond London...

Unless they work for the BBC, which is sending all its employees to Salford, whether they like it or not.

Lucy McGough wrote:Unless they work for the BBC, which is sending all its employees to Salford, whether they like it or not.

Aren't there laws against that sort of thing?

Hey, Salford's not that bad!

tony ingram wrote:No super team has ever been based in Ipswich..  

I'd even settle for the Champions.

What about the Inferior Five?

I applied for membership once, but they rejected me. Screw 'em.

What was your codename?

Lucy McGough wrote:What was your codename?

Tremendous Tone.

That's a cool name! What powers do you have?

The ability to turn any positive situation into a negative one with a single word. I'm also irresistible to cats.

tony ingram wrote:The ability to turn any positive situation into a negative one with a single word. I'm also irresistible to cats.

Does that mean they come to you for attention or they come to you and pee on your leg?   

MajorHoy wrote:

tony ingram wrote:The ability to turn any positive situation into a negative one with a single word. I'm also irresistible to cats.

Does that mean they come to you for attention or they come to you and pee on your leg?   

Fortunately, the latter has never yet occurred. Not with a cat, anyway...

tony ingram wrote:The ability to turn any positive situation into a negative one with a single word.

Haven't noticed it so far.

Lucy McGough wrote:

tony ingram wrote:The ability to turn any positive situation into a negative one with a single word.

Haven't noticed it so far.

Hah! My powers have failed!

I've got superpowers too.

Lucy McGough wrote:I've got superpowers too.

You mean the ear lasers are working again?

Yes, so mind your Ps and Qs.

Lucy McGough wrote:Probably. It's been two years.

Sadly, no. Haven't seen them since I posted that. I need to take a week off work just to organize this room.

Didn't know Tony had a double

Mbast1 wrote:

Lucy McGough wrote:Probably. It's been two years.

Sadly, no. Haven't seen them since I posted that. I need to take a week off work just to organize this room.

I recently found a lengthy run of Alan Grant Demon comics I'd been hunting for underneath a box that obviously hadn't been moved from the same spot on the floor for about two years.

You moved the box? Spiders could have been using that to spin their webs from, you heartless monster.

Lucy McGough wrote:You moved the box? Spiders could have been using that to spin their webs from, you heartless monster.

Actually, I just finally got around to putting its contents on ebay. Some old Disney comics I'd forgotten about.

Didn't know you were into Mickey Mouse.

Lucy McGough wrote:Didn't know you were into Mickey Mouse.

I'm not, they were part of a collection I bought for resale a few years back. I have no idea why they ended up being overlooked.

'Cos your house has got, like, loads of comics in it.

tony ingram wrote:

Lucy McGough wrote:You moved the box? Spiders could have been using that to spin their webs from, you heartless monster.

Actually, I just finally got around to putting its contents on ebay. Some old Disney comics I'd forgotten about.

Lucy McGough wrote:Didn't know you were into Mickey Mouse.

Some of the older Mickey Mouse were quite good . . . not just mindless crap that makes the Teletubbies look more sophisticated than the House of Parliament.

And old Donald Duck comic books can be very intelligent and incisive.

True. But as with any characters who've been around that long, the quality can vary wildly. I don't think these books were great examples.

The Defenders should have met up with these guys:




(I never read these, so I have no idea if/how lame they were.)

That art is hurting my eyes.

tony ingram wrote:That art is hurting my eyes.

At least it's not Rob Liefeld (I think).

MajorHoy wrote:

tony ingram wrote:That art is hurting my eyes.

At least it's not Rob Liefeld (I think).

It's clearly Liefeld inspired, though. They don't seem to have any feet.

Who needs feet when you can fly?

Lucy McGough wrote:Who needs feet when you can fly?

You have to land sometime.

Why? If I could fly I'd never land.

Lucy McGough wrote:Why? If I could fly I'd never land.

Then how would you sleep? Think it through...

Some birds can sleep while flying.