{"id":31302,"date":"2025-01-10T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-10T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=31302"},"modified":"2025-01-09T19:14:10","modified_gmt":"2025-01-09T19:14:10","slug":"the-defenders-epic-collection-volume-1-the-day-of-the-defenders-1969-1973","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2025\/01\/10\/the-defenders-epic-collection-volume-1-the-day-of-the-defenders-1969-1973\/","title":{"rendered":"The Defenders Epic Collection volume 1: The Day of the Defenders (1969-1973)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\" \"\"
\nBy Roy Thomas<\/strong>, Steve Englehart<\/strong>, Len Wein<\/strong>, Gene Colan<\/strong>, Marie Severin<\/strong>, Herb Trimpe<\/strong>, Ross Andru<\/strong>, Sal Buscema<\/strong>, Bob Brown<\/strong>, Don Heck<\/strong>, Tom Palmer<\/strong>, Johnny Craig<\/strong>, Bill Everett<\/strong>, Frank McLaughlin<\/strong>, Jim Mooney<\/strong>, Frank Bolle<\/strong>, Frank Giacoia<\/strong>, John Verpoorten<\/strong>, Mike Esposito<\/strong> & various (Marvel)
\nISBN: 978-1-3029-3356-2 (TPB\/Digital edition)<\/p>\n

This book includes Discriminatory Content<\/strong> produced in less enlightened times.<\/em><\/p>\n

For kids – of any and all ages – there is a simple response to and primal fascination with brute strength and feeling dangerous, which surely goes some way towards explaining the perennial interest in angry tough guys who break stuff… as best exemplified by Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner<\/strong> and the Incredible Hulk<\/strong>. When you add the mystery and magic of Doctor Strange<\/strong>, the recipe for thrills, spills and chills becomes simply irresistible…<\/p>\n

Last of the big star conglomerate super-groups, T<\/strong>he Defenders<\/strong> would eventually number amongst its membership almost every hero – and a few villains – in the Marvel Universe. No real surprise there then, as initially they were composed of the company\u2019s bad-boy antiheroes: misunderstood, outcast and often actually dangerous to know.<\/p>\n

For Marvel, the outsider super-group must have seemed a conceptual inevitability – once they\u2019d finally published it. Back then, apart from Spider-Man<\/strong> and Daredevil<\/strong>, all their superstars regularly teamed up in various mob-handed assemblages and, in the wake of the Defenders\u2019 success, even more super-teams comprising pre-existing characters were rapidly mustered. These included the Champions<\/strong>, Invaders<\/strong>, New Warriors<\/strong>\u00a0 and so forth – but none of them had any Truly Very Big Guns…<\/p>\n

They never won the fame or acceptance of other teams, but that simply seemed to leave creators open to taking more chances and playing the occasional narrative wild card. The genesis of the team derived from their status as publicly distrusted villains, threats or menaces, but before all that later inventive approbation. The scintillating collection compiles early days as first seen in whole or in part in Dr. Strange<\/strong> #183, Sub-Mariner<\/strong> #22, 33 & 35, Incredible Hulk<\/strong> #126, Marvel Feature<\/strong> #1-3, Defenders<\/strong> #1-11, and Avengers<\/strong> #115-118 covering November 1969 to December 1973, re-presenting a wealth of extended and linked sagas that would reshape comics.<\/p>\n

The first tale in this volume comes from Dr. Strange<\/strong> #183 in \u2018They Walk by Night!\u2019<\/em> where Roy Thomas, Gene Colan & Tom Palmer introduced a deadly threat to humanity. Elder demon race The Undying Ones<\/em> were returning, hungry to reconquer the Earth they once ruled, but as the sorcerer\u2019s series unexpectedly ended with that issue, the story went nowhere until the Sub-Mariner<\/strong> #22 (February 1970) and \u2018The Monarch and the Mystic!\u2019<\/em> brought the Prince of Atlantis into the mix. Here Thomas, Marie Severin & Johnny Craig told a sterling tale of sacrifice in which the Master of the Mystic Arts seemingly dies holding the gates of Hell shut with the Undying Ones sealed behind them.<\/p>\n

The extended saga concluded on an upbeat note in The Incredible Hulk<\/strong> #126 (April 1970) as Thomas & Herb Trimpe revealed in \u2018…<\/em>Where Stalks the Night-Crawler!\u2019<\/em> how a New England cult dispatches helpless Bruce Banner<\/em> to the nether realms in an attempt to undo Strange\u2019s sacrifice. Luckily, cultist Barbara Norris<\/em> has last-minute second thoughts and her own dire sacrifice frees the mystic, and seemingly ends the threat of the Undying Ones forever. At the end of the issue Strange retired. Although forsaking magic, he was soon back as the fates and changing reading tastes called him to duty as magic and the supernatural themes rose in popularity. As Namor became an early advocate of the ecology movement, in issues #34-35 of his own title (February & March 1971) the next step in the antihero \u00a0revolution came when he recruited Hulk and Silver Surfer<\/strong> for\u00a0 a critical cause.<\/p>\n

Antihero super-nonteam The Defenders<\/strong> officially begins with Sub-Mariner<\/strong> #34-35 (cover-dated February & March 1971). As previously cited, the Prince of Atlantis was an ardent activist and advocate of the ecology movement, and here takes radical steps to save Earth in \u2018Titans Three!\u2019 <\/em>by fractiously recruiting other outcasts to help him destroy a US Nuclear Weather-Control station. In concluding chapter \u2018Confrontation!\u2019 <\/em>(Thomas, Sal Buscema & Jim Mooney) the always-misunderstood outcasts unite to battle a despotic dictator\u2019s legions, the US Army, UN defence forces and Avengers<\/strong> to prevent the malfunctioning station vaporising half the planet\u2026
\n\"\"
\nWith that debacle smoothed over life resumed its usual frenetic pace for the Hulk and Namor until giant sized try-out comic Marvel Feature<\/strong> #1. Cover-dated December 1971, it presented \u2018The Day of the Defenders!\u2019<\/em> as a mysteriously re-empowered Stephen Strange<\/em> summons the Avenging Son and the Jade Juggernaut to help him stop the deathbed doom of crazed super-mind Yandroth<\/em>. Determined to not go gently into the dark, the Scientist Supreme had built an \u201cOmegatron\u201d programmed to obliterate the Earth as soon as Yandroth\u2019s heart stopped beating. With magic ineffective, only the brute strength of the misunderstood misanthropes could possibly stop it…<\/p>\n

Naturally the fiend hadn\u2019t told the whole truth, but the day was saved – actually only postponed – in a canny classic from Thomas, Ross Andru & Bill Everett. The issue also shares how Strange regained his mojo in \u2018The Return\u2019<\/em> by Thomas, Don Heck & Frank Giacoia: a heady 10-page thriller proving that not all good things come in large packages.<\/p>\n

Clearly destined for great things, the astounding antiheroes reassembled in Marvel Feature <\/strong>#2 (March 1972) with Sal Buscema replacing Everett as inker for late Halloween treat \u2018Nightmare on Bald Mountain!\u2019 <\/em>By capturing archfoe Dr. Strange, extradimensional dark lord Dormammu<\/em> sought to invade Earth\u2019s realm through a portal in Vermont, only to be savagely beaten back by the mage\u2019s surly sometime comrades, before reuniting in #3 (June 1972, by Thomas, Andru & Everett ) to face a revive old Lee\/Kirby \u201cfurry underpants\u201d monster in \u2018A Titan Walks Among Us!\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

Until thrashed by the Defenders, Xemnu the Titan<\/em> was an alien super-telepath seeking to repopulate his desolate homeworld by stealing America\u2019s children. Of course, older fans recognised him as the cover-hogging star of Journey into Mystery<\/strong> #62 (November 1960) where he acted as a road-test for a later Marvel star in a short tale entitled \u2018I Was a Slave of the Living Hulk!\u2019<\/em>…<\/p>\n

An undoubted hit, The Defenders<\/strong> exploded swiftly into their own title (cover-dated August 1972), to begin a bold, offbeat run of reluctant adventures scripted by superteam wunderkind Steve Englehart. As a group of eclectic associates occasionally called together to save the world (albeit on a miraculously monotonous monthly basis) they were billed as a \u201cnon-team\u201d – whatever that is – but it didn\u2019t affect the quality of their super-heroic shenanigans. With Sal B as regular penciller, an epic adventure ensued with \u2018I Slay by the Stars!\u2019<\/em> (Giacoia inks) as sorcerer Necrodamus<\/em> seeks to sacrifice Namor and free those pesky Undying Ones: a mission that promptly leads to conflict with an old ally in \u2018The Secret of the Silver Surfer!\u2019 <\/em>(inked by John Verpoorten) before concluding in the Mooney-inked \u2018Four Against the Gods!\u2019 <\/em>Here the Defenders take their war to the dimensional dungeon of the Undying Ones and rescued the long-imprisoned and now utterly insane Barbara Norris.<\/p>\n

Clearly a fan of large casts and extended epics, Englehart added a fighting femme fatale to the mix with \u2018The New Defender!\u2019 <\/em>(inked by new regular Frank McLaughlin) as Asgardian exiles Enchantress<\/em> and Executioner<\/em> embroil the antiheroes in their long-running and lethal love-spat. The fallout includes bringing The <\/strong>Black Knight<\/strong> briefly into the group and turning Barbara into the latest incarnation of Feminist Fury (these were far less enlightened days) The Valkyrie<\/strong>.
\n\"\"
\nDefenders<\/strong> #5 began a long-running plot thread with major repercussions for the Marvel Universe. The denouement left Black Knight an ensorcelled, immobile stone statue, and, as Strange and Co. searched for a cure, the long defused Omegatron suddenly resumed its countdown to global annihilation in \u2018World Without End?\u2019<\/em>, after which the increasingly isolationist Silver Surfer momentarily \u201cjoins\u201d in #6 to share \u2018The Dreams of Death!\u2019<\/em> as lightweight magic menace Cyrus Black<\/em> attacks, and is rapidly repulsed.<\/p>\n

After a spiffy team pin-up by Sal Buscema, Defenders<\/strong> #7 jumps right in as Len Wein co-scripts with Englehart and Frank Bolle inks Sal Buscema in \u2018War Below the Waves!\u2019 <\/em>Here tempestuous ex-Avenger Hawkeye <\/strong>briefly climbs aboard the non-team bandwagon to help defeat undersea tyrant Attuma<\/em> and soviet renegade T<\/em>he<\/em> Red Ghost<\/em>: a bombastic battle to usurp Sub-Mariner of his titles and kingdom concluding a month later in \u2018…<\/em>If Atlantis Should Fall!\u2019<\/em>, with Englehart providing all the words and McLaughlin inking. Since Defenders<\/strong> #4 the forward-thinking scripter had been putting players in place for a hugely ambitious crossover experiment: one that turned the industry on its head. Next here comes a prologue taken from the end of Avengers<\/strong> #115 which finally set the ball rolling.<\/p>\n

Drawn by Bob Brown & Mike Esposito, \u2018Alliance Most Foul!\u2019<\/em> sees interdimensional despot the Dread Dormammu<\/em> and Asgardian god of Evil Loki<\/em> unite in search of an ultimate weapon to give them final victory against their foes. They resolve to trick the Defenders into securing its six component parts by \u201crevealing\u201d that the reconstructed Evil Eye<\/em> can restore the petrified Black Knight. That plan is initiated at the end of Defenders <\/strong>#8: a brief opening chapter in \u2018The Avengers\/Defenders Clash\u2019<\/em> entitled \u2018Deception!\u2019<\/em> wherein a message from the Black Knight\u2019s spirit is intercepted by the twin entities of evil, leading directly to \u2018Betrayal!\u2019<\/em> in Avengers<\/strong> #116 (Englehart, Brown & Esposito) with the World\u2019s Mightiest Heroes hunting for their missing comrade and \u201cdiscovering\u201d old enemies Hulk and Sub-Mariner may have turned him to stone.<\/p>\n

This and third chapter \u2018<\/em>Silver Surfer Vs. the Vision and the Scarlet Witch\u2019<\/em> see the rival teams split up: one to gather the scattered sections of the Eye and the other to stop them at all costs. Defenders<\/strong> #9 (Sal B & McLaughlin art) begins with tense recap \u2018Divide …<\/em>and Conquer\u2019<\/em> before \u2018The Invincible Iron Man Vs. Hawkeye the Archer\u2019<\/em> and \u2018Dr. Strange Vs. the Black Panther and Mantis\u2019<\/em> sheds more suspicion and doubt on the vile villains\u2019 subtle master-plan. Avengers <\/strong>#117 \u2018Holocaust\u2019<\/em>, \u2018Swordsman Vs. the Valkyrie\u2019<\/em> and crucial turning point \u2018Captain America Vs. Sub-Mariner\u2019<\/em> (Brown & Esposito) lead to the penultimate clash in Defenders <\/strong>#10 (Sal B & Bolle) in \u2018<\/em>Breakthrough! The Incredible Hulk Vs. Thor\u2019<\/em> before an inevitable joining together of the warring camps in \u2018<\/em>United We Stand!\u2019<\/em> Tragically it is too late as Dormammu seizes the reconstructed Evil Eye and uses its power to merge his monstrous realm with Earth.
\n\"\"
\nAvengers<\/strong> #118 delivers the cathartic climactic conclusion in \u2018To the Death\u2019<\/em> (Brown, Esposito & Giacoia) wherein all the Marvel Universe\u2019s heroes resist the demonic invasion as Avengers and Defenders plunge deep into the Dark Dimension itself to end forever the threat of the evil gods…<\/p>\n

With the overwhelming cosmic crisis concluded, the victorious Defenders attempt to use the Eye to cure their calcified comrade, only to discover his spirit has found a new home in the 12th<\/sup> century. In #11\u2019s Bolle inked \u2018A Dark and Stormy Knight\u2019<\/em> the band battle black magic during the Crusades, fail to retrieve the Knight and acrimoniously go their separate ways – as did overworked departing scripter Englehart…<\/p>\n

With issue #12 Len Wein would assume the writer\u2019s role, starting a run of slightly more traditional costumed capers…<\/p>\n

With covers by Colan, Everett, Severin, Frank Giacoia, John Buscema, John Romita, Sal Buscema, Gil Kane, Ralph Reese, Jim Starlin, Verpoorten, Esposito, Bolle & Ron Wilson this titanic tome also offers contemporary house ads, a revelatory Afterword by Steve Englehart segues into a brief bonus feature including unpublished cover art, the Marvel Bullpen Bulletins<\/em> page announcing the launch of The Defenders, original art pages, and previous collection covers by Carlos Pacheco, John Romita and Richard Isanove.<\/p>\n

For the longest time, The Defenders<\/strong> was the best and weirdest superhero comic book in the business, and if you love Fights \u2018n\u2019 Tights frolics but crave something just a little different, these yarns are for you… and the best is still to come.
\n\u00a9 2022 MARVEL.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Roy Thomas, Steve Englehart, Len Wein, Gene Colan, Marie Severin, Herb Trimpe, Ross Andru, Sal Buscema, Bob Brown, Don Heck, Tom Palmer, Johnny Craig, Bill Everett, Frank McLaughlin, Jim Mooney, Frank Bolle, Frank Giacoia, John Verpoorten, Mike Esposito & various (Marvel) ISBN: 978-1-3029-3356-2 (TPB\/Digital edition) This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened … <\/p>\n

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