Or – “One Of Marvel’s Many Neglected Properties…”
DEFENDERS! The Defenders are back! I haven’t been this excited since I heard the new phonebooks were here! WOO!
THE DEFENDERS #2
Writer: Matt Fraction
Penciler: Terry Dodson
Inker: Rachel Dodson
Colorist: Sonia Oback
Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles
Editor(s): Tom Brevoort w/ Mark Paniccia
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $2.99
Previously, in The Defenders: When The Serpent sent his avatars to possess denizens of the Marvel Universe, no one expected that they would actually stick around. Nul, the Breaker of Worlds, has escaped from the mind of The Hulk and is running rampant through the Marvel Universe, leading the Hulk to call on a few old friends for assistance. His fellow founding Defenders (Doctor Strange, The Silver Surfer and Namor the Sub-Mariner) have been joined by Red She-Hulk (for brawn) and Iron Fist (for transportation reasons), and all five heroes have ventured into the wilds of Wundagore mountain, where they were shot out of the sky. Soon after, Iron Fist was shot in the heart, and Prester John’s to blame, as he gives villains a bad name (baaad naame!)
EVERYTHING YOU LOVE DIES…
This issue picks up seconds after the last one ended, with Iron Fist on the ground after a bullet to the chest, and the rest of the Defenders about to be attacked by Prester John and what seem to be humanoid tigers. Things look dark for the non-team, but they suddenly leap into action with the power cosmic, mystic force, the channeled energy of the chi, and smashy-smashy, turning the tide in their favor! Fraction does a wonderful job with the pacing in this early sequence, as the give-and-take of battle between Defenders and non-men flips back and forth several times, and the menace of the villain is clearly set forth in the issue. (This is good, as I don’t think Prester John has appeared anywhere since the mid-90s or so.) The amusing lower gutter boxes from last issue return, emulating the Marvel Comics of the 70s (including one that reads “Story interrupted previous page”) while adding another level to the storytelling here. To the story’s credit, Fraction and the Dodsons make it credible that a team of this powers is taken down and imprisoned by Prester John.
…FIGHT TO SAVE EVERYTHING!
There’s a wonderful scene in the middle of this issue wherein Betty Ross-Banner comes up with the plan to escape their capture, using her particular weird powerset (she turns human when frightened), but when Doctor Strange whispers something mysterious in her ear, she dubs him “The Creep” and refuses to let him near her anymore. (We don’t actually hear what it is, which makes it doubly entertaining.) There are some clever character bits throughout this middle portions of the issue, as Namor continues to snark, while Iron Fist gets in the funniest bits, and these new Defenders quickly get back to the business at hand with more of the fighty-fighty. Doctor Strange even gets a bad-@$$ moment when he smashes a lion-man in the face, reminding us that he’s a master of martial as well as of mystic arts. We end with the revelation of both the mysterious proverbial engine of the title and Prester John’s real motives, and it makes the entire thing that much more complicated. As we fade to black, the Defenders are trapped between a rock and giant hideous monster of the id, and certain doom awaits everyone…
THE VERDICT: ENJOYABLE + RETRO = ENJETROBLE!
This issue is a bit more plot-driven then last, where the character bits took center stage, but the explanation of what the Concordance Engine is is well tied into Marvel history, playing with both story elements and Jack Kirby’s legendary designs. There’s still a clear indication that these characters don’t belong in ANY team, much less together (which is even funnier when you remember that everyone but the Surfer is part of another team in the Marvel U.) The ending comes a bit suddenly for me, but the overall issue is a winner. Defenders #2 is well-drawn, well-crafted and overall entertaining, earning 4 out of 5 stars overall.
Faithful Spoilerite Question Of The Day: How long do you think it will be before they add new members to this team?
9 Comments
More members? I’m =totally= just guessing/entering the office pool here, but I say after issue 5. That ‘feels right’ to me. I dunno who, but if I had to guess… We’ve got “mystic”, “gamma”, “street heroes”, “cosmic”, and “mutant”. Maybe it’ll be JOHNNY STORM~!?? Or some kind of ‘Future Foundation’ link?
(ps. the following made me laugh: “This entry was posted in [snip] and tagged … Silver Surder…” Thassa funny typo to me, for some reason.)
Heh… That’s what I get for using my Swype keyboard…
I just didn’t dig it as much as issue one. Here’s the problem for me… this issue, last issue and next issue should have been collected into a single giant-size #1 issue. For me, there is no reason for this to be played out over multiple issues. Not enough happens. The ending did seem very sudden.
I really don’t like the characterization of Danny, and I really hate the current status of Silver Surfer. Many other character moments didn’t ring true for me, like Stephen telling the bad guy that hitting him helps to set his hands free. He might have martial arts skills, but I think he should have been thinking those words instead of saying them out loud. That’s more Stephen’s hand-to-hand style for me. Nothing about the characterizations was egregious, but it tends to all add up rather unsatisfactorily.
The art was fine, though not as memorable as last issue.
I did like the scene that Matthew mentions with Red She-Hulk and the good Doc. I just don’t like her character, and probably never will unless there is some was to prove that she was never really Betty Brant and was always a Skrull or an LMD or something.
I simply don’t care about Nul (nothing about Fear Itself worked for me). And the concordance engine and Avalon and all that seemed to just devolved into expository blah blah blah. It all comes off as a bit depressing, which reminds me more of New Defenders than Defenders (but without the “cool”). It’s not time for that… yet.
But… it’s the Defenders and I am all for a Marvel team that isn’t labeled as X-ish or Avengersish. So I support the cause. Now if we can only get either Johnny or Danny back as Ghost Rider and into a new Champions series, I’d be all set!
I thought the best part was the teaser for a new Night Nurse comic. But that doesn’t justify the cover price. My suggestion for improvement: decrease the deconstructed storytelling and increase the FUN!
Who slipped Strange the viagra?
Didn’t Brother Voodoo die? Who is the current Sorcerer Supreme? I like Strange’s look better with the red Cloak of Levitation
Brother Voodoo was lost (though I don’t remember seeing a body) in New Avengers, and the Sorcerer Supreme position has not really been discussed, as I recall, since then.
Oh, so I’m not the only person who just kinda randomly dropped that whole Doctor Voodoo thing? Marvel apparently did too? ^_^
Oh, so I’m not the only person who just kinda randomly dropped that whole Doctor Voodoo thing? Marvel apparently did too?
Hey, there were overs to cross and internets to break in half. :)
I wonder if the Red Hulk turns human when HE gets scared.
Not to be sexist, but I’d imagine he’d scare less easy than his daughter.