Issue(s): Defenders #143, Defenders #144
Cover Date: May-Jun 85
Title: "Another runner..." / "Dragon midnight"
Credits:
Peter Gillis - Writer
Don Perlin - Penciler
Kim DeMulder - Inker
Pat Blevins - Assistant Editor
Carl Potts - Editor

Review/plot:
Moondragon seemingly conquered her dark side in Defenders #139, at least enough for the restrictive headband placed by Odin to be removed, but her struggle is in fact not over. We've been seeing in recent issues that she's been fighting a physical illness, and it turns out that she was infected during the Defenders' most recent battle with the gamma-irradiated plant creature. Unable to cure herself, she succumbs to temptation and accepts the help of the Dragon of the Moon.

Valkyrie was aware of Moondragon's struggle. She did nothing to help, but was preparing in her own way.

She also sends Candy and Dolly out of the Defenders HQ (don't worry; they're well armed)...

...leaving only herself, Gargoyle, and Angel to stand against the corrupted Moondragon. The Beast, Iceman, and Cloud are still at the college where the Beast was lecturing last issue.

Angel is blinded in the fight against Moondragon.

You might think that the Defenders in general would be out of their league against a Moondragon that wasn't holding back and a malevolent entity known as the Dragon of the Moon, but you weren't counting on the Valkyrie suddenly giant-sizing herself.

And if that wasn't awesome enough, she also calls in her sisters.

Click to Wagner-size.

But in the end, it's Cloud who ends the conflict, by having Angel fly her inside the Dragon so she can confront Moondragon and express her sadness over this betrayal.

Moondragon, the Dragon, and Valkyrie are all missing when everything clears up.

Much of issue #143 is devoted to Moondragon's struggle against the Dragon. As part of that, there are a number of flashbacks, including a scene where she encountered a cosmic being called Runner...

...and spent some time with him before deciding that his immortal outlook on life didn't leave room for sympathy towards mortals, something she couldn't square with her own beliefs (somewhat surprisingly, if you know Moondragon). This is Runner's first appearance (in the flashback only), and he's explicitly defined as one of the Elders of the Universe, adding to the list of known Elders.

We also learn some interesting things about the Dragon of the Moon. The moon in question is, of course, Saturn's Titan, which is where Moondragon was raised after Thanos killed her parents. The Dragon claims a relationship with Thanos as well. It says, "Thanos could not withstand me, and he was corrupted--", and later "You've even fought my pupil Thanos to a standstill once" (my emphasis). The Dragon of the Moon isn't really brought up much outside of Peter Gillis' Defenders run, but it's surprising that more wasn't done with this aspect of Thanos' past.

Issue #143 also teases the introduction of a new character. All we see so far is that she arrives in New York City via sub and hooks up with a jogger. She'll turn out to be the Atlantean Andromeda.

The Valkyrie battle is pretty epic, and it's also interesting how the plot here builds from seemingly unrelated previous stories in Gillis' run. It's both frustrating and cool the way the gamma-plant and Moondragon's struggle for control keep arising as plot points. Usually things like that resolve much more cleanly; it's much more realistic to see that nothing is quite so simple.

I felt like the Perlin/DeMulder team might have been a little shakier than usual, but at the same time i really liked the depiction of the Dragon.

Quality Rating: B+

Historical Significance Rating: 3 - first Runner. First Andromeda. Minor revelations about Thanos' backstory.

Chronological Placement Considerations: Angel is blinded in this arc and remains so at the end.

References:

• The scene where Moondragon's parents are killed by Thanos from Daredevil #105 is expanded upon in a flashback here, although there's no footnote.
  
• Moondragon was able to destroy the plant monster in Defenders #141 (with Gargoyle's help), but she's unable to purge her body of its infection without the help of the Dragon of the Moon in these issues.
  
• There's no footnote again, but Moondragon fought Thanos in Captain Marvel #31.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

The Dragon has a strange definition of "fought to a standstill". A more accurate description would be "got her head handed to her and had to be saved by Captain Marvel".

I think we can agree that Thanos did, at least briefly, stand still during her mental attack. ;-)

I think they rushed into the whole Dragon corrupting Moondragon thing too quickly. She only just had her headband removed a couple of issues ago.

It was a real shame the way they had to wrap up in a hurry to make room for X-Factor, just not as good a book...