Defenders annual #1Issue(s): Defenders annual #1 Review/plot: A few revelations: the Headmen had manipulated the Defenders' brains when they had them prisoner a while back, and that's why they've been acting a little more hostile to each other than usual, and that's why Dr. Strange's spells haven't been working properly. Jack Norriss knew this, and when he accepted Nighthawk's payment and quit the team, it was so he could go undercover to figure out the plot. He reveals this all to the Defenders at the beginning of this issue and they go and stop all of the various plots. Nearly defeated by the Headmen, the Defenders win when Dr. Strange brings in the Hulk (who, based on my placement has just left the group after the death of Jarella). Nebulon decides that humanity is not worthy of his "help" so he gives up his plot as well. The final message here is that humanity's "bozo" attributes that Nebulon tries to remove is what actually allows us to aspire towards greatness. That may be a fine message, but the examples given include Egyptian slavery allowing for the creation of the pyramids, and the rise of the Nazis allowing for the creation of the atom bomb. I'm not sure those are convincing arguments. There's a scene where Arthur Nagan is fighting Luke Cage and Nagan attempts to rile Cage up with a 'racial' comment. And a scene where Dr. Strange attempts to contact President Gerald Ford, but is interrupted by Nebulon (in his civilian disguise). In my opinion, the Defenders was Gerber's best work at Marvel. It balanced his zany/wacky stuff with some real human character development and really paved the way for the 1980s approach towards subplots and character driven stories. There was also the social commentary aspect to his stories; a little less overt than in Man-Thing or Howard The Duck, which actually made it better, but that seems to have been less influential on the 80s books. This issue, possibly due to the nature of being a wrap-up, loses a lot of the character moments and winds up feeling a bit flat. The most obvious example is Jack Noriss, previously the 'everyman' character, now acting as a corny secret agent. Quality Rating: C- Chronological Placement Considerations: This takes place after Defenders #40. Defenders #41, while also by Gerber, was essentially a fill-in issue that takes place independent to the Headmen/Nebulon arc so it should take place afterward. The Hulk's appearance here so soon after Jarella's death and his quitting of the team is a little problematic, but it is the Hulk, who has a short memory and could be easily manipulated by Dr. Strange into returning to help his friends. References: This issue starts with a three page recap of Gerber's entire Defenders run; no specific issue numbers are given. Crossover: N/A Continuity Insert? N My Reprint: N/A Inbound References (6): show 1976 / Box 11 / EiC Upheaval CommentsThe last chapter title refers to the novel/film "All The President's Men". Posted by: Mark Drummond | August 21, 2011 10:33 PM Those Janson inks give me a new appreciation for Sal's pencils. I like Sal's work, but a strong inker like Janson or Talaoc gives it so much more weight and realism. Janson especially. Posted by: Walter Lawson | December 15, 2012 7:58 PM I'm kind of coming to the same conclusion, Walter, except I'm leaning more toward Taaloc. Posted by: Jay Patrick | July 19, 2013 10:30 PM I'm kind of coming to the same conclusion, Walter, except I'm leaning more toward Taaloc. Posted by: Anonymous | July 19, 2013 10:30 PM I sort of thought the point was that Strange's argument doesn't work the way he intends; Nebulon doesn't respond by seeing the greatness of humanity, but by declaring that humanity is too awful to be saved. More broadly, Gerber does something here: the Defenders are a counterculture, misfits who don't always get along, but are always there for each other when it counts. So he pits them against the big power institutions: Pennyworth as corporate mastermind profiting from social division in the Serpents arc, the Headmen as the emerging antidemocratic technocratic class -- they want to take over the world nonviolently -- making deals with governments around the world to use mad science to solve social problems without democratic consent. And elsewhere, their enemies are parodies of the dubious new mass movements people latch onto even as the mainstream society fragments or its rot becomes impossible to ignore. And among the Defenders themselves, there's Jackal Norris having to point out how crazy these "counterculture" people get when they become wrapped up in themselves or go full-on anti-Establishment (the Headmen's brainwashing), the Valkyrie negotiating a loss of traditional feminine identity and the power and limits of a very different one, and Luke Cage and the Red Guardian arguing the merits of capitalist individuality vs. socialist collectivism. It's very much a post-hippie, post-Nixon kind of comic. Or maybe I'm reading *way* too much into all of it :) Posted by: Omar Karindu | March 1, 2017 6:36 AM On reflection, the Headmen's brainwashing isn't "anti-Establishment," since they sort of represent the new Establishment; it's more like getting one counterculture/alternative group to turn on all the others. So, yeah, I *am* reading way too much into all of this. Posted by: Omar Karindu | March 1, 2017 6:38 AM Comments are now closed. |
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