Issue(s): Defenders #140, Defenders #141
Cover Date: Feb-Mar 85
Title: "The heartbreak kid!"
Credits:
Peter Gillis - Writer
Don Perlin - Penciler
Kim DeMulder - Inker
Jim Massara / Pat Blevins - Assistant Editor
Carl Potts - Editor

Review/plot:
Issue #140 starts off with a little prologue from Beast's oft-forgotten girlfriend Vera Cantor, who he is still stringing along. Beast obviously cares for Vera, as seen here and in Avengers #209, but that doesn't stop him from making time with other women, like Dazzler in the Beauty and the Beast mini-series.

The rest of #140 is devoted to newly redeemed Moondragon...

...detecting someone using great mental powers. Only half of the other Defenders go with her; Beast is still a little wary of Moondragon, Iceman doesn't want to hang out with Cloud when he's a guy, and Gargoyle is still missing his hand. They find a teenage boy accused of raping his teacher...

...but it turns out he really uses his mutant power to make people face their deep repressed pains, and the teacher was only able to describe the violation as rape. Moondragon helps sorts things out...

...and then the boy leaves town.

An odd little story.

Meanwhile, in the valley near the Defenders' mountain headquarters, a cow gives birth to something really gross.

It's the return of the gamma-irradiated plant thing that the Defenders faced at the beginning of Peter Gillis' run. By the time the Defenders get back from the trial, the valley is overrun and the Defenders' headquarters is under siege.

The Defenders' airplane mechanic, Chris Larmouth, is infected by the plant (Chris had hoped that working near the Defenders would result in circumstances that would grant him super-powers)...

...and the Beast is working on preserving him and studying the organism in the Defenders lab while Iceman and Gargoyle watch the rest of the creature try to push through the reinforced windows.

After floundering for a while, the Defenders have a breakthrough when the Beast discovers some important science mumbo-jumbo about the creature and mentally conveys it to Moondragon, who contacts Gargoyle and has him enter the creature.

She meets him in the middle, and they merge spirits, kissing, and use their combined powers to attack the creature at a cellular level. The effort also causes Gargoyle's hand to finish growing back.

The Perlin/DeMulder art combo that i usually love felt a little thin on these issues. There's still a lot of nice depth on the close ups...

...but in general things were a little sketchier. The weird plant creatures attacking the headquarters were wild (and that cow birth was appropriately gruesome), but they lacked the creepy realism of the first time this creature appeared. Still, these are good issues. The first story is a fairly unique Strange Tale, and the danger and hopelessness of fighting a de-centralized goopy plant monster is conveyed well in the second.

Quality Rating: B

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References:

• The gamma-plant first attacked in Defenders #132.
  
• Gargoyle lost his hand in Defenders #136-137, when his demonic body was used against the rest of the Defenders. While he's trapped in the Defenders' headquarters with Iceman, he expresses concern that Iceman might not trust him because of that.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

"The Heartbreak Kid" will be seen again in Amazing Fantasy #15 (vol 2) in a flashback story set at some point after Amazing Fantasy #15 (vol 1) in which he is drawn to a mourning Peter Parker.

Added Danny Shepard as a Character Appearing. Thanks!

Now I'm wondering how on earth you kiss someone with fangs like Gargoyle...

I guess you could add Chris Larmouth as a Character Appearing as well. He makes his return appearance in Defenders 152.

Thanks, Jay. Added him.

Berend --carefully. You kiss him *carefully*! ;)

What utterly confused me about these issues was Gargoyle's hand was still missing but only an issue earlier he was shocked to see his hand had regenerated as a human hand with 5 fingers rather than 4.

And no tag for Ephraim Soles?

He appears in both #132 and #140, in the former as the main villain and then briefly in sub-plot pages of #140.

Added him. Thanks.

It seems quite off your Fnordic Track to not mention the killer bunnies :-D
I agree that the art was stronger on the plant monster's first appearance AND that the fear
and atmosphere are well-conveyed. #`140 really seems inspired by Steve Gerber- each Defenders writer afterwards did some story element inspired by Babyface. Gillis does well distinguishing the personalities; that's a hallmark of great Defenders stories. Good ensemble dynamics. He brings hints of research to the rather erudite description of the creature's nature. All I can figure is, this title had no characters with their own books, or this would've been more popular. It's damn good.
AF is right about the mistaken evolution of Isaac's regrown hand.
Less than a year of this run left to enjoy, now!