Obsessively putting our comics in chronological order since 1985.
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Defenders #145
Issue(s): Defenders #145
Cover Date: Jul 85
Title: "Five women"
Credits:
Peter Gillis - Writer
Don Perlin - Penciler
Art Nichols - Inker
Carl Potts - Editor
Review/plot:
This is a recovery issue after the team was fairly decimated during the battle with Moondragon. Valkyrie is initially missing but she re-appears towards the end of the issue. She reveals that Moondragon is still alive and active, but weakened, but Valkyrie no longer has the Odin-granted powers that allowed her to fight the Dragon of the Moon.
Angel is still blind. Cloud is unconscious, and when the Defenders' remote medical team examine her, they find:
Her physiology is preposterous -- her liver, for example ,is the proper shape and color, but it is composed of simple connective tissue!Her teeth are made out of bone with no enamel -- her kidneys are not connected to her bloodstream -- all in all, it seems impossible that this young woman should ever have been alive!
This issue also teases the idea of a non-powered Johnny Blaze joining the team. Here he is facing off against the Defenders' holographic defense system.
But in the end Blaze is really just there to say hello to his old Champions buddies and, er, borrow some money from Angel.
And the Beast proves easily flattered and charmed by a suspicious female soldier who will turn out to be Seraph.
Also some continued focus on Andromeda, who is still with the guy she picked up while jogging. She uses some advanced technology to duplicate his credit card, and has to breath into an oxygen mask to avoid turning blue.
With this issue, Kim DeMulder is no longer on inks. Perlin has a good sense of storytelling, but it was in combination with the depth that DeMulder added that the art in this run was truly great. With Art Nichols, things look a little flat, and almost deliberately cartoonish.
Quality Rating: B
Historical Significance Rating: 1
Chronological Placement Considerations: This issue begins in the aftermath of the battle with Moondragon from last issue. It's now morning, so some time has passed, but the team shouldn't appear anywhere else in the meantime.
References:
- General Argyle Fist, the Defenders liaison to the army notes some recent high profile cases that the Defenders have been involved in, including the slime that devastated the valley in Defenders #141. Iceman assumes that the General wants the team to disband, and makes a reference to Senator Kelly's anti-mutant legislation (the footnote just says "see recent issues of the X-Men"; i'll link to its introduction in Uncanny X-Men #181), but Argyle reveals that he fought against William Taurey's Royalist Forces of America from Captain America #193-200, and he's really just concerned for the Defenders' safety.
Crossover: N/A
Continuity Insert? N
My Reprint: N/A
| Previous: Web of Spider-Man #2 | Up: Main | Next: Daredevil #218 |
Comments
Chris Larmouth also appears in this issue. Beast is checking up on him before he notices "Nancy"/Seraph sneaking around the medical bay.
So does Dragon of the Moon appear. How are you tracking it when it is in possession of Moondragon? She has the whole half Heather/half Dragon face starting this issue.
Added Chris.
With possession situations, i usually only tag the possessor when it manifests in some way. In this case, between Moondragon's face and the fact that she's seen struggling in some way, it seems that should count as the Dragon manifesting, so i have added the Dragon as a character appearing too. I think that should now cover all the Dragon appearances.
Thanks!
Considering Ghost Rider was pretty much out to kill Warren back in Avengers #214, Warren is being exceeding generous. Of course, Johnny was so guilty in that issue, that it's good to have a follow-up that they are still buddies. Warren is really a better human being than he gets credit for.
